You can see why Ian is leaving. I have never seen a guy take more abuse at a city council meeting. This must have been coming on for some time. With each city council meeting, Ian became more frustrated and he became more vocal with the city council. The last council meeting I thought he was going to ring someone's neck. It is unfortunate to watch a talented person leave Hoboken. I have spoken to Ian many times and found him to truly care about solving Hoboken's parking issues. Good luck to you Ian! I thought you did a great job and it is to bad that you will not be finishing the work that still remains. Best of luck to you and your family in Europe.

Thank you Director Sacs.

You have raised the bar on what Hoboken expects of it's City Directors.

:-)

Unfortunate news for Hoboken to lose such an innovator. Ian Sacs has done a great job.

I understand that due to Civil Service intervention a new Finance Director has to be named.
Perry

It is unfortunate that Russo and Ian never seemed to get off on the right foot. Not sure why...I have seen directors in meetings get ripped apart and that always seemed quite unfair and most likely one of the reasons why people are leaving their director's jobs in Hoboken. In the future, the city council should act appropriately and not tear into our directors at each council meeting. I am sure Ian is leaving for all good reasons and possibly a better opportunity, but I am sure it could not have been fun to be torn apart at every opportunity. People in all these positions need to act better to one another and sidebar conversations, instead of airing out in public. Hoboken could use all the bandwidth possible to make this a better city to live in.

Ian Sacs has been nothing but helpful and honest (if even, bluntly) with all my emails to him over the years. I do wonder if the constant attacks from council people and local community blogs was part of the reason for his leaving. It's too bad, I think he did a good job and often wasn't thanked enough for his hard work. Thank you, Ian and good luck in Europe.

Amen.
Not just Russo, Occhipinti's discussion trying to undermine Sacs over the hospital parking garage issue (which subsequently proved Sacs 100% right when the waiting list was cleared earlier this year) looked to be harassment for the sake of grandstanding.
Unfortunately, I fear the reason they can't seem to get along rises from the fringe benefits that the parking utility used to provide in the "Good Ole Days."

On the contrary, it's absolutely excellent news that Sacs is leaving and will spare Hoboken any more of his schemes. Yes, he put in multi-meters but left in the old meter poles--ugly and dangerous. He installed a totally unnecessary traffic light at 13th and Hudson that spoiled the urban village atmosphere of that corner by the museum and makes it harder to cross the street (He could've tried a stop sign or speed bumps first). He delayed the park at 1600 Park for two years now, pushing for an outrageously pricey traffic light when much cheaper and better solutions were available. He wanted a vast expansion of the shuttle van system that would've cost us millions of dollars and competed directly with the plentiful NJ Transit buses--one bus system spending tax dollars fighting for riders with another that spends tax dollars. Thank god the council minority stopped him. Most importantly, he terrorized this town with his ever-changing parking rules and his aggressive pursuit--boots, towing, steep fines--of anyone who couldn't figure out all the fine print. Ch. 5 caught him out on this, yet the reign of terror continued. Yes, he did some good things. And he didn't steal the quarters. Of course we want our civil servants to fix the broken things but as so often happens, they go too far. They start meddling in things that aren't broken, they become social engineers. The last thing we need is a "progressive" transportation guy, as Zimmer put it. He'll be right at home in Europe.

He may simply be leaving for a better opportunity elsewhere and, if that is the case, his current position could only have assisted in securing what is, presumably, an exciting opportunity for him. Many people take crap on their jobs and do so, often, for less money. Maybe that was a factor, I don't know and don't care. I'll just wish him good luck.

You want insight into why Ian wasn't treated with any respect by the Russo clan? Well did you know that Ma Russo was running the former Parking Utility? She was pushed out of there and the whole thing was disbanded and changed.

If you know the Russo's you should know that the Ma "five-dollars-a-tow" Russo would not likely leave the "earnings" to the family with that little illicit enterprise. The reason Ian was mistreated was he closed up the shop from looting in any number of ways people have heard and probably others you won't hear about sadly.

In addition to the hugely successful Hertz Connect program now with 3,000 members that has seen 750 less cars on the streets from the survey data itself, he's performed so many innovations helping the town, he was absolutely despised by the Old Guard for all of it.

Don't forget he took the parking meters that were looted by his predecessor for over a million clean dollars - that's more than four million quarters - and he introduced a pilot program rolled out that is adding seven figures, that's right the parking meter changes are adding more than a million dollars in revenue to the City of Hoboken.

cont'd

Ian Sacs has done an outstanding job replacing an absolute criminal. Who was attacked as a criminal by the Old Guard led by none other than Mike Russo. Did you ever hear the Russo clan, Beth Mason or Tim Occhipinti attack John Corea? Nope.

Ian did so many great things for Hoboken in the face of an onslaught of Old Guard obstacles. He even was handcuffed after being attacked by an employee who abandoned a City bus on the street. The charges were thrown out but you didn't see that story here either did you?

Mr. Sacs' wife is from Europe I believe so obviously that's been part of a family decision for his departure.

But what a legacy the guy leaves.

Thank you Ian Sacs, thank you very much for your huge contributions making Hoboken better.

I wish him the best. He set a new standard for the position.

Finally some smarts by Zimmer for firing this guy so she has a chance at being re-elected. The spin with the european part works good. Ian dragged her down with the approval rating.

I wish Ian Sacs the best in his life changing move. I am sure that if Ian continues in the transportation field Finland will be benefit from his innovations as well. Can you imagine if he came up with an ice boot? Now that would be sustainable innovation. Just kidding. BTW the Tango is big over in Finland. Its huge! I hope he takes it up. Its fun.

Ian's predecessor was a crook who is in jail for embezzling the Hoboken taxpayer's money and was fully supported by Russo and Castellano in the "Its all cleared up" cover up. Ian's problem was he wasn't one of them and he was a serious man who did not have time for Russo's clownery. Mike Russo is a joke and the Third Ward voters who for him deserve what they get, a clown prince of corruption.

great job Ian..Good luck in Europe. Russo and the rest of these clowns need to go away..Hoboken has changed..Its not your personal piggy banks anymore..The new populace is well informed and can actually read..Go away

Now that the bicycle zealot has left perhaps we can start seeing to it that laws pertaining to bicycles start being enforced or at least start public information dissemination about these laws. Perhaps they could be issued in one of the mayor's many emails to the citizens. The laws are simple;

State law requires bicycles to conform to many automobile laws- stop at stop streets; obey one way street signs; stop for pedestrians in crosswalks;stop at red lights are the most important

City law requires bicycles to move no faster then pedestrian speed while on sidewalks.

This news makes me sad, but good luck to Mr. Sacs! I hope that the next Transportation and Parking Director has the same progressive vision. Life in Hoboken is so much better because of the many innovations he helped spawn and I hope we continue on the same path.

A small percentage of automobile drivers violate these laws- a very large percentage of Hoboken cyclists do.

Scott

Scott

I believe the police department reports to the mayor through the director. She is responsible for seeing that the laws are obeyed. Unless of course, she chooses not to do so.

Thank Ian! I think you did a great job. I love that motorcycles and Vespa are exempt from paying at the muni-meters. I thought the muni-meters were so smart as way to cut down on the possibility of stealing quarters. Even now that you are gone anyone who takes the job after you would have a hard time doing what Correa did. I love the Hertz cars and

I think it's great that you tightened the criteria to get a parking permit. Shame on all those who register their cars elsewhere, ripping off their insurance company and have the nerve to complain that they can't get a permit. It's a tough job being the guy who hands out tickets. Thanks Ian and best of Luck. Donna

No, the chief is not her lapdog. However the mayor constantly talks about safety. The cycling laws are all about safety. Once a "reformer" becomes a politician hypocrisy and pandering for votes always sets in. It is inevitable.

Lol all if you are stupid. This is a cover up, as fake as lady gaga's music. This is hiding something, and you sheep go right with the herd

I don't understand the city council. While all the city directors are insanely overpaid, Sacs actually did seem like he knew what he was doing. Unlike Pellegrini - who is a complete jerk. Communicates like a caveman, totally unprofessional (do me a favor Leo - next time we have a meeting, spit your gum out, please. You chomp like a 12-year old girl) and a horrible manager. Leo has absolutely no qualifications for the position (previous position: managed the travel agency at HSBC. Gonna guess he earned about $80K - if that). Understand the Mayor won't hear a bad word against him. What is up with that?