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City of Hoboken announces:
=&0=&=&1=& On Wednesday, October 6th, the City Council unanimously approved the Transition Year 2010 municipal budget containing a 5 percent tax cut.“While most towns across the state are raising taxes, I’m proud that we are bucking the trend and cutting municipal taxes by 5 percent – the most permitted by law during a transition year,” said Mayor
Above is Tim Occhipinti’s first mailer to fourth ward residents for the November 2nd special election. It’s not a bad introduction of a candidate. Occhipinti had run for Council last year but he did not have the budget from the backers available now. Some of you may find some surprises and well, contradictions. Can you find the first one? Here’s a hint: it’s concerning this pool season versus the last at the Boys & Girls Club.
Is anyone curious how Tim Occhipinti plans on cutting taxes? He speaks about accountability in the mailer but oddly he doesn’t account for how he plans to cut taxes. He’s going up against one of Councilman Lenz’s strong suits: municipal finance. (Last night the council began the long slog back from financial overspending and put a 5% tax cut into the transitional budget, the most allowed by state statute.)
Tonight’s regular meeting of the City Council is jammed and promises to go on for a long while. Get the coffee pot up and going early and head on over to our colleague, the Hoboken Journal for a fun filled knock’em, drag’em out cat fight.
The last special council meeting had only a few items on the agenda with a closed session on the legal matters of the Municipal Garage being one, but that didn’t stop members from bitterly denouncing being there when one agenda item, the Western Edge redevelopment was tabled after a few members of the public asked for more time to provide input. (Hopefully more residents will evaluate and come back and constructively bring some good ideas to the table. Developers such as Tarragon/URSA are believed to be already executing expensive live push polls to sabotage the existing plan altogether!)
Lenz for Council campaign manager Sam Briggs responded to Tim Occhipinti backer Maurice Fitzgibbons with the following statement:
“It’s great that we can finally have a conversation with one of the real candidates in this election, Maurice Fitzgibbons, and not his current straw man, Tim Occhipinti. Its very telling that instead of Maurice talking about why Tim would make a better candidate for the 4th Ward, he has to talk about himself and his reputation. He is all but admitting that as he sees it, this campaign is not about Tim Occhipinti, it’s about the Cammarano team that he has surrounded himself with.
Tim Occhipinti backer Maurice Fitzgibbons announces:
It is certainly not my style, having served in public office for 15 years as a Hudson County Freeholder with an unblemished record, to take the time to publicly answer a campaign candidate who is not my opponent.
When is Michael Lenz going to face his opponent Tim Occhipinti instead of running a campaign against Peter Cammarano?
Although the New York Times called Michael Lenz Hoboken’s own Karl Rove, I am sure that his strategy is to attack anyone in his way that is even remotely supporting Mr. Occhipinti. For months, supporters of Mr. Lenz have repeatedly attempted to tarnish me and my reputation using the various blogs affiliated with his campaign, blogs which regularly see fit to promote racism, attack ethnicity, and belittle an individual’s sexual preference. Mr. Lenz would have liked to run on his reform playbook. However, since he is now the candidate and not the campaign manager, reform does not apply to him.
Michael Lenz, who served as school board president in 1993 orchestrated the firing of the first Hispanic Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Edwin Duroy. His actions subsequently were called into question with several school board members calling for an investigation. Today, Michael Lenz serves on two taxpayer-funded public payrolls – one a patronage job to which he comes and goes as he pleases. He is also the political “boss” with a grip on both City Hall and the Hoboken Board of Education.
To attack me with my record of public and community service for over 30 years and a former president of the New Jersey Association of Counties is simply a pathetic sign of desperation. I am proud to support Tim Occhipinti, as I was to support elected officials in the past including Senator Bill Bradley, Senator Frank Lautenberg, Senator Robert Menendez, State Senator Bernard Kenny, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, and most recently President Barack Obama. All were appreciative of my role in their campaigns.
I also say to Michael Lenz that attacking businessman Michael Novak who represents the so-called “new” Hoboken living here for over 20 years has done more in community service in one year than has Mr. Lenz in his entire time living here in Hoboken.
Let Mr. Lenz deny that he has recently been seen campaigning in the 4th Ward with an individual whose own home was raided on the morning of July 23, 2009 with some 30+ other individuals.
I also ask Mr. Lenz if he did not on two separate occasions ask me for my support for his candidacy.
In closing, if the public had to choose between me and Mr. Lenz in an election today, it would be my biggest victory to date.
| The Russos (Mike and Terry Castellano) take the media for a ride today on a story Mike Russo later admits was just a rumor. He claimed the HPU office was being moved even though he hadn’t spoken to the Director of the Hoboken Parking Utility Ian Sacs. To the right of the camera is Mike Russo’s mother, Michelle Russo. In FBI documents she was recorded on government tapes telling the owner of Pino’s she wanted $5 per tow for a city contract. Michelle Russo was the HPU Director at the time. Proving once again, truth can be stranger than fiction. |
MSV requested a response from the mayor’s office on the matter of Councilman Russo charges on a potential move of the HPU office. As MSV noted earlier, a problem of termite infestation in the current location has been an ongoing problem. The issue had surfaced in an interview with the mayor earlier this year.
Mayor Zimmer’s office issued the following statement in reply:
“It’s true that for decades – at least since the Police Department occupied the space currently used by the Parking Utility – City Hall’s basement has had a very serious, unaddressed termite problem. Employees have been known to put chewing gum into the wall to keep the termites out, and swarms of flying termites are not uncommon. These conditions are not fair to employees and sometimes cause them to leave work early, which is why my Administration has been looking for space to relocate the Parking Utility during repairs and renovations. The Midtown Garage is a potential site being considered, but it is still very early in the process and no decisions have been made. Relocation of the Parking Utility to the unused space in the Midtown Garage has been contemplated since the garage was originally built, so exploring this idea is not new and certainly not news. If Councilman Russo would like to seriously discuss the issues, I’d be more than happy to have that conversation, but this is nothing more than an election year political stunt.”
Councilman Russo announces:
| Mike Russo at last City Council meeting. How do we change the subject? |
Talking Ed Note: MSV did not receive this release but a reader provided the details. Councilman Russo is invited to submit releases as any public official. Of course he may prefer a less transparent method for doing so and that’s his right.
As this was not released to MSV, the policy of not commenting with a release doesn’t apply.
The HPU offices as MSV understands it has a structural problem due to termites working away at the area over a period of years unchecked. If there is a cost in moving offices on a temporary or permanent basis, the question needs to be asked, why wasn’t the problem dealt with sooner and why hasn’t Councilman Russo addressed the infrastructure problem?
Lenz for Council announces:
| Chat with Mayor Zimmer and 4th Ward Councilman Mike Lenz Tuesday, October 5th | 7 pm — 9 pm Campaign HQ – 60 Madison St There have been many positive changes at City Hall over the last few months and there is still plenty more to do. Come share your thoughts, suggestions, and concerns with Mayor Zimmer and Councilman Lenz at this Meet and Greet. Councilman Mike Lenz is a key member of the Mayor’s team and is the deciding vote to lower taxes,stop out of scale development, fix flooding, and make City Hall more efficient. Mike’s opponent is planning to turn back the clock and return to the failed policies that bankrupted our town, drastically raised taxes, sold us out to developers, and lowered our quality of life. Come hear why this election is so important to the future of the 4th Ward and the entire city. |
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Follow Mike and Stay Updated: lenzforcouncil.com |
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