| Hoboken Hoboken, N.J. Hoboken NJ Hoboken, New Jersey |
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editorial ELECTION!
assemblyman
brian stack nyc
subways
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Still blocked by the city hall firewall!
Was
the City Prepared? I hesitate to compare our Nor'easter to Katrina but I have to. Sitting up at my computer at 2am on Monday listening to the Hoboken police and fire scanner it seemed like there was a little puzzlement about how to respond to it all. The fire department was having a long day. Not only did they have a four alarm fire at General Lumber (everyone's thoughts are with Donnie and the crew there) but rescuing stranded motorists all along the western edge of town. I won't call what I heard from the police
confusion though. It was more as if they knew how the situation bordered
on the ridiculous. They kept their composer and were professional. They
knew it was time to get to work. The Union City police called the Hoboken police worried about the homeless living under the viaduct. At 13th and Madison several cars are caught in the high water. At 5th and Madison cars are floating inside a flooded parking lot. There is a small landslide on Sinatra drive and the Hoboken police reach out to Stevens to send traffic horses to block the street at 11th and Hudson. This morning, Monday, I grab my camera and head towards the Shop Rite. It's been a few hours since the heavy rain stopped but a condo building under construction at 11th and Madison has water a foot deep lapping against it. Shop Rite is literally surrounded on three sides by water. The debris line in the parking lot shows how high the water came during the storm. Some macho jerk in a SUV plows through the flood and sends a two foot wake over a stranded Mustang and into Shop Rite's liquor store. It all makes me start to wonder about what I will do if a category one hurricane ever hits Hoboken. How will I get out of town? When people talk about the strain on city services that the development boom has created this is it. It isn't just about more garbage trucks waking us up or more people calling city hall to check their tax bill. It is also about an emergency coming along once every ten years and pushing police and fire services to the limit. In a hurricane there will be dozens of trees fallen and at least two or small fires from down power lines. The floods will be even worse. North Hudson or Jersey City won't be able to respond because they will have problems of their own. (Besides the Jersey City fire department was having trouble making it to the General Lumber fire because the roads were impassable). Is the city be prepared to evacuate the thousands of people who don't have cars? I think that in the days to come this Nor'easter will be referred to as the dry run (sorry) for the hurricane that is bound to hit the metro area someday. Let's just hope the city, county, state and feds learned something from Katrina. Are Pedicabs
in WOW! What a coincidence! Just as the NYC city council moves to reduce the number of pedicabs in NYC Councilwoman LaBruno gets a call from some guy wanting to bring them to Hoboken! Okay now stay focused people. Stay focused. First let's try to remember that there a some really much more important issues to think about right now. Taxes. Muggings. An overdue budget. Open space. Pedicabs! No! Stay focused! Traffic. Noise. A hospital. Funding pensions. Pedicabs! Damn! Washington Street is already too congested with trucks, buses, drunken drivers, yahoo motorcyclists, double parked food delivery cars, that guy in the Ferrari that drives endlessly up and down from June to September and crosswalks blocked by knuckleheads. Will pedicabs offer a solution to this congestion or just add to it? But let's think of the budget. Twenty pedicabs paying say $1,000 for an annual permit. That's $20,000 more a year in the budget which would lower our tax bills by $0.0001 a year. Or the city council could use it to hire someone to inspect the pedicabs! How's this sound instead. The city council and mayor make a big push to have all the new taxicabs go hybrid. Like discounted permits or priority in the cab line. Then they push the state to give tax incentives to cabbies who drive hybrids. Or they work to increase mass transit service on Washington Street. Which has lost two bus lines in the last few years (Academy and the 181) reducing service during midday hours forcing people to jump in their cars. Or in a really radical move, the council starts to limit construction of new homes in an attempt to control the number of new cars on our streets. Or the city just installs more bike racks at the PATH station. ( Better yet the city gets NJ Transit to pay for it). The city then removes bikes that have gone unclaimed, keeping the place tidy. Or we can just learn to live we one more obstacle on the streets. Pedicabs! Nah it makes too much sense. Besides pedicabs will get those screaming drunks off our sidewalks. AND INTO PEDICABS! Will pedicabs get green light in Hoboken? The Jersey Journal Pedicabs Ready to Roll The Jersey Journal
It doesn’t take much political courage for an elected official to publicly support Jon Corzine in a town that’s overwhelmingly democrat. It does take courage for an elected official to take responsibility for the promises he has broken. Go back to the November 6 edition of the Hoboken Reporter and read Councilman Michael Cricco’s letter. Just a few months ago Michael was promising new athletic fields in the northwest section of the fifth ward which were to be funded through the state’s School Construction Corporation. The SCC, is a public agency responsible for implementing an overhaul of the educational infrastructure. It was funded with $8.6 billion through a bond issue in 2002. The SCC was designed and implemented under democrat Governor Jim McGreevey and the democrat controlled state assembly and senate. City Councilmen, like Michael Cricco, have no authority over the agency’s money. Look at the NJ Inspector General’s report of Not surprisingly the SCC is now near bankrupt and
based on the Inspector General’s report, Governor Codey has frozen the
remaining assets. But in his letter Michael blames the republicans in So basically Michael Cricco promised the people of
the fifth ward new baseball fields and the
politicians in But this is just one of many problems facing
Michael. He escaped a run off in his last election by eight votes. His ward
voted against Roberts last May and it also voted down the Board of
Education’s budget in April. Furthermore, according to City Hall, as a
landlord he failed to file annual registrations as required and has been
cited by the city in the past for overcharging tenants. Michael says he
filed as required but that city hall lost them.
The Take some responsibility Michael for the things that are going wrong, stop blaming others and show some courage and start fighting to represent the fifth ward. Here are four things you can do now Michael; 1. Protect the remaining undeveloped land in the fifth ward, by sponsoring legislation that would enact the recommendations of the City’s new master plan especially the area called “ the Underbridge Economic Zone”. 2. Show some respect for the spirit of the city’s Pay-for-Play ordinance which your ward voted overwhelming in favor. Withhold your vote on any more professional contracts to the politically well connected. 3. Withhold your vote on the new budget until there is a real open process that allows public input. 4. Stop making promises you can’t keep. New York Times Article on the SCC
At the January reorganization meeting confusion reigned as Jose Ponjoan nominated Dominick Lisa for the board's chairmanship challenging Robert's choice of Joe Crimmins. But to win the Hoboken First crew of Ponjoan, Alex Carrado and Lisa would need a fourth vote and it surprisingly came when Mary Anne Camprello voted no to a motion to reappoint Crimmins as chair. The vote was four against reappointment of Crimmins and three in favor. But this is where it got interesting. The board didn't acknowledged the outcome. Ponjoan stopped the meeting several times for an explanation but couldn't get his point made. For some reason Lisa didn't object or argue for a recount. This was just the logical conclusion to the bizarre choices Roberts has made when it comes to the most influential and powerful non elected positions in this city. The Mayor exclusively appoints nine members to the board. They cannot be removed once appointed. The board determines which developers can build outside of city's ordinances controlling height, density and use. The board also has the right to hand out huge contracts for board attorneys, planners and engineers. Jobs handed out to the politically well connected, and the new board, run by Hoboken First may be shopping for professionals of their own. Still to be seen is whether the hundreds of thousands of dollars in political donations from developers will end up in Hoboken First's coffers for a city council run in May 2007. Why give to Roberts if he can't deliver the zoning board? Roberts saving grace may be found in a parliamentary procedure technicality - a motion to elected Lisa chairman was never made. In other words the board voted no to Crimmins but they never voted yes to elect Lisa either. Written ballots might work best next time. Panjone
Caught in Conflict of Interest...Jersey Journal Play the Money Game! Here are some political appointees, elected officials or employees who have been in the news lately. Some accepted early buyouts or settled for cash after being pushed out by the Hudson County Political Machine. Others accepted salaried positions. Some have been accused of wrongdoing. Can you match the name with the settlement amount? Click here for the answers!
Zoning Board Coup Takes Hold The January reorganization of the Zoning Board saw the long standing board chairmanship change hands....Or did it? When nominations for the chairman's position were open Joe Crimmins was nominated by Morris Fusco and seconded by Jim Perry. Jose Pagano nominated Dominck Lisa and it was seconded by Alex Corrado. When the vote was taken Corrado and Pangone were joined by Mary Anne Camparello in supporting Lisa. However there was a miscommunication among the seven voting members and Crimmins continued to chair the meeting. The election of Lisa, a member of the Hoboken First team, may foreshadow other changes on the board. For instance Douglas Bern, the board's attorney was personally picked for the position by Sen. Bernie Kenny. The Hoboken First team is posed to replace all the board's experts and essentially control the granting of variances for at least the next two years.
Menendez on the Defensive? The Million Dollar Ham Sandwich Congratulations to Dave Roberts, Bernie Kenny and
Bob Menendez on their big win in
Kenny Owes 10,185 Apologies
Who is Giving to Our Elected Officials?
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RENT CONTROL ORDINANCE AVAILABLE HERE! in .pdf Here's
an interesting article
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