Secaucus Wins Damascus Suit
Aug 25th, 2010 | By Greg Hazley | Category: On tapA U.S. District Court ruled in favor of Secaucus on Tuesday in a three-year-old civil complaint against the town over abandoned plans by Brooklyn-based Damascus Bakery to build a facility on Enterprise Avenue.
Damascus alleged in its $5M suit that it was subjected to “political maneuvering, stonewalling and corruption” as it sought a building permit before abandoning plans for the 10 Enterprise Ave. warehouse site in Secaucus.
The company, which said it lost business as it had to look elsewhere to expand, was granted a permit by the Meadowlands Commission before the town filed a suit to block the project amid public outcry as Damascus had to get a building permit from Secaucus, as well.
Judge William Martini of the U.S. District Court in Newark granted a summary judgment for the Town of Secaucus, the Secaucus Municipal Utility Authority, and town officials Aug. 25 noting that “viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Damascus, the court finds that [Secaucus'] behavior does not ‘shock the conscience’ or lack a rational basis, such that it rises to the level of a constitutional violation.”
Among the town officials named in the suit were former Mayor Dennis Elwell, construction code official and state assemblyman Vincent Prieto, fire official Vincent Massaro, and former town attorney Frank Leanza.
Copy of the judge’s decision (PDF).
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Please let us all not forget it was Dennis Elwell who stood up to this corporation on behalf of our neighborhood. Mike Gonnelli and the Meadowlands Commission stood by and did nothing to help us. Mike waited for all the smoke to clear before he even came out on the issue. Mayor Gonnelli please learn something from this law suit. Keep your ego in the closet and always do the right thing for the people of Secaucus. Thank you Dennis Elwell.
Dennis Elwell stood up to Damascus Bakery because they refused to give him a kickback. Lets remember, Dennis only did things that would benifit him.
I was present at the special meeting where ther town hired the attorney for this case. Mayor Elwell stated at that meeting that the entire council was in agreement. He also stated that Mike Gonnelli, because he was a NJMC Commissioner, must abstain on the vote. It was also explained that if a vote had to go before the Commission, Gonnelli could have been prevented from voting there and protecting our interests, had he offciially indicated a preference at that special council meeting. Mike Gonnelli did 100% the right thing. Even Elwell agreed and that says a lot. To all the Gonnelli haters who can’t stomach the fact that he’s the mayor, just move on.
Let’s not forget about Elwell’s push for the Wal-mart gas station. He also knew about the Crown Plaza dumping raw sewage into the river. Where was Mr. Standup for that? The only one that should learn something is Dennis Elwell on how not to be taken away in handcuffs.
This town cut their noses off to spite their faces. We could have used the jobs that this bakery would have generated.
Instead of a bakery, which would have been permanent jobs, we got a short term stay from the production company of a now cancelled TV show.
IF THE COMMISSIONERS ON THE NJMC COMMISSION LIVED NEAR THE PROPOSED BAKERY SITE,ILL BET THE APPROVAL WOULD HAVE BEEN DENIED.DENNIS DID THE RIGHT THING,LETS GIVE CREDIT WHERE ITS DUE.THE NJMC SHOULD HAVE ASKED HARTZ TO FIND A BETTER SITE ,THEN YES WE WOULD HAVE HAD MORE JOBS IN TOWN.THE NJMC PLANNED POORLY,NOT THE TOWN.
What about the sewers alarm clock? LOL
RUKIDDING
ON THE SEWERS— IF YOU HAVE PROOF DENNIS KNEW ABOUT THE SEWERS LEAKING YOU SHOULD CONTACT THE ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE. I WAS AT THE GRAND JURY HEARING, NO ONE SAID ANYTHING ABOUT DENNIS HAVING ANY KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROBLEM.I TESTIFIED AS A WITNESS FOR THE STATE , THEY SAID THEY HEARD I WAS THE EXPERT ON THE SEWERS IN SECAUCUS.DID YOU TESTIFY ABOUT DENNIS?
PS —THE 1.5MILLION DOLLAR FINE WAS REDUCED TO 75K LESS THAN WHAT IT WOULD HAVE COST TO HIRE ENGINEERS AND LAWYERS TO DEFEND THE CASE.WHY WAS THE FINE REDUCED SO LOW ?
You’re an unemployed expert, LOL. And yes, Dennis did talk about the Crown Plaza problem in the FBI tapes with Dwek.
RUKIDDING
DENNIS TOLD DWEK THAT A HOTEL IN TOWN WAS FACING LARGE FINES. THIS WAS AFTER THE DEP WAS ON THE SCENE.THERE WAS NOTHING ABOUT KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROBLEM PRIOR TO THE INVESTIGATION OF THE CROWNE PLAZA.HE SAID DWEK MIGHT BE BETTER OFF BUYING THIS HOTEL INSTEAD OF BUILDING ONE.IF DENNIS WAS SHAKING DOWN DWEK FOR HELPING WITH THE APPROVALS WHY DID HE MENTION TO DWEK ABOUT BUYING THE HOTEL,IF DWEK BOUGHT THE CROWNE PLAZA HE WOULD NOT NEED DENNIS.A SHAKE DOWN ARTIST WOULD STRING DWEK ALONG AND KEEP GETTING MONEY,SO WHY TELL DWEK ABOUT THE CROWNE PLAZA PROBLEM,A POSSIBLE GOOD BUY.