This week we had the long awaited vote on Second Reading of the "Rental Registration" Ordinance, which would require landlords to register their properties, pay a fee, and be held accountable for the actions of their tenants. The genesis of this Ordinance was from all the complaints that have arisen over the years regarding quality of life infractions by some tenants - especially near Seton Hall. The initial draft of this Ordinance had a much higher fee structure and after receiving resident feedback, was ultimately stricken and revised.
Which brought us to last night and the Public Hearing on this revised Ordinance. Prior to the meeting, I had heard a smattering of opposition, but I was not sure how widespread those concerns were. I also knew that the INTENT of the Ordinance was good and it seemed to be a reasonable approach to a longstanding problem. However, since I had no vested interest either way, I went into the meeting with an open mind and was interested to hear what the public had to say. We initially heard from an attorney who, while raising some very interesting points, also went a bit far over the top in the drama department. Rightfully so, Trustee Bauer did call him on some of these allegations. However, the memo he provided us in writing seemed to provide some reasonable suggestions. The night continued with a multitude of landlords who were outraged by the details, or lack thereof, of this Ordinance for a variety of reasons.
When it came time to vote, my decisions came down to a few key points - a) With the number of people who turned out, there was not a single person who spoke in favor of the ordinance. b) The members of the public articulated their concerns well and raised valid objections which raised doubt in my mind that this Ordinance was ready for passage in its current form c) Ultimately, the whole point of a Public Hearing is to listen to the members of the public and take their feedback into account, when possible. A Public Hearing should not simply be a formality.
Ultimately, I think SOME FORM of an Ordinance is still a good idea, but after listening to all the feedback, I realized that we should try to incorporate them, not simply pass an ordinance because we don't want to "start all over again". No law is ever perfect, but I came to the realization that this one still needed some more work and voted "No". However, my colleagues didn't agree and the Rental Registration Ordinance passed by a vote of 4-1-1.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Long Time Coming
It seems this latest blog entry has been a long time coming. There have been a few recent events I've been wanting to blog about, but didn't, so I think I'll combine them into a single entry:
1) My Beautiful Reward
Recently, I took my 7-year-old daughter bicycling in Hoboken & across the Hudson by ferry to NYC. As we were returning in Hoboken, we were stopped by a Hoboken Police Officer who proceeded to hand my daughter a "ticket". He then explained it was a "reward" for her wearing a helmet when bicycling and it contained a coupon for a free ice cream at Johnny Rocket's or a free ices at Rita's. After the surprise wore off, I realized what a clever idea this is to reward positive behavior and have brought it back to South Orange for discussion. The Police Chief is looking into it further and we will then discuss the idea with the full Board to see what everyone thinks.
2) Rollover Beethoven
At the BOT meeting last week, we were asked to formally approve the rollover of $4M in "loans" that had been given to SOPAC and which come due next week. SOPAC gave a presentation to us on June 22 explaining their revised business model and how they plan to achieve independence from the $300k annual subsidy from the Village. On the surface, it all sounded very positive, but upon further thought, it became apparent that there was no detail given on how these projections were made. So, I sent a letter in writing to SOPAC requesting further detail. Several days later, most of the information requested was hand delivered to me, which was appreciated. After reviewing the detail, I was pleased to see that there actually was analysis that had gone into creating the projections, although I am still extremely skeptical of the overly-optimistic projections. However, after confirming that this rollover would have no tax impact to the Village (since SOPAC would still be responsible for paying all interest and principal), I decided to support the 1 year rollover with an eye towards re-evaluating the situation in 1 year. In the meantime, I strongly urge SOPAC to tighten their belts to reduce spending, (just as every other Organization is being forced to do in this horrible economy) and start focusing on their primary purpose - booking performers that will attract people to our town and ensuring those performances sellout and are profitable.
3) Long Time Coming
As hard as it may be to believe, this past week, the Firehouse received a "temporary certificate of occupancy", which is the last major milestone needed for the firefighters to move back in to the Firehouse. After far too many years of delays, the long awaited completion of the Firehouse is upon us. There is now still some minor "touch up" work to do, but that will be done while the firefighters are living and working in the firehouse, once they move in this week. This will allow the Village to disconnect and return the temporary trailers that had been located adjacent to the site, and return that site to be used for parking. In the short term, the firefighter's will park their vehicles in that lot while the driveway around the firehouse is re-done. Once the driveway is completed, the firefighter's will park their vehicles there, and the lot will likely be designated as "premium" parking for resident commuters.
It is absolutely inexcusable for this project to have taken as long as it has and there is more than enough blame to go around. However, we can now be glad that this painful part of our Village's history is in the past and we can take comfort knowing that we have this project as an example of everything not to do if and when the Village decides to move ahead with renovating Village Hall.
1) My Beautiful Reward
Recently, I took my 7-year-old daughter bicycling in Hoboken & across the Hudson by ferry to NYC. As we were returning in Hoboken, we were stopped by a Hoboken Police Officer who proceeded to hand my daughter a "ticket". He then explained it was a "reward" for her wearing a helmet when bicycling and it contained a coupon for a free ice cream at Johnny Rocket's or a free ices at Rita's. After the surprise wore off, I realized what a clever idea this is to reward positive behavior and have brought it back to South Orange for discussion. The Police Chief is looking into it further and we will then discuss the idea with the full Board to see what everyone thinks.
2) Rollover Beethoven
At the BOT meeting last week, we were asked to formally approve the rollover of $4M in "loans" that had been given to SOPAC and which come due next week. SOPAC gave a presentation to us on June 22 explaining their revised business model and how they plan to achieve independence from the $300k annual subsidy from the Village. On the surface, it all sounded very positive, but upon further thought, it became apparent that there was no detail given on how these projections were made. So, I sent a letter in writing to SOPAC requesting further detail. Several days later, most of the information requested was hand delivered to me, which was appreciated. After reviewing the detail, I was pleased to see that there actually was analysis that had gone into creating the projections, although I am still extremely skeptical of the overly-optimistic projections. However, after confirming that this rollover would have no tax impact to the Village (since SOPAC would still be responsible for paying all interest and principal), I decided to support the 1 year rollover with an eye towards re-evaluating the situation in 1 year. In the meantime, I strongly urge SOPAC to tighten their belts to reduce spending, (just as every other Organization is being forced to do in this horrible economy) and start focusing on their primary purpose - booking performers that will attract people to our town and ensuring those performances sellout and are profitable.
3) Long Time Coming
As hard as it may be to believe, this past week, the Firehouse received a "temporary certificate of occupancy", which is the last major milestone needed for the firefighters to move back in to the Firehouse. After far too many years of delays, the long awaited completion of the Firehouse is upon us. There is now still some minor "touch up" work to do, but that will be done while the firefighters are living and working in the firehouse, once they move in this week. This will allow the Village to disconnect and return the temporary trailers that had been located adjacent to the site, and return that site to be used for parking. In the short term, the firefighter's will park their vehicles in that lot while the driveway around the firehouse is re-done. Once the driveway is completed, the firefighter's will park their vehicles there, and the lot will likely be designated as "premium" parking for resident commuters.
It is absolutely inexcusable for this project to have taken as long as it has and there is more than enough blame to go around. However, we can now be glad that this painful part of our Village's history is in the past and we can take comfort knowing that we have this project as an example of everything not to do if and when the Village decides to move ahead with renovating Village Hall.
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