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The City Council last night had nothing of substance to compare in the way of the continuing lawsuit by the Mason family with the Russo clan and Tim Occhipinti costing the City of Hoboken big dollars according to one report in an emergency appeal initially approved.

The appeal was ruled stayed by an appellate judge who will likely hear the matter again within two weeks joined by his two colleagues on the court.

According to Hoboken Patch, the City is already facing a bill in the tens of thousands of dollars. That legal bill is a direct result of a staged political operation last October, what =&1=&  The political operation went from the council to the courts late last year after planned absences and abstentions designed to prevent Mayor Zimmer from casting a fifth decisive vote in favor of decades long Hoboken activist Jim Doyle. Should the first appellate judge’s stay be upheld, further appeals by Beth Mason with Russo, Castellano and Occhipinti could tie up the council seat for months with Jim Doyle unable to take his at-large chair even with an affirmative vote and an outstanding legal ruling in favor of the appointment. It’s premature to conclude MORTe’s appeal will be upheld in the appellate court.  Their previous appeal was denied.

Beth Mason is excited with the latest delay in the lawsuit against the people of Hoboken. Both she and her allies lost the case and a vote was confirmed to appoint Jim Doyle to the City Council but an emergency appeal keeps it in limbo for at least two weeks.

Tim Occhipinti the occupant of the fourth ward council seat saw his pro-developer ties hit a snag when questions were raised about the controversial restaurant in that ward built illegally extending onto City property.  The matter before a court and the Hoboken Zoning Board will now move to conclusive action before the City Council. The Old Guard council all voted on the ordinance’s first reading in favor while most of the reform members agreed to look at the question “on first reading.”  A discussion of the ordinance will be held at the next council meeting. Tim Occhipinti denied he had spoken before the Zoning Board but according to a transcript from an earlier MSV story (below) he had briefly done so and appeared to be looking to support a developer who contributed thousands to his campaign.

Occhipinti actually left a City Council meeting in progress to speak at the Zoning Board meeting where the matter was on the table.  It appears his intent was to speak on behalf of the restaurant developer.  He was stopped by the board’s lawyer who refused to allow him to do so. Read More...

By the time the City Council meets, a decision on the Mason-Russo hydra’s emergency appeal yesterday to stay the appointment of Councilman-in-waiting Jim Doyle may be in the offing.

Will the all but reappointed councilman “stay” or not?

MSV will keep you tuned with the best ongoing coverage on the issue!

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6:55 PM

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A single member of the NJ Appellate Court has agreed to stay (hold) the legal decision by Assignment Judge Peter Bariso to allow the appointment of Jim Doyle.

The “hold” on the appointment puts Hoboken and Jim Doyle in limbo status. Read More...

Update: An emergency appeal filed yesterday to stay the confirmation of Jim Doyle to the City Council at-large seat is pending with the NJ Appellate Court. There should be an answer to MORTe’s chuck into the end zone by the time of the meeting tonight.

Update 2: This afternoon MSV has learned the City on behalf of its taxpayers and 50,000 residents will respond to the Mason family and MORTe allies opposing their emergency appeal.  A decision will likely come just before the City Council meeting tonight at 7:00. Read More...

Assignment Judge Peter Bariso in a scathing conclusion to MORTe’s attempted power grab for the swing seat held by reform in the City Council rejected the staged avoidance of voting in the City Council precipitating their legal strategy to take or eliminate the seat.  

In the court issued opinion, the judge bluntly made clear his legal objections in the conclusion writing, 

There’s been some technical glitches in the comment system.  While it’s mostly fixed some comments and formatting in earlier stories may have been lost.

The upside is IOS devices with other handhelds should show the comments.  There’s an issue with the comment count not showing under the stories but hopefully that will be cleared up soon too.  Trying to work with the software developer on that.

So if you see “0 comments” under a story, there could be dozens when you load that story. Read More...

City of Hoboken announces:

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Last Friday, Hudson County Assignment Judge Peter Bariso ruled that the vote held on January 16th appointing Jim Doyle to the Hoboken City Council was valid, despite the abstentions cast by Councilwoman Beth Mason and Councilman Michael Russo.  Read More...

The event was a big success and hundreds attended the gala.  Congratulation to everyone who worked so hard to make the event a success and add to the Rebuild Hoboken Relief Fund.

A clip of ELEW at the W last night.

                                                 

                                                               courtesy of Rory Chadwick Read More...

Likely to make the song list tonight at the W, Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”  If you can’t make the show here’s a taste of ELEW’s unique interpretation in his newly minted genre, Rockjazz.

From the desk of Hoboken Housing Authority Chairman Jake Stuiver:

=&0=& =&1=& Hoboken Housing Authority Chairman Jake Stuiver is calling on HHA Executive Director Carmelo Garcia to release all received submissions to the RFQ for the Board of Commissioners’ general-counsel contract to all members of the board by the end of business today. The bid deadline was 11 a.m. today. Chairman Stuiver has requested numerous times over the past month that each member of the Board of Commissioners receive copies of all RFQ responses by 5 p.m. today, giving Director Garcia and his staff ample time after the 11 a.m. deadline to get all submissions copied and distributed. Compliance with this request would allow each Commissioner one full weekend and most of next week to review the responses thoroughly and responsibly in time for the special meeting of Thursday, February 7, when a selection is expected to be nominated and voted on. The Chairman e-mailed a reminder of this request to the Director on Thursday, January 31, and received no response until 10:39 a.m. today, in which Director Garcia stated he was not feeling well and intended to take the rest of the day as sick time, making it impossible for the responses to be opened and distributed until Monday. Chairman Stuiver responded that this position is unacceptable. “While I’m always sympathetic to any of our employees’ health and wellness, this is a very important process whose steps I outlined repeatedly in multiple formats,” Stuiver said. “Director Garcia’s job is to do everything in his power to comply with the requests, instructions and policies of the Board of Commissioners. His inability to complete this very clear and long-established request because of an unexpected illness further highlights the need to hire a Deputy Executive Director as soon as possible.”

From Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s twitter feed:

Talking Ed Note: The announcement by Mayor Dawn Zimmer via twitter confirms Judge Peter Bariso has approved the vote of the full City Council appointing Jim Doyle to the legislative body.  The appointment contested by Beth Mason and her MORTe allies Michael Russo, Terry Castellano and Tim Occhipinti in a series of staged absences last October as a pretext to prevent a full vote of the council and use abstentions to avoid a tie breaking vote by Mayor Zimmer has failed. Read More...