Jersey City Reporter, June 25, 2000

Dear Editor:

This letter concerns the Jersey City Reporter story about the June 14, 2000 Jersey City Council meeting that approved zoning amendments to benefit United Diversified's proposed 43-story Millennium Towers project. You mentioned that I was ejected from the meeting. Your account of that incident was, however, incomplete and misleading.

Mia Scanga was addressing the council about its fiduciary duty to perform due diligence before altering the zoning to benefit United Diversified. One of the project's proponents pleaded guilty to bank fraud several years ago. Councilman Harvey Smith and Councilwoman Melissa Holloway interjected that we should not hold a felony conviction against the person, that he, having paid his debt to society, should be given another opportunity.

I was outraged by Smith's and Holloway's morally obtuse response to this issue. We're not talking about youthful indiscretions. We're talking about someone with a pattern of adult unsavory conduct and white-collar crime. I yelled, "There will be elections!" Pause. "We're taking you down next year!" This was a political threat, not a personal threat. I do not, for a nano-second, wish personal harm to any of the council people. At that point, I was ushered out of the council chamber.

I have been urging my friends and other concerned citizens to think ahead to next year's elections for mayor and city council. Evidently, Mayor Schundler, City Council President Tom DeGise, and their allies on the council feel free to flout reasonable ethical standards and good management practice. We must campaign to vote them out of office.

Steve Lanset
Jersey City