NJ Considers DEP 's CAFRA Expert Mark Mauriello for Top Job

Mark Mauriello, who was in charge of the DEP's Division of Land Use when Asbury Radio interviewed him on September 11, 2003, is under consideration to replace State Environmental Commissioner, Lisa Jackson, who was recently selected to lead the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC, according to the Sunday (1/25/09) NYTimes.
In this excerpt from that radio interview, you can hear Mauriello insisting it is irrelevant to the DEP's review of the City's and Asbury Partners' Waterfront Development application that the man the city credited with the plan had pled guilty to extorting developers in Ocean Twp., where he was mayor. The developers in turn were to get greater density for their projects.
Listen for yourself, but I stick to my original judgment that Mauriello's intentions to handle the application with routine processes was not adequate. What still disturbs me is the way Mauriello characterizes former city manager Terry Weldon's Federal crimes as "local feelings" about officials or former officials, reducing this critical point to some kind of Mayberry RFD politics.
The "Governor" referred to is James McGreevey.
Also, throughout the interview Mauriello admits he's not yet familiar with some aspects of the plan on a detailed level -- including the plans to build in front of Asbury Tower and North of the Tower on the triangle by Deal Lake -- yet he seems well versed on the points the redevelopment rights holders (Asbury Partners) had spun in the press about the benefits to the community - the infrastructure Asbury Partners was to replace, and the renovation of blighted areas and "crummy" parking lots.
Note also that he says his department is responsible for areas "seaward of the boardwalk". Wonder if this is another reason why the plan is to remove the existing boardwalk, which runs west of the proposed townhouses, and build a meandering boardwalk east of the townhouses.
I've divided the interview into 10 files, in which Mauriello answers questions about parking spaces, permiable surface coverage, etc. If you want to hear more, please let me know and I'll post it. Click here for this excerpt. Note: Mauriello isn't intentionally talking over us. We were working then with very primative studio equipment.