Today’s bar crawl deemed Leprecon is going off smoothly with a sizable reduction in crowds and resulting crowd control from two years ago.  Hoboken Public Safety was in scramble mode then with both police and fire flying around from one incident after another in a whack-a-mole attempt to keep a semblance of order.

Hudson County SWAT Truck patrolling Washington Street

Early indicators today are completely different.  Crowds reduced last year are smaller yet and better behaved with far less activity on the Hoboken Police, Fire, EMS and OEM Live Feed. The naysayers already in denial with the improvement last year are going to be apoplectic if another year of improvement in town continues at this rate. One family closely associated with the parade committee after seeing the controlled situation downtown was heard saying maybe it’s time to negotiate to bring the parade back.  That would be a new take but Hobokenites won’t be begging for more Saturday mayhem.

Service calls at this time are down substantially from last year, where an improvement from the prior year was significant.

One commenter noted the smaller numbers didn’t mean bad behavior was eliminated saying people were urinating out windows and destroying landscape among other well known problems from past years. Read More...

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The Live Blog on Hoboken’s Leprecon will start tomorrow March 2, 2013 at 8:00am. If you want to have your comment immediately approved use Twitter with the hash tag #HobokenLeprecon.

There will be a delay if you comment directly as the editor will be out and about gathering photos and info. If you would like to share photos with TheBoken please email theboken@gmail.com and let us know your preference on  attribution (your name or nickname) as well as the location any other details you might want to share. Read More...

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A letter by Jaimie Cryan complaining about the loss of the parade for the second year is making the rounds just hours before the Leper-con invasion, the mardi gras nihilist remnant from the Hoboken St. Patrick’s Day Parade.  This is the second letter getting fairly wide circulation of late and there’s not even an imperceptible furor being generated from the wider Hoboken public.  Most residents in the mile square are quietly satisfied if not soberly gleeful not having their home and neighborhood turned into 48 hours of frat party mayhem suffering public spectacles, property damage and being held hostage in their own homes. Read More...

From the desk of Fourth Ward Councilman Tim Occhipinti:

=&0=&  =&1=& With this Saturday being the traditional date for Hoboken’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, Councilman Tim Occhipinti expressed extreme disappointment that Mayor Dawn Zimmer cancelled the historic parade…again.

 “The St. Patrick’s parade is a piece of Hoboken’s history that celebrates the contributions of Irish Americans to our great city and a day that was enjoyed by families and visitors alike,” said Occhipinti. “This year, a parade would have been a golden opportunity to show the strength and resilience of our community, and that Hoboken is back post-Sandy. It would have been a big help to local businesses, and a boost to our city’s morale.”


For a quarter-century, Hoboken held a parade along Washington Street on the first Saturday of March. For 25 years, children, seniors and families lined the street as Hoboken kicked off St. Patrick’s Day celebrations around the state. The event drew U.S. Senators, Congressmen, Governors, TV stars and national media outlets, but the true luminaries were the countless Hobokenites who were honored by the parade committee. The event brought in revenue for local businesses – not just bars and restaurants, but also everything from bagel stores and bodegas to pizza parlors and novelty stores.


For the second year in a row, the historic event was cancelled after Mayor Zimmer tried forcing the parade committee to move the event to a Wednesday evening.  The various bands, piper groups and organizations that make the parade such a great event would not be able to participate on a weeknight. The parade committee said it best, “The idea of marching in a parade, in the dark, on a week night, is as insulting as it is unreasonable.”


The City will incur the same costs associated with “Leprecon Day” as traditionally were spent on the parade. This amounts to approximately $100,000 in overtime costs for public safety, sanitation, etc. – without any offsetting revenue. So now, rather than the historic St. Patrick’s Day that families can enjoy – which includes a parade celebrating Hoboken’s rich diversity and saluting the Irish community – there is instead an unofficial “Leprecon” event. But, this is merely a “pub crawl” organized by locals and without any of the cultural significance of a parade. In other words, the controversial alcohol-focused portion of the day remains and the city pays for it, while Mayor Zimmer, again, unreasonably forces the cultural, historical and civic-minded parts of the day to all be scuttled.


Councilman Occhipinti believes the role of government is to come up with a safe and proper plan to bring back the Hoboken St. Patrick’s Day Parade on the first Saturday in March. Shutting down the family-oriented portion and ostracizing Irish-Americans is not the answer. The success of The Mumford & Sons – which had 15,000 participants – shows that when motivated, this city can succeed at controlling events in a non-residential area with proper planning. The parade committee should contribute, corporate sponsorships should be sought, and public safety should be the number one concern.


If there was ever a time to show that Hoboken is thriving, to create buzz for the city and to bring additional revenue our local businesses…it is right now. For example, in Monmouth County, this year’s Belmar St. Patrick’s Day Parade is a celebration of the Shore.


“This year, we should be marching to show that we are Hoboken Strong,” added Councilman Occhipinti. “We’re losing a prime chance to show the state – and the world – that Sandy may have knocked our city down, but we’re back on our feet, open for business, and ready to be better than ever.”


Councilman Occhipinti believes that – with proper planning, organization, coordination with regional law enforcement agencies, and input from local businesses – Hoboken’s government can help create a fun, safe and lucrative event for residents, families and visitors to enjoy. Local leadership should be able to come up with a plan that takes safety into account and works with the parade committee. Forcing the parade to move to a weeknight, but allowing the pub crawl to continue is a slap in the face to the good people who plan, march and enjoy this event, as well as the families and businesses who are left out in the cold. Read More...

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Last night readers gave a heads up about an odd telephone poll striking town for the November elections.  Then on a call to former at-large councilman Tony Soares his other phone rang.  It was the same November election poll firm!

So Da Horsey stayed quiet and listened in as Soares gave answers to the following questions.  First some introductory questions including political party affiliation.

The first core question asked for a view about  Governor Chris Christie?  Choices included disapprove, highly disapprove, approve, highly approve. The next question asked the same about Mayor Zimmer.  This followed with a statewide question on the governor match up between Gov. Chris Christie vs. Barbara Buono.  The pollster asked which candidate is supported or likely your choice.    Then came a question evaluating the mayor’s strength in a real candidate matchup: Assemblyman Ruben Ramos vs. Mayor Dawn Zimmer.  Similar choices between the two of likely or definite. The last political question measured the value of Governor Christie making a local endorsement.  Would a governor endorsement have an impact on you for choice of mayor? The poll ended asking age and ethnic identification.   In a quick telephone interview following the poll, Soares said, “It was very entertaining especially when there was nothing=&1=&

After Hurricane Sandy, there’s been upheaval and suffering in our community.  Many have seen huge setbacks due to the storm with losses, insurance issues or work.  Some have suffered worse.

On the legal front, the City of Hoboken says it’s bearing the continued cost of the Jim Doyle lawsuit running into the tens of thousands. With the aid of fine counsel, they won a big victory in Hudson County Superior Court.  The case has been appealed again so the legal appointment of Jim Doyle remains on hold. Read More...

Beth Mason’s gone on a barrage of propaganda releases in recent days.  Statements on scheduled City public meetings on parks, Sandy efforts by the Federal and State government, and a robocall to residents last night.  Obviously overcompensating due to the news her year long effort to buy an Assembly seat crashed and burned, she wants you to pay attention to anything but that bad news.

For almost the same length of time, local media save for Hoboken411 on occasion doesn’t even pay her fabricated releases any mind.  Rather than humiliate her and try to scratch at the surface of the obvious fabrications, they just pretend it never arrived in their email inbox. The biggest push Beth Mason’s political operatives have made in recent days is fashioning a letter so full of malarkey, it’s more an effort to help Beth feel better after State Senator Brian Stack’s brushoff than a realistic effort to convince Hoboken residents it’s Mayor Zimmer’s fault she has to sue her, the reform council members, the City Clerk and the people of Hoboken.

It’s not clear if she’s been holed up in the bedroom for days like she was reported to have done after the 2009 spring mayoral election.  That election saw her as the favorite flame out so completely, she didn’t even make the runoff.  After four days, It took people carrying her out of the bedroom to immerse her back into some semblance of reality.  (Others don’t believe it’s been entirely successful.) Read More...

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In the course of the human events in these United States, a Civil War took place and a nation split asunder on the rights of States and the question of slavery.  With the Union victorious, the road to freedom marched on and the battle for the Republican dream of racial equality traveled a century before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 took overdue steps edging toward liberation from the plantation.

Traveling northwards, crippling African-American families with unintended consequences of Johnson’s Great Society and dissolving the basis of family leaving mother led households in centralized housing collectives, the vultures working with politicians have maintained a different plantation game as they mouth platitudes celebrating Black History month.  It’s present at almost every election in Hoboken. Read More...

It’s been more than a year of Hoboken hearing about Councilwoman Beth Mason’s inevitability in moving on to land at least a NJ Assembly seat.  One target of her bottomless ambition for power is State Senator and Union City Mayor Brian Stack’s ticket.  Of the four candidate names in Hoboken circulating, Beth Mason we’ve been told over and over was the Hoboken pick to replace Assemblyman Ruben Ramos.

Well let’s end all of the speculation and put this turkey to rest: Beth Mason is out! Read More...