WHY DO THE TAX PAYERS HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS PROJECT WHY NOT PRIVATE DEVOLOPERS AND THEY WOULD PAY TAXES TO THE TOWN AND LOWER THE BIRDIN

the council and mayor need to be replaced. if they want this so bad let them personnaly guarantee the bonds.

there was not one mention of our taxes being lowered. if this doesn't work we will be paying more taxes and the politicians will have memory loss.

Where was the town hall meetings and impact study we were suppose to get before they voted on this. FIRE BAUMANN, THE SNAKE OIL SALESMAN!!! We have been lied to by this Mayor again!!! How convenient that Mr. Venezia wasn't there. I thought the Mayor would have waited until all Council members would have been there for this important vote, but no, let's just spend our money because no one will know until we are long off this council and moved out of town.

For the Mayor who brought this to a vote and broke his promise for a town hall meeting an a town-wide impact study, you lied again. Take your snake oil salesman Baumann and the both of you get the hell out of town!! SHAME ON BOTH OF YOU!!!

I feel sorry for the people of Bloomfield, I really do. I have many great memories of a beautiful town and while it is a bit battered now, I know it will be a great town once again...someday. I have been out-of-touch with that area, since I've moved to NC but, Bloomfield has/needs a Parking Authority?? Does Bloomfield really need a Parking Authority?? Please help me to also understand why in the world would an already over-burdened township, want to fund a parking garage when that burden should be solely on the developer?! And I apologize and mean no disrespect to anyone but seriously, a major announcement that a Foodtown and Subway are your best prospects so far?! Granted, the residents in that area do need a grocery store and I fear that a Foodtown is going to be the best they can ever hope for. There will never, ever be a "higher quality" store of any kind ( as residents may have been led to believe) such as a Trader Joes, for instance, when Montclair is only a couple miles up the hill...where the money is. That being said, this new development can attract really nice stores ( got to get far away from the nail salon, discount clothing stores Bloomfield ) and be a great success but, you need to question constantly your elected officials and and developer on all their "crystal ball" projections...look through all the promises and into the fine print, if you want the truth.

VinVett, from what I remember from reading a few years back, Bloomfield taxpayers were to pay for building and maintaining this parking garage under the managment of Parking Authority until it becomes profitable! Do we all see that there is something wrong there? If a parking garage is losing money-let the tax payers foot the bill, but once it makes money the BPA will keep the money. It really is a perfect scam and the citizens of Bloomfield are that dumb. (I am including myself in that group).

I was actually pleased to find a piece by Ms Penna that I mostly agreed with and that wasn't full of political retoric. That was until I got to the last two paragraphs.

I would agree that the mayor and the council have bungled the development, and I agree that it's insane that there are no tax revenues from this development to support our schools.

However, the last two paragraphs are obviously driven by politics and are a total cheap shot at the BOE and Board President. This particular board has actually been doing a good job keeping politics at bay and doing what's right for the kids and our schools. The board has been especially active in trying to get Bloomfiled's fair share of educational funding from the state, and they were successful keeping BOE elections in April to avoid the partisanship that occurs in November.

After all that has happened within our schools and the board over the last year, to say that the board is not sensitive to taxpayers and to suggest that they have been co-opted by the dem machine would suggest to me that the writer is either playing politics or has just not been paying attention.

I totally agree with Pete M. Penna has not strayed far from her roots as a local Tea Party founder. She apparently has a personal agenda against the BOE President that goes beyond any rationale for dragging her into this article. Makes one question the political agenda -- and the facts -- behind her numerous op-eds.

I too agreed with ms. penna until she got to the BOE President who has done and continuesto do an EXCELLENT job!

http://bloomfield.patch.com/articles/op-ed-help-fight-for-bloomfield-s-fair-share-of-educational-funding

we need to remind the mayor and council members they are not fiscal geniuses

Get rid of them all! This is disgusting. I can't believe that they are truly allowing all this to continue. Elections can't get here soon enough!

If I may, I'd like to set the record straight: I have spent twelve years of my life fighting inappropriate development in this town--and I'm not done yet. In 2000 I joined a small corps of dedicated people who raised tens of thousand of dollars to hire attorneys and experts to keep nearly 200 units of housing off of a FEMA-designated high-hazard flood area. Because of that fight, the township now owns 5.7 acres of that site, which was slated for 38 housing units, and NOT ONE BRICK has been placed on the other part--which is a battle that is hardly over. I volunteer many hours a week to tend to BOE business, often testing the limits of my family's patience, so I'm very grateful that others like Ms. Penna have finally stepped forward to keep up the pressure to guarantee that the township proceeds with development that will be in the long-range best interest of its citizens. We all make our own contributions as we are able. I know I will continue to do my part and will most certainly support Ms. Penna in hers. Meanwhile, her suggestion that I have "capitulated to the political machine I once rallied against" will most certainly be news to "the machine," if not somewhat comical.

I believe that no other issue is more important to the School Board than this issue and the school Board President must either assign a Board member to take the fight for our teachers, tax payers and students to the Developers and the town council or take the lead herself. We the residents are here to support her. I have supported and voted for Mrs. Shaughnessy three times and support the good work she has done. But when an issue that has been talked about since April continues to get little to no attention from the Board, what are we to think? I know there is much work that needs to be done at the BOE. But bring me one other issue that can cost the school system millions of dollars as this issue does?

Mrs. Shaughnessy we are ready to stand with the Board. Please act.

http://bloomfield.patch.com/articles/op-ed-cary-heller-discusses-town-redevelopment#photo-10766770

Ms. Penna--Slight correction, only two of the several projects have been extended tax breaks: the downtown redevelopment and the one at 225 Belleville Ave, which together include about 550 units. The smaller number does not change the fact that the district must fight for its fair share of tax revenue. In the long run, though, it is the township's responsibility to fund the schools through taxpayer dollars, no matter which pocket it is taken from. But again, I don't want to have further discussion on this topic until we more thoroughly research the implications of the facts.

Thank You Mrs. Shaughnessy for looking into the matter. I want you to know I and other concerned citizens stand ready to assist you in any way we can to deal with this issue. I would be happy to attend a town hall meeting, especially if this issue will be discussed. Please keep in mind that the town has just bonded another $5 million to give over for to the construction of the parking garage clearing the way for the beginning of construction. Time is important and people will be moving in before you know it. Thank you again for your honest answer and again I stand ready to help.

As this is not the first Parking Garage in history to ever be built, may I suggest we look at how other towns built and paid for similar sized projects and the revenues and or losses that resulted there.

they must feel by building a parking garage more upscale stores will come to Bloomfield like the Gap,Starbucks,Wholefoods,The Apple Store,Abercrombie & Fitch,a Loews Theater etc. I dont see it , i see them building the garage then having no top level store come in there then we will be back to square one starting all over again when it becomes a ghost town once again!

so what you're saying is that if whatever fills the space isn't a top drawer mall chain nothing else matters; interesting concept however one need to just look at Watchung Plaza in Montclair to realize that vibrant shopping districts can be achieved in suburbia with locally owned businesses; don't let the Teapartiers fool you into thinking that only the corporate overlords are the only ones who have the power to do anything

Yes- let's look at the strips of nail salons and "dollar stores" in Bloomfield and see exactly what John Lee is talking about...

then why are you directlng us to look at it???

So now we have God awful ugly parking garage in downtown Bloomfield . Can someone explain why its there. Montclair built their new parking lot because they needed it for the people going to restaurants and shops. We don't have that!!!!
Does anybody think that people are going to flock to downtown Bloomfield now that we have a new parking lot?
What are they going to do , sit in there cars ?
You have to attract people with businesses that are attractive. Dummies.

hey, I flocked over to look at the new parking garage, drove by cause there was no where I wanted to shop. oh well, another poorly planned project.

I think are town of Bloomfield, has moved into first place, as the worst run town in New Jersey.