Hoboken Councilman: Mayor’s Security ‘Barred’ Me From Meeting

HOBOKEN, NJ — Should a Hoboken councilman have been allowed to attend a community meeting at an apartment complex in his home district… even though only residents of the building were invited?

On Wednesday evening, Councilman Michael DeFusco reported that he was “barred” from entering a community meeting at the Marineview Plaza apartments. The meeting – which was held “for residents only” – featured an appearance from Bhalla, who narrowly eked out DeFusco in last November’s mayoral election.

After being turned away at the door of the Marineview Plaza Community Room, a steamed DeFusco posted the following message on Twitter:

“So I’ve been barred from entering a community meeting in my home district by the taxpayer funded security detail assigned to @RaviBhalla and two tax funded city employees. What is the mayor so afraid of? Misuse of official office. #Hoboken”

DeFusco elaborated on the situation in the comments section of his post:

“They claimed it was a private event even though 3 public employees were present — Mayor’s Chief of Staff, constituent services chief and his personal taxpayer funded security detain. This was quite obviously a city event I was prohibited from entering.”

When asked “what kind of meeting” it was, DeFusco wrote:

“A community meeting at Marineview Plaza to discuss local issues. The mayor’s two chiefs of staff along with constituent services chief were all present. The invite used an official city logo + provided an official http://Hoboken.gov email address for questions.”

At least one community member sided with DeFusco, writing: “Nothing says transparency and honesty like barring the public and elected officials from government meetings.”

DeFusco explained more about his allegations - and why they matter to local residents - in a Thursday email to Patch:

"The event was planned using city resources and attended by the mayor’s taxpayer-funded staff, including Chief of Staff John Allen, Deputy Chief of Staff Jason Freeman and Constituent Services Chief Caroline Caulfield, as well as the mayor’s security detail. Further, Mayor Bhalla’s event was advertised with a flier that included the city logo and city government email address for a member of his staff. Had the event been political in nature, and thus private, city resources could not be used without triggering a violation of campaign finance law. However, the mayor’s use of city resources to plan and execute the event clearly shows that it was not a private political function, but rather a city event that should have been open to all. This was clearly a city event given the resources expended and it’s outrageous that Mayor Bhalla would bar a fellow elected official from attending."

The councilman added:

"This action is yet another example of this administration's inability to work through the political divide to benefit residents, and this kind of pettiness does nothing to move Hoboken forward. I am trying to work with the mayor to help my ward and move things forward but he’s unable to put politics behind us, and it’s frustrating and hurtful to see this level of obstructionism when we could be working together to tackle important issues like reducing flooding, supporting local businesses and improving municipal services."

BHALLA: ‘A GREAT DISCUSSION’

Bhalla mentioned the meeting in a Twitter post, stating that it was a “great night” and a “great discussion.”

He shared a flyer for the meeting, which was stamped with a City of Hoboken logo and refers further questions to Caroline Caulfield, the city’s recently installed Constituent Affairs chief. The flyer also states the meeting is “for Marineview Plaza residents only" (see below).

Patch reached out to Bhalla for comment about the meeting and DeFusco’s allegations. A spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office provided Patch with the following statement:

“The meeting was not open to the general public, and no council members were invited, whether they represent a specific ward or the entire city as at-large council members. It was specifically for residents of Marineview Plaza to speak directly with Mayor Bhalla about issues impacting their building and community. The Constituent Affairs chief and CoS were there to help address and resolve any of the residents' concerns. To the extent that Mayor Bhalla was a guest in their building, he respected the wishes of the community by only opening it up to residents.”

The spokesperson added that the Constituent Affairs office received an email “signed by multiple MVP residents” which stated that they planned to “walk out” of the meeting if DeFusco showed up. The names attached to the email were redacted out of privacy concerns.

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Photos: City of Hoboken