Get a life Keith. You'd rather have that ugly building than a nice park?

Every year I ask Santa for a copy of that "naughty girl" list in my area, and every year I get the same answer: "Not this year Jimmy." Screw you Santa.

And screw William Mays while you're at it!

I think there are a lot of questions about this property acquisition and its costs. I agree that there should be more time to secure explanations as to why this transaction was needed and why the town had to pay for it.

Agreed, I wonder why the municipality couldn't serve as a broker for this property to private equity bids, with minimal exposure to the tax payer. This is prime real estate in an up-or-down market and it will definitely receive an overwhelming number of competitive bids.

It's hard to disagree with anything on the petition. The Democrats have been doing whatever they wanted going back to the Alter days.

There has not been a legitimate watchdog in this town in over two decades. Hopefully, this is a start.

If anyone is gullible enough to believe this will be a "park", please email me as I will be happy to sell you the bridge that is next to it.

I was wondering why they can't build around the bank building. That building, to the best of my recollection, is fairly new (about 15 years) and quite solid, as opposed to the condemned buildings adjacent to the old Cosmos. As Keith suggests, if the market wants to get rid of that building, it will in the future do so. That will be an awfully small "park."

Potentially, this park can be the haven for drug dealing and other dangers.

That sure looks like a great place for a park. And best look into the real estate deal. It sounds complicated and it does not look like you are getting both sides of the issue.

I like the idea of green space but that location seems to me would serve primarily the residents of the west parcel of land. I'm concerned that adding a park which the borough will maintain is financially unnecessary. There are other more pressing issues which could be addressed. Maybe working to acquire land to trade the school district for so that we could increase our capacities. Help move the satellite Main St mom and pop resident owned businesses closer to "center" of the business district so they could do better. Increase their traffic, taxes, and income all at once. Even assist resisents with a program which would help several open businesses in town. Have business plans submitted for potential retail businesses and help find investors for ones that would work in our Borough. This plays off the simple saying "think global, act local". Mom and pop need assistance and local government has the opportunity to help local families.

For all I know there is a grand plan which includes all this already but if not there's a couple ideas. There are many ways that money could be used to increase our revenues as opposed to adding another tax burden with no return on investment other than a park at the doorstep of a project with Borough interest but private ownership.

Just curious, who is paying for the pump station upgrades to handle these buildings and the new one at the corner of Hudson Terrace. I was under the impression that it was at or to capacity already.

From the following article it says Fort Lee will pay $2mil & the developer $6 mil. for the property. Interestingly the property was valued at $2.4 mil in it's recent assessment & paid a little under $50K in property taxes. Now the town has to contribute to buying the property & the costs to Woori to move & Dr. Rosenberg the property owner for a loss of rental income? Why is this our obligation? For a tiny memorial park of some sort like a bunch we already have around town that are minimally used?

http://www.northjersey.com/fortlee/Fort_Lee_agrees_to_pay_2_million_to_buy_land_for_redevelopment.html?page=all

As a further aside nice to see Demetrakis breaking ground already on the 2 towers, but little since this article about him building the town a new fire department. Also don't forget the town is giving Demetrakis a couple of small parcels on the Eastern tract gratis.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/92764519_Development_firm_promises_to_build_new_firehouse_in_Fort_Lee.html

Enough already! The passage of time makes people forget. At least lets have everything in writing & not promises and posted to the towns website for all to see.

Republicans are for responsible economic growth and I support what it takes in Zone V to develop.Mistakes were made in not including this property in Zone V Tucker development.Fix it now or mess be had.!!!

$50,000 a year in property taxes will be lost with the adoption of Ordinance 2012-43, as that is the tax revenue on this property.

If Mayor Sokolich does not veto Ordinance 2012-43 tomorrow Friday 27th, the town will incur a $2,050,000 liability on our books. Until the specific financing of this deal are made public, it will take 41 years to break even; notwithstanding the interest on top of this bond which is effectively being used to finance the developer's acquisition of this property.

While we speculate if this is a good investment, cross your fingers that this development on the West parcel takes off, and I hope it does without public financing, for if it does not the town is now on the hook for a $2,000,000 loan and will have lost what is akin to the salary of a full time employee in town. Another way to look at it, is the lost tax revenue wil shortchange about $30,000 a year from the school budget.

As signatures come in, if you have not been able to sign and even if you have, it is best to call Mayor Sokolich’s office at Town Hall directly and ask him, “to veto Ordinance 2012-43”. 201-592-3500 x1500

Keith is a committed public servant, whether he is recognized for it or not. In fact here he is looking out for the folks and people are criticizing him. This is not about the project. On what planet does the taxpayer pay for a "private" project ? Isnt that the definition of crony capitalism ? Nor is this a Republican or a Democratic issue. On the simplest level should taxpayers be burdened another 2 million for a private project ? The next question you have to ask is do you believe in eminent domain ? i.e. can the government can come take your home if someone offers to put up condos resulting in more tax dollars for the government ? PS if you do want to make it political, isnt that what you usually accuse Republicans of ? Making the tax payer pay to enrich private citizens, companies and developers ? The shoe certainly is on the other foot in towns where there has been one party rule for decades. But forgetting that for a moment simply put tax payers should not be on the hook for a private project. If you dont understand that, simply make the example more extreme to make it easier to understand. Would you be in favor of the public paying for the whole thing and then giving it to the developer ? If not, why are you in favor of literally giving the developer 2 million ? Thank you Keith for caring, and there are lot of other good points others brought up.

Fort Lee is riveted with small faux parks. Methinks its a gambit to get state or county money under the guise of land preservation. Nobody uses or maintains them and the overgrowth just collects.

By the time the hordes of new residents occupy these two monstrosities the traffic nightmare that will ensue will ensure NOBODY will venture anywhere near the center of town.

Pigs must have been flying, because Councilman C. openly posted on the article where Keith has a few direct questions to the governing body.
He now proved that he reads these posts. Councilman P.'s wife had her alias exposed, proving that he too reads these posts. Mayor could be William Mays.
Who knows? What we do know is that the Mayor and Council are acutely aware of these comments, yet they do not directly respond. Why is that?

Look pal i post my real name i don't hide behind a computer. Just be straight (even though you're as queer as a $3 bill) with us and let us in on your true identity

First of all, I'm gay myself + I have aids which makes me super gay so you can't play the race card with me pal

I'm calling on the Patch editors to remove William Mays from the Patch on all it's regional sites. Please send this comment to the Patch CEO and CFO in Plainfield. He espouses hate and intolerance in all his posts. Let's turn this into a petition. If we get 25,000 signatures we can get him deported.