6/30/2008:

By T.G. Heins:

6/25/2008:

Not sure if any of you Hoboken411 readers shop much in Jersey City, but there’s a men’s and women’s clothing shop called “Life” over at 112 Morris Street in our neighboring big brother of a city.

They’ve recently opened up a “pop-up” store at 14th and Bloomfield Streets (previously doomed to - eBay store, Santa Fe Touch). They’re currently testing the Hoboken market for the summer (quite possibly the slowest season of them all), and are considering other locations depending out how this trial works out.

This particular store is “just for men” and carries trendy, casual fashions and accessories. I saw a nice polo shirt, but was a bit out of my current price range at $95 bucks.

PHOTO GALLERY (HOLD MOUSE OVER IMAGE TO NAVIGATE - 6 PHOTOS IN THIS SET)

I offered my perspective on how to effectively market a street-level store front, some of the problems that already exist, and gave other (what I thought were good) suggestions. Whether they’ll get a bitter taste in their mouth in Hoboken remains to be seen. I wonder who they “consulted” prior to taking the Hoboken plunge in that location.

Have any of you guys (or girls) stopped in there to take a peek at their small sampling of men’s products? What do you think? I heard some “shoppers” last week actually shop-lifted something over on the live Hoboken police and fire scanner, so I guess the stuff might not be so bad!

Personally, I friggin shop at Target, and get great summer shorts for like 14 bucks. Spending over $100 on shorts just isn’t my bag…

6/30/2008:

You’ve seen the battles, you’ve heard that “The State” is coming in, but….

Exactly Who is “The State?”

We’ve all been hearing about how “The State” may come in and oversee Hoboken’s finances, but who is “The State?” Is it a team of experienced, apolitical fiscal gurus who can whip Hoboken’s books into shape? Nope. Scratch the surface and you find “The State” is really just an arm of the same Hudson County political machine that put David Roberts in the Mayor’s office twice and blew up the city budget from $52 million to $102 million in seven years. “The State” is more likely to protect Roberts and punish those who uncovered his mismanagement than do anything to truly help the taxpayers of Hoboken. Here are two of the key players.

NJ DCA Commissioner Joe Doria

Joe Doria is the Commisioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, which oversees local government spending and things like the investigation into Construction Code Official Al Arezzo’s business dealings. Doria is a career Hudson County politician who spent decades in the state legislature and served as Mayor of Bayonne (south of Jersey City). He left that job last year when Governor Jon Corzine plucked him from a budget battle to make him head of the DCA. Many people have pointed out that having Doria oversee the Hoboken budget is a darkly comical idea.

This irony is not lost on Thurman Hart, an adjunct instructor of political science at New Jersey City University and writer of the Xpatriated Texan blog.

In an op/ed last week for the Newark Star Ledger he wrote:

• “I have to wonder at the wisdom of whoever sent Joe Doria to straighten out Hoboken. Doria had the same problem in Bayonne when he was mayor - in fact, they managed to somehow borrow their own money from the Development Authority in order to balance his last budget that - surprise - fell short before the end of the year. It’s like sending a pimp to reform the prostitutes.“
• “Of course, the state is in no better shape. A fiscal shape that, as State Senator and Assemblyman, Joe Doria helped pad around the edges. A metaphor for the nature of this relationship strains the imagination - it’s kind of like hiring Charles Manson to talk to the boys in juvenile lockup about the benefits of clean living and community spirit. But only if Charles Manson were somehow working as assistant warden as well. “

Joe Doria is the Dave Roberts of Bayonne. After spending his city into a $23 million budget deficit Doria became so unpopular that his friend Governor Jon Corzine spared him the humiliation of having to lose an election by appointing him the head of the Department of Community Affairs. Now Doria wants say over what happens in Hoboken, and what people say he is most likely to do is protect the Hudson County Machine’s turf from a some of the City Council members looking to fix Hoboken’s government.

Doria on board to protect Roberts?

Dave Roberts has lost his mojo, and dissident factions of the City Council smell blood. Doria is now working to protect the HCDO’s hold on Hoboken, regardless of whether the machine’s candidate for Mayor in 2009 turns out to be the heavily damaged Roberts or the junior machine man in waiting Peter Cammarano.

Hoboken Reporter political columnist Al Sullivan also writes about Doria’s involvement in Hoboken:

• This is a bit ironic, since Doria left Bayonne in a budget crisis when taking the state job, and must now oversee some of the hard choices he managed to mostly avoid in Bayonne, such as laying off municipal employees. The central question in Hoboken, however, is who will oversee the naming of professional contracts? Will the City Council be allowed to put out requests for proposals that will get a range of responses, or will the state be naming those professionals as part of a no-bid process?

Some say Doria is on a mission to block any effort to put out an RFP for forensic accountants and management consultants to come in and look at the books. Why? Because that might actually uncover waste, fraud and abuse allowed to fester by the Mayor and his county overlords. There are already signs that as one of his first acts Doria will try to kill the council’s effort to put out an RFP for professionals like Alvarez and Marsal, SafirRosetti, Kroll, or any other internationally known consulting form which could come in and do a bottom up review of the Hoboken’s budget and operations. If the council complains too loudly, he will likely try to punish them by petitioning a court to take away their spending powers.

Council members Beth Mason, Peter Cunningham, Theresa Castellano, Mike Russo and Dawn Zimmer have signed a letter calling for the city to put out on RFP for those professional services. When it was brought up at the last council meeting City Attorney Steve Kleinman said he would put the RFP out if the council requested it. They have. Now will Roberts and Doria kill it?

Then there is Richard Turner

Right alongside Doria is Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner, who chairs the DCA’s Local Finance Board. Turner has been right there to serve as Dave Roberts’ man on the LFB every time he asked for a CAP waiver or permission to borrow tens of millions of dollars. Turner helped with the backdoor borrowing deal involving the municipal garage, and smoothed the way for Hoboken taxpayers to be put on the hook for $52 million in bonding for St. Mary Hospital.

Turner is a powerful guy, since he is also a top aide for Congressman Albio Sires, as well as one of the key allies of Union City Mayor Brian Stack in his feud last year with other Hudson County power players. Turner was also to make peace with Stack’s rival, West New York Mayor Sal Vega. Turner also has great influence over the North Hudson Sewerage Authority, ran West New York for Sires when he was Mayor, and some say would love to lay claim on Hoboken.

The bottom line

So there you have it. The two guys calling the shots for the state in the Hoboken budget battle are buddies of Dave Roberts who along with him have been part of the Hudson County Machine for over 20 years. They are lined up against the council who need public support now more than ever.

6/30/2008

It’s the battle of the full-page ads!

This week Mayor David Roberts put an ad in the weekly paper attacking Second Ward councilwoman Beth Mason, who kicked it off with her own ad last week. Mason’s ad warned Hoboken taxpayers of a “huge financial and management crisis” and accuses Roberts of refusing to do anything about it. Mason’s ad warned the Mayor’s “reckless overspending and mismanagement” has put the city on the road to years of financial turmoil. Mason’s ad also noted Roberts is about to give a million dollar retirement plan to a Police Chief “Whose mismanagement… created a national embarrassment.” Mason’s ad also noted the investigation into missing Hoboken Parking Utility funds, which the Mayor has been silent about.

Roberts responds, with HCDO help

Roberts responded with an attack ad that ignores the HPU and SWAT investigations and instead tries to put the blame for the budget debacle on Mason and the City Council. The Roberts ad claims Mason hired “high priced political advisors” to engage in a “low class personal attack on Mayor Roberts”.

The irony? Judging by the signature style and typeset of the ad, it was Roberts who hired HCDO spinmeister Paul Swibinski to do a smear ad against Mason, and he doesn’t work for free.

The ad also included misleading and inaccurate statements in typical political ad style. Roberts says he is working “in cooperation with the state, working hard every single day.”

Take a look at each of them and post your thoughts in the comments section.

4:22pm update…

Looks like a bigger version of the storm we had before is on its way.. gulp.

6/29/2008:

(Keeping up with the tradition) here’s a radar snapshot of the current thunderstorm. The heaviest rain is to our southeast, but still coming down in diagonal buckets here..

6/29/2008:

Watch the Euro 2008 Soccer final with Germany vs. Spain over at Helmers’, Hoboken’s only German bar!

Beer specials throughout the day. Game starts around 2:45pm.

6/29/2008:

Summer’s just getting started, so find yourself a nice pool, air-conditioned spot, or ice-cold beer and relax!

Here are the Top 10 new, bumped or re-treaded postings this week that had the most diverse and hottest overall discussion in Hoboken!

Hottest topics of the week

1. Many mouths to feed
   Super popular eatery The Turning Point adds outdoor seats to cater to the mobs of hungry patrons.
2. Not a witch-hunt!
   Citizens keep city hall on their toes as they expose another “inside deal” in regards to privileged parking allowances.
3. Can cars, bikes and pedestrians co-exist in Hoboken?
   Plans are being discussed to add bike paths, as some other cities have successfully done. Hopefully, they’ll be done right.
4. Free food to woo new customers
   Much-maligned Lana Lounge tries hard to re-brand themselves as a legitimate restaurant.
5. Light at the end of the tunnel
   Hoboken411 chats with a Verizon FiOS technician, readers discuss.
6. Fiscally Embarrassing
   Hoboken’s budget woes make top-shelf headlines with the NY Times.
7. Awww (meow), Crap!
   One 411 reader wonders what to do with cats in the wild, stinking up the yard (as well as his fecal-fancying dog).
8. Mini Park, ribbon, ribbon, Mini Park
   Poor-excuse for a park gets introduced to the scissors and more as it finally opens.
9. Yah, dis Bud iz for you!
   Popular national story about the potential takeover of a Beer giant Budweiser gets discussed locally.
10. You can’t win
    Every good idea brought forward is spun into something negative. In this case, bringing in financial experts to cure the budget disease Hoboken suffers from.

Noteworthy

• Geese can get arrested (if caught)
  Maxwell Place hires “Geese Police” to chase the crap-spewing dirt-birds from the lovely waterfront park.
• Yep, the NY Times
  When the top paper in the country chuckles at Hoboken, perhaps they’re right!
• R.I.P.
  Comedy Legend George Carlin is no longer with us, but lives on regardless.

This week

Summer events continue in Hoboken (you can see them listed on the calender on the bottom of the left sidebar - Let me know if I’m missing any good ones!)

Such as:

• Art for Kids on Monday
• Yoga at the park on Mondays, too
• And another Monday option, Shakespeare in the Park
• Get Jersey Fresh produce at the Hoboken Farmers Market (Tuesday)
• Movies at Pier A on Wednesdays
• More performance art on Thursdays

6/28/2008:

Here’s the current storm skirting Hoboken. I believe we’ll be lucky and will miss the worse part of it, as it appears it’s to be moving northeast.

It’ll surely delay the Yankees / Mets game.

6/28/2008:

Here’s one Hoboken411 reader’s suggested image for the Handicapped Parking privileges in Hoboken:

6/28/2008 Update:

Here’s a thoughtful follow up to Hoboken’s current budget crisis from Rich T.

Citizens deserve more explanation from the State

“According to recent news reports, state supervision means the Department of Community Affairs will install its own business administrator who will “make sure the community is run in an efficient and legal matter.” For example, regarding efficiency, will the DCA perform the city’s Operational and Efficiency review? Will this be solely by the “new business administrator” or by a team? Will the hard decisions be made? Will the state require additional legal advice in view of the concern in this area? It is common knowledge that a budget must be balanced. It is a good example for the state to violate sound budgetary practices? Is this such an emergency that the state goes on a path that appears to be violating municipal budget law? In deferring the deficit to the new fiscal budget, is this misdirection that will puzzle the public as to the real financial impact caused by this budget crisis? Will the DCA have such broad powers so as to increase the revenue stream in any manner they seem necessary? For example, can they change ordinances to produce more license income without the city council’s approval?

The residents of Hoboken deserve more detailed information as to the operational controls and oversight. The state and not the mayor and council, who have presently disappointed all of us, should be forthcoming with this information. The state has to show leadership and communication skills and insure that our tax dollars are well spent. Our elected officials have to try to regain the trust of the people they represent. It’s time for them to do their job and deal with this situation!”

Richard Tremitiedi
Concerned Taxpayer

Read previous Rich Tremitiedi commentary after the jump…

[Click to continue reading the rest….]