Hoboken the beacon of voter fraud in the form of absentee ballots, re: vote by mail will be making news again but not for all the same reasons it has in recent years.
The wave of paper ballots coming out of the corner of Hoboken where the love of “campaigning” is synonymous with earning $40 – $50 for a vote committed on paper will be making its largest appearance in Hudson County since the installation of Tim Occhipinti where a landslide of paid votes exploiting Hoboken Housing Authority residents and all of Hoboken flipped control of the City Council in the fall of 2010. That illicit action saw the short term rise to council chair of Councilwoman Beth Mason.Read More...
Advisory: Hoboken to Resume Partial Parking Enforcement on Nov 13 & Full Enforcement on Nov 19; New Towing Procedures in Effect
We understand that Hurricane Sandy resulted in significant loss to Hoboken residents, including the loss of many vehicles. For this reason, enforcement of permit parking regulations and alternate side parking for street cleaning will remain suspended until Monday, November 19th at 12:01am.
Beginning on Tuesday, November 13, 12:01am, partial parking enforcement will resume:
• Metered parking will be enforced east of Bloomfield Street. • All other non-permit and non-street cleaning parking enforcement is in effect (parking too close to a crosswalk, stop sign, fire hyrdrant, in a bus stop, driveway, car-sharing space, handicapped space, Temporary No Parking signs, parking on sidewalk, etc).
Full parking enforcement, including permit and street cleaning rules will resume on Monday, November 19th, 12:01 am.
For public safety reasons, we ask for your cooperation in the removal of damaged vehicles as soon as possible. If you do not have insurance for the removal of your vehicle, you may be subject to the expense incurred to remove it.
Any car parked on the street without plates will be considered abandoned and subject to towing at owners expense.
Residents with a new vehicle or rental vehicle can apply for a parking permit at the Parking Utility in the ground floor of City Hall or online at www.hobokennj.org/hpuonline.
New Towing Procedures As a result of contracting law requirements and to provide redundancy and additional resources in cases of major storms, the City has transitioned to a rotating towing system as of November 1, 2012 that uses four towing contractors: Mile Square Towing in Hoboken, Logan Towing and Truchan Towing in Jersey City, and Johns Main Towing in North Bergen. Vehicles will be towed by each of the four contractors on a rotating business to their respective locations.
The new procedures for retrieving a towed vehicle have been significantly simplified, eliminate multiple back and forth trips between the tow yard and Police Department, and uses a single point of payment. By providing a driver’s license, the registration and insurance information can be retrieved without the need for additional back and forth trips as was previously necessary.
If you believe your vehicle has been towed, first call the Parking Utility at 201-653-1919 or the Police Department at 201-420-2100 to determine if your vehicle has been towed and to which location.
For those taking a Hoboken taxi to a tow yard, the City is now offsetting the full cost of the fare, so long as a receipt is provided by the taxi driver. The taxi fare must be paid to the taxi driver, after which a receipt should be requested. The receipt must indicate the date, time, cost, taxi number and driver name. The City will then deduct the fare amount from the towing fee after a receipt has been provided to the tow yard contractor. Regular taxi fares to the four towing companies are: Mile Square Towing: $5, John’s Main Auto Body: $17, Logan Towing: $21, Truchan Brothers: $23.
Mile Square Towing 1520 Jefferson Street Hoboken, NJ 07030 (201) 217-3133
Johns Main Towing 1445 Union Turnpike North Bergen, N.J. 07047 201-861-1654
Logan Towing 45 Lewis Ave. Jersey City, N.J. 07506 201-418-0303 201-376-8922
Truchan Towing 626-630 Communipaw Ave Jersey City, N.J. 07304 201-432-3262 201-401-7455For full details, view this message on the web.
Advisory: City of Hoboken Announces Community Meetings for Disaster Relief and Information for Residents Without Power
Two community meetings will be held to provide residents and businesses with information and resources for recovering from Hurricane Sandy.
Meeting for Individuals
A meeting will be held on Monday, November 12 from 7pm-9pm at the Hoboken High School (8th St & Clinton St).
Meeting for Businesses
The City of Hoboken is co-sponsoring a meeting with the Hudson County Chamber of Commerce and Hoboken Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, November 14 from 5:30pm-7:30pm at the Hoboken High School. Businesses from outside of Hoboken are also welcome to attend.
For both meetings, agencies including FEMA, Flood Insurance, Small Business Administration, Construction Office, Health Department, Transportation Department, and others will be on hand.
Power
For those still without power, the Construction Office will open on Saturday from 9am to 4pm to facilitate the power restoration process. The office will also open on Monday (Veterans Day) from 9am to 4pm. If you still do not have power, please call PSE&G at 800-436-7734 then submit your information via this form: https://hoboken.wufoo.com/forms/hoboken-power-outage-reports.For full details, view this message on the web.
Hoboken is emerging from the direct hit of Hurricane Sandy and with many stories of kindness, generosity and aid through the crisis. What’s more remarkable are the visitors who came to the Mile Square to help too.
Greg Lincoln and dozens of volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints distributed hundreds of food kits throughout the Hoboken Housing Authority. Each kit feeds a family of four up to three days.
The hundreds of volunteers coming together were a powerful whirlwind mobilizing to aid others in the Mile Square, some pictured here heading back into City Hall for assignment after a Mayoral Press Conference.
Order in the court! Well it’s a different kind of order as the Hoboken army of volunteers completely took over.
In through the out door: while an army of volunteers awaited to unload trailers of MREs arriving, this group was working on making deliveries from the other entrance of Hoboken High School on Friday night after the storm.
Makeshift confessional – Saints Peter and Paul Church was an anchor on Hudson Street providing respite, charging for devices and one of the key shelters for people after Hurricane Sandy.
The New Jersey National Guard operating from downtown Hoboken at City Hall played a big role in relief efforts.
Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s CNN interview requesting the support of the National Guard:
Voters who were forced to leave town due to Hurricane Sandy have until tonight at 8:00 PM to get their ballots submitted to the Hudson County Clerk’s Office.
But what if you’ve been trying for days to get a ballot and even resubmitted your application as directed for a ballot again on Election Day and are still waiting?
Do you ask to speak to Didi or Gogo while you’re waiting for Godot?
One Hoboken voter displaced by Hurricane Sandy is beginning to wonder if they’ll ever get a ballot to cast their vote. They’ve been trying for five days.
That’s the story of one Hoboken resident MSV has been following. According to the Hudson County Clerk, they have until 12 noon today to get the ballot out to the voters and then the voter has until 8:00 PM to fill it out and return it.Read More...
Dear Neighbors,
I have good news, and bad news.
The good news is that on Election Day this Tuesday, Hoboken residents cast their votes in favor of ALL the local initiatives advocated by Mayor Dawn Zimmer and myself. The Kids First team won at the voting booths, voters chose to consolidate elections to a single day in November, and rejected an amendment to the rent control ordinance. This summer and fall, we worked hard to register 750 new voters, hundreds of which voted for the first time on Tuesday. So congratulations and thank you for making your voice heard!
The bad news is that this even though Election Day has passed, the election is not over, and this election can still be stolen. I kid you not.
This year, as you may also know, due to Hurricane Sandy, the State of New Jersey is allowing voters who requested a ballot by email or fax by 5:00 p.m. on Election Day to still cast their ballot by 8 p.m. on Friday, November 9th.
So here is my request to you: if you requested a ballot by mail or fax and still have not returned your ballot, please do so no later than 8:00 p.m. on Friday, November 9th, so that your vote counts! This is an important means to combat possible fraud and secure the victories we achieved on Tuesday!
In doing so, I would again ask you to cast your vote for Jean Marie Mitchell, Thomas Kleupfel and Ruth McCallister for School Board, vote YES on Hoboken Local Questions 1 & 3, and vote NO on Hoboken Local Question 2.
Here are the instructions from the Hudson County Clerk:
“Complete the application and return the application to us via fax (201-369-3478) or e-mail (countyclerk@hcnj.usor hrosario@hcnj.us ). Your application must have a valid, original signature. E-signatures, or typed names are not acceptable.”
Please share this message with your friends.
Why do I say that this election can still be stolen? Here’s why: there is an ongoing cancer in Hoboken’s electoral democracy. It’s called absentee ballot fraud. To those of you new to Hoboken politics, absentee ballots are referred to in New Jersey by the euphemism “Vote By Mail”. Several years ago, the State of New Jersey, with good intentions, wanted to make it easier for voters to cast their votes, so they allowed voters to cast absentee ballots, or vote by mail, for any reason, even if they were not away on election day. Many, many residents vote by mail in a proper manner and for legitimate reasons.
Unfortunately however, in Hoboken there are truly nefarious political operatives that have abused the “Vote By Mail” option by engaging in widespread absentee ballot fraud. In my involvement in politics, I have witnessed two city elections stolen with the use of fraudulent absentee ballots. We are doing everything in our power to make sure this does not happen again, and pledge to remain vigilant in the coming days.
I sincerely thank you for your patience as we move forward with this process. Again, if you have requested to vote by email or fax and have not returned your ballot, please remember to do so by 8:00 p.m. this Friday, November 9th.
Sincerely,
Ravi S. Bhalla
Councilman-at-Large
First, we would like to thank you for your incredible support during our campaign. Currently, Ruthy, Jean Marie and Tom lead the vote count, with a win on the voting machines but the election is not over and the results are currently too close to call. The Hudson County Board of Elections has not counted vote by mail ballots, provisional ballots, or email and fax ballots. This count will take place on November 20th. We need every vote from our supporters to secure our win and continue the progress Kids First has made in the last three years.
If you applied to vote by fax or email you have until Friday November 9th at 8 PM to return your ballot by fax or email. Please take the time to vote K-L-M and return your fax or email ballot.
“Complete the application and return the application to us via fax (201-369-3478) or e-mail (countyclerk@hcnj.usorhrosario@hcnj.us ). Your application must have a valid, original signature. E-signatures, or typed names are not acceptable.”
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All,
Congrats to president Obama, Senator Menendez and Congressman Sires for running a successful campaign. It’s now time to put partisan politics aside and get something done for the people in Washington.
The same holds true locally. As of now, Kids First, who has been doing a terrific job in turning around our public school system and positioning it to be world class, has a lead on the machines. They should win this election. But because of the storm, and more importantly the massive uncounted absentee ballots from the other side, we will not know until November 20th for the outcome. Vote tallies:
Ruthy McAllister had 3,498 votes; Jean Marie Mitchell, 3,223 votes and Tom Kluepfel, 3,426 votes.
The Move Forward slate trails with Elizabeth Markevitch 2,844, Anthony Oland 2,513, and Felice Vazquez 2,488.
Patricia Waiters has 987 votes.
There were several provisional ballots cast yesterday, and numerous other problems at the polls due to the storm, redistricting, and other problems I have not gotten to the bottom of as yet. Many thanks to those that stayed the course, exercised patience and executed on their right to vote and make a difference. Now here come the absentee ballots. You might think that we have enough to finish this off. From our lowest to their highest it’s a difference of 379 votes on the machine. We have seen illegal vote by mail (VBM) ballots totaling 750 in one shot. That is how the 4th ward was won last two elections. It can illegally turn an election on a dime.
If more that 675 votes are counted in their favor, they win the election, and that would be extremely disappointing. It would negate many years of public school reform Kids First has worked so hard to achieve. Let it be known that minority council members are entrenched with minority school board members in running interference against reform policies to put kids first.
If you applied for a “legal” absentee ballot by 5pm yesterday, that vote can be counted. Regardless of outcome, it will never be a referendum on their (minority council) policies. It’s time to put our local partisan politics aside and get more substantive results for the people of Hoboken!
—
Peter Cunningham
Dear Members of the Hoboken Community,
In the aftermath of one of the most devastating natural disasters to ever hit our great city, it was incredibly inspiring to see so many residents come together and turn out in big numbers to vote on Tuesday. While we continue to rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the importance of our community speaking up and being heard on the questions that affect future of our city can not be understated.
In that light, we want to thank each and every one of you who supported our election reform efforts and voted in favor of moving Hoboken’s municipal elections from May to November. Voters recognized the importance of reforming Hoboken’s electoral system and spoke in overwhelming numbers at the polls. Thanks to your support, the next Hoboken municipal elections will take place on a single day — election day in November, a day which has historically been a high turnout day for Hoboken’s voters, resulting in fairer elections.
Because of your support, voters will never have another election season like 2009 when voters had to vote five times in eight months in order to make their voices heard. No longer will voters have to find extra time to vote on more Tuesdays than necessary. No longer will voters have to endure five rounds of nasty campaign literature that filled our mailboxes, windshields and voicemail in a single year. No longer will taxpayers have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for extra, unnecessary elections.
This important electoral reform is yet another way Hoboken is moving away from the old days of political corruption, when Hoboken’s political leaders were most known for their criminal records and not for their record of accomplishment. While bringing reform to our community is not always easy, making it more convenient for Hoboken voters to make their voices heard at the polls is a very good thing for our city.
Once again, thank you for your support. We look forward to voting in the next municipal elections in November of 2013!
Sincerely,
The Vote Yes for November
Committee of Petitioners
Phil Cohen
Vijay Chadhuri
Sasha Conroy
David Dening
Eric Kurta
