Hoboken411 reader Bryan is a bit miffed at the daily illegal parking by so-called “Public Safety Director” Angel Alicea.
“Above the law! The Hoboken Public Safety Director parks his city vehicle in the crosswalk nightly, while his personal vehicle is parking in a public garage on the tax-payers dime!”
Some readers have also wondered why this almost “Civilian” officer has emergency lights on the vehicle, when they’re technically not supposed to, and basically have very limited authoritative functionality compared to actual emergency entities like the Police, Fire and EMS. While others have asked exactly how much this position costs the city, on top of the 27k salary, benefits, use of city vehicle and gas, cell phone and other expenses.
A recurring trend in Hoboken…
City officials ignoring the laws of the town is nothing new here in Hoboken. In fact, you may recall the time we captured Alicea blocking a crosswalk last summer, and even Councilman Cunningham doing the same thing as recently as last week.
If it were my sole job to capture the hypocrisy digitally, I’d wear out my memory cards in record time! So feel free to continue keeping your collective eyes and ears open, and cameras ready to go!
A Hoboken411 reader pointed out that 5th Ward Councilman (and “lawmaker”) Peter Cunningham parked his large Toyota Land Cruiser SUV in the intersection of 11th and Garden Streets last night, and received an appropriate parking summons for the offense. I suspect that the Hoboken Police extended a mild courtesy to him by not towing his truck the way they do other intersection offenders on a daily basis.
You can OPRA ticket number 0905-MC-505105 later to see if it was paid or dismissed. The reader said “Good Job HPD.”
If anyone’s a proponent of beverages in general (water, juice, soda, beer, wine, etc.) – it’s yours truly.
I must consume two gallons or more of various fluids each day. And I understand that someone has to deliver these drinks to Hoboken – but a sight I saw recently was just a bit too much.
At the corner of 11th and Washington, a Nash Distributors truck was making a regular delivery like it does nearly every day. However, this time it was a solid four feet or more onto the sidewalk (and handicapped ramp) – and was still sort of blocking traffic a bit.
Oh, and later on as he progressed southward, a Coca-Cola distributor AND the same Nash truck were double-parked simultaneously, causing all passing cars to cross the yellow line.
Is there a better way to get these precious liquids into the Mile Square?
Hoboken411 has received many emails from various residents wondering about scooters and motorcycles in town. While I certainly don’t have a problem with them, many have complained about how they take up the same room as a regular parking spot, are parked illegally, or don’t have any kind of visible parking permit.
While Hoboken City Code doesn’t have specific wording about scooters or motorcycles and parking permits – it does say that all “motor vehicles” require parking permits, and so on. And since scooters and motorcycles are licensed vehicles, one would assume they fall under that code.
What about permits? Or special parking zones?
I thought about how permits would be handled for bikes like these – because in order to adhere it to the wind-screen or elsewhere visibly on the bike, they’d immediately be susceptible to theft. So where would one stick it? In a storage compartment? That’d be easily picked up by the RFID scanners the HPU uses to verify permit possession. Then again, we all know the HPU still boots cars with stickers in plain sight, so it’s essentially a moot point.
What about special parking zones on each street just for scooters and motorcycles? Perhaps a spot about 1/2 or 2/3rd’s the size of a standard spot – make it “motorcycle and scooter parking only,” with lines painted appropriately. Heck, you could even put them nearer to intersections, since they don’t block the view (as much as giant SUV’s, etc.)
Again, I have no issue with our two-wheeled cousins, but some residents do – so what changes (if any) would you make?
Hoboken411 reader Chrissy sent in this picture of what appears to be an abandoned (or “anchored”) car!
Hoboken411 reader photo of the day – 11/17/2009
“The car in the attached picture has not moved in over 2 months! I live in the neighborhood (this is around 1st and Madison) and when I move my car 1 or 2X’s a week I have noticed this car never moves. (its hogging the space) I often have to walk by it and noticed it had a flat for over a month and a half. I don’t know if this guy is saving on monthly parking and is willing to get a ticket once a week or what.. guess it works out to be a deal for the car owner?”
[Stay tuned for the next Readerpix entry! - Note: one reader's photo(s) will be featured from time to time. Unless your photo is time-sensitive - it will be published in the order it was received! Additional note: Your pictures will have a better chance of being published if they're in "landscape" mode, as opposed to the taller "portrait" modes... ]
A Hoboken411 reader spots a car with a Hoboken Parking Sticker – booted.What a drag!
What a pain!
“As I’m walking down grand st I saw a black truck w a boot on it. I said to myself “this sucks” some people visit and don’t know the rules. The sticker on window cites no decal no permit. Then I look in back window and whaddya know a hoboken valid decal for parking? Someone didn’t bother to look through the slight tint and now this car has been wrongly booted. Seems as though the town is just full of bad apple parking authorities. The officers Identification number is 0313. I’ve attached some pictures so the public can be aware of the lousy job the park auth does and how it reflects our community.”
411 Note: While I suspected it’s possible that this “wrongfully booted” SUV might be an expired or invalid sticker, the reader believes the HPU employee should have noted that on the seizure notice (not “no decal”) – leading us to conclude it was a genuine screw-up on the part of the city.
With 24 hours to go before the polls open for a winner-take-all election, this race has decisively come down to Beth Mason vs. Dawn Zimmer.
A week ago, Hoboken411 moved Frank Raia out of his original place, to the Second Tier, leaving Zimmer and Mason alone among the pack. The weekly paper did the same thing on the Sunday front page declaring, “Zimmer and Mason are seen as the frontrunners in the mayor’s race.” Now that they took the week to catch up to us we’re prepared to go a step further.
Raia and Glatt fading, their voters may reconsider
Reputable sources in multiple camps say flash polls show Zimmer and Mason each have more than three times the voter support of Frank Raia or Kim Glatt. If the polls are correct, it means Raia and Glatt would have to quadruple their support in 24 hours to win the race. Even if every undecided voter went to Raia and Glatt they would still be two candidates competing for third place. The fact that Raia and Glatt are mining votes from the same base of support has been an issue from the start, with both sides making unsuccessful attempts to get the other out of the race.
As 411 called it last week, this is a mutual destruction society. With the race breaking down to Mason vs. Zimmer, people who declared as Raia or Glatt voters may reconsider their decision behind the curtain and go with the person with the best shot at defeating Zimmer. At this stage of the race – that person is clearly Mason.
Raia can’t escape history of losses, higher BoE spending
You’ll be hard pressed to find somebody in Hoboken who doesn’t like Frank Raia, but he’s been running for office for decades and has lost more times than he’s won. Even some of his allies confide they tried to convince Pupie to sit this one out after the humiliating defeat Kids First served up to him in April. In response Frank has run the best campaign of his life, turning to the “internets” in a big way to spread his message. In the end – it wasn’t enough time to build new support or heal old wounds.
As a parting shot, Raia offers this soundbite of Dawn Zimmer endorsing him for public office:
But Frank didn’t win the Freeholder election either. Had Kim Glatt not joined the race, Raia would have had a much better shot to line up Hoboken People behind him. In the final days of the campaign there is also an allegation Raia improperly handled absentee ballots that candidates are not supposed to touch. An investigation is underway, and Pupie denies any wrongdoing.
Where Glatt finds herself today, and what it all means in the end after the jump!
Today’s photo gallery submission from Hoboken411 reader bmacqueens is not only a photo of the day post, but also an offenders on film entry as well!
Why even bother painting the curb yellow?
“Here’s some new parking violations for you. This is the traffic circle in front of the Hudson Tea Building.
Mind you — this entire place is a fire zone, as marked by the yellow curb. Yet, every weekend, this place is parked up like this all afternoon long. It seems like a handful of cars are being honest, like the guy with the luggage cart (unloading) and the one with the blinking hazards. However, most of them seem to just park … and park. Realtors? Too lazy to park honestly? Taking advantage of the (non-enforcement) system?
Yes — this is the FIRE ZONE for an apartment complex with hundreds of apartments.
So, what’s the answer? Ticket the hell out of all of these people? Tow them? Or just let them park like this every weekend?”
