Spotted in the wild, this is a picture of a real NYC hipster doofus in a Starbucks sporting a real Apple iPad.  He’s playing a game on it which Da Horsey is very unlikely to do.  (All about productivity don’t ya know.)

At the last City Council meeting, we wearied of dragging notebook and camera gear and told a friend of the stable the idea of grabbing some suds later was unappealing dragging around .

So, just the other day my best friend from high school (who happened to marry a girl in Hoboken and moved here no less) asked me about the iPad.  I told him what I always tell him when people ask me about this stuff (for some reason people think any experience in technology means you know everything about all the available personal computers), what do you want to do with it?  He mentioned the usual email, web stuff, some excel type spreadsheet stuff.  I told him Apple had a spreadsheet program, but it isn’t excel for the iPad.  He’s interested and considering his lack of knowledge about computing, it certainly says good things about this product’s March release.

It’s weight is perfect for traveling around, just a pound and a half and would be perfect for blogging at City Council meetings.  By the way, setting up a wifi network is not expensive and the folks at City Hall mentioned they plan to set one up.  The Hoboken Journal needs to hold a raffle or a fundraiser so MSV can do some better onsite work.  Whaddaya say Jolly Green Giant?  Let’s do an event at the Elysian!

Beth Mason just made a release.  It follows at the jump.  She says Hoboken is facing another tax increase and cuts need to be made.  She did speak a lot about the cuts needed at the last City Council meeting and noted the lack of bravery by her colleagues.  Okay, fair enough but where’s the cuts?  MSV would like to hear bravery from any quarter in that respect.  So, Councilwoman would you care to take yourself up on that offer?

For Immediate Release February 8th, 2010  Dear Friend, This past Wednesday night saw another action-packed Hoboken City Council meeting. First and foremost, I’d like to congratulate the new Hoboken Department heads who were approved by the City Council at the meeting. In addition, I congratulate Eric Kurta on his appointment to the Hoboken Hospital Authority. Eric has long been a proponent of open government and hopefully he can use his experience to make the Hospital Authority more open, inclusive and transparent. Also on the agenda was a resolution requesting $11 million in temporary appropriations, which I voted against. During the Roberts administration the City Council was asked continuously to approve temporary appropriations, which it did. The end result was the city greatly overspending its budget, leading to the untenable financial situation we now find ourselves in. Unfortunately, the same thing appears to be happening again. Hoboken taxpayers have been crushed by tax increases over the past few years. It is time for the City Council to roll up our sleeves and make the serious, painful cuts to the budget that we all know are necessary. Instead, the current budget is headed for another tax increase which Hoboken taxpayers simply cannot afford. This outcome is unacceptable. It is time for us to come together and make the cuts needed to provide substantial tax relief for Hoboken residents. Over the next few weeks I intend to reach out to my fellow City Council members and have an honest dialogue about what we can cut out of the budget without negatively impacting our safety and quality of life, and what new revenue streams we can attempt to open. Clearly, another round of temporary appropriations is not the answer to our fiscal troubles. If you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me. I look forward to continuing to work together as we make Hoboken an even better place to live and raise a family. Sincerely,

Mason City Council | 301 Monroe Street | Hoboken | NJ | 07030