Author: SmartyJones

News

Frank Raia sentencing in voter fraud conspiracy delayed to November 19th

by SmartyJones1 Min Reading

A short reprieve in the sentencing for Frank Raia convicted last July in federal court for directing a 2013 voter bribery conspiracy in Hoboken is rescheduled to November 19th.

The delay in sentencing is the third as he will be joined at the new sentencing date by soldier Dio Braxton who pleaded guilty for his role in voter fraud activities in the same 2013 Hoboken election.

Frank “Pupie” Raia chats with Michelle Russo in this exclusive
2011 photo at a City Council meeting as Dio Braxton (front) looks on.

Hudson County View first published the update on the rescheduled sentencing date and highlighted how Raia was undone by his friends and political associates of his social club on Jefferson Street. Read More...

News

City Council President Jen Giattino: ‘Why I removed the NJ Transit Redevelopment Plan’

by SmartyJones1 Min Reading

Official release:

    Dear friends and neighbors,   When: Monday, November 25th, Where: Waiting room at Hoboken Terminal Time: 6-8pm  

NJ Transit and LCOR(the designated developer for the project)will hold an open house/information session in the waiting room at Hoboken Terminal. Representatives from NJ Transit and LCOR, as well as select professional services firms, will be available from 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm to discuss with residents the proposed changes to the Hoboken Yard Redevelopment Plan. All members of the public are invited to attend. Read More...

News

Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher – More on NJ Transit and LCOR, the developer

by SmartyJones7 Min Reading

Official release:

  Dear Friends and Neighbors,   It wouldn’t be Hoboken if we didn’t have a lot going on and a lot of important meetings on a lot of important topics happening.  Please mark your calendar and try to join the following two events:   SENATE HEARING ON NJ TRANSIT AT HOBOKEN TERMINAL   Tomorrow evening, Wednesday 11/13 from 5-7pm at the Historic Waiting Room of the Hoboken Terminal.  Senate President Steve Sweeney Chairs the bi-partisan Select Committee on New Jersey Transit that is investigating NJ Transit operations and performance.  This committee will be conducting a public hearing at the Hoboken Terminal to collect feedback from NJ Transit commuters.  The hearing will begin at 5pm.     I spoke with NJ Transit and Senate representatives today they are specifically looking for feedback on ALL forms of NJ Transit transportation – trains, buses and light rail.  So please plan to attend and share any and all of your experiences – good or bad.    In particular, the senate committee is looking for people to actually testify at the hearing.  I have done this several times and will do so tomorrow night – it just involves signing up on a list and then sitting in the audience until they call your name.  Then you have just 2-3 minutes to share your experience.  It can be as simple as “my train has been cancelled seven times in the last three months” to “I waited 20 minutes and watched 19 126 buses go by without stopping” to “the light rail is amazing!”.  Having an official log allows for a transcript of the hearing to be used for future reference.  All-in my guess is that it might take 15-30 minutes of your time so make this your 15-30 minutes of fame for a great cause! J Let me know if you want to join me!     Other state senators who will be joining are some of the top leadership in the NJ Senate including Senate Majority leader Loretta Weinberg (represents most of Bergen County), Senator Patrick Deignan (Chair of Transportation Subcommittee), Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Senator Kristin Corrado and Senator Joe Cryan.  Although our State Senator Stack is not on this committee, I have a call in to see if he will be joining and have not yet heard back.   Remember…#morevoicesarealwaysbetter – but if you cannot make it, send me your thoughts tonight and I will try to incorporate in my comments.     LCOR MEETING ON THE REVISED HOBOKEN RAILYARDS PROJECT    Monday 11/25 from 6-8pm again at the Historic Waiting Room of the Hoboken Terminal.  Representatives from NJ Transit and LCOR, the designated developer for the project, will hold an open house/information session, from 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm to discuss their proposed changes to the Hoboken Yard Redevelopment Plan.  Click on these links for a copy of the comparative memo, the traffic study and review letter and the draft amended plan.  Click here for my email on the original plan titled “We Can’t Afford To Get This Wrong”.   The revised proposal that was passed 6-3 on first reading at the last Council meeting includes the substantive changes listed below:  
  • Affordable Housing: Restores “minimum” language for 10% affordable housing set-aside.  
  • Bulk & Design Requirements: Includes language that provides City control over design, setbacks, etc. – to be addressed in the Redevelopment Agreement and Site Plan application. Requires a shadow study be completed as part of Redevelopment Agreement and Site Plan process.  Minor modification of language regarding the Clock Tower view corridor: removed the word ‘parts’ in reference to Observer Highway.  Limits Multi-Family uses to Site 2 only.
  • Future Potential Development: To address concerns regarding the intent of this section, the name of this district that had included approx. 1M square feet of future buildings has been changed to “RBD/ NJT Constrained Area – No Build Zone”. Buildable square footage references have been eliminated. Uses are limited to open space uses (active or passive park, walking trails, public art space, etc.).
  • Sustainable Design & Flood Resiliency: Replaced “construction of a minimum LEED-certified” with “construction of minimum LEED Silver”.
  • Variance Relief: Removed the language that allowed the Planning Board (instead of the City Council) to grant future variances.
What it doesn’t do is reduce the height of site 1 from 300 ft back to 200 ft, nor restore site 2 back to being commercial instead of residential.     PLEASE REMEMBER…notwithstanding the above, just like the current City Council is considering whether to approve this amendment, so can a future City Council approve any amendment to undo any of these restrictions.  IMHO, what the Council will be considering is changes to a plan that maximizes the profits to the developer today without engaging with us on what makes most sense for Hoboken.  And the developer also retains the right to ask for a better deal on the rest of the site in the future.     Hoboken spent years and Mayor Zimmer led this effort for the area around the terminal to be built as commercial.  That made sense for Hoboken – to attract commercial tenants to the most attractive commercial area in Hoboken.  I have spoken to a number of real estate advisors who say that that area is very attractive to commercial tenants and should be no problem to lease.  So why not have this conversation today – before its too late?     

The ONLY rush is that LCOR has stated they have a contract deadline in the next couple

of months where they have to show progress or risk losing their role as developer.  
Remember, LCOR does not own the site, they just have the right to develop it.  I am not at all suggesting we don’t develop the site, I am only suggesting we do a little more work with them – the right kind of work like understanding the math around what works best for Hoboken – before we agree to any changes to the plan.  Otherwise, we are just putting the interests of the developer ahead of the interests of Hoboken.     Remember, the vote was 6-3 to move forward with this plan that was introduced by the administration.  Jen, Peter and I were the only ‘no’ votes.      I am not sure if you are aware, but it was this project that made me think about running for City Council.  I sat in the audience in late 2014 when the City Council approved the current plan for the Railyards.  You could tell there was a lot of thought put into the plan including putting commercial uses close to the path terminal and residential further away, but it was obvious the city did not have the benefit of as experienced advisors as NJ Transit and LCOR had.  And that is when I thought that maybe my professional background might be helpful to our community.  Since then I have led the effort to ensure that in all real estate negotiations we are not the underdog and are advised by the best advisors so we do not leave anything on the table again.  The Hilton Hotel is a great example – it was our hotel/real estate advisor that reverse-engineered the developer profit model that allowed us to ask for $3+ million in community give backs.  Unfortunately, you have to have a willing government to want to do this, and so far on this iteration of the Railyards project, that willingness doesn’t seem to exist.  But I will keep fighting for it and for Hoboken.   As always, please forward to anyone you think may be interested in receiving this.  And feel free to email me at hoboken2nd@gmail.com or call me at 201/208-1674 to discuss what you have read or anything else that is important to you.  Please join me tomorrow night!   TiffanieFisher Hoboken City Council, 2nd Ward   Engage. Inform. Advocate. “More Voices are Better”  

www.Hoboken2ndWard.com Read More...

News

Winners & Losers: Picking up the pieces amidst the Ravibot rubble

by SmartyJones1 Min Reading

Some on each side of the ledger will be obvious and some not so obvious.

There’s no arguing that Mayor Ravi Bhalla and his infamous cast of FacePunchers are losers, joined by the tarnished fading legacy of former mayor Dawn Zimmer. Whoever thought she’d cast her lot with a council ticket endorsed and underwritten by big development special interest powers across the Soprano State?

It’s only the beginning of the bizarre turns and missteps as we map out the new Hoboken political landscape. Oh, it’s being remapped as we speak. Read More...

News

Sign of the Times: Veterans Day in Hoboken

by SmartyJones1 Min Reading

A beautiful sunny fall day served as the perfect backdrop to the Veterans Day ceremonies in Hoboken at Elysian Park today.

In attendance with dozens of members of the public, Mayor Ravi Bhalla, Assemblywoman Annette Chaparro, Freeholder Anthony Romano, City Council President Jen Giattino, Councilmembers Peter Cunningham, Jim Doyle, Tiffanie Fisher, Emily Jabbour, and BoE trustee Melanie Terkirian.

John Carey who managed the ceremonies acknowledged the elected officials in attendance offering superb comic relief saying of their presence, “You’re all covered.” Read More...

News

Councilwoman Jen Giattino: Join us at 11:00 Monday at Elysian Park to honor our Veterans

by SmartyJones1 Min Reading

Official release:


 Dear friends and neighbors,
Please join me tomorrow at 11am in Elysian Park to support our Veterans!
In 1919, President Wilson commemorated the first Armistice Day with these words:

“To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…” Read More...

News

NJ Transit Sneak Attack! Ravi-Russo-DeFusco resuscitate vote for massive NJT redevelopment!

by SmartyJones1 Min Reading
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In a sleight of hand, it’s off, no, it’s back on the council agenda, the massive Ravi Bhalla NJ Transit Redevelopment returned and suddenly found its way back for a vote following Tuesday’s council elections.

The massive two-phased plan slated with a 29-story residential tower downtown made a magical reappearance on the council agenda last night courtesy of a big special interest behind-the-scenes push.

The NJ Transit Redevelopment wasn’t on the agenda and would require a council majority vote to overturn the ruling of the chair, City Council President Jen Giattino, who refused to insert it on to the Wednesday council agenda. Read More...

News

City Council President Jen Giattino: “Thank you!!”

by SmartyJones1 Min Reading

Official release:

    Dear friends and neighbors,   I am truly humbled by the outpouring of support from all of my friends, family, and neighbors who gave their time and contributed to this campaign in so many ways — registering voters, knocking on doors, addressing so many postcards, hanging up Vote Jen Again signs, and spreading our message far and wide.   

When I first ran eight years ago, I promised the residents of the 6th Ward that I would always be here to listen to their concerns and represent their interests. From increasing park funding and open space to improving our infrastructure and protecting our tax dollars, that has always been my guiding purpose. And when the polls closed on election day, it was clear that that is the type of representative voters here want. Read More...

News

Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher: “Thank you!”

by SmartyJones1 Min Reading

Official release: 

  Dear Friends and Neighbors,     Now with the election behind us, I can tell you that I am only feeling positive and energized about what lies ahead!  As I mentioned in my “We Did It” email yesterday, I did want to thank everyone who were responsible for our shared victory.  The list is long, but I will try to be concise (one of my new term resolutions is going to be working on being more concise and brief…)  
  • First and foremost, my parents.  They came down from Rochester and fed me, drove me around, made phone calls and handed out literature!  My Dad had a great closing statement as he walked the line at the ferry and buses with me “Vote for my daughter…” which I know got me hundreds of  votes! J

  • My Aunt who made over 3,000 phone calls from Rochester over the last week of the campaign.  Incredible.  She has already signed up for more phone banking in the future!
    • Read More...

    News

    A Hoboken cherry on top

    by SmartyJones1 Min Reading

    The following election results courtesy of the Hudson County Board of Elections for each of the City Council ward races contains the additional Vote-by-Mail totals.

    Since many voted in 2017 using VBMs and didn’t change their request, they were sent the paper ballot form. This impacted the election results more than usual, so here are the updated figures.

    Leading the vote-getters citywide, Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher who came in just shy of 1,000 votes. This is remarkable for several reasons. Read More...