UPDATE: Mayor McCarthy called to protest our headline, and on second thought, we agreed. [The Editors]
Remember the protracted legal battle that stopped the Bloomfield Center redevelopment project dead in its tracks? Well, get ready for Round Two.
The town has decided that the triangular parcel of land bordered by Lackawanna Place, Washington Street and Glenwood Ave. should be the site of a parking deck, and they're negotiating with one of the angriest plaintiffs in the first fight, Tony Ellenbogen, to buy his property.
But the council has already drafted an ordinance giving Bloomfield's Parking Authority eminent domain if Ellenbogen doesn't come to an agreement with them. And Ellenbogen says that's no way to negotiate.
Mayor McCarthy, reached today by telephone, says the town will pay 100 percent of market value for Ellenbogen's property, which includes the now closed Animal Instinct business and the parking lot next to it.
"He's quite a sport," Ellenbogen retorted. "Offering me 100 percent of market value when I don't want to sell."
"To use eminent domain as leverage to make me sell defeats the idea of good faith negotiations," he added.
Ellenbogen, whose property is directly across from the train station, compares his location to "Boardwalk and Park Place" and says that during the last eminent domain battle, he was only offered about $200,000 for it. He paid a little more than that when he bought the property in 1993, before New Jersey Transit rolled out its Midtown Direct service.
Ellenbogen points to the Seven Hills restaurant, recently purchased for $2.1 million, as a closer comparable.
Mayor McCarthy says the plan to build the parking deck on the parcel including Ellenbogen's property was driven by community input, including the meetings last fall that involved stickers on a wall.
"This is a plan that is community based," McCarthy said. "It's not Ellenbogen driven. It's driven by the numbers. We're bending over backwards to make sure we can appease Mr. Ellenbogen."
Ellenbogen argued, in a letter to the council, that "2-3 dozen people putting green dots on posters" is "not a mandate, nor a public majority." He views the new eminent domain threat as an "end around" of the previous court settlement. He points out that the Farrand Street parking lot, a few hundred feet from his property, was considered a perfectly suitable parking space when Forest Cities was still in the picture. Forest Cities, meanwhile, is suing Bloomfield for $5 to $10 million over the previous legal fiasco.
"All I want is to be left alone with my property," Ellenbogen says. If the town uses eminent domain, "They will lose in court, and I will spent my last dollar" to fight them.
Digg
Delicious
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Comments (8)
So the City bought the 7 hills? I had heard the owner of Senoritas bought it.
This whole situation is a cluster-f*ck.
Nobody said town bought it. Just that that was the pricetag.
The Mayor is now saying the public's desire for more and better parking is really a mandate to use eminent domain to force out property owners. I don't recall the "coerce local property owners with eminent domain" option on the board. I imagine it would not have gotten a lot of stickers.
This is the same strategy used last time and it was a very expensive failure.
Go Tony!!
Is it me or does this plan need more work?
lasermike --
The plan needs more work.
And, it's you.
Ah, ya gotta love our Ray. Frequently in error, but never in doubt.
What galls me is McCarthy's statement that "we're bending over backwards to make sure we can appease Mr. Ellenbogen."
No, Mr Ellenbogen is not someone to be appeased. Mr Ellenbogen is someone whose property rights are to be respected.
And that McCarthy should so characterize what little consideration they give to Mr Ellenbogen's property rights, indeed to the property rights of all the property owners, as "bending over backwards" reveals that his arrogance is undiminished, and he has learned nothing from the first time around.
I held my nose and voted for McCarthy last November despite my misgivings about him because I felt even greater trepidation towards John Lazar.
Now I'm wondering if I voted for the wrong guy. Or if it would have even made a difference.