Newark - NY Times - Booker praises freeze on no-bid sales of Newark property

*
Published in the New York Times, Thursday, June 1, 2006

June 1, 2006

Booker Praises Freeze on No-Bid Sales of Newark Property

By TINA KELLEY

NEWARK, May 31 — A state judge has temporarily frozen the sales of city-owned properties that had not been offered for public bidding, a decision that Mayor-elect Cory Booker called "a tremendous victory for all of Newark."

Mr. Booker, who sought the restraining order, said on Wednesday that it affected "dozens if not hundreds" of properties.

The administration of Mayor Sharpe James has been selling land for $4 per square foot or less to private developers who planned to build one- to three-family houses, then sell them on the open market. Mr. Booker, who is to take office on July 1, called the plan "nonsensical" and "a last-minute fire sale."

"The city has been shortchanging its citizens of millions if not tens of millions of dollars," Mr. Booker said, adding that such money could have been spent on police officers, schools and improvements to the city's infrastructure.

Mark Alexander, a lawyer for Mr. Booker, said that the lawsuit named WLB Realty and that a principal owner of the firm, the Rev. Levin B. West, had contributed more than $4,000 to Mayor James and other city officials since May 2005. Mr. Alexander said Mr. West is prohibited from obtaining a no-bid real estate contract under pay-to-play laws that require political contributors to participate in open bidding processes.

The temporary restraining order, issued by Judge Patricia K. Costello of Superior Court in Essex County, remains in effect until June 15, when the judge will hear further arguments in the lawsuit. It was filed on Tuesday by Mr. Booker and several citizens and names Mayor James, the City Council, officials responsible for development and more than a dozen developers as defendants. Efforts to reach Mr. West on Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Land in Newark is being offered for between 4 and 40 times the city's price, said Vito A. Gagliardi Jr., one of a team of lawyers and real estate experts Mr. Booker said were working on the suit without pay. One of the defendants in the lawsuit was in the process of buying 14 properties, Mr. Gagliardi said, adding that the pace of the sales increased after Mr. Booker was elected May 9 in a race against a former deputy mayor, Ronald L. Rice.

Mayor James interpreted the ruling as an affront to home rule. "We will immediately appeal this pinnacle of judicial and political ongoing interference with Newark's and any municipality's right to govern itself during a century-old process of transition," Mr. James said in a statement.

The city's lawyer, Joanne Watson, said in a statement: "The City of Newark is of the firm position that it has conducted itself within the confines of state law when it authorized the sale of city-owned properties to private developers. The governing body is clearly vested with the authority to adopt legislation which transfers city property to developers."

Mr. Booker called the property sales "an affront to our moral standards," adding, "I say this is a moral crime and a missed opportunity."

"This is the beginning of a fight to change the practices and policies of this city," Mr. Booker said, adding later, "If people are going to say I'm pugilistic, so be it."

The mayor-elect spoke at one of the properties in question, a weedy, glass-strewn lot near the intersection of McCarter Highway and Route 78. Under the city's plan, that lot of about 4,800 square feet, could be sold for about $19,200.

Deborah Boone-Coy, a lifelong resident of the city and a plaintiff in the suit, criticized what she called the low prices the city offered to private developers.

"If that were available to others," she said, "you would have streams of people that want to have access to that opportunity."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/01/nyregion/01newark.html?pagewanted=print

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)