Why should innocent property owners pay for Hoboken's financial mistakes?
03/13/2006 Hoboken Reporter

Dear Editor:

What an utterly asinine thing for Councilman Michael Cricco to infer that "it's time to pay the band" by taking property from innocent owners through eminent domain. Why should these particular owners have to pay the piper for years of financial mismanagement by successive city administrations, administrations that Mr. Cricco has been a part of and has supported on almost every issue. If PILOT payments are so good for us, why do we continue to see the City selling public assets to make up for budget deficits? How is it that the taxes collected from these developments don't compensate for the public services needed to support the additional population they draw to the City? Why did my tax bill go up this year, and why did the last tax bill not include an amount for the next quarterly payment? PILOT payments to the rescue? I am not holding my breath.

Dennis Rees