A few important events coming up, starting TONIGHT!
- 6/11 - Public Hearing for Hoboken’s Master Plan Re-Exam (7-9pm)
- 6/16 – 7th Annual Hoboken Green Fair (11am-3pm)
- 6/19 – Coffee with a Cop, 2nd Ward Edition (730-9am)
THE MOST IMPORTANT DOCUMENT FOR HOBOKEN
Public hearing tonight from 7-9 at the Multi Service Center, 124 Grand St.
The Master Plan is a statutory document that creates the framework for all decisions in our town. These include, among others:
- Zoning, land use and development
- Transportation
- Education
- Economic development
- Affordability and housing
- Historic preservation
- Green infrastructure
And it is a document that needs to be either re-examined or fully updated every few years. Our last Master Plan was completed in 2004 and our last reexamination was completed in 2010. The recommendations made under both were never codified by the City Council and many are outdated so we are due.
I plan to attend tonight as a citizen and I hope you do as well. You can find the documents here. Pages 66-106 of the Draft Master Plan document have the vision and recommendations section.
Although driven by the Hoboken Planning Board, the process is a public one and should involve as many stakeholders as possible to ensure the document represents the interests and goals of our community. Unfortunately, the one group of stakeholders that has been explicitly kept out of the process and whose input was kept to a minimum, as instructed by our prior mayor, is the Hoboken City Council. Those elected by you to represent your interests. And those who will actually codify (or not) the plan. Sorry if I seem frustrated, but this document is so important to Hoboken and something I have been advocating for since I was on the zoning board. Yet the City Council received it at the same time as the public. In any other community, the City Council would have been included from the start in the goal setting part of the process all the way through to the end.
SPEAKING OF GREEN…
Hoboken is having its 7th Annual Green Fair at Church Square Park on Saturday, June 16th from 10am-3pm.
The event is hosted by the City’s Green Team. The goal of the fair is to raise awareness regarding environmental issues and how consumers can reduce their impact on the earth by selecting sustainable, eco-friendly products and services, reducing energy consumption, conserving water and limiting their dependence on fossil fuels. Something in that list resonates with everyone.
The Hoboken Green Team is comprised of volunteers who meet monthly (along with city employees and Councilman Doyle) to focus on completing actions required for Sustainable Jersey certification, as well as other volunteer initiatives to promote environmental sustainability in our community. Members of the Green Team are appointed by the Mayor. To express interest in joining the Green Team, please email jgonzalez@hobokennj.gov.
COFFEE WITH A COP RETURNS TO THE 2nd WARD (BUT ALL INVITED)!
Tuesday, June 19th from 730-9am at Choco Pain at 15th and Washington.
Please join me and Mayor Bhalla, Hoboken Police Chief Ferrante, Captain Campbell, Lieutenant Miskulin, Sergeant. Butler, and Officer J. Montalvo that morning for a cup of coffee and to discuss public safety concerns you may have and / or thank our Hoboken Police for all that they do to ensure our safety. We made it earlier this time (it started at 830 last time) so that you can stop by on your way to work or before or after taking your children to school. As a council member, I would say that the number one issue I hear about the most is safety related concerns – from unsafe intersections and cross walks, to bicycle safety, to package thefts, to parking garage thefts. These are the issues that impact people viscerally.
But at the same time, I also hear people tell me how lucky and how secure they feel in our community. And this is because of our many public safety teams and in particular our Hoboken Police. So please come out and join the conversation and meet our Police!
And as always, if you have any questions or want to discuss this or anything else, please feel free to call me at 201/208-1674.
