Kevin Malanga Esq., has sued the administration of Mayor Robert Parisi, his appointed Planning Board members and the West Orange Town Council for their attempt to misuse the state redevelopment law to give Essex Green Shopping Center and Executive Drive office park, tax abatements. And at the same time, give no-bid contracts to developers who make donations to the Mayor’s campaign. The lawsuit claims massive abuse of the state redevelopment law in West Orange. The suit alleges that: The Town Planner, Planning Board and Town Council didn’t follow the law in their roles in the process. The Town Planner's report was defective. The two properties are not “blighted,” as the law and state constitution require, because they are operating businesses whose tenants include Macy’s, Panera Bread, Shoprite, Petco, AMC Theaters, U.S Department of Homeland Security, Geico Insurance and even Mayor Parisi’s insurance business. The new owners have paid more than $112 million in the last two years to purchase the properties. The Planning Board member, Andrew Trenk is the son of the town attorney and councilwoman Susan McCartney had conflicts of interest and should have been recused from the process. The property owners, intentionally didn’t renew leases or make new ones in order to boost their vacancy rates to make them less attractive. The lawsuit aims to stop the tax abatements of up to 30 years, eliminating millions of dollars in property tax revenue, shifting the burden to current West Orange taxpayers. That’s what happened at the Downtown Edison redevelopment area created by Mayor Parisi’s administration. The town attorney, Richard Trenk has spoken at a town council meeting to say the mayor has recused himself from this redevelopment process, but the mayor has subsequently displayed in-depth knowledge of the project. The news release is here http://bit.ly/2sYi3OG. The lawsuit is here http://bit.ly/2osaQlo.