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At the City Council meeting last week, Tim Occhipinti opened a pandora box he intended to unleash on his unknowing victim, the Chair of the Budget & Finance subcommittee, Councilwoman Jen Giattino.
Things did not go according to plan.
In the video below Occhipinti questions who’s been emailed the public information in budget amendments, namely his. He turns to Councilwoman Jen Giattino and tells her only two people were emailed the amendments, Business Administrator Quentin Wiest and her.
Dog, dog, dog-eatity dog? =&0=&
Operation: Bad Dog Owner
Ask anyone in Hoboken what is their biggest pet peeve behind lack of parking or potholes and you probably will hear about dog owners who aren’t picking up after their dog. Its disgusting to walk down the street and see brown bombs all over the sidewalk. As a dog owner, it pisses me off when I notice dog owners that aren’t cleaning up after their dogs “do their business”.
When you walk dogs in your neighborhood, often you meet other dog owners and get to know them. Some you know by name. Some you know just by their dogs name. While there are others that you haven’t met, but have seen them walk their dog often enough that you recognize them.
One owner, in particular, got my attention. After walking Rocco for the last three years, I notice that there was one dog owner who consistently was not picking up after their dog. This wasn’t a once or twice thing, but it was Every. Single. Time. Every time I saw him walk his dog, he would let the dog poop – and then sort of do a quick “is anyone watching me” look to the left or the right and walk away.
At first I was going to say something. If you know me well enough i’m not someone that minces words, nor do I have a very good filter. This isn’t the first time I confronted a bad dog owner. In fact, I remember once before I confronted someone else about not picking up after their dog – and they went so far to accuse me of needing glasses. I remember another time the guy was going to punch me that he was so angry that I caught him.
Perhaps third time is a charm, so I didn’t say anything – I let my government do the work. I’m friendly with a few of the hardworking people in city hall, so I reached out to them and asked their advice. I first thought calling the police would be the logical step. Maybe they could do an undercover sting operation! This was met by laughter and correction – that I should contact the health department.
It turns out that by using Hoboken311: http://www.hobokennj.org/311/, I was able to report what I saw. I had a pretty detailed account of the guy who was letting his dog poop all over the place, he had a regular morning routine which was right outside his building. I knew what he looked like and knew what kind of dog he had. I basically wrote all the details in a request.
My honest thought was that no one would really do anything. I mean, how often do you really see the “little guys” get anyone to notice them in City Hall? I’m not some big campaign contributor or own a big business in town. I’m just a regular guy who gets easily annoyed at the double parked cars outside of Piccolo’s. But that’s a story for another day.
Imagine my surprise when I received this email only a few days later (with some details left out):
“Please be advised that earlier this morning, beginning at 6:45am, our Office conducted a surveillance of the area described in your complaint (Hoboken Health Department Complaint #[redacted]) in which the individual you described in your e-mail, was found in violation of 93-16 of the Code of the City of Hoboken (not picking up dog feces) and has been issued a summons to appear in Hoboken Municipal Court, on [redacted].
The City Clerk’s Office announced:
Monday, April 22, 2013Via Hand Delivery
City Clerk James Farina
94 Washington Street
Hoboken, New Jersey 07030
Dear City Clerk Farina:
Please be advised that as the Mayor of the City of Hoboken, I hereby call a Special Meeting for
the purpose of conducting a Special Meeting of the Governing Body for Thursday, April 25,
2013 to commence at 7:00 PM in the City Council Chambers, 94 Washington Street, First Floor,
Hoboken, New Jersey, for the following purposes:
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RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF HOBOKEN, IN THE COUNTY OF HUDSON, NEW JERSEY,
AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE AND SALE OF SPECIAL EMERGENCY NOTES OF THE
CITY OF HOBOKEN IN THE AGGREGATE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF UP TO $700,000;
MAKING CERTAIN COVENANTS TO EFFECT AND MAINTAIN THE EXEMPTION OF
INTEREST ON SAID NOTES FROM FEDERAL INCOME TAXATION; AND AUTHORIZING
SUCH FURTHER ACTIONS AND MAKING SUCH DETERMINATIONS AS MAY BE
NECESSARY OR APPROPRIATE TO EFFECTUATE THE ISSUANCE AND SALE OF THE
NOTES
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RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING EMERGENCY TEMPORARY APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE
CY 2013 BUDGET
No other matters unrelated to the above may be discussed, introduced, considered or acted upon
at this meeting. Action on the foregoing items may be taken at the meeting. Please notice this
meeting in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act N.J.S.A. 10:4-6. Please ensure that
all City Council members receive adequate notice of this correspondence.
cc: Quentin Wiest, Business Administrator
Mellissa Longo Esq., Corporation Counsel
Here’s the Facebook page launched by Ruben Ramos:
| Team Ramos: Joe Mindak, Laura Miani, Ruben Ramos and Eduardo Gonzalez |
Talking Ed Note: MSV would strongly suggest comment discussion focus on issues. Other comments wishing to make comparisons to other officials past and present should be made with supporting reasons. Exactly how is a reader to accept a conclusion otherwise?
Ruben Ramos is not a fan of MSV. Da Horsey has broken some sort of unwritten rule book in Hoboken. You aren’t suppose to discuss certain topics like nepotism, voter fraud, HHA exploitation, etc. That’s the impression here but it’s undoubtedly completely unknown to his council slate members.
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The late Friday news HHA Executive Director Carmelo Garcia was out in the Assembly race on the HCDO – Brian Stack ticket sent shock waves across HudCo and all of New Jersey. After all, Brian Stack is not only the Union City mayor and powerbroker in the county, he’s a State Senator with ties to the Governor’s office and Chris Christie’s phone number on speed dial.
The egg on Senator Stack’s face didn’t cause some embarrassment. It was a major “take that” from the Hoboken Reform movement and indirectly a little love note from Councilman Ravi Bhalla.
City of Hoboken announces:
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