Why They Hate Ian

For a gal who's been a sometimes-target of Mason-fueled stunts to damage the Mayor, I sympathize with her other victims.

And the list keeps growing.

Recently, her fury was directed at destroying the careers and reputations of 2 of the mayor's staffers via a quest for their email. And though these young men have done NOTHING wrong, the mere inference of  Mason's demand is that they have.  And that's the damage  she's done. Not just to their personal lives. But online.   (Not to digress, I would like to see a judge order her to expunge her slimy internet trail; the one  she's left traversing cyberspace like a slow-moving slug).

This  assault on these dedicated administration members is a 'Mason Joint'.  Disgusting, amoral.

But the attacks Director of Transportation and Parking Sacs has been getting for some time takes the malice to a whole new level. And it's not just coming from Mason. The pounding has come on all fronts, and I'm including that frivolous HPD arrest.  And the anti-Sacs campaign continues to escalate, as though there are no limits to what will be done to make him so miserable that he quits. Why?

All this effort for an official who, by all intents and purposes, has been doing his job extremely well.  Maybe that's the problem?

I've got a friend who's lived the better part of his life in Hoboken and knows a lot about a lot that goes on here. I asked him to tell me: WHY is Sacs so hated?

His response:
Most of the new folks in town don't get the significance of the garage and the parking authority/utility and why Ian Sacs is so hated.

For years the parking authority/utility ( I will just call it the Parking Dept.) was the mother lode for patronage jobs handed out to the various, otherwise unemployable, denizens of the local social clubs.

The social clubs in town are a whole other topic for conversation.  But the Parking Dept. was used by anyone and everyone connected in town as their own private city subsidized repair shop and coin dispensing center.  You could not only get your car done, but also walk away with some coinage.

Most of the jobs at the parking department never paid a great deal, but they came with great benefits:  cheap housing, cash under the table, and all the freebies one could grab. And no one ever really enforced the work day.  Many of those employed there were "untouchable".

Not only was the parking department a source of skimming money, i.e. quarters, you never had to pay for an oil change, blown tire , or pay for gas (if you were part of the elite).

It has been said before that, pre-Zimmer, City Hall was run like a crime ring - anything not nailed down was up for grabs. The Parking Dept was like Macy's, but only free, provided you knew the "right" people.

Ian has come in, raised revenue to where it SHOULD  have been, eliminated the graft and grabbing and taken away a prized bennie of working for City Hall. Of course they hate him.

The relatively recent automated garage was a boondoggle but a cornucopia of grifting at the time. Any initiative had a certain "set aside" to be distributed to those connected.

I hope that this provide you with a little insight as to why Ian is so hated.

As to why Beth hates him, it can only be that he is a great example of competence and accomplished a great deal, and Beth cant stand it when the Mayor may be getting any positive comments on her accomplishments as Mayor.
I get the picture now.

Thanks Ian, for making them hate you.  Because you're doing a great job.

Comments

  1. Apart from the automotive perks, the same things could have been said about the school system and if Poopie and his pals have their way, it will be that way again. Just a few short years ago, they were graduating kids who, through social promotion, could not read or write. Russo's answer at the time was to hire a PR firm to put a positive spin on things, but not address the problem.

    But, this is about Ian Sacs and his excellent work. It cannot be easy to suffer the slings and arrows coming from corrupt, unethical and delusional people but suffice it to say, Mr. Sacs, there are more of us than them and we applaud you!

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  2. I hope that the Mayor will take care of those corrupt Police officers who arrested Ian. I also hope that he stays to put up a good fight to the organized crime and that at some point in time he will be compensated financially.
    The Sopranos are getting older, sick with diabetes, high blood pressure and HD from all the good food...patience and there's a slight chance to dissolve the clan. As for Mason, I'm sure that if the Feds don't jail her, there's a phych ward somewhere available and waiting. Shouldn't the government come up with a law and screen out the psychopaths? I think that would be a splendid idea!

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  3. Assuming that the stealing of gasoline and repair services did occur (and knowing the cast of characters that used to run this town I don't doubt it for a second), these are things Mr. Sacs could prevent quite easily. Just introduce logs for all city vehicles (if they do not exist already), force people to document in the logs (name, time, starting location, destination, odometer reading before and after) whenever they use a city vehicle. Reasonable estimates for the gas mileage of all city vehicles could then be compared with refueling records. Also, free repairs at the city garage could be prevented by a simple video surveillance system that tracks all people/vehicles going into, being inside of, and coming out of the garage. Such systems are extremely cheap these days and easy to install. Life video feed could go directly to Mr. Sacs office desktop, his laptop, his smart phone, etc. There is simply no reason for the city to tolerate such blatant theft any longer.

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  4. HR

    Maybe I am wrong, but I go the impression from the post that Sacs has stopped the graft from happening, which is why he is hated.

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  5. In a very real way they have lived outside of capitalism. That is really the crux of the difference between the so-called old guard and reform. They want to live in a consequence-free world where supply and demand don't matter, qualifications to work don't matter, quality doesn't matter, work ethic doesn't matter, and there is no clear relationship between what one is paid and the intrinsic value of one's service.

    You can see why they would want to stay in that Peter Pan world. I have been laid off a few times. Kids, college, mortgage - not fun to be on the outside looking in. The real world is very frightening. How much better to live in an alternative childhood fantasy world where you are guaranteed a job, housing, percs & niceties, and your next generation will get the same. Save for college? Why? Downturn in the economy? Not for you. Make sure the next generation does at least as well as you did? Done.

    Woe to the man or woman who insists that all that is over. Woe to the government that doesn't simply "subsidize things".

    I have often drawn the analogy to the south in the years immediately following the Civil War. It still holds.

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  6. While I may disagree w/ some of the policies Sacs is trying to ram through, there is no doubt that the man is by far the best hire this city has seen in a very long time.

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  7. Used to be that the public works garage had its own gas pumps, and employees and connected folks could just pull up and fill up. Someone once told me how former Mayor Russo would leave his city-provided SUV running for hours while dining at local restaurants (meals were always gratis, whether with consent of the establishment or not). I figure he wanted his vehicle interior to stay cool or warm, depending on the season. Why not? Free gas, plus a pathological need to screw the taxpayer in any way possible.

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