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Michael T. Cricco is was running for City Council again representing the Fifth Ward.

3/31/2007 Update:

Found out about this yesterday, but Mr. Cricco didn’t respond to my email asking for confirmation called me back today “neither confirming nor denying” what was printed in the Reporter. He went on to say that he’s still “technically” in the race until he submits his letter to the City Clerk, and didn’t indicate yet who he’d support specifically.

Here’s what the Reporter had to say today:

Councilman Cricco bows out

Fifth Ward Councilman Michael Cricco, who has served as a councilman for 12 years, said Friday that he is not seeking re-election this May.

“It has been an honor to serve my constituents,” he said. “I’m overjoyed that I have two daughters who have been very supportive.” - Caren Lissner

Report of a “real” street fight on 3rd and Clinton. No further details.

3/31/2007 Update:

Hoboken had a big presence in today’s “Political Insider” column in the Jersey Journal. I still find that Taiwanese political nutjob in the photo hilarious. I was considering photoshopping someone elses face on it, but will leave that for someone else to do.. hint hint…

When push comes to shove, you’re in Hoboken

Saturday, March 31, 2007

“Hey, you wanna hear my philosophy of life? Do it to him before he does it to you.”

There’s a bit of Hoboken in this column, so it’s appropriate that we allow Terry Malloy, the protagonist in the classic flick “On the Waterfront,” to start things off with his outlook on things - a famous quote that could very well be the slogan of the Hudson County Democrats.

The day after the Hudson County Democratic Organization names and introduces its slate of candidates, the pressure cooker that is Hoboken politics explodes.

Everyone is still talking about the dustup in Hoboken City Hall - you know, the one that the administration denies ever happened on Wednesday. Perhaps denial is the wrong way to put it. What do you call it when the response is “there’s no proof” that it happened.

We’re getting ahead of ourselves. What they say did not happen, and what several sources claim did occur, was a fist-swinging fight between Mayor Dave Roberts and City Clerk James Farina. The alleged chair-throwing, body-slamming, furniture-rearranging, secretary-refereeing tussle ended with the arrival of police and the ushering out of the building of both officials. The only thing the city would officially admit was that two patrol cars were sent to the municipal building.

As one of the HCDO spokespeople said: “It never happened. Did anyone file a police compliant? Anyone admitting it happened?”

Later, the spin was simply that Farina could not lift a chair, it is a plot of Councilman Michael Russo, and that they have no idea how some furniture was cracked. Later in the day, it was brushed off with a report that Roberts and Farina were in a bar having a drink and patching up differences. One is inclined to believe the last one because, after all, this is Hudson County.

Such a deplorable incident seemed inevitable. Roberts has been under a great deal of stress.

The state is conducting a criminal investigation of the city’s top construction official, Al Arezzo. Then came the embarrassing revelation of how city inspectors did little about violations by Garden Street landlord and property owner Esmat Zaklama. On top of all this, the mayor lost the backing of most City Council.

In an action befitting an angry Samurai, Roberts lopped off the head, figuratively speaking, of Corporation Counsel Joe Sherman. Sherman and Roberts have not been on the best of terms for some time and the execution of Sherman was considered a lesson for other city directors.

Continue the rest of this story at NJ.com

Read more about this alleged debacle below:

[Click to continue reading the rest….]

3/31/2007:

Reader Bskills4 sent this observation in yesterday. Did anyone else notice the same thing?

Hey, in case any of your readers are interested.. East La got rid of their happy hour and the place is dark!!

2/20/2007:

So word on the street is confidently indicating that East LA is being sold. Apparently the business wasn’t doing so well, and it was time to jump ship. Some readers are speculating that the shorter-than-usual bar hours might have had something to do with it.

New owners are reported to be The Farside.

No word at this time whether the venue, name or menu will change. No firm date as to when the business will change hands.

I just realized 411 never reviewed this place! Should I be happy?

Description - Americanized Tex-Mex Restaurant & Bar. Noisy, cramped, used to be a good social scene. Strong Margaritas. Zagat rated long ago. Entrée price range $10-$12. Closes early.
Services - Bar, Mexican cuisine.
Address - 508 Washington St, Hoboken, New Jersey ( NJ ) 07030-4906
Telephone - (201) 798-0052

3/31/2007 reminder:

Tomorrow at 6pm.

3/27/2007:
Vote Hoboken will be screening this award-winning movie this weekend.

Get into a Street Fight

Get into a Street Fight … the Oscar-nominated documentary Street Fight, that is.

Street Fight tells the story of Cory Booker, a 32-year-old Rhodes Scholar/Yale Law School grad who takes on four-term Newark mayor Sharpe James. The challenger gets an education in the politics of the streets. Although Booker lost the election that was the subject of this film, in the subsequent race last year, he prevailed easily after James declined to run. Street Fight is a unique view of New Jersey machine politics in action that many in Hoboken will recognize.

Kevin Crust of the L.A. Times called it one of the Best 10 Films of 2006. “A good ol’ bare-knuckled local election with the intrigue of a thriller… Sharp-eyed… The story that first time feature filmmaker [Marshall] Curry tells is extremely compelling, but where he really scores is in addressing politics and race in a way that allows events to speak for themselves.”

This event is scheduled for 6 to 9 p.m. on Sunday, April 1 at Willie McBrides, 616 Grand Street, Hoboken. It includes appetizers and a cash bar. Tickets can be purchased online by going to votehoboken.org. Or you can purchase tickets by sending a check to Vote Hoboken, 107 Monroe Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Please give us your name, address, email, phone number and number of tickets requested.

Tickets are $25 ($500 for ringside seats) and will benefit Vote Hoboken, Inc, a non-partisan political committee that will support candidates for municipal office who are committed to fiscal responsibility, better education, public parks, balanced development and campaign finance reform.

Additional information is also available at the votehoboken.org website. For additional information pertaining to Street Fight, go to marshallcurry.com.

See the trailer HERE: www.marshallcurry.com/trailer.htm

3/30/2007 Video Update:

Here’s part one of the lengthy video provided by 411 reader estevens, see the links to the rest of the clips below.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

He writes:

Traci Kuther’s appearance before the City Council is now available online. I’ve posted the clip in four parts on YouTube, GoogleVideo, and MySpace, as well as the full version, available with my buddies at Veoh.com. Enjoy.

Full version (31 minutes): http://www.veoh.com/videos/v339374ywNaAKg3

Part one: http://www.veoh.com/videos/v339180bkG9DfBm

Part two: http://www.veoh.com/videos/v33919957GXPdTT

Part three: http://www.veoh.com/videos/v339228GZYBm9j8

Part four: http://www.veoh.com/videos/v339262q3yPBJSg

Read more about this debacle below.

[Click to continue reading the rest….]

Interesting phone calls recently being made to the residents of the First and Fourth wards (and now others). Some kind of campaign polling with tons of questions.

See what one reader wrote in about Summit Research Group, as well as some controversy involving the City Council of Tempe Arizona.

The reader said:

“For some strange reason I did not hang up on a telemarketer call tonight and had a very interesting talk with him. The caller was calling from Summit Research and was calling in regards to Hoboken. I pressed him on who paid for the campaign but he was not aware of who funded it or could not answer the question.

I did uncover that they were calling into only the 1st & 4th wards.

Examples of topics or questions asked during the call. I answered no opinion to most of the questions but some of them were so poorly written that they actually could not be answered or the question was so obviously slanted that you could only have one answer. This represents less than half the questions I was asked.

• What do I think of the job Roberts is doing?
• What about the City Council?
• What about Campos? Zimmer? Frazier? and Mussara?- (When I asked him why was he asking about non city employees he stated that as 4th ward candidates they were included on the list.)
• He asked what one word best described Campos? - (I actually answered that question; DWI. Could not help myself.)
• What impact will affordable housing have on the pending elections?
• Is it the developers job to put money into contributing to build parks and open space?
• Are developers to be blamed for using eminent domain to build tax abated properties? (I actually asked him to repeat the question 3x because I could not believe the phrasing)
• Is flooding a problem in the 4th ward?
• Is Education the #1 reason you will vote in the pending election?
• What would improve our schools the most? Fix the buildings, more teachers, safer schools, longer hours?
• Would you agree that it is the responsibility of the city, county or state to improve the infrastructure?
• As new housing increases your property value do you agree that taxes should increase? (perfect example of a question that makes no sense)
• Do we need more parking in Hoboken?
• Who is to blame for the parking problems? (how about short sighted politicians, was not an option)
• Is the Robotic garage a disaster?
• Is Hoboken doing enough to protect pedestrians?
• Did the city buy St Mary’s Hospital to build large condo’s on the property?

Any thoughts to who is trying to gather all of this information?”

And here is an interesting piece of information I dug up about Summit Research…

http://carryabigsticker.com/news/crusa2.htm

In this letter it states: “Summit Research has been conducting a potentially illegal push-poll. The poll is designed to influence the upcoming election, which includes several open-space-related questions. One of the questions in the poll is extremely misleading, and has little connection to the facts. The City of Flagstaff is considering legal action against Mr. Crusa’s firm and/or the sponsors of the poll because the poll amounts to political advertising. Under most circumstances, it is a violation of Arizona law to attempt to influence the outcome of an election though advertising without disclosing who is paying for the advertising. Even when questioned directly, Summit pollsters do not disclose who is paying for their so-called poll.”

You thoughts? Has anyone living in those wards received similar calls?

This isn’t exactly Hoboken, but was spotted on the way back to town in neighboring Union City.

A Martial Arts studio advertising the reasons why you need your black belt. “Child Abduction Prevention”, and “Rape Defense”. Boy, they’re preying on people’s fear a bit, aren’t they?

Here’s some other ideas for them. What other sales pitches could they use?

• Al-Qaeda Stealth Explosive Belt Removal
• Serial Killer Avoidance
• Toddler Shin Kicking Defense
• Abusive Parents Denial
• Girlfriend Catching you Cheating Blocking Tactics
• Psycho Stalker tricking tips
• Bitch-slapping Eagles Fans Maneuvers

A few of you asked about this trash fire today behind 222 Clinton / 225 Grand Streets. Nothing major, but here’s a photo of the aftermath, and a little recap of what happened. Thanks Julie, Matt and Alex for the info.

• “It was a garbage can fire in the back of 222 Clinton that caught the fence on fire. The garbage can melted. Never caught to the building.”
• “there was a fire in a garbage bin in a parking lot in clinton just before. a lot of firetruck and police activity there. I don’t know what # the apt is, but its right behind 225 grand street apartment. the fire burnt the fence from 225 grand”
• “there was some nice smoke seen from Washington and 3rd. “

Weather looks promising!

Hoboken Family Alliance says:

Get Ready For HFA’s annual Spring Fling!

Saturday March 31st
Columbus Park (on Clinton Street between 9th and 10th)
10:00am - noon

Schedule of Events
10:00am - Egg Hunt for the “Under 3 Crowd” in the Debbie Williams Memorial Playground
10:15am - Egg Hunt throughout the park
11:30am - All new Easter Parade with prizes for all!

Plus lots of other activities throughout the morning:
Bake Sale, Pictures with the Easter Bunny, Totally Zany Balloons, Easter Bonnet Making, and more!

Suggested Donation: $5 per child

Thanks again to our sponsor County Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons!

Volunteers Needed! Bakers Needed!
Contact Julie Hartigan to help out: jhartigan1@msn.com

photo credit: steven wayne rotsch