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Community Corner

Trial Date Set For Hoboken Rent Control Challenge

A group of Hoboken property owners are attempting to overturn the results of November's rent control referendum.

A Hudson County Superior Court judge will hear arguments challenging the results of November's rent control referendum on Tuesday, January 22.

The referendum, which would have changed Hoboken's current rent control law to a vacancy de-control model, was voted down by a relatively small margin.

A group of 15 Hoboken property owners is petitioning the State and County Boards of Election to take another look at the votes.

Find out what's happening in Hobokenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Their attorney Charles Gormally said the circumstances of voting after Superstorm Sandy may have altered the outcome.

"It's not about rent control," said Gormally. "It's about whether the votes that were cast were properly counted in an inclusive way and whether the election deprived anyone of the intent to vote."

Find out what's happening in Hobokenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Included in his defense are 92 mail-in ballots which Gormally said were wrongfully rejected because they were postmarked on Election Day, November 6. He said he has also spoken to voters who received electronic ballots, but were unable to vote.

At a hearing on Friday, tenant advocate Cheryl Fallick with the Hoboken Fair Housing Association attempted to enter the case as an intervenor, but was denied. The judge also rejected her motion to dismiss what she called a "flimsy" case.

"There's no doubt in my mind this is a bogus case," said Fallick, who maintains that the original vote, which was certified by the Hudson County Board of Elections, should stand.

However, she is not optimistic about how the judge could rule in court next week.

"It is Hudson County, so anything can happen," she said.

Editor's Note: This story was updated to clarify Fallick's position on the next week's court date.

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