Secaucus mayor has concerns about American Dream traffic

The mayor of Secaucus says that he is concerned about the traffic patterns surrounding the American Dream megamall.

News 12 Staff

Jul 18, 2019, 11:25 AM

Updated 1,965 days ago

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The mayor of Secaucus says that he is concerned about the traffic patterns surrounding the American Dream megamall.
The mall is located at the Meadowlands complex in East Rutherford off of Route 3. But Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli says that the traffic surrounding the mall will have a negative impact on his nearby residents.
“Traffic is going to be a nightmare,” the mayor says. “Traffic now is you can’t even move on Route 3 at all.”
Gonnelli says that he was considering a lawsuit against the American Dream developer Triple Five after failed attempts to speak with them about the traffic issue. He says that there have been no plans on how to deal with the massive amount of people expected to come to the complex and the lack of funding the town will receive for dealing with it.
"Most of our community along the [Hackensack River] overlooks this thing and we're asking people to look at a Ferris wheel and all these banners on the buildings and billboards,” Gonnelli says.
The mayor says that Secaucus will receive $100,000 a year for the first two years - $20,000 after. But he says that nearby Carlstadt will receive $1 million in the first year.
“That was struck in 2003 by a previous administration. I don't know what they were thinking by doing that because we’re affected the most,” Gonnelli says.
But Gonnelli says that a meeting this week with the owner, he feels more confident that they will step up and help alleviate some of the concerns.
But he says that if they don’t, "I’m not going to say it's off the table but I don't think I’m going to sue them…I don't think it's going to do us any good by suing them, but we'll see what happens."
And Gonnelli says that while he is concerned by the American Dream complex, many of his residents have secured jobs there.
American Dream is slated to open at the end of October after many delays.