Dave Roberts on Neumann Leather
20
August
8/20/2008 Update:
Hearing adjourned to September 24th
It took until 11:30 pm for the Zoning Board to get far enough into it’s agenda to begin to hear the TCR application to tear down Neumann Leather. Following some introductory comments from a single witness, the matter was adjourned to a Special Meeting at 7pm on September 24th in the City Council chambers.
A large crowd stayed in the cramped quarters until 12:15 am. It may be even larger at the next meeting, which may be devoted exclusively to the Neumann question.
Read more about the Mayor’s position on the issue below…
8/19/2008:
Looking for a statement from Mayor Roberts about the Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting tonight on the proposal to tear down the Neumann Leather complex?
Roberts isn’t saying anything today about the doomsday plan to evict the tenants and drive a street through the complex, but he sure wasn’t quiet about Neumann during the spring 2005 Mayoral campaign. In fact, Roberts was falling over himself making campaign promises to “protect the artists, artisans and architecture of that building.” Just take a look at this full color glossy campaign mailer that Dave Roberts, Ruben Ramos, Terry LaBruno and Peter Cammarano sent out to the city in 2005:
The flier says “Mayor Roberts wants to preserve and improve the building and protect all artists and businesses,” joyfully adding “Mayor Roberts is working on a plan to preserve the building and protect the neighborhood!” The flier claims “The Roberts Plan” will include public gallery space – a public plaza – and support for non-profit organizations.”
Tonight, the Zoning Board (hand-picked by Roberts) will be asked to do what the Mayor claimed would never happen: grant many variances to a developer who will pulverize the Civil War-era building and replace the businesses and artists with more “Luxury Apartments.”
2005: Roberts puts Neumann in the crosshairs
Dave Roberts got the Neumann wrecking ball rolling in early 2005 because of – you guessed it – a huge budget gap. With an $8 million hole in his budget and a council hesitant to sell the Municipal Garage without a new one in place, Roberts cooked up a scheme to sell the Muni Garage immediately to a developer by changing the zoning to allow up to 14 stories on the city property and Neumann Leather. An outcry followed from neighbors, Neumann tenants, longtime Hobokenites tired of seeing their history torn down, and even the Sinatra family!
Roberts backtracks, claims to be Neumann savior
With the whole city (and the Sinatras) against him, Roberts did a 180 and changed tactics. Instead of changing the zoning on Neumann he proposed a redevelopment zone for the site that he claimed would fix everything. Roberts put out a statement carried by the weekly paper that said:
“I am fully committed to the preservation of the Neumann Leather building and support the continued use by the many tenants who occupy the historic structure. Over the past few weeks, I have met with representatives of the building’s owner and tenants leaders in an effort to work out a mutually acceptable accord.” – David Roberts, April 2005
READ THE REST AFTER THE JUMP!
(Roberts on Neumann Leather, continued…)
In massive damage control mode, Roberts used part of the $1.5 million dollar developer cash war chest amassed for him by the HCDO to send mailers that claimed to tell “the REAL story behind plans for Observer Highway…” The one below was targeted at the neighborhoods surrounding Neumann.
The fliers didn’t work downtown. The district closest to the property delivered the most lopsided vote against Roberts in the whole city, but he still won anyway. Once he was back in the Mayor’s seat Dave pretty much forgot all about Neumann Leather. It took more than a year for his administration to hire a planner to start a “Redevelopment Area Investigation Study” for Neumann. The planners did the work, but it was never brought back to the Planning Board. Roberts killed the Neumann Leather redevelopment process through neglect, and opened the door wide for the TCR plan in front of the ZBA tonight.
Neighbors and Neumann Tenants work on solutions
With the Mayor MIA (and constantly undermining the work of the Observer Highway Redevelopment Advisory Committee) neighbors who were part of that committee joined with Neumann Tenant leaders to continue to fight to save the historic property and it’s business and artist community. These people are now in the process of spending tens of thousands of dollars to save Neumann Leather because Dave Roberts breaks his promises. You can show your support tonight at 7pm in the downstairs meeting room at City Hall.
For more on Neumann Leather on Hoboken411:
- Meet some of the artists and see videos on why Neumann should be saved
- More on why Neumann Leathers is in Jeopardy
- News on a recent fundraiser
21. jscirish27 | August 19th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
The mains are also probably not adequately sized in addition to being poorly maintained. Without replacing all the mains, and by taxing them further with increased demand, do you think we are going to have more or less of a problem. You can’t just build non-stop without addressing the state of the existing infrastructure.
22. matt_72 | August 19th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
jscirish27 wrote:
Do you understand that water in the water mains is under constant pressure. And if you have MORE developement (more toilets flushing), if anything you would have LESS pressure in the pipes. Less pressure = less of a chance of a ruptured water main. Taxing the pipes as you call it might even lead to less of a chance of rupturing the mains, not more of one. I agree that the infrastructure is old & in poor shape but that purely a function of age & a lack of maintenance. More or less development, Hoboken will continue to be plagued by water main breaks until the mains are replaced. This is a common occurance in pretty much every city in America w/ mains that are often times > 100 years old.
23. TheRevAceClemmonsJr | August 19th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Keep in mind folks that this building has much more than artists in it. There are unique craftsman, small manufacturing, multimedia, recording studios, film makers, publishers, musicians (some quite famous), photographers, etc.. If your not good at what you do- you couldn’t afford to stay. The tenants (I am one of them) pay just about market rate. We obviously do not own the building and have little control over the exterior. The interior, however- some of the spaces are quite stunning. Most of the tenants do all the maintenance on their own space, as Red Haven stated above. The tenants also primarily serve the Hoboken community. Most of the Craftsmen get hired to renovate certain aspects of brownstones or to recreate historic architectural aspects within existing structures. The studios serve the local music community, as do the photographers and web designers. Most of us need commercial space to do what we do. 24/7 access/make noise/use heavy machinery. So when people say- just move somewhere else- its not as easy as say, moving your apartment or condo. Plus- we pay taxes too! I would think its in the best interest of the city to keep successful businesses within its borders…
We aren’t crying out against progress and, we are not against development at all. We just feel that with all the talent in the building- that we can do it better. The plan that has been drawn by an architect in the building basically incorporates all the comments I’ve read above, and much, much more. It has a very European flair with a lot of open space- mixed use commercial & residential and a very cool rehab of some of the existing structures. Its designed with the community in mind and is very “welcoming” to the neighborhood. This will be made public soon. It’s without a doubt something that anyone who owns property around the building should be very, very excited about.
24. matt_72 | August 19th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
jscirish27 wrote:
They aren’t “building non-stop”. They are replacing 1 structure w/ a larger one. This isn’t water absorbing pastureland being paved over. It is one giant non-water absorbing concrete & steel structure replacing an existing giant non-water absorbing structure. It should not substantially tax any sewer or water infrastructure much beyond how taxed it already is.
25. jscirish27 | August 19th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Matt, pressure is not the only component. Volume figures in as well. It is like an electrical system. With more usage, pressure, ie voltage drops, but volume, ie. amperage increases, causing the wiring systems to fail (as in the case of brown-outs). The more water that flows through these antiquated pipes, the more problems. All I am saying is you cannot continue developing property unabatedly without improvements in the infrastructure.
26. hobores | August 19th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
what really pisses me off is that citizen groups have to raise money and fight the mayors office. They lie and turn back on the promises and put the onus on the citizens to get them to do the right thing. from parks, to variances to issues like these, its always seems that the people of the town have to get together, hire lawyers, planners etc, raise money just to get the city officials to do the right thing.
they probably know that they can wear down most of these groups, because lets be honest, how many of us have time to devote to these ever growing list of issues we need to fight for!
27. Reformerus_Gianticus | August 19th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
hobores wrote:
Bingo! You got it! They wear you down over time. There is too much at stake monetarily for the HCDO and the Hudson county machine to give up. They know eventually their time is up at some point and hence the rush to get all these projects developed and put in.
28. matt_72 | August 19th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
jscirish27 wrote:
And with 100 year old pipes, you could do NO development and have just as many pipes burst. The watermains aren’t bursting b/c of the development, it is the 100 years of corrosion. Every city in America w/ pipes this old has the exact same problem. It happens in old neighborhoods where there is no development just as it happens in neighborhoods where 10 story buildings replaced brick brownstones.
29. dawnrose | August 19th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
#3: I wonder who Helen Manogue is myself. I wonder as well how she got my e-mail address. The lady with the walker at the council meetings,I believe her name is Helen Hirsch.
30. Red Haven | August 19th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Helen Manogue is the head of the Quality of Life Coalition. She’s been an activist in town for over 40 years. In 1970 Manogue formed the Hoboken Environment Committee, which succussfully fought the plan to convert Northern Hoboken into a giant oil tank farm. Picture in this thread:
http://hoboken411.com/archives/9203
estevens posted this video a while back as well:
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v1218261xrbAQFkM
Hope that clears things up.
31. dont-cha-know | August 19th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
hobores wrote:
All true. However, there is a history here of successful community opposition to some major projects, i.e. the Pier A towers, the Light Rail on the waterfront, and the North Pier. Because this is a relatively small, self-contained city, with such a strong sense of place, when enough people are galvanized and band together on an issue, it is possible to turn these things around. That’s why it’s essential for anyone who cares about Neumann to show up for the meeting tonight. This is not a done deal yet.
32. hobores | August 19th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
yes, i agree, we cant give up on these issue and let this shameless government office use Hoboken’s tax payer’s money as their own piggy back. i do like the fact that there are several groups who are very alert on these issue and put up a strong showing at City Council, planning board, zoning board, etc meetings. It is a pity that the mayor just runs in, promises more crap and runs away before anyone has a chance to ask a question.
33. Matrix | August 20th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
the building is old and is a eyesore, tear it down and put up a beutiful condo building.
its had a good run now its time to rip it down and class up the area
34. maffy | August 23rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Matrix wrote:
The architectural plan of the Neumann tenants themselves solves ALL problems.
First, it preserves all that is actually beautiful about the complex and tears down the rest. As with many historical buildings that get a facelift, it will be beautiful.
Second, the tenants’ plan incorporates new condo buildings as well in areas that will be torn down and in the existing parking lot.
And third, the tenants’ plan also features a beautiful center “piazza” that will be a boon to the community at large. This beautiful open area already exists in the complex and can be home to shops, restaurants, cafes, etc., with the right planning.
Keep in mind that artists and light industry help stabilize a community. They’re why people started moving to Hoboken in the first place. Once they’re gone, that’s it, and Hoboken becomes just another indistinguishable city.
Also keep in mind that most of the artists and musicians who “settled” the city 20 to 30 years ago are long gone. Saving Neumann is saving part of Hoboken’s heritage. If society keeps tearing itself down with no regard for the past, we’ll no longer know who we are, where we came from, or why we’re here.
A respect for history and continuing creativity creates a much-needed sense of feeling rooted, invested and belonging.
Simply putting up “a beautiful condo buidling” in place of Neumann does not necessarily “class up the area.” If anything, it could have the opposite effect.
35. truth1 | September 21st, 2008 at 5:39 pm
This building is old and has outlived its usefullness; tear it down and put up a conventional tax paying condo. building with off street PARKING.
As for Mayor Roberts, he has no use. With our city under state supvervision and with a current deficit of over $20 Mil., he should do the honorable thing and resign. He does not have to fall on his sword to finally do the right thing!
36. Tama Murden | September 21st, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Re 35., What makes you think Neumann isn’t tax-paying? And that tenants aren’t paying market-rate rents? Commercial rents aren’t rent-controlled, did you know?
Because it’s “old,” that means it’s “outlived” its usefulness?
And who might build & then buy the condos, given the plethora on the Hoboken market & the current economic climate?
37. moe | September 22nd, 2008 at 6:46 am
truth1 wrote:
Hmmm….under that logic we should start condemning brownstones…
The mayor’s house does pay much in taxes and is pretty old - I guess it should be taken via eminent domain at its assessed value and converted to condos.
We could then move on to the various council peoples properties..i bet if we took them all at their assessed value and resold at market, our budget gap would disappear