Month: August 2017

News

Sign of the Times: Pilsener Haus is sprinkled with the Jen Giattino dust

A perfect late August evening at the Pilsener Haus was the setting for the Jen Giattino for Mayor campaign event.

With City Council President Jen Giattino attending the event her council slate: Hoboken Zoning Board of Adjustment Chair Jim Aibel, Sal Starace and Jason Ellis.

With council members Peter Cunningham and Tiffanie Fisher on hand about 100 people attended to press the flesh and speak with the candidates.

City Council President Jen Giattino addresses the room at the Pilsner Haus earlier this evening with her council
slate in attendance: Jim Aibel, Sal Starace and Jason Ellis on hand. 
News

BoE district candidates for November

=&0=& Here are the candidates filed to run for Hoboken Board of Eduction this November: Three candidates will be elected for 3 Year Terms =&1=& Melanie B. Tekirian Chetali Khanna Patricia Waiters Peter Biancamano* Lauren Eagle Anne Marie Schreiber Bryan Angley Jennifer Brennan =&2=& denotes incumbent 
News

For the love of 1984

Late August seems like an appropriate time to pause and ponder the wealth of ideals surrounding us.
Here’s the original film 1984, the first rendition of George Orwell’s famous book “1984” brought to celluloid.

It’s an appropriate time to sit back and read the original but take a gander at the first 10 minutes and see if it reminds you of anything.

War is Peace; Ignorance is Strength; Freedom is Slavery… Violence defeats “Bigotry?”

Talking Ed Note: Wouldn’t you know one of those slogans found its way into a Hoboken mayoral campaign. Nationalize, yes nationalize my friends and you will be freed of all common sense.
May your hate and embrace of disinformation deliver the State a powerful ceaseless victory. Read More...

News

MAYOR ZIMMER THANKS DIRECTOR MORGAN AND CHIEF OF STAFF VIJAY CHAUDHURI FOR SERVICE TO HOBOKEN

=&0=& Mayor Dawn Zimmer announced that Transportation and Parking Director John Morgan will be resigning from his position effective Friday, September 1st, 2017 to pursue other professional opportunities and that her Chief of Staff Vijay Chaudhuri will be serving his last day tomorrow, Wednesday, August 23rd.  “I thank Director Morgan for his years of service to Hoboken,” Mayor Zimmer said. “He played a key role in helping our team advance the Washington Street redesign project, Southwest traffic circulation plan, Newark Street safety improvement project, Sinatra Drive shared use path, pay-by-phone parking option, bike share program, upgrades to the Hop shuttle, and many other projects that have improved the safety and quality of life of our community. I wish him continued success as he takes his next steps in his career.” Mayor Zimmer will be appointing Ryan Sharp as Acting Director of the Department of Transportation and Parking. Mr. Sharp has served as Principal Planner in the department for the past 6 years. “Vijay has seen Hoboken through many challenges and has been a valuable team member in many of our accomplishments for our City’s residents,” Mayor Zimmer explained regarding his decision to move on to other opportunities at this time. “I thank him very much for his strong dedication to our City and wish him the very best in the future.”
News

Mayor Zimmer Chief of Staff resigns; named campaign manger for Bhalla for Mayor

Official release:

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Ravi Bhalla, candidate for Mayor of Hoboken, today named Vijay Chaudhuri, who is leaving his position as Chief of Staff to Mayor Dawn Zimmer, as his Campaign Manager. Chaudhuri brings an in-depth understanding of Hoboken politics as well as demonstrated political and organizational skills to the task. Before serving as Zimmer’s Chief of Staff, Vijay Chaudhuri worked in a number of capacities for US Representative Joe Crowley (D-NY), including serving as Campaign Manager on one of his re-election campaigns. Chaudhuri has also served as Campaign Manager of Edison Mayor Jun Choi’s re-election campaign. Read More...

News

INSIDERNJ: Jen Giattino – “I’m going to win!”

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In an story released on INSIDERNJ, Council President Jen Giattino is looking toward the November 7th Hoboken mayoral election and sees good things for her mayoral candidacy.

With three other mayoral competitors in the mix, the three time and current City Council President sees her six year record on the City Council of consensus building with others as one reason her mayoral candidacy will be propelled to victory.

Three time and current City Council President Jen Giattino predicts
a great November with a victory in her mayoral bid.

Giattino’s record of working with others and constituent service is emphasized.  The article also highlights how an overview of approaching the City is missing. “Our biggest problem is planning and not looking at the city holistically,” and points to Hoboken’s north end. Read More...

News

Kurt Gardiner slams Ravi Bhalla’s “cynical ploy” to nationalize Hoboken’s election; endorses Jen Giattino for mayor

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Kurt Gardiner in an interview with the weekend paper came out with a blistering critique of Councilman Ravi Bhalla, a candidate for Hoboken mayor. He shredded the Bhalla campaign for its attempts to nationalize the Hoboken mayoral election decrying it “a cynical ploy” to distract voters from the local issues.

The long time supporter of the Hoboken Reform Movement who has backed its positions and candidates including Ravi Bhalla in the past, ran with Bhalla’ wife as his partner on the local Democratic committee last June prior to his announcing an endorsement of Jen Giattino for mayor. Read More...

News

Live interview with mayoral candidate Anthony Romano

The following interview took place earlier today at the Romano for Mayor headquarters on Washington St.

The interview comes courtesy of the Hudson County View and was recorded live with questions from editor John Heinis.

Freeholder Anthony Romano confirms the rumor that his third council at-large ticket will be completed with Buddy Matthews, the former Hoboken High School baseball coach.

News

Update on Washington Street Project

Agency Logo

City of Hoboken, NJ

   

Community: Update on Washington Street Project
Dear MSV readers,

Recently there have been a number of inquiries from residents about ongoing construction as part of the Washington Street project. Below is an update with information addressing some of the most common topics.  The project is expected to be completed by summer of 2018. For the latest updates and additional information, visit www.washingtonstreetproject.com.

CURB EXTENSIONS
Through the multi-year community planning process for the Washington Street project, we learned that our community’s top priority was pedestrian safety – with 98% of residents saying it was important to them and the vast majority supporting the use of curb extensions.

Curb extensions are one of the most effective pedestrian safety measures and are recommended by all federal, state, and local engineering design manuals. They prevent dangerous illegal parking in crosswalks, improve the ability of crossing pedestrians and drivers to see each other, reduce pedestrian crossing distances and exposure, and slow turning vehicles, which is a major cause of pedestrian collisions along Washington Street.

In addition to a high frequency of vehicle-pedestrian collisions along the corridor, a senior citizen was struck and killed by a turning vehicle as she was crossing Washington Street in 2015. As is often the case, the driver said that poor visibility was the reason for the crash. Curb extensions improve visibility between drivers and pedestrians, and by slowing turning vehicles, they help ensure that if a collision does occur, the injuries are minimized and the chance of survival increases dramatically.

Curb extensions don’t extend into the travel lane – they take up less space than a car parked car at the curb – so they don’t block traffic. As part of the design phase of the project, turning templates were performed for all vehicles including fire trucks using Hoboken specific fire truck sizes, and the curb extensions are designed to accommodate these turning movements.

The attached diagram shows the turning template for a Hoboken-specific fire truck at a typical intersection indicating that there are no encroachments.

TREES
The City is adding over 50 new trees through the Washington Street project. This is in addition to approximately 30 new trees that were planted between 1stStreet and 5th Street in the past few years through the Shade Tree Commission’s Washington Street Beautification Initiative. For this project, three trees have been removed and 16 more are planned to be removed due to utility conflicts such as drainage improvements. We are working to save or replant existing trees where possible, including an evaluation by the project engineer to determine if possible drainage alternatives would result in keeping some or all trees. No more trees will be removed until the City has reviewed the engineer’s report. The City also conducted a walkthrough with the Resident Engineer of the project and a representative from the Shade Tree Commission to evaluate which trees were likely to survive a replanting. An arborist and landscape architect are also evaluating if the t rees can survive replanting and where they could be replanted.

=&0=&: The Washington St. project suffers from a number of issues most critically the timing and complaints about curb extensions or bump outs.  MSV has been fielding numerous complaints about the bump outs, mostly connected to concern on emergency vehicles inability to navigate them at critical times. The appearance here of the “vast majority” supporting them means an avalanche of complaints are likely reaching City Hall too.  The City Council has expressed concern and Councilman Ruben Ramos has been vocal saying it’s a mistake. There’s been no action on the funding which was passed comprehensively as part of the overall plan. Previously, the public by a huge margin rejected the concept of installing separate bike lanes on Washington St.  Mayor Zimmer alienated many in the public with her insistence on dedicated bike lanes on Washington Street. She clearly wants to regulate the flow of traffic on Washington St. The curb extensions are another means for her to do so. Even with a costly adjustment later, some mayoral candidates are likely to criticize the construction of the ongoing Washington St. construction for this and other reasons.  The Washington St. Project was originally slated for completion before the November election. Then the objective slipped to complete half of the street by that time.  It’s doubtful Hoboken will see half of Washington St.’s reconstruction complete by Election Day. The project is officially rescheduled to continue well into 2018.