Should Hoboken be responsible for bigotry in the community?

Hoboken resident Matthew sent this message to city director of public safety Jon Tooke.

Being gay, he believes that the city should know about some apparent anti-gay sentiment that’s going around and something should be done about it.

Letter: Gays are harassed in Hoboken, NJ

“Dear Director Jon Tooke,

As you are well aware of, there is a large contingency of gay and lesbian citizens living in Hoboken, all of whom came to this town to live perfectly quiet lives in this historical and fun town.

Recently, several close friends, and myself, all on different dates, have been harassed and or followed for several blocks with anti gay slurs and profanity.

I have loosely mapped out that the majority of occurrences happen starting at 14th street, proceed down the entire length of Washington Street, loop around at the PATH and go up both River street and Pier A Park, stopping at Stevens Institute.

With our proximity to NYC, and their recent overwhelming increase in hate crime/anti gay attacks, combined with the fact that Hoboken has the largest bar per street ratio in the country, I do not think that this should be ignored.

Hoboken should show solidarity with NYC in their stance on bigotry, hate crimes and intolerance. Public safety is a prime concern in Hoboken, especially when bars let out and when people return from the city late at night (prime hours 1-3 am, and 4-6 am).

As a survivor of hate crimes and a gay man living in Hoboken, this subject can not be ignored.

Residents need to know that they can be safe at all hours walking on the streets of Hoboken.

Hoboken is known to be the home of many cultures, races, and ethnicities. To ignore the safety of a group that branches into all the communities of Hoboken would be irresponsible.

A public display of solidarity with NYC on this subject Would be a great start. A follow up should be a window sticker promoting tolerance, making a statement that bigotry and hatred are not welcome in Hoboken.

I have noticed that many business owners do not put up gay pride door stickers showing support because they are afraid of the communities response. This is a falsehood that needs to be erased. Ignorance, hatred, and bigotry should not be cultivated by fear, but fought with support and love in your community.

Please take what I have said to heart and address this issue of public safety.”

Do you think the city should be responsible for controlling societal behavior?

Or should government stay out of the way of individuals?

Technorati Tags: Anti-Gay, Bigotry, Gay, government, Hate Crime, Hoboken, LBGT, Lesbian, Letter to the Editor, New Jersey, NJ

Halo around then Sun – does that mean stormy weather for Hoboken?

For an extended period this afternoon (including as I type this) there is / was a distinct rainbow halo around the sun. Doesn’t happen too often – and when it does, draws everyone to blind themselves by it’s mystique.

Why does it happen though? High cirrus clouds.

The thin cirrus clouds four or five miles up are extremely cold, and contain billions of small ice crystals, which in turn refract the light much in the same way a normal rainbow forms in the mist after a summer shower.

According to old weather folklore, people would often say when there’s a “ring around the moon, means rain soon.” Because these high clouds were often on the leading front of the next stormy system.

So what does that mean for us here in town? More Hoboken flooding? Or just on and off spring rain showers? Hope for the best!

(Thanks Ron for the photo.)

Technorati Tags: flooding, Halo, Halo around the sun, Hoboken, New Jersey, NJ, rainbow, Weather

Blackberry Z10 Review – not bad, but do they have a market?

This past weekend, we were hanging out with a friend of mine who’s in the tech industry. And at one point in the night – he wanted me to do an initial Blackberry Z10 Review.

He retrieved the device (which his company had given him), and gave it to me. He said – can you figure out how to work it?

Even though I had been a Blackberry user forever (hung on as long as I could), I was not familiar with the updated “features” of this new model. Frankly, the first couple minutes – I had no idea what I was doing. Couldn’t access home screen or any of the functionality as a phone. Frustrating to say the least, especially when you’re used to phones like the iPhone or Android. I was ready to call it a piece of junk.

However, a little fiddling around, I discovered how to “wake” the device, and it became fairly straightforward. He gave me the device to play around with it for a few days. You might be a bit surprised.

Blackberry Z10 functions well as a smartphone

OK – I didn’t get to play around with the “apps” that so many people install on their devices (Facebook, games, other social programs, photo filters, etc.) But from a phone perspective – this was quite easy to use.

For one, you can “wake” the device simply by “swiping up.” Then the standard left – right swipes switch you between various home pages, icons for apps, and recent calls, etc.

Swiping down gave you access to your settings, and swiping “up and to the right” showed all your recent communiques (calls, texts, etc.)

Overall – navigating the phone was easy once you got the basics.

How’s the screen on the Blackberry Z10?

The “feel” of the Blackberry Z10 was almost perfect. A 4.2″ screen and slightly grippy rear made it feel quite at home in my large hands. It appeared to be about a third of an inch wider and taller than my iPhone 5, and about a twentieth of an inch thicker. I wish my phone had those dimensions. Just felt more natural.

The clarity of Z10 screen seemed even sharper than the iPhone, which was easy on the eyes.

Using the Blackberry Z10 – Does it work?

I made calls and sent text messages. That’s about it.

The call functionality was flawless. Everything you can expect in a smart phone. But the biggest surprise came when typing.

At first I was a little disappointed in the keyboard. Especially since my muscle memory is already programmed for a different device. I got fed up after a while, and initially deemed it a failure as a keyboard. But after more experimentation – I noticed an interesting twist on the “autofill” technology.

Again, I didn’t care to read any manuals about the Blackberry Z10 – I just wanted to see if I could “figure it out.”

As you type, the Z10 suggests words a bit differently than I’m used to. Instead of trying to figure out the ONE word you’re looking to type, it actually suggests many different words – with different first letters.

Like my example below, I’m typing “Do you want to grab a…” and it suggests “quick, drink, good, coffee, bite…” and in order to pick one of those words, just “swipe up” to have it auto-fill that word. Pretty cool, and I got used to it fairly quickly. A neat feature I’d love to see on other platforms.

Blackberry Z10 Verdict

With the limited use I had over the past few days, I cannot really say much bad about it.

Phone worked flawlessly, the camera was on par with the latest iPhone (a bit sharper), recorded video was quite astounding, sound quality was respectable and battery life was above average.

Other features which were much appreciated were the full-capability browser (HTML5 and Flash) and the ability to easily close out apps without too many actions.

But as with much of the world, does this really matter much? There is so much competition in the smartphone world, it makes you wonder how it will all flush out in the end. Has Blackberry just been falling too far behind for it even to matter anymore? Or do they still have a niche at the very least. Some users may be getting frustrated with Apple’s complacency, and with Android’s inconsistency.

Plus – for those that just want a phone with good functionality and perhaps some “online” usage – the Blackberry Z10 really does cover all those bases, and quite well. That, paired up with the very solid design and great form factor, should at least allow the Z10 to compete for some consumer share.

Have you used the Blackberry Z10 yet?

Technorati Tags: Android, Blackberry, Blackberry Z10, Blackberry Z10 Review, Hoboken, iPhone, New Jersey, NJ, Review, smart phone, smartphone, Technology, Z10 Review

Have you seen Paola Terrazas?

These signs are all over the city of Hoboken – for a missing 17 year old girl named Paola Terrazas.

She’s 4′ 8″ in height and has wavy blonde hair. You can call (973)405-7751 if you have information about her whereabouts.

Unfortunately – the sign does not indicate where she lives, or where and when she was last seen or known to be. Hopefully she is found soon and we don’t end up with another wacky story like the girls in Cleveland that were held captive for a decade.

Technorati Tags: Hoboken, Missing, Missing Girl, New Jersey, NJ, Paola Terrazas, Signs

Was this an airline near miss over Hoboken?

Hoboken has had it’s share of airspace calamities over the past few years. The US Airways Flight 1549 splash landing, then the helicopter plane collision – it seems as if the airspace over Hoboken is getting more and more crowded and for longer periods throughout the day.

Constant noise and traffic in fact. I’m sure the observant readers would agree wholeheartedly.

Last Friday afternoon as I was walking down Hudson Street – something odd caught my attention.

It was two planes almost following each other. I quickly grabbed my camera and took pictures as soon as I could. As you can see from the gallery below – it appeared that they came within just a couple hundred feet of one another!

Does it look like a near miss to you?

Optical illusion or too close for comfort?

Of course, my eyes could be playing tricks on me – and the altitude could have been substantially different to the point where there was never a safety concern. Only had a few seconds to see it live.

But looking closer at the photos – the planes don’t seem that far apart – and I’m wondering if I should submit this information to the FAA?

Would you?

Technorati Tags: Airlines, Collision, FAA, Federal Aviation Adminstration, Hoboken, Hudson River, Jet planes, near miss, New Jersey, NJ, NYC, PHOTO OF THE DAY, photography

Pier 13 in Hoboken now a source of controversy

For the first time last summer, Pier 13 by the Shipyard Marina was converted into a seasonal hangout. Beer and wine on tap, lunch trucks, and seating for hundreds. Complete with a grassy area and front row views of New York City.

While there was some initial flack from neighbors for the noise, they eventually toned it down, and even kept very modest hours (until 10pm).

However – from what I understand, the controversy brewing is that the owners of the property (and the marina), want to maintain this area as “private” and discontinue access to the public. (Correction: Vice versa. Marina wants it to be open, but city wants to shut it down, claiming ordinance violation). There is even a petition circulating online begging the Hoboken Planning Board to allow Pier 13 to be open to all residents and locals. The board meets tomorrow night (May 7th) at 7pm in the basement of city hall.

But someone who has no emotional attachment to this situation might ask: What right does the public have to private property? Can a “mob” of people essentially demand, take and use what is not theirs? And who decreed that “all waterfront property shall be public?”

And of course, once something becomes “public,” then the cost to maintain such a thing is involuntarily passed on to the public in the form of taxes.

So should Pier 13 come back again this year as a social venue?

Technorati Tags: Hoboken, New Jersey, NJ, Pier 13, Poll, Private, Public, shipyard marina