Earwitness News


Well, guess who came back to town?

According to GA's earwitness, our friends from FOX news were back in Hoboken last week for a follow-up to their November 21st report on parking enforcement.  (The report had cited residents' complaints about excessive ticketing and booting, with a star turn by Hoboken411's Perry Klaussen 'working' out of a FOX  office.)

What brought FOX back to Hoboken?

GA's earwitness heard that Reporter Joel Waldman got an earful from plenty of Hoboken residents who did not find his report  'fair and balanced'- particularly framed around a virulently nasty, anti-administration political operative  whose cyber-jihad against Director of Transportation and Parking Sacs is no secret.  Others wished to defend the enforcement of a 4-hour rule, which keeps folks from 'gaming' the system and moving their cars from spot to spot to spot. And some suggested that the parking issues in Hoboken were no different than those encountered in similar-density urban areas where cars vastly outnumber spots, requiring time rationing for street parking and where private parking facilities are available to non-resident visitors.

So, FOX's Waldman contacted several individuals and conducted a series of interviews for a counterpoint to his report.

GA's ear witness provided an account of one interview subject, who gave the FOX reporter a full accounting of the hyper-partisan political climate from which Hoboken parking enforcement was (presumably) pitched to the media. This included a review of the ongoing FBI investigation in Hoboken and the theft of the mayor and her staff's emails, the arrest of IT Director Patrick Ricciardi, likely future arrests of public officials and their operatives under the criminal enterprise theory AND open criminal complaints into 4th Ward voter fraud.  

GA was told Waldman seemed surprised by the amount of 'backstory' he'd been unaware of, apparently not shared by the craven political operative from Hoboken411.

So... GA has no idea if FOX will produce a follow-up segment based on last week's visit but Waldman took back plenty of leads if he chooses to switch topics from 'parking' to 'corruption crackdown'.

And that concludes this episode of Earwitness News.

Comments

  1. hope your ear witness told waldman to bookmark GA for backstory and future news!

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  2. If FOX doesn't come with a rebuttal story, here's what I'll hear in my head: crooks crooks and more corrupt media crooks! That's all!
    I doubt that they would come with a different approach...after all, they need Mason's money. FOX has been airing the false adds against gov Christie and Mayor Zimmer for weeks.

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  3. Fox can't return to the story since revealing information about the true motives of the people who invited and met with them would cast Fox as less-than-diligent.

    But Fox has a head-start on a story that will grab major headlines when it breaks open. We are right now at the phase where 4 middle-class-looking guys have been arrested for breaking into a DC hotel room and everyone is wondering how they could afford such good lawyers.

    Wise up, Fox. You came here for a cheap slider and missed the filet mignon. But it's still here.

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  4. Yeah, Info baby!

    Skip the salad and go for the steak.

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  5. Impressive insight Info! Ditto GAs comment

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  6. Who cares what the mouthpiece for all things sad, sick, warped, biased and bigoted has to say about anything?

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  7. MBB is reminded of that piece that aired on "This American Life," back in late '08. It featured a Hoboken resident, in exasperation extremis, about the HPU & parking enforcement. An HPU worker was caught on tape, in classic Hoboken trough-feeder fashion.

    Supposedly, Hoboken was originally to be the subject of the entire show. There had been an extended interview with the resident, someone supposedly long active in "reform." Lots of corruption dot-connection was dished. But it was well before July of '09 & the FBI. Liability issues apparently nixed airing more than the reality of what was caught on tape.

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