HOBOKEN, NJ- In what appears to a response to Mayor Zimmer's veto of a City Council ordinance repealing the $25 recreation fee that was passed by the new council majority during Wednesday's council meeting, the luxury condo owners at Maxwell Place have hung a gigantic banner between two of the buildings.
The banner reads, "Help us, taxpyaers. Pay our rec fees".
It appears the wealthy residents of the high-rise luxury development are protesting the city's lack of concern for their lack of interest in paying the $25 recreation fee for their own children.
One Maxwell Place resident interviewed, Harringtion Addison Dupont III said this, "Why should I pay my own child's recreation fee? Isn't it enough that I have to clothe him, feed him, and put a roof over his head until the little leech goes off to college?"
Another resident standing by nodded her head in agreement, and had this to say, "It's getting harder and harder to get by... we had to let go of the cook and put the live-in on a 9-to 5 schedule! It's about time the taxpayers of this town did something for us."
Residents are considering a hunger strike until the mayor repeals her veto of the repeal of the original ordinance mandating the $25 fees for everyone, except lower income Hoboken residents. Lower income residents are granted a waiver and do not pay at all.
City Councilman Mike Russo was sympathetic to the plight of the Maxwell Place protesters, as well as those of all upper and middle-class Hoboken residents who will be subject to pay the fee.
"That's what government does," Russo said, "it subsidizes things."*
*actual Mike Russo quote.
According to Mike Russo..."That's what government does, it subsidizes things". And just what might those things be, Councilman Russo? Your family's lifestyle? Your political ambitions? Beth Mason's political ambitions?
ReplyDeleteAll of the time that is sucked out of City Council meetings by the juvenile antics of the New Majority of No hurts the City of Hoboken in incalculable ways. Important business that needs to be taken up and fully considered doesn't get the proper attention it deserves and ethically challenged votes of the New Majority of No are simply rammed through the Council with no explanation as to why they are even necessary.
The members of the New Majority of No have absolutely no desire to serve their constituents. It is truly unbelievable that they could vote down the Hertz Corners Car Program, which has over 1,000 members, just because they feel like it. This is not Versailles, Castellano, Russo, Mason, Giacchi and Timmy!!! This is Hoboken and the New Majority of No is as undemocratic as they come to ignore the wishes of so many of the residents of Hoboken. All it wants to do is carry out its collective agenda of robbing Mayor Zimmer of any opportunity to declare a clear accomplishment and making her Administration appear weak.
The obstructionist antics of the New Majority of No have no purpose other than to bring down its political enemies with the help of taxpayer money. Every manufactured outrage included in a Lane Bajardi rant at a City Council meeting detracts from the legitimate business the taxpayers of Hoboken want their Council to act upon.
The taxpayers of Hoboken deserve so much more than they're getting from the New Majority of No. That New Majority seems to have lost its way...it does not recognize that the business of the City of Hoboken is not about or for its undemocratic and dictatorial ways... it's for the People.
I suppose, however, that Castellano
and Russo just feel entitled to vote whichever way they want on issues simply because they can. There's no accountabilty there. As for Giacchi and Occhipinti...they're pure opportunists. Beth Mason, however, takes everything to a whole new level because she has access to the unlimited funds of her husband, Ricky. She buys and sells people like they're commodities. Just two days before the Fourth Ward election, her PAC, which was set up in 2007, funnelled $13,400 to Tim Occhipinti's campaign to pay off his 600 campaign "workers". Yes, that's right people...600 campaign workers.
It is clear that the New Council majority is an out-of-control cabal which must reigned in and made accountable to the taxpayers of Hoboken...would that this would happen sooner rather than later. But more on that revolutionary subject for another day.
Being subsidized by government is the Russo family business/racket and this mindset is precisely what brought Hoboken's finances and infrastructure to the point of collapse. Kudos to the Mayor. The Mayor's use of her veto power highlights the stark contrast between those who are committed to fiscal reform and those who continue to propagate the budget lies that brought Hoboken to the brink of financial collapse. Let's not forget the state fiscal monitor only left in May 2010. If the Council of No reign supreme Tripodi will be back in Hoboken before you can say "it's a cryin' shame"* or it's a cryin' travesty."*
ReplyDelete*"cryin' travesty" and "cryin' shame" are actual Occhipinti quotes from the 4th Ward election debate at the Jubliee Center.