I would like to respond to Brian Stack's ranting & ravings concerning 1501 Palisade Avenue and his subsequent full-page ad in the Hudson Reporter last week. Mr. Stack still does not get it! First, he gladly accepts the School Construction Corporation's offer to build schools in Union City. The Board of Education gives the SCC the "sites" to build on. In March 2003, the Board of Education announced that they would be building a "new" Columbus School.
In order to develop the empty lot in question, the owner had to solicit the Union City Planning Board, which has Stack as Chairman and Board of Education Vice President Alicia Morejon as the Vice Chair of the Planning Board. When the Planning Board sends the project off to the Board of Adjustment to get variances, including a density variance because the lot was too small for the building, still no alarm goes off.
Brian Stack sat in the State Legislature as an Assemblyman and listened to horror story after horror story regarding the SCC. At no time did Stack call for an investigation. It was not until the SCC filed a collusion suit in Union City and implicates him does he act.
Then it became everyone else's fault. When one of the Board of Adjustment's members admitted in his deposition that he was "told" how to vote, Stack throws the poor man under the bus by declaring that there would be things coming out about this member! Did I fail to mention that Stack's political organization - Union City First received a $5,000 donation from the owner of the property after the SCC purchased it? Well again, Stack claims that he donated the money to a homeless shelter.
The e-mails from the Board of Education are your proof? I believe they are dated six months after the city Planning Board and Board of Adjustment gave their approvals. That is the point! The city is responsible and has an obligation to know the area and the fact that you have the Board of Education Vice President on the Planning Board, there is no excuse for this error.
Brian, you are the mayor. The buck stops with you! We would have more respect for you if you admitted a mistake instead of claiming it everyone else. You can fool some of the people some of the time - but - but you cannot fool all of us on a continuous basis.
Frank R. Scarafile
Editor's note: Frank R. Scarafile is a candidate for mayor
Post a Comment