Interesting how close the number of votes were to put down state politico's Joe Cryan's cousin Jamie in the seat (thanks OOC) the Russo/Mason crew likes to make out they had a mandate but they squeeked throught with only four votes.

Anyone who thinks the highly divisive Jamie Cryan will "reunite the party" is delusional.

He has been part of the Russo/Mason Team Chaos and Negativity and no one expects him to change his spots.

Jamie Cryan is a Fourth Ward resident? Since when? Does he share a room with Tim Occhipinti? This whole thing stinks to the High Heavens and has obviously been orchestrated since last September-October, at the same time the Occhipinti campaign kicked in to high gear in the Fourth Ward. That stolen election really brought a pox on Hoboken...a bloated, foul-mouthed David Cruz from JC became a "political operative", Jamie Cryan moved in from Morristown to run Timmo's campaign and orchestrate the election fraud and Ruben Ramos revealed himself to be the Weasal we all knew he was. Nice work; quite a coup at High Noon for all to see!

Yes, you have also clearly demonstrated that you don't know Jamie or anything about him with the incorrect statements in this post. It's sad that you won't even put in the effort to research your targets when Zimmer orders a smear campaign on someone. Or did you just not find anything juicy enough so you figured you would make stuff up? In any case, you should probably look up the difference between an election and a coup. Look at what you just wrote objectively. Does it sound rational? If you're going to put your name on something, show some self respect.

Gettinig people out to vote? ROTFLMAO. This tool will only pay people to vote. As long as Beth and Ricky keep funneling the money. And this was Ruben's idea? RROOTTFFLLMMAAOO. You should and your buddy should write for SNL. So where does the cretin live? Under what rock in the 4th ward and for how long? Who's the landlord that is not collecting rent?

you can't defend the undefendable VV

who's the guy on the left in the picture.

Just curious, but what qualifications does one need to be a chair of a democratic, republican ot whatever party at the local level?

You must not vote much then.

Your FBI obsessions are hilarious.
Your voter fraud fixations delightfully deluded.
It's especially funny that you bitches never say these things to anyone's face.

So Zimmer's losing streak continues?

Does anyone know the law regarding recalls? Specifically, how long does a mayor have to be in office before she/he can be the object of a recall movement?

Such bravado from a team that can't seem to win much lately.

Thanks, Scott

Right now reform controls the mayor's office and the BOE. On 7/1 we get back the city council. My math says that's all 3 levers of power. I'll take losing like that anytime.

Finally, a greenshirt admits that it's all about control!!!
Reform? John V. Kenny was a reformer too.

No it's called good governance.

This comment is addressed to VinVan:

It is YOU who have demonstrated that YOU don't know anything about Hoboken. You belly-ache over the fact that I don't know anything about Jamie Cryan. How the hell could I?...he's a recent interloper from outside of Hudson County, poised to do maximum damage to the electoral process in Hoboken where the integrity of that process has been compromised again and again and again in favor of developers and outside interests. Just what is Mr. Cryan doing here?...camping out like Tim Occhipinti? Is he here to facilitate NJ Transit's plan to build up the Hoboken rail yards with his puppet Occhipinti until the City of Hoboken is dwarfed by huge tower-like buildings and he gets a piece of the action?
I find it curious that Mrs. Castellano, who regards all "newcomers" since the mid-80's (EXCEPT MR.CRYAN, of course) as unwanted nuisances in her time-warped view of Hoboken. Who's going to pay the taxes, Mrs. Castellano, if we all get kicked out in your fantasy world? Good question...I'd like your answer.
Mr. Cryan needs to take his toxic dog and pony show elsewhere else because the honest, hardworking residents of Hoboken who pay substantial taxes (i.e., property owners, not renters) are fed up with the antics of the so-called "Real" Democrats like Ruben Ramos and Michael Russo who believes that the purpose of government "is to subsidize things". He ought to know...his entire family has been and continues to by subsidized.

Hey there Debs, did you know your Hudson County voter history shows no activity before 2008? Did you register to vote in Hoboken on January 9, 2008? Did you only move here in 2008? See how much fun it can be to do 30 seconds of research and know what you're talking about? Did you move here before or after Jamie Cryan? You know nothing about Jamie Cryan, when he moved to Hoboken, or his political involvement, other than that he was legally elected chairman of the Hoboken Democratic Committee over your people, so SOP for you is to make stuff up and mudsling.

Now lets talk about how you gave $2000 to the shadow PAC Move Hoboken Ahead, which helped finance Tom Greaney, who everyone knows only registered to vote at his current address in Hoboken in February of 2011. He lived in Hoboken in 2003 and bounced around a few different addresses, but in between he lived in Jersey City, New York City, and even Boulder, Colorado. He was not a Hoboken resident for the majority of this time, despite his claim to have "10 years of civic involvement", and moved back in to town at the last minute specifically to run for office because Zimmer had no good candidates (don't get me wrong, he was bad too).

First stop and think, then do some research, and then if you still think you have something relevant to say, maybe you do another post. Probably not though, based on what we've seen so far.

So without a good candidate opposing her, Beth Mason avoided a runoff by 9 votes. Way to go Beth!! You go girl!! You guys should really take a break from blogging until you learn to count to 5. If Zimmer didn't "win" what she needed to in this election cycle then I'll take a "loss" like this any day of the week. Too bad the mayor doesn't get elected in a democratic primary. Those pesky extra 4000 voters can really cause you problems. Fantasies are fun but in the real world Zimmer won what she had to even in a low turnout off year election and got her majority back. The fools promising they'd "sweep six" got their clocks cleaned. Spin away, but on July 1 the real world will interrupt your delusions of grandeur.

Ms. Giattino has yet to cast a single vote yet you are sure that she will vote in lockstep with Bhalla, Marsh, Mello and Cunningham. If I am not mistaken, she decided to run on her own and then the Zimmer folks pulled her into their fold. She used them to win, rather than the other way around.

The Zimmer supporters here are always abusing Mr. Occhipinti for being a brain-dead follower of Ms. Mason and Mr. Russo. But the Zimmer supporters take Ms. Giattino's vote for granted before she's even been sworn in. They all but call her a puppet.

I can only hope that she remembers that what got her onto the council in place of an incumbent(something the more well-known red-meat Zimmer supporters were unable to accomplish) was her independence and not her dependence on the tribe. All the best, Ms. Giattino!

IMO, Elizabeth Abruzzese Mason has only done one truly successfull thing in her life and that was to lucky enough to marry a very, very rich husband who was willing to pay to cover up her long litany of failures and finanace her moral downward spiral.

In the end she is a sad joke not only to those she considers her enemies but those she paid to be her friends.

Good point, Madison. When faux reformers vote in lockstep it's ok. When someone else does it, they're called corrupt. Funny how 5 people, all of whom call themselves reformers and independents somehow think EXACTLY alike on all issues. Can you spell P-U-P-P-E-T-S........

So who's the guy on the left. We have Cryan, ruby poo and stick. Who's the mystery guest in the pic?

John Castellano, Terry's son.

Thx Scott.

Vin van is creepy.

And Zimmer's puppets are M-E-L-L-O, B-H-A-L-L-A, M-A-R-S-H, C-U-N-N-I-N-G-H-A-M, and whatever the newest puppets name is.
Puppets all.

Nothiing like some good old fashioned ethnic cleansing to make Hoboken fit your vision, huh, Khoboken?
Once you're rid of all the old timers Hoboken can finally be Montclair.

It's apparent that you do care about where people were born. According to the "reformer/Zimmer handbook, if you were born in Hoboken you should " pack your bags and head out."

But since I wasn't born or raised here, doesn't that technically make me one of you? I just happen to hate your whitebread politics. So, where does that leave me? Should I go or can I stay?

Where was Mike Russo on Monday night ?

Has he gone to the matresses ?

He wasn't sitting next to his banker Beth Mason at her latest attempt to derail the FBI investigation?

He wasn't at his Mamma's side to install Jamie Cryan ?

Lots of speculation.

Was he talking to the FBI in Newark ? Was he talking to his lawyers ?

http://grafixavenger.blogspot.com/

As we have all witnessed too many times already, the Russos have a lot of experience making excuses for their actions. ;-)

Anthony: Deborah like other property owners pays Hudson County taxes, BOE taxes and an Open Space Tax in addition to Hoboken property taxes. Every working person including renters pay NJ and Federal income taxes as well as FICA. Some also pay NYC and NYS taxes. Small business owners such as myself also pay a matching FICA tax which is deductible. I will also surmise that she wasn't paid $40 to vote.

On that point I agree with you. Property taxes are paid by the owner. The owner typically pays his/her tax through the rental receipts and hopefully makes a profit to boot. I know of no case anywhere in America that renters directly pay property taxes.

What is a PILOTED units? I am not familer with the term, does it go by another name?

Payments In Lieu Of Taxes. Discounts given to developers. It was originally used as an incentive to build in "blighted" areas. It has since morphed into permitting towns to keep 100% of tax revenue, instead of splitting it with the county. In Hoboken it was used as political favoritism to developers, many who gave large donations to local politicians. Other usage is for affordable housing like Church Towers and Marine View. The idea here is to lower the tax bill so that "affordable" rents can be given out. All PILOTS have a specific term, after which the agreement ends. That is what happened to Church Towers. We had a golden opportunity to reset the rolls (once you are in affordable housing even if your income rises you are grandfathered in according to federal law) but of course it failed. Some taxes were paid upfront to cover budget gaps thru one shots, others are paid equally for 10-20 years as an example.

Oh PILT's then!!! I think they are ok so long as the benefit to the city itself ecomincally or culturally is equal to or at least in the ballpark of the amount lost in tax revenue. For example, a University in your city, sporting venue/stadium, etc.

Why would a developer/owner need a PILT to build Marine View? That seems odd. That is almost right on the waterfront, prime real estate in Hoboken, surely not blighted. Doesn't strike me a low income housing either, its mostly commercial space / office space i thoguht.

Normal taxes would be to high to allow for affordable rents. The problem with Hoboken PILOT's is that developers got large discounts to build on our most valuable property- our waterfront. The discounts were so large that the added service cost (police, fire, sanitation and infrastructure) outweighed the PILOT's benefits.

Scott, just curious - what would you think about PILOTs for commercial buildings. (BTW - muni can not keep 100% - 20% must go to county; however, the schools get 0%.) Before the gentrification of Hoboken, property went for a song. In the 60's and 70's there was "white flight" to the suburbs as more Puerto Rican families moved in. The waterfront was a place where you could get bit by rats. People with the financial means were moving OUT - not IN. So, from a historical perspective PILOTs for residential buildings had their place.
And I don't agree that the long-time Hoboken residents who live in those buildings should "share the sacrifice" because newer taxpayers like Deborah Hulbert are paying high taxes. Caveat Emptor.

PILOT's like most things have a purpose. Affordable housing is one. It's not that PILOT's are bad it's the sweetheart discounts on valuable property that are the problem. We gave discounts in the 35-40% range. At that level the amount of needed services exceeded that PILOT benefit. If we had given a 25% discount the methodology would have made sense. The waterfront may have been a rat hole but it was the prime real estate in Hoboken and should have been treated as such. The Shipyard complex was built long after downtown. The Port Authority sure though it valuable. A reval is required by NJ state law and it is a matter of fairness.

Maxwell is not PILOT'd. They got hosed by the tax increase.

Subsidized housing is not new in Hoboken. Perhaps folks should do some research BEFORE they move into a town and stop whining because nobody told them sooner.

First, even my husband doesn't call me buddy, so please refrain from calling me that. Second, when we moved here we knew we'd be paying a premium for living so close to the city. Sure taxes have gone up, but so has gas, milk, bread and just about everything else. I'm not going to fixate myself on what other people have and I don't. If I did that I'd go out of my mind thinking about how much we all subsidized the Wall Street types who took our tax dollars and piss them away in all the bars around town.You want to talk about outrage, talk about that.

Amazing how the Zimmer Rapid Response attack posse has to bring in so much non-endemic to the article.
The democratic committee people are responsible for making sure democrats get to the polls in November to vote for the democratic candidates. The unaffiliated voters who voted in the democratic primary a couple of weeks ago are now democrats. Next year they will be able to support Senator Menendez and President Obama in the primary. Any who would rather vote in the republican primary will be SOOL.

Scott Siegel has never paid a property tax bill in Hoboken. His community involvement began by beating up on his elderly landlady because she could not sell her home with him as a tenant ( I sure wouldn't want to buy any place with HIM living in it).

Jamie is an excellent choice and will be a good leader for the local dems.

1563 you don't like democrats. Go whine about it elsewhere.

I care about lying, power hungry inept politicians and their loudmouth syncophants who would stifle debate by calling all those with differing opinions liars/corrupt or criminal. Hoboken went through a political mess in the last few years - Dawn should have reached out to the community instead of isolating herself surrounded by her loyalists. Nixonian at best. Scott, my property taxes are based on the Dawn Zimmer's city budget, Dawn's Kids First controlled school budget and the county budget. All three are out of line but Dawn promised a 25% TAX REDUCTION two years ago. Now you try to defend her lack of progress by obfusticating about levy's vs. rates when all we want is the reduction she promised (and that Judy T. said Dawn could accomplish in what was essentially a tacit endorsement).

At the very least we deserve better municipal services for our tax dollars. When will the soccer field be fixed? Will snow removal be as bad next winter as it was last winter? Will we get our salt back? How 'bout that municipal garage fiasco?

Dawn and her allies love to play politics but are sadly lacking in the basic skills needed to actually govern. Maybe if she had ever actually held a real job prior to running for office she would do things differently (her veto of the City Council on the recreation fee was within her rights as mayor but a precedent nonetheless - first time in over 30 years has a mayor done this - now she's doing it again). Autocratic/dictatorial.

Beth Mason's ghostwriting minion is on his 101st screen name. Boring.
He still hates Zimmer because she beat Beth Mason twice and no PIO job for Blojobi.

Why doesn't Beth Mason cut the budget? Because she is incapable of doing anything of substance.
Another 5% sustainable tax cut is on the table additional to last fall. It goes through as soon as Beth Mason's latest incompetence in her meltdown last night is pushed aside.

For more on that:
http://hobokenhorse.com

I'm not sure what Roman, 1653 and Hobbs are talking about. I'm just a working stiff who happens to pay attention - if the budget called for a surplus to be collected, so be it. If the administration was so darned efficient we ended up with a surplus, bravo. Unfortunately, our surplus came about because we were over-taxxed. Scott can spout all he wants about levys vs assessments but the truth is our tax bills are based on our assesments' percentage of the overall budget. We were overtaxxed. FAP thinks if we were overbilled it is our responsibility to appeal. Nonsense. We were all overbilled due to incompentence of the administration. That is the fact here. The argument is what to do with the surplus (which is dwindling by the second). All the rest is spin. You guys call yourselves budget hawks but the truth is you like the idea of high taxes because it forces the middle classes out.

The surplus came about by overestimating the amount needed for unpaid taxes. When the collection rate exceeded the reserve, the surplus grew. Therefore, the surplus was an unnecessary precaution taken by the State Monitor while they sorted out the finances of the City. Since the reserve was too large, the difference is actually our money. Since it is our money, and was only put into the budget as a precaution, it should have been returned a long time ago. Rather, Zimmer used it as a credit card. While I believe the city should have a reasonable reserve, the Mayor has shown that she can't be trusted with our money. It's time to give it back and cut off her privileges. The Zimmerdrones can spin this any way they want, but she has been fiscally irresponsible and they know it.

Mason's Outofcontol Five..... :-)

Damage control spin for Mason/Russo's sabatoge of Hoboken.