... and those MSTA "folks" can smell the money, too. every weakening of the rent control law means another windfall for them... who cares about the long term residents, anyway?

What man ringing doorbells all over Hoboken? Can you give more details?

The voters DID decide, now they must decide again. I can't wait for the barrage of misleading glossy mailers from MSTA, and the newspeak on the ballot.

Your logic fails because there are very few (if any) mom and pops who have extra apartments but aren't renting them due to rent control. Rents won't go down, they'll go way up.

Voters already decided. This is about msta having paid for a certain number of absentee votes that got lost or were counted because they weren't handed in on time because of the storm. They want the outcome they paid for, dammit!

franksinatra: You forget the reval is coming and the mom and pop's will sell out not fix up. The taxes will go up and be passed on to tenants and force many tenants out too.

The people already decided on this referendum in the November 6, 2012 election. Just because one does not like the outcome, you don't redo an election.

MadisonMonroe, unless you bought your home before 1973, you must have known there was rent control in town. If you did not want to have the city or state tell you how much you could charge a tenant, then why would you buy the building? Rent control is the law. There are many laws I don't like, but no one forced you to buy in Hoboken. But if you bought if before 1973, that would be something else since the law would have come into effect AFTER your real estate purchase.

What self-respecting Republican favors rent control? Do you also support "bread control"? Do you also think that Shop-Rite should be forced by law to give lower prices on bread to you or anyone else?

What self-respecting republican would turn a blind eye to the rampant election fraud and vote buying that your favorite BOE candidates and city council members utterly depend upon.

Agree completely. While I know which way I will vote again, I think getting a second vote here is a bit strange, at best.

I am against rent control. I will not be voting that way specifically because I want any major ballot initiative like this to be held during a regularly scheduled election and am not a fan of how MSTA has behaved. Consider this yes vote a no vote during the special election.

Thank you.

I have to agree Scott, that MSTA never wanted to make any rent control process fairer. They were after only one thing and that was to end rent control, albeit surgically, piece by piece with the first piece of decontrolling properties. They feel if they couldn't win last November, then they would get their lawyer to have the election thrown out. I never realized it was so easy to overturn an election. Over 16,000 people voted on this one issue alone, more than on a candidate, and now all these peoples' votes are void. That is not only amazing, that is scary.

Wow!! What a thoughtful intelligent post! Eliminating rent control = creating more park space. Both are "change." Change is bad.

Hoboken as it was 25 years ago - love it or leave it

Of course based on your previous posts there is an exception to that rule. Residential development good because after all developers need to make a living.

Sometimes I wonder whether certain screen names have a clue just how moronic they sound.

demosthenes: Outofcontrol is right that most (I would say all) of the MSTA members were fully aware that the buildings were under a Rent Control Ordinance when they bought them. They can not expect the town to become just what they want. After all, many types of people live in Hoboken. The MSTA members are rather actually quite lucky since many bought when property was cheap and they have made a killing through the years when property values went insane. I realize some of the members are newer property owners and they overpaid for their properties, but then remember the old saying: "Buyer Beware."

And why did rents rise so much? 30 years of rent control created a massive shortage of rental housing.

Ojo Rojo: there is absolutely no shortage of rental units in Hoboken. Or anywhere is in Hudson County. I'll bet money Hoboken has a glut of rentals. We'll never know of course because the RE industry are notoriously dishonest.

Hazel, the vacancy rate in Manhattan is under 2% in rental units. Nationally the vacancy rate is closer to 7 or 8%. We have a shortage around here. And let me remind you that empty units don't pay rent and there is no way in hell you have thousands of landlords colluding in the NYC area to drive up rents. The only large supply of vacant units in town are unsold condos and those are not for rent at all until they get sold and even then they will not be rented out at a loss.

Take some economics classes, learn a bit about rent control and the housing market. There is a shortage of rental units in this region and the only reason anyone pays the prices we pay here in Hoboken is b/c the shortage is worse and the cost of living higher on the other side of the river. Or did you think the thousands of us who commute daily into NYC moved to Hoboken b/c we liked standing on the bus while stuck in traffic for 40 minutes every day?

Much too late smokestack; the rich are already in control of the town; It will be even worse when tax re-assessment takes place. Most of the rent controlled units are in older buildings whose assessments are likely to be raised. Since the current rent control law allows tax increases to be passed on these increases will be passed on to the tenants - many of them old time residents.

Hoboken used to be a nice friendly place where families lived for generations. Newcomers moved to town because they liked what was here. Now its all about change - (progress and reform they call it).

Fortunately for me, being elderly, I was able to enjoy the 'real' Hoboken for most of my life. I feel sorry for you newcomers- you don't know what you missed. All you have now is another piece of NYC. Too bad.

Hoboken used to be

Ojo Rojo: Why did rents rise so much? You are wrong. In the 2000's before the Great Recession, there was an 'irrational exuberance' of buying real estate at whatever the price. Many new owners/landlords of property in Hoboken bought at the height of the market thinking that their investment would just keep rising up into the stratosphere without thinking about the irrationality of buying in a town where most people do not have garages for their cars and where now FEMA's map say that 80% of the town is in the flood plain. The poor tenants that have been living here for years were now victims of new owners that wanted them out of the way so that they could get more rent for the apartments to justify the millions they paid for the buildings.

Now if you are a tenant and have been peacefully living in town for years, maybe your salary has not kept up with the irrationality of the market. A new owner would want to get rid of the rent control laws in place or at least decontrol the units. Rent control did not cause a shortage of apartments. There are no shortage of apartments. There is a shortage of reasonably priced apartments.

Ojo Rojo: Why did rents rise so much? You are wrong. In the 2000’s before the Great Recession, there was an ‘irrational exuberance’ of buying real estate at whatever the price. Many new owners/landlords of property in Hoboken bought at the height of the market thinking that their investment would just keep rising up into the stratosphere without thinking about the irrationality of buying in a town where most people do not have garages for their cars and where now FEMA’s map say that 80% of the town is in the flood plain. The poor tenants that have been living here for years were now victims of new owners that wanted them out of the way so that they could get more rent for the apartments to justify the millions they paid for the buildings.

Now if you are a tenant and have been peacefully living in town for 5, 10, or 20 years, their salary has not kept up with the irrationality of the market. A new owner would want to get rid of the rent control laws in place or at least decontrol the units. Rent control did not cause a shortage of apartments. There are no shortage of apartments. There is a shortage of reasonably priced apartments.

Ojo Rojo: First of all, I must say that I admired what you initially said in your very first post. Even though you are against rent control, you did see that overturning an election as wrong. Just because a lawyer can be paid to do so, does not make it right. This does set a precedence and even the Board of Elections office was stunned that it was so easy to overturn an election in one day.

Second, I agree that there are a lot of condos that are empty and are not rentals. But many of the condos in town use to be rental units until the crazy buying spree when they were bought up to get rid of the tenants to convert to condos to make a lot of money that people were willing to pay to buy in those crazy days. This emptying out of rental units has caused a shortage and especially a shortage of affordable, reasonable rents for middle class people. Not everyone has the money to buy a condo but needs to rent.

And by Stalinist style buildings you mean Church Towers, right? Subsidized housing for those making six-figures. See: the Cunnings, the Russos, and plenty of others over there. Same with MVP. Most working people don't have the thousands to cough up to Romano for a two-bed with drop dead views of NYC for $1300.

recall, how do you connect the rent control ordinances with well-to-do people living in subsidized housing like Church Towers? Apples and oranges.

I think smokestack is right on the money.

This is a perfect example of wealthy special interest groups buying the laws they want. If you can't win the election far-and-square, take it to court and use the power of your deep pockets to purchase it in the courts. I doubt very much that the tenants group has the money to fight this legally.

Rent controlled tenants are a special interest group too. Some of the rent control people were rumored to be backing Giachi during his losing campaign. That might be the linkage.

And Ken, it isn't apples to apples really. There is no means test in rent control just like there is no means test in CT or MV for tenants once they get in those buildings. Rent control only helps people who need help finding affordable housing by accident, not by design.