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Long agenda for tonight’s Council meeting so this one could take a while. On tap: the Food Truck ordinance is back in final form on first reading, a grant for hiring additional firefighters, some BoE sentiment seeking by the Old Guard, meaningless after last night’s move to November elections.
Of large importance – three major appointments to the all important Zoning Board.
The Council docs are here:
http://www.hobokennj.org/council/council-documents-2012/
The arguments weren’t new but the Old Guard mustered up a valiant effort, at least in terms of making noise and submitting a moot referendum petition on the matter of a November election before the Hoboken BoE finally voted past midnight to move elections from April.
Following along party lines as expected, the Kids First majority moved 5-4 with 60% of other NJ districts for November elections and were opposed by the Frank Raia slate with BoE trustee Maureen Sullivan.
The contentious meeting featured the Old Guard in force with Frank Raia, Michele Russo, Michael Russo, Beth Mason, Terry Castellano and the Calicchio Brothers in their full fledged worst all evening.
Tonight is the showdown at the BoE regarding a move to November elections. The “controversy” hasn’t materialized but for the Old Guard it’s life and death to regain control over the Hoboken BoE and a $60 million budget they want desperately to control again. Under their auspices previous to the Kids First majority, there were multiple audit violations not found in one year but consecutive.
A petition campaign in subsidized housing will lead to the announcement of a non-binding initiative MSV mentioned Monday but the evidence is right there in the City Council agenda. Click on the link below, it’s about two-thirds down, Resolution #17 or on the link just search for “changing the date of the school board.”
http://iaonevoice.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Italian-American-One-Voice-Coalition/135948066450379There’s a saying in recent years in Hoboken, as goes the BoE so goes Hoboken. There’s truth to that with recent trends mirroring ward by ward output in last year’s elections. Although the BoE election last April was scheduled in a very challenging period during spring break when many parents were not focused on the election with trips out of town, the results in the end did mirror the Council ward elections last May.
The fifth and sixth wards came out ahead for the BoE’s Kids First majority while the second ward was just within an eyelash behind. In the council races that May, ratios remained the same. Reform won those two wards and came within an eyelash of forcing a runoff in the second ward against Beth Mason, this even with her spending vast sums of money – well into six figures, including a colossal $50,000 in unreported street money.
City of Hoboken announces:
=&0=& We are committed to implementing every strategy and resource possible to protect our community. While some categories of offenses have gone down and some categories have gone up, including reported sexual assaults which occurred disproportionality on the weekend of our St. Patrick’s Day parade, overall crime in Hoboken is down significantly. According to Uniform Crime Reports and Hoboken Police Department data, there were a total of 1,260 reported crimes in 2009, 1135 in 2010, and 1,062 in 2011 – a decrease of 15.7 percent in two years. The number of calls for service to the Police Department dropped from 63,009 in 2010 to 58,185 in 2011, a decrease of 7.7 percent. While overall crime has been reduced, even one crime is one too many, and we will continue to do everything to keep our community safe. Next week we look forward to announcing a new initiative to protect our residents and visitors. =&1=&: MSV will print the police unions letter with their statement too. =&2=&Right off the bat, there’s something wrong just on the raw totals. In 2011, the difference is 39 crimes.
In 2010 the difference is 78 crimes with the City figures higher.
Someone has one if not both years incorrect. The difference if 39 crimes is significant if they were all violent crimes such as murder and rape but it’s not. Hoboken411 says rape is up 25% but you are talking about a figure that is a handful and the St. Patrick’s Day parade appears to be the reason.
In a conversation with MSV, BoE trustee Ruth McAlister provided the following statement in favor of moving elections :
Every vote I make must be in the best interest of the children, and by saving almost 100,000 dollars a year and increasing voter participation in the school board election, I believe it is the ethically responsible thing to do for our children and the community. Based on the 2010 census (http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk) 48% of the Hoboken population is between the ages of 20 and 34 years of age. This group of individuals do not “mail” in bill payments or Christmas cards, why would we think that they would be motivated to VOTE BY MAIL? We, as elected officials, need to do everything in our power to encourage participation in our democracy and the best way to exercise your right to participate is to vote. It is uncomfortable to extend every school board trustees term by 8 months, but we would be extending all our terms not just those, including myself, that are up for re-election in April. Putting 100,000 dollars back in the budget for the children, and hopefully encouraging new voters to participate in the election far out weighs the extension of the terms. As to the budget, there is now a legislative cap of 2%, that did not exist previously. If we or a future board, wishes to increase the budget beyond the 2% cap it MUST be voted on in November, so the people still retain the right to voice their opinion when necessary. I hope that all 9 members see this as the right move, and follow the lead of our State House, Senate, Governor and the other 257 districts that have already made this change. In the end, the positives of a November election far exceed any reasoning to keeping the election in April. We can do a lot of good with 100,000 that directly impacts our children. I see absolutely nothing that negatively impacts the children if we cast votes for school board in November.| BoE Trustee Ruth McAllister – on board for November BoE Elections |
