Former Hoboken councilman Dave Mello was elected Chair of the Hoboken Housing Authority board last night.

The two-term former eight-year councilman acknowledged and thanked his colleagues in a Facebook post:

=&0=&

That’s the word on the street as the Ravi-Russo alliance kicks into high gear.

Councilmembers Jim Doyle and Michael Russo are believed teaming up to introduce the previously failed order of the State to stop Hoboken businesses from using plastic bags.

The old virtue signaling standby failed in an attempt under former Mayor Dawn Zimmer but like clockwork, the City Council is assaulted by an army of kids annually where they mouth the words ordering all Hoboken resident adults: hear and obey.

Well, they also gift the council with a homemade fudge bag. Read More...

Official release:

  Dear friends and neighbors: More things happening!   LETS DESIGN AND FIX FLOODING TOGETHER: What do you want our anti-flooding project to look like?   Tomorrow night – May 9^th from 7-9PM at Wallace.  We are having the kick-off public meeting for what is referred to as the “Design Phase” of our $230 Million anti-flooding project Rebuild By Design.  Honestly, even if you have not yet been interested enough to participate, now is the time where it will be interesting to everyone.  The task ahead of us is to design something that will range in height from 12+ feet to 1 foot and that will meander through our community, but have it look like anything BUT a wall.  It can look like a park, an amphitheater, a climbing path, a planter, or even a bench.  YOU GET TO HELP DESIGN THIS!  So please come to meet the design team, get an update and hear about the go forward design process that will take the next 12-18 months.   An important “ALSO”…. notice on the map below – the pink lines to the south. There are 2: one that runs along the tracks, to the south of the Hoboken Yard (NJ Transit) Redevelopment Plan project site and one that runs along observer highway to the north of the project site.  They have not yet selected which path the project will take. THIS HAS NOT YET BEEN RESOLVED and is a BIG DEAL.  Because no progress was made on NJ Transit’s redevelopment of the site to date, we find ourselves in a situation where the timing of the two projects do not match and there is a conflict about how to move forward.  The Rebuild By Design Project may progress with the northern line because NJ Transit / LCOR could not move critical structures in time.  This could result in the anti-flooding structure being built along Observer highway, effectively boxing in the project site between railroad tracks and a wall.  Whether you are pro-development or anti-development, or somewhere in between, come share your views about this conflict and the potential impact on Hoboken and learn more.   SHIPWRECK COVE: 2 Done, More to do… Yesterday, Ken’s Marine Service was onsite in the Weehawken Cove to remove the two of the boats that had been wrecked / damaged in our recent storm from 3 weeks ago.  Who doesn’t love watching crane’s lift heavy objects! (I totally do…).   A special shout out to the administration – notably Parking Director Ryan Sharp, Fire Chief Brian Crimmins, Assistant Business Administrator Patrick Wherry and Anthony Ricciardi who have been navigating the myriad agencies researching this complex issue (Army Corps, Coast Guard, NJ State Police, NY State Police, NJ DMV).  Because these two boats posed immediate safety concerns (pieces of one were found during the Spring Fling Clean Up) they were able to be removed by the City however at a cost of approximately $15k.  The City is moving forward to extract the remaining four sunken boats.  But as I mention in an interview with NBC yesterday, we need to stop boats from being abandoned BEFORE they pose future safety hazards and burden Hoboken taxpayers.  And before six boats turns into sixty.  There is not a clear path for this, but in speaking with Chief Crimmins and Director Sharp yesterday, there may be a way given Hoboken actually owns the land under the majority of the Weehawken Cove.  More to come on this… A FEW OTHER UPCOMING AND NOTEWORTHY?

Summer Jobs for 14-17 year olds – The City is looking for high school students ages 14-17 for its Summer Green Jobs.   

May 16^th , 9am St. Matthews 57 8^th St. – Tenants Know Your Rights Workshop hosted by the Waterfront Project.  

May 17^th , All day (south waterfront) – Propelify Innovation Festival which helps “turn ideas into action”. This internationally recognized festival attracts 10K+ attendees and was founded by Hoboken’s own Aaron Price.  There will be 80+ speakers this year including top innovating leaders from companies such as Google, Samsung and GE to Plated and Rent the Runway.  Governor Murphy and Senator Booker will also be speaking at the event.

May 17th, 7pm Public Library – Free Workshop on Education Grants, Scholarships and Financial Aid.  Anyone thinking about the costs of education from college down to kindergarten might want to attend.  It is put on by 2nd Ward resident Beau Kuhn.  The last time I promoted this, some of my neighbors with pre-college teens went and they raved about it, said it was eye opening and walked away more knowledgeable.  So here it is again…  

May 17^th, 830pm-1030pm Propelify Fireworks Night Ride with Bike Hoboken.  Meet at 9^th and Grand for the first night ride of the season that will coincide with Propelify’s Fireworks.  Click their FB event to learn more.

Read More...

The story is updated below.

The contract last week for environmental services work at Union Dry Dock tabled by the City Council resulted in several vendors being under immediate investigation for Pay to Play violations.

All three are contributors to the Ravi Bhalla mayoral campaign.

The first vendor, Prestige Environmental was named for a proposed $50,000 contract that exceeds political contributions to the mayoral campaign of Ravi Bhalla and his political committee Team Bhalla.

Prestige Environmental reportedly made contributions totaling $1,800 in 2018, far in excess of the $300 limit for City of Hoboken vendors. Read More...

Official release:

Dear friends and neighbors,  I know first hand from a tenant’s experience to the stewards of this organization that the Waterfront Project does great work.  I am a big advocate for the organization.  For those in need of sage legal advice as a tenant, do not miss this opportunity on May 16th.   For those that are looking for another good nonprofit to support in Hoboken (and Hudson County), this is it!  Thanks, and let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks, Peter

Official release:

  Dear friends and neighbors: There always seems to be a lot going on, but this week there seemed to be more than normal including (but not limited to):   

• Municipal Budget
• Pay to Play concerns
• Affordable Housing
• More fairness for Hoboken’s LGBTQI community
• Reducing local energy costs
• Loading zones in residential areas 
• Hoboken Shipwrecks and 
• A large, HOT PINK duck  

Read below for more on these (its long, but hopefully the highlighted titles will let you scroll to the topics you find most interesting)…   Amended Municipal Budget The 2018 Amended Municipal Budget passed with a zero percent increase.  The vote was 9-0 for the 3rd year in a row and 3^rd time since 2010.  I have chaired the Finance Subcommittee and have made it my mission to work collaboratively with the administration and the entire council to ensure that the municipal budget weighs and balances the burden on taxpayers while still addressing as many priorities within our city as possible.   Some takeaway points:

Total budgeted appropriations (expenditures) actually went up by $4.1M (3.8%) to $112.1M.  

• Like we are seeing across the country, this was mainly driven by $2.9M in increased healthcare costs.  Group health insurance alone costs $22.8M or 19% of our total municipal budget.  Other large increases include salary and pension ($2.7M) and Debt Service ($600k).
Read More...

The following is a comment published on MSV surrounding the Pay-for-Play contract put up by the Ravi Bhalla Administration and rejected by the City Council on Wednesday. If MSV knew who the commenter is, the Horse wouldn’t tell. 

While I agree with Mike Defusco and his sentiment that the Ravi Bhalla Administration is ethically challenged it does not escape my memory that Defusco may have violated the spirit of Pay to Play laws during the last election as well as exceeding campaign contribution limits in the last election for PAC contributions.   But that’s not the point, under the Bhallla administration there seems to be a lack of oversight about this and the blame is clearly on Ravi Bhalla. This should have never made it to City Council for a vote. There is supposed to be a pay to play officer that catches these things. Where is the oversight? Where is the process?   The problem stems from the fact that Ravi is a lawyer that is still pursuing the commission of government contract work while still being mayor. There were two vendors that bid for an environmental contract with the city and both were conflicted, with Bhalla. Any surprise here with a part-time mayor gallivanting across the state seeking government contract law commissions? Can we find a vendor please that Ravi has not hit up for money? I can not support a mayor who shows such a lack of judgment and entitlement that he should personally profit from the Mayor’s office. There needs to be more oversight on this because clearly this administration can’t be trusted to police itself.   Ravi’s statement indicates that he sees this issue as a problem so rather than double down using one of his Ravi bots to disseminate yet another political attack on the messenger he rather adroitly admits there is an issue here. Problem with that is he is asking for a mea culpa after the fact and that is not how good government is supposed to work.   This never would have happened under Zimmmer. She may have been bad at math but she followed the Pay to Play laws. With Ravi Bhalla we have taken several steps back in how ethics and government are to coexist.  This is an example of how pay to play is not just an abstraction. We have a Mayor whose craven pursuit of political contributions has led to a potential delay on critical environmental work on Union Dry Dock. Next time Hoboken needs to pick a mayor not on the basis of a midnight flier but one that is no so conflicted across the board.  #DrainTheSwamp  #RaviBhallaConflicts  #RecallRavi 

#HobokenNeedsGovernmentEthics


BlagojevichBhalla

From last night’s City Council meeting, Councilman Mike DeFusco raises the issue of political contributions to the Ravi Bhalla campaign in the first quarter of 2018 as a contract from one contributor is put forward in a $50,000 contract for the City Council to approve.

The council tabled the matter and is seeking to resolve the alleged conflicts based on Hoboken’s existing Pay-to-Play ordinance.

The video comes courtesy of the Hudson County View:

Talking Ed Note: The deflection with name-calling against council members from the usual frothy, foaming fanatic and paid political operative lamely attempts to shift blame. Read More...