Promoted from the MSV comments, Politrickery writes:
In spring 2011, Franz ran a mysteriously low-bandwidth campaign, with no Web site, no platform information disseminated, no effort to provide people with any particular insight into what he thought or stood for, and in fact seemed to be going out of his way to be as vague and trope-ridden as possible when it came to articulating any policy positions, offering reform-minded voters a vague whiff of being an “independent” alternative to the Zimmer-endorsed candidate about whom Mason’s propaganda machine had successfully sown doubts, stemming from smear pieces regarding his personal finances and questions about his longevity in Hoboken.
Shortly before the election, Franz wrote a letter to the editor declaring his desire to “reform our elections process… have the Council make responsible development decisions; and take a serious look at our rent control problems.” He made no mention of any concerns he had about Mayor Zimmer’s publication on the city Web site, two months prior, of information regarding Councilman Michael Russo being caught on an FBI tape agreeing to accept illegal campaign money from a developer, disparaging the legal and proper zoning and planning process and “this pay-to-play nonsense,” and boasting of having abused his role on the Hoboken Housing Authority, which serves as one of the city’s rent-control/affordable-housing solutions. If anything, one might have expected, given Franz’s key stated platform positions of election reform, responsible development, and rent control, he of all people might have been among the most outraged and appalled at Councilman Russo’s conduct.
Instead, Franz waited until after the election, upon which he almost immediately stated the exact opposite — essentially that Russo’s rights were being infringed upon by a political thug.
Here is what he wrote:
“I am against the mayor using the city web site to issue such a politically charged statement for the following reasons:
First, it is unfair to have taxpayer money support a website that houses a statement that many people in our community may either disagree with or find repulsive.
Second, this creates dangerous precedent because in the future the mayor may again use the city web site as an unfair tool to attack political opposition. In theory she could even destroy her political opposition with such a weapon.
Third, this undermines the value of the city web site. Residents rely on the city web site as a source for good, reliable and unbiased information so that they can form their own point of view about what is happening in our city.
And fourth, this breeds political belligerence because it prompts opposition Council Members or other political operatives to respond in kind. And the last thing our town needs is more political fighting.”
Mayor Zimmer’s concern for making the public aware that one of our representatives, wielding the public trust, had engaged in a very serious betrayal, doing even greater damage to people’s ability to trust their elected officials in a community still recovering from the Cammarano scandal of 2009, was, in Franz’s view, “political belligerence” that some people might find “repulsive”
Also interesting is that prior to the election, numerous people trying to learn more about Franz and his platform claimed to have reached out to him on Facebook and received no response, yet within days after the election, Franz is said to have begun aggressively using Facebook to try to connect with anyone and everyone in the Hoboken political community, regardless of whether he’d ever met them in person.
There is no room for ambiguity here — Franz is possibly the biggest phony this town has ever seen, and a complete and utter weasel who cannot be allowed to slime his way into office. It is imperative that his ambition to get onto our City Council be shut down before it ever gets off the ground.
| Franz Paetzhold at Ramos event |
Last week’s fundraiser held a few surprises in the back room of the Elysian Cafe. Behind the velvet curtain was an assortment of Old Guard diehards and some eager fresh to be declared “independent” faces lurking.
Last spring’s 2nd ward council candidate Franz Paetzold is the latest “independent” maneuvering to get on an Old Guard council ticket for an at-large City Council seat.
Paetzold has some unique perspectives on corruption in Hoboken – well unique among those who are not soldiers in the Old Guard. He’s assailed the mayor for discussing Councilman Michael Russo’s meeting with FBI informant Solomon Dwek on the city website.
Initial reports show the biggest test for Hoboken’s pump have greatly reduced the impact of severe rains in last night’s nor’easter. While some areas near Shop Rite in the western part of the City saw temporary but limited flooding, most other areas saw none of the detrimental impact including the areas of the fourth ward historically hit very hard.
| This scene typical of flooding in Hoboken after Hurricane Irene is not the case this morning. |
Early reports indicate it was the western area of Hoboken in midtown hit the hardest but it was temporary and by this morning the waters reaching more than a foot in limited locations was already gone but did leave some vestiges of sewage.
City of Hoboken announces:
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The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for our area from Sunday afternoon into Monday morning. Several inches of rain are possible. Due to the potential for flooding, the City of Hoboken is providing free parking in municipal Garage B (located on 2nd Street between Hudson and River streets) beginning Sunday, April 22nd at 12pm noon through Monday, April 23rd at 8am for residents who reside in flood prone areas and have a valid Resident parking permit or Temporary parking permit placard. Free parking is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Residents who have a Resident parking permit or Temporary parking permit are reminded that overnight parking from 8pm to 8am is available every day in Municipal Garages B, D (215 Hudson St), and Midtown (371 4th St) for $5.
A map of flood-prone areas is available on the City website: www.hobokennj.org/flooding.
For those who didn’t see the original discussion on the midtown refi, here’s a key three minute segment. Here you see the efforts of the council majority fall short as a bond requires six votes and not one member of MORTe will fulfill their fiduciary responsibility.
If there was a law on doing so and upholding your oath of office each member of MORTe could find themselves fined a million plus dollars each and/or in jail.
What has been overlooked in much of this recent discussion is the refinance was required by the IRS when the hospital was sold. Smarting from the community rising up to stop their sabotage and see Hoboken University Medical Center closed, MORTe was not going to let go of this opportunity to bleed Hoboken for millions.
From the desk of Councilman Peter Cunningham:
Dear neighbors, friends and family, After Wednesday night’s council meeting, I had to leave early the following morning for Baltimore returning last night. However, taking the train, I had time to pen the following. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns. Thanks, Peter Dawn Zimmer and I have been working to control Hoboken’s budget since before we were elected to the council. We join a long line of citizen activists who understood that the only sustainable way to cut taxes was to reduce spending. This week, years of effort continued to bear fruit, as we again made historic progress with Hoboken’s 2012 budget. New Jersey’s ”paper of record,” The Star Ledger recognized that achievement when it wrote: “In a 5 to 4 vote, the Hoboken City Council passed its calendar budget that drops the tax levy 17 percent from last year’s [actually prior year’s] figures, putting the mile square city on top of the state for reducing taxes.” We are proud of our record in cutting taxes. But we are just as proud of the way we did it. Honestly. Sustainably. No tricks or gimmicks. We cut taxes while preserving needed services and continuing to reserve 3.6% of the budget for unexpected costs. All achieved in the face of unrelenting obstructionism by minority council members Mason, Occhipinti, Russo and Castellano. Minority members understand that the city’s fiscal success is their political catastrophe. That’s why they worked so hard to kill the HUMC hospital privatization which would have cost the City dearly in reduced services, loss of jobs, and financial and economic disaster. These four obstructionists failed in blocking the sale, but did manage to block a refinancing of Parking Utility bonds to the tune of $4 million which would have further shored up our reserves and provided additional tax relief in a responsible manner. We persevered through the budget process in accordance with state statutes. We conducted open and transparent budget workshops. We made well thought out amendments to the introduced budget. And we passed a responsible budget which will provide for sound regeneration of surplus savings in future years, while preserving needed services and providing the most tax relief in the state.Many thanks to Mayor Zimmer and her team, to my council colleagues, and to our many supporters. Working together we stayed the course and got the job done. Hoboken has a lot to be proud of.
—
Peter Cunningham
Tuesday night was an event jammed night in Hoboken. At the Elysian Cafe, Ruben Ramos held a fundraiser, officially it’s for his Assembly committee but in reality it’s a warm up for a mayoral run.
| As MSV arrived Perry Belfiore pointed to note State Senator Nellie Pou in attendance while Scott Delea (r) made a run for it. He thought he escaped but no such luck and he’s immortalized showing his true colors if not follicles. |
| Shotgun marriage Part IX? At the City Council meeting debating a bond to save the hospital and the Hoboken taxpayers Frank “Pupie” Raia and Michele Russo were on the same side: kill it. Raia would want to build the condos there and Michele would want the sales commissions. Is this part of another go round in 2013? |
Talking Ed Note: The buzz on the street isn’t if Ruben Ramos is going for mayor but how much money from the fundraiser can he roll over into a mayoral run? Based on the wheeling legislation passed in Hoboken with the entrance of Councilwoman Jen Giattino last summer not much but there’s the law of Hoboken and then there’s the law of necessity.
A Hoboken mom who serves as a Hoboken elected official and her young daughter are alleged victims of stalking and harassment by a paid political operative of Hoboken’s 2nd ward councilwoman Beth Mason.
According to a complaint filed by BoE trustee Theresa Minutillo, a harassment case against Mason’s paid political operative Matt Calicchio last fall will be moving out of the hearing stages and is going to trial next month.
Councilwoman Beth Mason’s unpopularity is certain to take another nosedive with news her paid political operative Matt Calicchio is allegedly behind stalking and harassing a Hoboken mom outside of her young daughter’s school. In the complaint filed October 18th, Minutillo charged Beth Mason’s operative with harassment alleging he showed up at the school her five year old daughter attends and began screaming at them on the street.
Office of the Mayor announces:
=&0=& Despite legacy costs and retroactive salary payments going back to 2007, the City Council adopted a budget tonight with a $900,000 reduction in the municipal tax levy and a 3.6% cash surplus level. The municipal tax levy has been reduced by approximately $6 million since 2010.“Thank you to Council President Bhalla, Finance Chair Cunningham, and Council members Marsh, Mello, and Giattino for their support as well as my directors and the finance department for working so hard to create this strong, responsible budget,” said Mayor Dawn Zimmer. “I am proud that our teamwork enabled the budget to be adopted in the shortest timeframe in over a decade and will continue working to provide city services as effectively and efficiently as possible.”
As MSV predicted the 2012 budget passed in a 5-4 vote as amended. All members of MORTe voted no but none offered any cuts although they made claims to want to see taxes lowered.
Council President Ravi Bhalla noted the reductions in the tax levy of roughly 17% delivered on a promise by the Administration and noted the Newark Star Ledger named Hoboken in the top one percent in the entire state of NJ for tax reduction.
Earlier Councilwoman Beth Mason had said she was awaiting the mayor’s plan to reduce taxes. Councilman Peter Cunningham noted her actions cost Hoboken millions the council majority attempted to claim on behalf of the City’s taxpayers.