Last night’s council meeting had a different tone, some of it good, much of it bad and it will lead to tears and cheers come May 10th.  This town’s future of decent governance is at stake and the forces aligned against it are determined to make a good show of keeping the dark cloud situated over City Hall.

Council candidate Rami Pinchevsky summed up much of the conflict last night on the updated anti-wheeling ordinance sponsored by Councilman Peter Cunningham.  He addressed several of the conflicts in the Beth Mason-Tim Occhipinti relationship namely: money, lots of it. Read More...

The Hoboken University Medical Center moved forward and crossed an important threshold accepting a contract from HUMC Holdco’s $91.7 million bid.  The amount if finalized as part of an ongoing public process requiring state approval would relieve the city’s $52 million bond obligation while maintaining the institution as an acute care facility.

The commitment by the contract bidder for the hospital also requires as part of the sale a seven year timeframe at a minimum to keep the hospital open and maintain no less than 75% of the existing employees.  The minimum of 75% employee retention is not a set goal but a standard of expectation as a starting point. Read More...

Pt. 1

Pt. 2

Agenda and Resolutions available on the city’s site here:
http://www.hobokennj.org/council/council-documents-2011/

The mayor has issued a letter to the City Council on various issues of importance.  Please see the letter below and the link for the complete details.

Memo Zimmer Council 4-20-11

Tonight’s City Council meeting is another packed agenda but MSV is especially interested to see how the resolution beginning a review of Councilman Mike Russo’s seat on the Hoboken Housing Authority plays out.  Some rumors suggest Mike Russo may not be attending due to the recent passing of his grandmother.

That would be an interesting development but don’t count on it as the Russo-Mason ‘majority’ is aghast at any discussion of corruption.  The mere word coming up in candidate forums makes Beth Mason break out into a sweat and she loses her composure in short order.  She’ll be happy to talk about the former Public Safety Director and his meetings when he ran with Peter Cammarano but she doesn’t want to discuss her close ally Mike Russo anymore – that she’s made abundantly clear in talking about anything and everything but a just punishment for his selling Hoboken out.  (The short edited clips of Mike’s greatest hits are on the right.) Read More...

The Council Forum videos from last week are available on the top right of the page directly under the logo.  They will be available for review at your convenience any time leading into the election.  MSV understands the taped version for TV is not loaded yet.  Spread the word folks can see them here.

The Hudson Reporter debate held earlier is now posted and available too.  They don’t have all of it up but other than the usual double talk you get from some and love of items unloved earlier by others, the word on the street is the war between Tim Occhipinti and Rami Pinchevsky was quite interesting. Read More...

Since the Mike Russo FBI surveillance tapes have come out, the question since the last Council meeting on people’s minds following the election is how does this play out?

At the last City Council meeting, many people concerned about their links to Councilman Mike Russo were ready to immediately move ahead, some with attacks on others, even suggesting we should be “outraged,” by unknown facts with other people doing unknown things while pointing at everyone and anyone even the Governor. You could hand them a mirror with Mike Russo’s arm around their shoulder and they still couldn’t tell you who the bad guy in the picture is. (The deranged will say it’s those not pictured in Reform) Read More...

From the desk of Peter Cunningham:

Friends, family and neighbors, 

The Council Elections are now only three weeks away.  While we are all hard at work to win this election, we are looking for additional volunteers that can canvass our neighborhoods to identify our votes.  In addition, on Election Day, we are looking for Challengers to sit at our 5th Ward polling locations (2 to 4 hour time frames) to monitor voting activity and track the vote count.

These are both very critical tasks that will help us carry the day on May 10th.  For Challenging, if you THINK you might have time, we need to know very soon so we can submit your name to the County by next Tuesday 26th.   

Please advise!!  For those that have contributed time and money, many thanks to you all.  For those that have not, I am making a personal plea.  Remember, our victory will ensure that we continue to lead the fight against CORRUPTION in Hoboken and keep Hoboken moving in the right direction.  Corruption has destroyed our finances and development opportunities.  All of these important issues which we are addressing head on are at stake and all three of my opponents are tied to old Hoboken politics and the corruption that still exists today.

Let’s not turn back the clock, please get involved today!
— 

Read More...

Tim Occhipinti, 4th ward resident and occupant of its council seat also had an event last Saturday competing with the mayor.  Well they aren’t competing as the mayor has an established base and record and Tim Occhipinti has a group of handlers who muster a “Being There,” campaign as in they handle all the words and Tim just needs to be there.

Tim’s event went a little bit different although both were in parks.