This Arrest is good news for JC. Hopefully the local politicians take note and understand that the new downtown JC residents have the ability to take them down if need be. The Feds are already in town for the questionable property dealings it wouldn't take much to broaden the investigation.
Corrupt elected officials beware this is a new JC!!

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Hopefully they'll snag the 3 primary crooks; Lipski, Hyman and Mark Munley.

Jersey City selling a $15M property for $700k. Corruption at its finest.

Did council votes unfairly help developer?
Feds subpoena documents on downtown site

Hudson Reporter
by Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter Staff Writer

FLINTKOTE SITE INVESTIGATED ? In 2004, this parcel of land, now the location of Gulls Cove, located behind the Boys and Girls Club in Jersey City was the subject of much debate in the City Council. After the City Council helped out the developer with votes in 2002 and 2004, it is the subject of a federal investigation.

Sources confirmed last week that federal investigators subpoenaed documents in October pertaining to the intended development of a 4-acre property at the intersection of Grand Street and Marin Boulevard.

The former owner of the downtown property was able to sell it to another developer in 2004 for $25 million, but only after the City Council took two specific votes related to the land in 2002 and 2004.

The ?Flintkote site,? so named because the Flintkote paint factory was once located there, was the subject of controversy at a March 10, 2004 City Council meeting when the land?s then-owner, New York developer Steve Hyman, said he would give up different property that the city wanted, if only the city would give him a 20-year tax abatement on developing the Flintkote site.

A tax abatement is a separate deal that developers make with cities to pay a certain fee each year rather than regular fluctuating property taxes.

Hyman was hoping to sell the Flintkote property to Hoboken developer Dean Geibel for $25 million, but in order for the deal to go through, he needed the abatement.

Hyman is also one of the owners of the Sixth Street Embankment, a former railroad embankment that has been a subject of controversy because the city and local activists would like to keep it as open space. Hyman would like to put two-family homes on it. The Embankment was what he offered to give up developing if he could get the Flintkote abatement.

At the March 2004 meeting, the council declined the offer and voted down the abatement ? at least, for the time being.

Months later, in September, the council approved the abatement by a 5-3 vote.

Hyman then sold the property to Geibel, who built the Gull?s Cove condo project there.

Councilman doesn?t know

Sources said the feds may be looking at whether Hyman had any influence over the councilpersons who voted in favor of the abatement.

Hyman could not be reached for comment on the investigation last week. However, City Councilman Steve Lipski, one of the councilpersons who voted in favor of the 2004 abatement and who had been a recipient of Hyman?s campaign donations, said he was ?absolutely clueless? about the investigation into Flintkote.

Also an issue at 2002 meeting

The Flintkote property was a sticky issue for a number of years, going back to Hyman?s litigation with the city in the 1990s during former Mayor Bret Schundler?s administration.

That was because Hyman was not allowed to build on his property, since it was located in the Liberty Harbor North Redevelopment Area, which had specific zoning. That designation would have allowed the city to purchase the property under eminent domain at a price far below its market value.

The council voted in May 2002 to remove the property from the specified redevelopment area, which would allow Hyman to develop the property as he wished.

But when the change was brought to light in 2004, some council members said that the 2002 vote was a mistake, because they didn?t realize which property they were voting on. They said the property was listed only by its lot and block coordinates rather than by the name ?Flintkote.?

At the time, council members such as Ward D Councilman William Gaughan blamed Mark Munley, the former head of the city?s Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce, for playing a part in having the property taken out of the redevelopment area, noting that Munley had been a business associate of Hyman?s.

Gaughan claimed the council had been ?snookered? by ?false advertising?

Just before the September 2004 meeting when the abatement was approved, the state?s Department of Community Affairs did an ethics inquiry at the request of the City Council on the role of Munley in the removal of the property from the redevelopment plan.

The council found no evidence of wrongdoing on Munley?s part.

As noted in a Sept. 26, 2004 Jersey City Reporter article, Councilman Lipski voted in favor of the abatement at the September meeting, saying that it was ?a good abatement.? However, he had voted against it in March, saying there were too many unresolved questions.

When Lipski championed the abatement in September, he also challenged its critics, including former State Assemblyman Louis Manzo, who in letters to the City Council criticized the abatement and suggested that granting it would be a possible ?pay-to-play? issue (in other words, a reward for a donation).

At the time, Lipski was running for mayor in the 2004 special mayoral election, which current Mayor Jerramiah Healy won. At least one Lipski critic tried to tag him during the election with the nickname ?Fred Flintkote.?

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One of their names rhymes with Flipski.

Apparently, $118,873.00 for one.

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From Jersey Journal...

Subpoena lands - Who'll be hearing 'Gotcha!'?
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Y ou can almost hear Sonny and Cher singing "I've Got You Babe" as we wake up to another Groundhog Day and find that once again, the feds are in Jersey City.

All we know for sure is that U.S. Attorney Chris Christie delivered an Oct. 16 subpoena to the city asking for everything the Planning Department has on the waterfront property once known as Flintkote.

In a very big nutshell, New York developer Steve Hyman had these 3.5 acres of former Flintkote land that were going to be grabbed by the city through eminent domain for a Liberty Harbor North plan to build a waterfront community.

Then Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham's Housing, Economic Development and Commerce director, Mark Munley, initiates and signs an ordinance that goes before the 2002 version of the City Council, which approves it in December. The measure takes the property out of the redevelopment plan, allowing Hyman to keep the parcel that is assessed at $770,000 but is probably worth closer to $15 million.

Munley once had business ties with Hyman, but city lawyers say they don't see a conflict.

Come September 2004, the City Council decides to approve a tax abatement for the property, allowing a $25 million sale of the land to Hoboken-based developer Dean Geibel.

Earlier that year, when Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham was alive, the City Council had voted 7-1 against the tax abatement. In September, after Cunningham died, the Council approved it by a 4-3-1 vote. Then-Councilman Jerramiah Healy abstained.

Coincidentally, Councilman Bill Gaughan chose not to show up for the tax abatement vote. Gaughan's presence was required elsewhere. By the way, the councilman playfully refers to former Union City Mayor Rudy Garcia as "my son." Garcia - coincidentally - was also a lobbyist for Geibel,

We're not implying anything untoward happened in any of this. Just that there were some coincidences.

"They say we're too young to know . I got you babe."


ONE AND ONE IS TWO, ETC.


This subpoena business brings to mind Councilman Steve Lipski's relationship with Hyman and his love for numbers.

On Thursday, Lipski said he knew nothing about the federal prosecutor's request. He said all that business happened before he decided to run for mayor in 2004 in a special election in November.

Hyman played a role in Lipski's run for the city's top spot. The problem is that Lipski's state ELEC reports on his campaign finances, where Hyman is mentioned, is tough to understand, confusing.

He filed the financial reports in January 2008. Lipski said he was reminded of his legal obligation at a City Council caucus when Downtown Councilman Steven Fulop told him he was tired of waiting to see his reports.

Lipski tried to explain their contents.

I ask: "Well, what about this $75,873 which is listed under outstanding obligation column and is categorized as a refund due of excessive contribution? The creditor is listed as Steven Hyman."

Lipski said he had to pay his political media consultant Sheinkopt Ltd. of New York, which supposedly came up with that cute ad attacking then-mayoral candidate Louis Manzo using hooded KKK figures.

"I had to pay him in advance," said Lipski of the consultant.

He said he had a running tab with an outfit called Platinum Design, owned by Hyman's wife Vickie, which Lipski said provided him with literature for mailers.

"Well, Hyman paid Sheinkopt and Sheinkopt paid it back to us, and because Vickie was closing down her business and wanted to close the books, we paid her," he said, confusing me further.

Presumably, this is why Sheinkopt Ltd. is listed under refunded disbursements as having paid back that same $75,873 to Lipski.

Let's forget all that. What about this $43,000 loan that you made to yourself on Nov. 4, 2004?

"Tell me about it," said Lipski. "I'm still paying that back."

Ba-da-boom!



?2008 Jersey Journal
? 2008 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.

Does anyone know who the 3 councilmen who changed their abatement vote from Nay to Aye after 6 months are?

Any guesses on the cost to Hyman on a per capita basis for these 3 votes?

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YUP!

That is some ROI! God bless America.

FEDS SNIFF OUT CITY DOCS ON PROPERTY
Seek info about site that stirred controversy 4 years ago

Friday, November 21, 2008
By AGUSTIN TORRES
Jersey Journal
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

Federal investigators have subpoenaed Jersey City planning documents concerning a waterfront parcel of land known as the former Flintkote property that was the center of several momentous city government decisions, including a controversial tax abatement in 2004.

The subpoena from U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie was dated Oct. 16 with a return date of Nov. 4, according to several sources.

But given the scope of the request, city officials have requested more time to prepare and copy all the relevant documents, sources said. The federal prosecutor does not comment about the existence of an investigation or a subpoena.

Yesterday, New York developer Steven Hyman, who then owned the property in question, was asked if he's heard about an investigation. "No . I'm not aware of anything going on with Flintkote," Hyman said.

City Planner Robert Cotter had no comment.

Most city officials were attending the League of Municipalities Convention in Atlantic City and could not be reached or did not return calls.

The former Flintkote property is a prime piece of Downtown real estate at the corner of Luis Munoz Marin Boulevard and Grand Street. It is now owned by Hoboken developer Dean Geibel, who has built the Gull's Cove condo enclave.

The land's controversial history goes back to when Hyman brought a lawsuit against the city in 1994 to remove the parcel from a Jersey City Redevelopment Agency Liberty Harbor North Redevelopment plan calling for a 28-block-long mixed-use waterfront community.

Left in the plan, the property would have been subject to eminent domain. While city officials pegged the land's assessed value at $700,000, sources back then with knowledge of waterfront property values said it was worth closer to $15 million on the open market.

On Dec. 12, 2002, the City Council approved an ordinance, which newly appointed Housing, Economic Development & Commerce Director Mark Munley initiated and signed, that removed Flintkote from the redevelopment plan. It ended Hyman's lawsuit.

The previous July, Munley had revealed to the city he had had a previous business relationship with Hyman. After the December council vote, Munley never responded to The Jersey Journal about a possible conflict of interest and city Corporation Counsel Alexander Booth declared there was none.

Yesterday, Munley could not be reached for comment.

In 2004, Hyman sought City Council approval of a tax abatement for his property that would pave the way to selling it to Geibel for $25 million. In March 2004, the tax abatement was voted down, 7-1, ignoring a last-minute offer by Hyman to transfer his rights to the Sixth Street Embankment to the city in exchange for abatement approval.

The City Council revisited the tax abatement request in September 2004 after Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham died in May. This time it was approved by a vote of 4-3 with one abstention.

Councilman Bill Gaughan, a vocal critic of Munley, did not attend the meeting, and Jerramiah T. Healy, now the mayor but a councilman at the time, abstained. Acting Mayor L. Harvey Smith's promised veto never happened.

Journal Night City Editor Ken Thorbourne contributed to this story.