Illegal apartments in Hoboken

From NJ.com:

Hoboken City Council listened to residents who had opinions on the resolution calling for a plan to eliminate illegal apartments and unregistered dwelling units for safety and welfare of city residents.

Second Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason cited fire incidents in North Bergen and other neighborhing towns and illegal Second Ward apartments in urging that this is a serious problem right now.

Sixth Ward Councilman Giacchi Nino said that overcrowding with school and parking are more immediate issues than the illegal apartment situation. But it something that needs to be revisited.

Earth to Nino: Illegal apartments = overcrowding with school and parking.

Zimmer is no Bloomberg

From the Daily News:

Hoboken's acting mayor has moved to block New Jersey Transit's megadevelopment plans for the city, contending they would not fit her vision of "balanced development."

After NJTransit proposed building eight to nine 45-story towers in the southern part of the city and a 70-story tower adjacent to the PATH station, acting mayor Dawn Zimmer decided it "will be my mission to stop that."

State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen County) had introduced legislation that would have allowed NJTransit to circumvent municipalities when drawing up development plans. Late last month, Zimmer won an agreement to halt that bill.

"The proposed NJTransit development . . . is completely out of scale with the rest of Hoboken," she insisted.

The $1 billion Hoboken Terminal and Yard Redevelopment Plan would have included 3,200 new condo units, adding about 7,000 people (about 20% of Hoboken's current population) and creating traffic issues as well as a need for higher taxes to pay for additional city services, Zimmer said.