Jersey City Wrongfully declares eminent domain
Please read this letter and show support for your neighbors by spreading the word (it is as easy as clicking the like link above). Tell the administration that it is wrong to take property from home owners just because you feel like it. 18 of these homes are in great condition and 35 in good/average condition. This land will not be used to build a road or a school. This is the government robbing the people. Property rights are one of the cornerstones of our country. Below is the letter being sent to homeowners as well as the letter being sent to the administration by Committee person and community activist John Hanussak .
Letter being sent by the administration (only 19 were identified as poor condition)
Letter sent to the administration by community activist John Hanussak
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is John Hanussak Democratic Committee representative for Ward C district 13 and all around community activist. I attended a meeting this evening, July 14th at St Peters College that targeted homeowners potentially effected by this plan. Although I was not able to identify it within the agenda document itself, it was stated at this meeting that this will be voted on by the council on July 20th. To cut to the chase:
Under the current plan, I urge you to either remove it from the agenda for further discussion, or instruct Bob Cotter's department to revise this plan!!!!!!
This meeting had homeowners who were HORRIFIED!!!!!! A redevelopment plan for a neighborhood is supposed to give constituents in the specific area hope for a better neighborhood. It surely is not to make them feel unwanted and pushed out. Who is the redevelopment for then? Newcomers while the current residents are pushed out? Further, the very people this would push out would be the core residents of the neighborhood. I was witness to various testimonies about how home owners put their own blood sweat and tears into their homes. And for them to even have a notion that they will be pushed out of the very homes and neighborhoods they care so deeply about is simply not morally or ethically sound.
A plan like this in its current form will forever change some of the very reasons many of you claim you are so proud of Jersey City. This city is highly ethnically diverse. With that comes a financially diverse community as well. If this plan is approved in its current form, most of these residents will most likely need to move out of Jersey City entirely. With a property revaluation looming over the heads of property owners in Jersey City as it is, an act that even now has residents vowing to move out of Jersey City, can we afford to push even MORE people out of our beloved home we call Jersey City?
Most residents, even the homeowners potentially effected understand the need for redevelopment. Homes that are in grave disrepair or simply are abandoned should be the only homes included in this plan. (Of the 52 properties identified, 19 were categorized as being in poor condition.) Homes that are generally well kept by decent respectable homeowners should remain untouched not only to ensure Jersey City keeps its diversity, but also to ensure that we all acknowledge that you cannot put a price on how this could effect a family and how something like this could possibly destroy them. I would like to think that our city council will take the higher road and while looking to grow the McGinley Square neighborhood, they also ensure families are not destroyed by something like this.
Again, please ensure this is not passed in its current form.
John Hannusak
