Council President Joel Pabon

PERTH AMBOY – Council President Joel Pabon made this statement to the Amboy Guardian regarding the Kushner lawsuit against the City of Perth Amboy: I find it hard to believe that Kushner turned around and sued us. I think it’s (the lawsuit) petty. It was pretty clear that revised plan called for too much parking on High Street. It was a lot of simple things. I know they (Kushner Representatives) didn’t want to put the parking at the bottom of the building because of the cost.

They should have worked with us. The City needs to sit down and see what can be done. I feel for the residents of Landings. I know they (Kushner Enterprise Representatives) were upset after the presentation they made at the 11/25/13 meeting. I thought they would work this out. Even if they had to scale it down, give us a chance to come back with something this City deserved. We’re going to have to sit down together. It becomes such a slow process. They sue us – we sue them. I don’t think any of us will be around at the end. Who wins here? Not Kushner, not the City, not the Landings Residents. The Residents there deserve to enjoy their home. If some decide to leave at this point they will not get anything near what they paid. We sit and hope that Kushner will come back to us and give us a plan we could work with.

Those people (Landings Residents) waited so long. Give those people an opportunity to enjoy what they worked for. The City has to look at what their options are. We hope that something gets built there – something good. We hope to look for a middle ground. It’s worth a try. If not, we need to sit down with the legal department. What are some of the options for the city at this point. We have to move forward, too.