News

Feds strike Hoboken!

Breaking: Reports of federal agents in Hoboken and at least several initial arrests.

Seeking confirmation on who and where is absorbing the blow. One person sent an email saying they saw several males and females in the well known blue FBI windbreakers.

=&0=& Agents seen in more than one location.  Send photos and any details to smartyjones@me.com =&1=& One eyewitness reports four dark SUVs with lights flashing and sirens blaring on Observer Highway heading in the direction of City Hall. =&2=&: Word of FBI roadblocks. Both sides of Hudson Street are shut down between 9th and 10th Streets. =&3=& Another location shut down? Now there’s an unconfirmed report the Feds have shut down Bloomfield St. in the vicinity of 7th. =&4=& Spectators overheard near Washington and 8th. One person says someone taken out of a Bloomfield brownstone in handcuffs.  =&5=&: An uptown person texted MSV saying they saw an African-American woman near hysterical by the 10th St bus stop crying and yelling to no one in particular, “They got Carmelo!” =&6=& The same woman did a 180 and is heading toward Park Ave. mumbling something about she has to go home and get an umbrella.  =&7=&: Now federal agents said to be “pouring” into City Hall. =&8=&: Federal agent overheard asking, “Where’s Johnny Meleye’s office?” =&9=&: Agents seen in lobby of 10 Church Towers. Bystanders yelling at the agents telling them to get out. One overheard, “Why don’t you go arrest some yuppies?” =&10=&: Text message says eyewitness heard a press conference will take place outside City Hall remarking, “This ain’t the Jersey guys. They have New York accents.” Vehicles with NY plates. =&11=&: On phone with press office for Department of Justice for the Southern District of NY.  Official says, “We can neither confirm nor deny an operation in Hoboken is underway. =&12=&: One source says Feds won’t announce until “everyone is rounded up.” =&13=&: Rumor at City Hall says press conference may take place outside midday. =&14=& MSV received a call from Verizon cable news. They asked for more hard info and asked if we could go do a live interview. Told them we’re too busy on the story. =&15=&: Hudson Street is reopened. Agents reported leaving the scene but empty-handed? Eyewitness says they were overheard saying, “She fled to Virginia.” =&16=& Going to head down to City Hall as no one in mayor’s office is responding to phone or text. =&17=& Someone thinks they saw the Hoboken411 douchebag Perry Klaussen at 1st and Washington yelling at passerbys, “They’re here for Zimmer!”  People are ignoring him heading towards the PATH. =&18=& Klaussen is yelling and shaking his fist at the sky. Something about a “compost conspiracy.” =&19=&: Some residents yelling back at Klaussen. One older man yells back, “Hope your dog chews your leg off. Where’s your ghostwriting minion?”  Most are ignoring him. Don’t they do that online too? =&20=& Awaiting further details. Here’s how Hoboken411 reported re: Lane Bajardi ghostwriting his fantasy of lies at the last FBI raid back in 2011. =&21=& =&22=& =&23=& – Aliens land outside City Hall. Announce everyone must vote for Bernie Sanders or feel the bern of their killer ray beams.  Mayor Zimmer on scene endorsing. Not sure if she’s endorsing arrival of aliens or Bernie Sanders. 
News

The Boys are back in town

Das Feds are poking around in Hoboken. Nerves are jangled, fear and trepidation in the air and political livelihoods among the Old Guard weigh in the balance.

The wreckage is only beginning to make its wake.

This time it isn’t the folks in Newark calling the shots: not the US Attorney’s Office nor the Department of Justice overlapping from down yonder.

This visit comes courtesy of the Southern District of New York from across the Hudson. Fabled personalities with one who eventually became New York mayor (and is one of several key insiders advising Donald Trump) and the current US Attorney in Preet Bharara who blew through the accepted corrupt practices in the state taking down former political powerhouse Shelly Silver. Read More...

News

Sign of the Times: Switch hitter?

Grafix Avenger highlights the behind the scenes politics of the Old Guard on the Hoboken Board of Education.

Some of it is clearly not so behind the scenes but playing politics is a familiar venue even when it comes to the Board of Education in Hoboken.

=&0=&: When does politics justify a sitting BoE trustee aid and abet its competitors for financial and other local resources to the detriment of the students you’re elected to serve?
News

Hudson County Young Republican Chair – ‘Progress comes with ending absolute power’

=&0=& Regardless of who one supports in the presidential primary race, it is important that Republicans in Hudson County and all urban areas are constantly engaged in outreach. It is important not only for our local county and municipal GOP groups and clubs but for the general population as well. A one party county devoid of a credible opposition will inevitably succumb to the timeless observation of Lord Acton that “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” On behalf of the public good and our party, the Hudson County Young Republicans (HCYR’s) are dedicated to this mission. Engaging the public and exposing communities that traditionally lean liberal to the common sense conservative ideas of small government and individual liberty is just as important as collecting signatures for a particular candidate. In fact, it can be argued that engaging the unengaged has more potential value because it expands and grows our local GOP even in the absence of a looming election.
To this end, the Hudson County Young Republicans are proud to say that our programing has been geared toward this and that we will continue to outreach and engage different communities of faith, ethnicity, and economic background to develop a relationship between them and our party. That government should “be giving people a hand up, not a hand out” is as common a saying as it is a sound idea. That the liberal policy of central planning has resulted in massive failures that particularly wound the working poor but hurt us all; that raising taxes has encouraged employers to limit hours and downsize their workforce; that while liberal big government policies have buoyed Wall Street, Main Street has been strangled by regulatory red tape; that healthcare costs have risen and that prices have gone up while the purchasing power of the dollar has gone down, are facts known to all. The party must begin, and we in the HCYR’s are, reaching out to professionals AND the working class, white folks AND people of color, native English speakers AND new immigrants, Evangelicals AND Jews (and everything in-between) because these issue affect us all. For too long, we Republicans have let Democrats win by playing the partisan politics of division and for too long have we relied on individual campaigns to bring our message of small government and individual liberty to traditionally Democratic voting groups. We must, and the HCYR’s have begun, to develop relationships in these communities even when there is no immediate election on the horizon. We must co-sponsor programs and hold events in their communities and institutions to show the African American, Jewish, Catholic, Hispanic, Gay etc… communities that we are there for more than just the obligatory campaign one-off. We must be a persistent presence in their communities engaging them in a civil discourse about issues facing their communities, our municipalities, our county, our state and nation until we are excepted as fellow communal stakeholders.

Read More...

News

Ping! POW! the FBI is back in action at MSV with love for the Mile Square City

It’s the love that keeps bringing them back. Or is it the corruption?

The FBI missed Hoboken over the Easter holidays if their visits to MSV today are any indication.

The boys of summer and our newest friends from the US Attorney’s Office, the Southern District of New York have been pinging up a storm visiting MSV dozens of times today alone.

Das Feds are enjoying many of the related articles, the beloved Grist for the Mill edition: Carmelo Garcia in hiding as federal heat stirs merely one among others. Read More...

News

Councilman Ravi Bhalla: Water Mains and Budget update

From the desk of City Councilman Ravi Bhalla:



Dear Friends and Neighbors – 

Here are a few updates on what’s going on in Hoboken City Government and some fun happenings around the city as Spring is finally here! Mark Your Calendars: Arts & Music Festival and More

The Hoboken Arts and Music Festival will be held on May 1 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. I will be sponsoring a table to meet with constituents and register new voters. I find this day to be a great opportunity to meet new people and hear any concerns our residents have about Hoboken. Please make sure to stop by and say hello!

I want to call your attention to the newly formed Hoboken Democratic Social Club, which was initiated by Dana Wefer, who also serves as Chair of the Hoboken Housing Authority. The Club is free to join and serves as a great way to meet other like-minded individuals in our community.  I encourage you to join the group on Facebook by clicking here and coming out to future events! With the warm weather on its way, the City began the registration process for outdoor activities and classes. These include sunrise yoga classes, family yoga, zumba, and more. Click here to learn more or sign up.  Update on Water Main System As you may be aware, the City and Suez Water have been dealing with more water main breaks. I can assure you that the City is working to find a solution to the lack of significant infrastructure improvement to our water system, which is over 100 years old. The City is financing upgrades to the system, preparing to re-bid the contract to maintain and operate the water distribution system, and renegotiating the current contract. Please click here to read important information from the City that will hopefully answer some questions you may have. Budget Update This year’s municipal budget was presented to the City Council for introduction at our last meeting, and includes a slight increase in municipal taxes, largely due to increases in health insurance premiums for city employees.  Between now and April 11, the City Council is holding budget workshops, which members of the public are invited to attend, to learn more about the budget and consider amendments to the budget as introduced. On April 20 at 7 p.m., you are invited to speak on the budget during a public hearing at City Hall. I’ll always be working hard for you and I hope you’ll reach out to me by e-mailing me at councilmanbhalla@gmail.com if you have any concerns! Feel free to follow along 

on my Facebook Read More...

News

Mayor to Carmelo: No million dollars for you!

A message equivalent to “no soup for you” is the message from Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer to Carmelo Garcia, he of ethnic cleansing infamy in his attempt to extract taxpayer money.

The shakedown civil lawsuit originally charging Hoboken’s first Jewish mayor with “ethnic cleansing” was filed by Louis Zayas back in August 2013.

At the first hearing back in late December 2013, Hudson County Superior Court Judge Lawrence M. Maron ordered Zayas not to repeat the inflammatory language in his courtroom before throwing the lawsuit out. Read More...

News

Hudson Reporter goes kaput in Hoboken

The Hudson Reporter, the community paper covering the county of the same name in New Jersey is turning out the lights in Hoboken.

According to reliable sources, the building hosting operations is shutting its doors and will be moving to the location of a small satellite office in Bayonne by next month.

Last November, the uptown building owned by co-publisher Dave Unger was put up for sale. In recent years, word of salary cuts and staffing reductions became the norm at the weekly.

The Hudson Reporter building at Washington  and 14th,
soon to be the former home of the declining community paper.

Begun in 1983, the Hudson Reporter called the Distorter for its biased suppression of news coverage, the paper was founded by prominent real estate developer Joseph Barry who also co-founded Applied Housing with his father. Read More...

News

Carmelo Garcia’s ethnic cleansing suit goes awry

According to an Earwitness Report on Grafix Avenger, recent legal mediation discussions saw Carmelo Garcia increase his money demands to see his years long ethnic cleansing lawsuit go away.

The astronomical figure bandied about, $2,000,000, is the same figure Lane Bajardi and Kimberly Cardinal Bajardi expected from each of a dozen defendants in their SLAPP-suit.

Is this civil suit headed in the same wrong direction?

Garcia, the one time controverisal head of the Hoboken Housing Authority reportedly sought to extract seven figures from the battered agency recovering under new management from the financial disaster he left in his wake when his contract was cut short in 2014. Read More...