Ed McKenna, former Red Bank Mayor and current Cedar Crossings Developer,recently had his third publicized car accident. Unlike previous incidents, this one resulted in an arrest with a court date scheduled in June. Ironically, he was arrested by State Troopers from Holmdel who many years ago tried unsuccessfully to interview him regarding a possible hit and run accident that occurred on the Parkway. The recent accident accuses him of drunk driving as well as driving in the wrong direction on the Parkway.
On February 16, 2012 Amboy Bank will seek approvals to subdivide their Courtyards Project on the corner of Monmouth/West/Oakland Streets. It was approved about 1 year ago for 57 condos. 45 of the condos would be market priced in one building and a second building would consist of 12 affordable units. On February 8th, 2012 Amboy Bank officials met with the Red Bank Borough Council in a closed session to discuss the development of the property and financing. Mayor Pat Menna was not present for this meeting. According to NJ open meeting laws there are only 9 reasons that a government can have a closed meeting. One such reason would be to discuss using public funds to acquire property. According to Amboy Bank representatives they need to subdivide the property in order to obtain financing and they also plan to develop the 2 subdivided pieces themselves.
Previously Red Bank purchased private property know as the Cedar Crossings with 2.4 million dollars of state grant money. This property was then sold to Red Bank Affordable Housing Corporation to build 36 affordable housing units and seems to have generated several hundred thousand dollars in surplus funds. This Corporation has members that include former Mayor Ed McKenna, William Katchen a CPA who has been banned in the past by the Federal Government related to public housing funds, and Frank Borin a lawyer with the Decotiis law firm who has taken several thousand dollars in fees from Red Bank Affordable Housing Corportation for his law firm. Ed McKenna has been at several approval meetings supporting the Amboy approvals and is also a representative of the Red Bank Rivercenter. Amboy Bank was able to obtain approvals in contrast to the vision of Red Bank Rivercenter’s plan to create street level retail along Monmouth Street between the train station and Broad Street.
The Federal Election Commission fined Amboy Bank and its CEO George Scharpf in 2003 for campaign donation violations. George Scharpf and Amboy Bank had a very close relationship with former Governor McGreevey and former NJ State Senator John Lynch. Lynch was sent to jail for fraud along with Red Bank resident Jack Westlake. Here is an excerpt from the book The Jersey Sting related to Amboy Bank. John Lynch was a major supporter of former Red Bank Mayor Ed McKenna. Here is an excerpt from an article in the bayshore courier news from a few years ago. Also, a 2000 race for the Monmouth County Democratic chairmanship pitted Red Bank Mayor Ed McKenna against Scudiery. McKenna received $5,000 from the New Directions PAC for the ultimately unsuccessful attempt. Lynch’s PAC has continued to support McKenna’s role as a Democratic leader in Monmouth County, contributing $9,700 to the Red Bank Democratic Party and $2,500 to the Monmouth County Council of Democrat Leaders PAC, a committee McKenna is affiliated with, since 2002. Below is a link to a campaign donation list for John Lynch’s New Directions PAC from 2002. The list is very lengthy and includes an executive with Amboy Bank and the McKenna Law Firm.
Is this possible Lynch connection more than a coincidence and could the idea of a Red Bank Transit Village come from Lynch. Ed McKenna has been supporting Amboy Bank to obtain higher than allowed density at the property located at Monmouth/West/Oakland Streets in Red Bank. Next week Amboy Bank goes before the zoning board to subdivide the affordable housing from the market units. Ed McKenna has a non-profit affordable housing corporation and is just finishing the cedar crossings project. The zoning was changed while Amboy Bank was in the process of foreclosing on the property formerly owned by George Coffenberg. Arguments by the borough engineer against the Coffenberg development was that it was too dense even though it followed the existing zoning laws. If they did not like 16 units per acre why would they change the zoning to 35 units per acre a year later? If you look at the original Coffenberg Courtyard approval process and compare what happened after Coffenberg gave the property back to Amboy Bank you will notice different treatments of the same property. Ed McKenna was appointed to the Red Bank Rivercenter at the same time that an approval by the zoning board was received to allow Amboy Bank to not follow the required special district zoning promoting street level retail from the train station to Broad Street. Amboy Bank also funded around $1 million in repairs to the 51 Monmouth Street Red Bank property which was the former Red Bank Police Station sold to Ed McKenna’s Kid’s Bridge charity for $1. Amboy Bank located at 36 Monmouth Street was listed as the address to make donations on behalf of the charity. The former police station building was transferred a year later to the Red Bank YMCA and now the Red Bank YMCA is selling the property to Red Bank Catholic for over $1 million. Interestingly enough is that George Scharpf CEO of Amboy Bank was in charge of the planned capital campaign to fund a new YMCA in Old Bridge which would be under the control of the Red Bank YMCA. Red Bank’s borough engineer, T & M of Middletown, was also the engineer for the YMCA project in Old Bridge. Even though Ed McKenna is no longer the Mayor of Red Bank he seems to have a lot of involvement in the way the town is run. Here he is celebrating last November’s election
After he wrote the last figures from the local districts on a running tally board, former Mayor Ed McKenna, who frequently taunts his opponents, jabbed his middle finger into the air. In a surprise move a week before the hearing to subdivide the affordable housing units from the market units, the Red Bank Council without the Mayor met in closed session to create a developers agreement for the affordable housing so that GS Realty which is part of Amboy bank can subdivide the land and obtain easier financing. It would seem a bank that owns all of the land would not need to subdivide the land nor find financing.
There is an interesting group of people involved with the Red Bank Affordable Housing. The members are Reverend Porter of the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Red Bank which would seem to make sense. A church located on Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank trying to create low-income housing and allow lower-income people to remain in the town. Other members are William Katchen from Cliffside Park in Bergen County NJ and Frank Borin of the Decotiis Law Firm in Bergen County NJ as well. There is also former Red Bank Mayor Ed McKenna as Vice President. William Katchen was suspended in the 1990 for 1 year by the Federal Government from participating in public housing due to the misappropriation of approximately 1.7 million dollars in public housing funds. The Decotiis Law Firm is a very politically connected law firm with direct access to many of New Jersey’s past governors. They also represented Encap, the largest waste of taxpayer dollars in the history of the state. Why would a local church group be involved with politically connected accountants and lawyers from North Jersey? If this was done solely for charity why would the Decotiis law firm charge the Red Bank Affordable Housing Corporation fees when they were also members of the corporation? Why did Ed McKenna as Mayor of Red Bank push for the town to acquire the property for more than fair market value as well as zoning changes only to become one of the developers? Why did Mayor Menna and Mayor McKenna claim that the Red Bank Housing Authority would develop the property when it was actually the Red Bank Affordable Housing Corporation that received the property for $1 and is a separate corporation from the town and the authority. The state taxpayers paid 2.45 million and the rationale was that the local taxpayers did not pay for it, so even if the property was over valued, it did not matter because this was “free money.” Here is an article outlining very similar parallels between Red Bank Affordable Housing Corporation and the Paramus Affordable Housing Corporation:
Another subpoena for mayor’s non-profit Friday, August 22, 2008 Last updated: Friday August 22, 2008, EDT 10:41 PM BY MICHAEL GARTLAND Staff Writer PARAMUS – A borough affordable housing corporation has received a subpoena from federal agents, municipal spokesman Keith Furlong confirmed today.
The subpoena, which was served Thursday, is the second in two months regarding the Paramus Affordable Housing Corp., a non-profit for which Mayor James Tedesco serves as president.
Dennis Oury, who served as the borough attorney from 2001 to 2007, is listed as the non-profit’s agent, according to state records. He also serves as counsel for the Bergen County Democratic Organization.
Federal agents served search warrants at his law offices Thursday, along with those of Joseph Ferriero, the BCDO chief. The agents seized at least 18 boxes of documents and computer hard drives.
Attorneys for both men confirmed that agents searched the offices for information about Governmental Grants Consulting, a firm in which Ferriero and Oury were partners with two other men – David Spatz, its president, and Leonard Kaiser, who also serves as Bergen County Utilities Authority Chairman.
Sean Quinn, a spokesman for the FBI, would not confirm today whether the subpoena and the search warrants were connected.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office served the borough with a subpoena in July, seeking records about Paramus Affordable Housing Corp.
According to 2007 tax records, Paramus Affordable Housing Corp. has assets worth about $2.4 million, although property tax records put the total at $3 million.
Tedesco, who has been mayor since 2003, and the non-profit’s accountant, William Katchen, have not responded to repeated requests for comment since the first subpoena was received.
Katchen, who once served as director of the Edgewater Municipal Utility Authority, also has worked for the housing authorities of Garfield, Cliffside Park, Edgewater, Englewood and the city of Passaic.
In 1990, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development slapped him with a one-year suspension after the Passaic Housing Authority misspent $1.7 million in taxpayer money. Katchen was the housing authority’s accountant.
Tedesco and Katchen’s aren’t the only names that appear on the non-profit’s tax forms.
Former Paramus Councilman Richard Lambert was listed as the non-profit’s secretary on its 2004 tax form, but Lambert said he ended his ties with the group after stepping down as a councilman in 2000.
“That’s crazy,” he said. “My name shouldn’t be there. I didn’t go to any meetings after I left.”
John Tashjian was listed as a trustee in 2004, but said he never attended any of the non-profit’s meetings.
Louis Romano appears on the form next to the designation of vice president. Romano, who has served on the borough’s Planning Board and Board of Adjustment, said he, too, was surprised his name appeared on the 2004 tax document.
“The mayor appointed me in ’05,” he said. “I was there a couple of months, and I resigned. It just wasn’t my bag.”
U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie has executed more than 30 subpoenas in North Jersey since May. Many of those have sought information related to Oury and Governmental Grants Consulting.
Federal authorities appear to be looking into how that firm’s principals used their political influence to obtain business for it.
Oury, who also is counsel for the Bergen County Improvement Authority, has held jobs in several towns, including Ridgefield and Bergenfield, both of which employed Governmental Grants Consulting.
In Bergen County, his public work generated $760,000 to $1.1 million in annual income for his law firm in each of the three previous calendar years. Oury has given at least $105,000 to Democratic candidates since 1999, most of it going to the BCDO.
Bergenfield fired Oury as its borough attorney in January, and Paramus reassigned him to a labor attorney position
It seems that William Katchen and the Decotiis Law Firm like to work on projects together:
The breakdown of sums paid to contractors for the Edgewater ferry/marina/park project through Jan. 16. In addition, the borough paid $6.1 million for the land, which was acquired through eminent domain.
It would be nice to understand why an application that was basically variance free and followed the recent River Center zoning requirements would encounter as many difficulties as it did. Former Red Bank Council Member and Zoning Board member, Monmouth County Freeholder John Curley, may have shed some light on the subject as well as why certain projects are approved while others are not. Here is his quote from Red Bank GreenCurley says he began to sour on the administration during his time on the zoning board. “It was, ‘yes, yes, yes’ right on around the table, and it was too simplified, too orchestrated,” he says. “And I knew who was getting the telephone calls, and who from, and told this was a ‘go’ deal or this was a ‘no’ deal.” He does not allege outright corruption, though. What is interesting about the Monmouth/West/Oakland Street property is that BLT had approvals for over 30 condos on a smaller site than mine as I acquired 1 additional lot that they were unable to buy yet they were concerned about the density of my project when they had approved a greater density for a smaller parcel previously. The density on the BLT project caused a lot of turmoil between the neighbors, the town and the developer. The BLT developers were also closely associated with the Red Bank Democratic Organization. Now after I lost the property to Amboy Bank the property was rezoned to 35 units per acre. The bank was able to obtain 57 units on the property without having to follow the Rivercenter plan of creating street level retail along Monmouth Street. Again it is interesting to note that my application was considered too dense yet as soon as I gave the property back to the bank they more than doubled the density for the property and then gave an approval for even more than the newly created 35 units per acre. This property is 1.25 acres so roughly 44 units would have conformed to the zone. The 57 units contain 12 affordable units in 1 building and 45 market units in another building. Former Mayor and current Rivercenter member Ed McKenna has been very vocal in support for the project. He also is a member of the non-profit Red Bank Affordable Housing Corporation which received a 36 unit project from the town for $1 after the town obtained $2.4 million in grant money to acquire the land. Another one of his non-profit organizations, the now defunct “Kids Bridge” aquired the former Red Bank Police Station for $1. The police station located at 51 Monmouth Street obtained over 1 million dollars from Amboy Bank for renovations after it was transferred by Kids Bridge to the YMCA. 51 monmoth tax record. Amboy Bank’s Red Bank location at 36 Monmouth
Street is also listed as an address for Kids Bridge. In a recent court settlement, Red Bank has agreed to contribute $125,000 towards additional renovations to the building. This building is now being sold by the YMCA which took over Kids Bridge to Red Bank Catholic for over 1 million dollars. Amboy Bank is now scheduled for February 16, 2012 to subdivide the affordable housing building from the market value units. One would probably assume that 2 different developers will develop the Courtyards @ Monmouth Project.
In April of 2007 I was invited to a Red Bank Democratic Fund Raiser. Invitation to Red Bank Democratic Fund Raiser. This is where I met Rich Kosenski of T & M Engineering the Red Bank Borough Engineer. I was introduced to him by Mayor Menna to speak about my project going before the Red Bank Planning Board. Rich said “What’s your problem why won’t you just go to the zoning board?” I said I was concerned about the amount of projects before the zoning board which would delay the approval and that the monthly carrying costs were very expensive. He said with a laugh “I know it is”. He said he would see what he could do and also said “Why did you drop the original project (BLT) we would have approved that”. BLT was a very controversal project with double the amount of units permitted in the zone. Danny Murphy and Pat Nulle were principals in the BLT project. I was told if I was approved by the zoning board for the old approval it could be again appealed in the courts as it exceeded the zoning density requirements. I had also been blocked by the town on the original rehearing and thought they wanted residential over retail as per Rivercenter requirements. It is also interesting to note that on the one hand he is telling me that they would re-approve a double density project but at the same time he was telling me that the new project was exceeding the density allowed and why they were concerned with the new plans. As we later find out what started out as the original 17 condos in one building became 20 condos in 5 buildings that conformed to the zoning requirements, so density was never really the issue. The most recent approvals now have 57 units in two buildings.
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