If you have a few minutes, one of the things you can do is clear any debris on and around the sewer grates on your block.  Hoboken is going to need all the help it can get.

After tonight, don’t put out any garbage as through the weekend, it will get blown around and may find its way into sewer systems making things worse.

Horse Sense is concerned more with the high tides and the surging waters that are going to make for a lot of misery, especially in low lying areas.

Last chance to get yourselves or at least your cars out.  After 8:00 pm tomorrow, Hoboken streets are locked down! Read More...

City of Hoboken announces:

Residents are reminded to evacuate Hoboken as soon as possible and not underestimate Hurricane Irene. Flooding can be very widespread and severe. Read More...

Hurricane Irene is coming straight at us up the Carolina coast and with a width hundreds of miles wide, the immense size is on par with Hurricane Katrina.

With a rear end like that moving at a crawl of 10 mph, this looks like major trouble.
President Obama has urged citizens to listen to state and local officials.

Get out of Dodge if you can and please see the important notices below.

Office of the Mayor Announces:

Hurricane Irene may reach the New York City as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane. It is expected to arrive sometime on Saturday evening. If the storm remains at the predicted strength and reaches us at high tide, it could be one of the worst storms our City has ever faced. Very strong winds are forecast, so trees may be uprooted and power outages are very likely. Governor Christie has said that “from a flooding perspective this could be a 100-year event.”

Areas of evacuation in New Jersey have begun, and any hope Hoboken will not be hit hard have been plotted and speculated over by meteorologists over and over with little change.  We’re looking at a major event on par with 1985’s Hurricane Gloria.

The mayor has urged people who can leave town do so as Hoboken is likely to be seeing major flooding across most of the town with the west side of Clinton St. looking abysmal.

Garages are full, people need to get their cars out and off the roads.  While the mayor has advised people keep several gallons of water, you need more for utility purposes.  If power fails, toilets won’t work.  You’ll need water to refill your tanks manually.  Get that water and put it aside now.  Several days of food on hand is advisable.  Don’t count on your microwave doing the cooking for you.  This storm is going to tax all the utilities throughout the state. Read More...

City of Hoboken announces:

The City of Hoboken continues to urge residents with the ability to do so to leave Hoboken before the arrival of Hurricane Irene. This is a very serious storm, and the City thanks residents for taking the storm seriously. All municipal parking garages are at capacity. For those residents who cannot leave Hoboken, a shelter will be open at 9am on Saturday, August 27^th at the Wallace School, located at 1100 Willow Avenue. Read More...

City of Hoboken announces:

The City of Hoboken and SHG announced today that they had reached an agreement to settle pending litigation arising out of the termination of the purchase and sale agreement relating to Hoboken’s Municipal Garage. The settlement provides for return to SHG of their $2,550,000 deposit, which has been held in escrow since the original agreement was entered into on June, 2008. Each party will bear its own legal fees and costs incurred in connection with the transaction and ensuing litigation. In addition, as part of the settlement, SHG would waive its claim for a return of its $200,000 redevelopment fee. Read More...

Gov. Chris Christie has declared a State of Emergency for New Jersey with Hurricane Irene expected to come up the East Coast this weekend.  He’s asked for people to begin a voluntary evacuation from the Jersey Shore no later than Saturday.

A link to the National Hurricane Center states you should not attempt to get through flood water whether on foot, swimming or a car.  For complete details on what you should do before, during and after a hurricane, please see the link:

http://ready.nj.gov/plan/flood.html Read More...

Some positives last night and as this is Hoboken, the steps forward to overcome the incompetent past and corrupt present were on show for all to see. Bike Hoboken, a grassroots group came out in significant force with more than a dozen of its members in helmets to support more visible bike lanes in town.

Equally big, news is the announcement of a settlement on the failed buyer of the municipal garage. The commercial market made the original plan of $25.5 million to buy the property untenable. A deal for far less was never going to happen with the property value scaled back with the economy’s real estate decline. The $2.5 million deposit of the developer was contested and it appears an agreement on that amount is at hand. Those who called this a political debacle will be eating their words, perhaps millions of them when the legal settlement is filed and made public. Read More...