hobokenhorse.com

A revision to the flood ordinance update is on the City Council agenda tonight but the relief is too late for many. The question of why Mayor Zimmer refused to act will be left to history and those who suffered significantly in the wake of Hurricane Sandy and the years since.

But on to potential boondoggles of the present under the banner of the Ravi-Russo team.

The Ravi Bhalla Administration is working feverishly to roll out another Church Towers PILOT with their ally Councilman Michael Russo, who is obviously conflicted from any vote or participation on the matter as he’s a resident there. Read More...

Official release:

In an unexpected bit of breaking news Friday, the Hudson County View sat down with Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher and walked into one.

During the interview, the topic of the Hoboken Democratic Committee action last Monday arose and the councilwoman casually mentioned she had been approached by the Hudson County Democratic Organization and several of their lawyers who saw the action taken in Hoboken to remove and install a new chair as both problematic and illegal.

Fisher relayed she’s not seeking the action saying it will be up to them. Officials at the HCDO however, may file a legal complaint viewing the procedure taken as improper and illegal. The possible impact of similar administrative actions in the county and statewide is viewed by the HCDO as beyond concerning. Read More...

MSV has some bombs with big stories coming.

First, MSV officially announces its new RaviLeaks program. Currently, the public has not a clue how many deals Mayor Ravi Bhalla has cooked up with his second “no show” job with a NJ politically connected Republican law firm.

While the public has heard it’s an annual $60,000 salary plus uncapped commissions for delivering new re: government-related business, no one knows how much loot Ravi has cashed to date. Ka-Ching! 

So in the spirit of transparency dreadfully needed, MSV invites all those with information on that suspect Ravi Bhalla employment contract and any other items of public concern to send it over for the scrutiny of Mile Square residents. Submit the truth; all documents, checks and video of cash transactions welcome. Read More...

On Friday, City Council President Ruben Ramos sat down with the Hudson County View to discuss several issues currently important to Hoboken.

Union Dry Dock and the uncertainty is front and center as the June 1 deadline for NY Waterway to begin operations looms.

Another issue was the Rent Leveling Board where eventually Mayor Ravi Bhalla ended his political effort to keep two members from continuing in new terms. Both of the members, Cheryl Falllick and Mike Lenz had supported Councilwoman Jen Giattino for mayor last year. The City Council was prepared to override a second veto by Bhalla when he finally relented offering the compromise of allowing Fallick to continue her service on the unpaid board. Read More...

Official release:

Last night in a coordinated effort Mayor Ravi Bhalla executed a political coup of sorts with his consigliere Phil Cohen being elected the new chair of the Hoboken Democratic Committee ousting now former chair Tiffanie Fisher. I was present in my official capacity as Sargeant at Arms on the Executive Committee and witnessed the craven political machinations of Phil Cohen and other disgruntled winners of an election that yielded their leader only a 32% plurality. Last night was political payback pure and simple because Tiffanie Fischer in her capacity as an independent and policy oriented City Council person failed to take a loyalty oath expressing 100% fealty to their Dear Leader, Ravi Bhalla.


A quorum of 39 was required to initiate the meeting on the whole and thanks to the alleged work of John Allen, Ravi’s Chief of Staff (whose salary is paid for by the taxpayer) and Ravi Bhalla himself working the phones despite both denying it; they were able to barely secure a quorum. They obtained the magic number of 39 just a minute or two before the start of the meeting. It was close folks and without Phil Cohen and Ravi Bhalla making a deal with Mike Russo’s contingent of 10 or so committee members the quorum would never been met and the coup would have failed.


For those who still believe in good government take pause and contemplate the notion that Ravi and his henchman Phil Cohen cut a deal with Mike Russo just for the sake of taking over a committee that most people don’t know about and most of those who know really don’t care. Political ambition rarely gets more naked or petty than this. We shall see what Mike Russo hopes to get from this in the coming months. Can you say sweetheart Church Towers PILOT at the taxpayers expense? Watch this space.


What was also disturbing to witness was Nora Debenedetto’s prepared statement that lobbed numerous false accusations and was an outright smear job on Tiffanie Fisher before the vote was called. Nora accused Tiffanie of obstructionism during the executive committee meetings that I attended and nothing could be further from the truth. In executive committee meetings, Tiffanie as chair tried to work with everyone and did not try to block any initiatives, nor did any one on the executive committee bring up any of these issues until the coordinated email attack right before Mayor Bhalla’s partial meeting with Brian Stack. 


This was a political take-out from the get go. Phil Cohen in that meeting called for a signup for a meeting on the whole never specifying the reason knowing full well that the only agenda item was to replace Tiffanie. Phil has a track record of not being the most forthright actor in the room. This is just another example coming from a Beth Mason apologist. Nora’s divisive display coupled with Phil’s track record of being a divider do not bode well for the near future of the Hoboken Democratic Committee. They both would have come out looking better on this by simply admitting this was all about politics.


The other issue Phil Cohen flouted as a practicing lawyer was he blatantly violated the committee bylaws by electing himself in the same meeting. HMDC Bylaws Article II, Section 5 requires that vacancies in any HMDC office “shall be filled by the Municipal Committee at its next succeeding meeting following the date of the vacancy….” Because there are no regular meetings currently scheduled, any vacancy created today in the office of Chair (or any other officer position) cannot be filled until a new meeting has been called.  A Special Meeting can only be called when at least 14 days notice has been given to all members. Per HMDC Bylaws’ provisions at Article V, Section 2. Phil couldn’t even wait until the next meeting because that press release declaring pyrrhic victory had to go out pronto.


So where we stand now is the Hoboken Democratic Committee has now become the Committee to support Ravi Bhalla and his side deal with Mike Russo and enable his side deal law contract where he personally profits from color of official right by being Hoboken Mayor. Tiffanie Fisher worked hard to get 60 plus votes majority on the Democratic Committee and the only lesson she learned was no good deed goes unpunished. My takeaway is ethics get in the way of power seekers and idolatry of Ravi Bhalla is perhaps the Achilles heel of this administration or the path to upward mobility. Time will tell.


Tiffanie Fisher may have been voted off the island but the island is Easter Island. Idolatry on Easter led to to deforestation and ultimately agriculture failures and unsustainability. Now we got great statues and a nice tourist trap. When the Hoboken Democratic Committee serves only one politician it is certainly smaller and its sustainability only goes as far as that politician. I have participated in the Hoboken Democratic in the hopes that the local hyperpartisanship would stay out of it. That is clearly not the case now. Read More...

Official release:

Councilman Michael Russo, the controversial longstanding third ward representative anted up paying $3,000 for campaign violations stemming back to 2009.

The story was first reported on the Hudson County View but is notably MIA with no article whatsoever from the fanatical paid political operative Sybil’s Cave website. It’s a Bonkers for Bhalla secret RaviBots don’t whisper, even among themselves.

The intimate ally and council bro of Mayor Ravi Bhalla shouldn’t expect to see his name mentioned in good governance references criticizing the reported campaign violations and fine. Recently, Russo was spared mention in a Mayor Bhalla release criticizing voter incongruities typically with the widespread abuse of Vote by Mail ballots. Read More...

The following video report comes courtesy of the Hudson County View:

For more on the story, please see the Hudson County View:
https://hudsoncountyview.com/hoboken-city-council-rescinds-ability-to-use-eminent-domain-on-union-dry-dock/

Talking Ed Note: Hoboken is back to square one as NJ Transit is withdrawing its emergency Thursday afternoon meeting to acquire the land on behalf of NY Waterway.

NY Waterway is expected to begin operations at the UDD site on or near June 1st.

Official release:

The City of Hoboken will hold a public meeting on Monday, April 9 at 7 p.m. at Wallace School Cafeteria to discuss the concept design for the Northwest Resiliency Park.


The future park is a key part of Hoboken’s resiliency strategy and will integrate green infrastructure and innovative stormwater management measures to reduce flooding from heavy rain.


In 2017, the City opened a temporary pop-up park at the site. The pop-up park will remain in place until construction of the permanent park begins.


The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the concept design and receive feedback from the public. No formal action will be taken at the meeting.


Written comments can be submitted online or by emailing northwestpark@hobokennj.gov.

Read More...