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| left panel: John Corea, right panel: Maurice 'Mo' DeGennaro |
This morning Hoboken's Maurice 'Mo' DeGennaro will be laid to rest, the day after John Corea was sentenced for his role in 'disappearing' over 4 million quarters from our City's parking meters.
GA imagines Mo will get a nice pair of wings where he's going, while Corea gets a different reward where he's going.
Two kinds of endings, or beginnings however one looks at it.
GA sees beginnings; Death ends our physical existence but (I believe) the spirit lives on, and a powerful one like Mo's will be watching the people and City he loved. For Corea, 7 years in state prison is a time for redemption, to make amends to the people and City he loved.
Parallels, now.
But in late 2007-early 2008 these 2 men clashed at the City Council over a million dollars missing in parking meter revenue.
One man, John Corea, "didn't see a problem" providing cover for a Council majority that wanted to end the discussion with these words: "it's been cleared up."
The other man, Mo DeGennaro, challenged the Council to answer whether or not a million dollars was "missing".
Here is the 'missing quarters' exchange that took place at these 3 Council meetings.
December 6, 2007
Russo: Mr. Englund, I have one other one other revenue source that uh, that has been called into question some colleagues might know about it some might not... it looks, it looks to me like there's a million dollars missing in revenue from our collection in parking meters? Is this correct? I think, think we really need to look into it. I don't know if it was not paid to us, I don't know if it's actually missing, I don't know if there was a miscalculation, I have no idea what the circumstances are.
Castellano: It needs to be looked into.
Russo: But it's my understanding that there's, there's something going on with that revenue stream if we can get a, a look and we can find out so we can report back to Council. I appreciate it.
December 19, 2007
LaBruno: I actually wanted an answer, Mr. Corea can you answer that question about the million dollars that was alluded to at the last Council meeting, about a million dollars being missing from meters
Corea: Yes uh, uh I believe that was uh, talk about parking, uh the meter collections? We did an internal audit once we heard that and our internal audit has been complete and it shows a difference of $34.61. It is now being audited by an outside firm to be confirmed, but we don't see a problem as of right now.
Russo: And for the record, ah, that was an error in my calculations, so when I asked the question it was actually an error in my calculations when I was doing my own due diligence when it came to the budget so, uh, it was just a question and we clarified it.
Corea: Thank you very much.
January 16, 2008
Mo DeGennaro: I'd like to ask you a question about the statement you made, Mr. Russo about the million dollars. Is there a million dollars missing or is it there was a mistake, did they find it or WHAT on the parking...
Castellano: Mr. Russo?
Russo: Thank you Council President. Mo, the REASON why I thought money was missing was because I was going on past year's uh anticipated revenues from the Parking Utility from the meters. Uh, it turned out that the meters did not generate as much money as they did in years past, so it was MY mistake to think that money was THERE when in fact it was not. That was, that was the situation.
Castellano: It's been cleared up.
DeGennaro: Because that was some statement to make! I think it's made everybody...
Russo: Well it wasn't it wasn't a statement, Mo. It was a question to Mr. Englund during our budget process to clarify if I was right or wrong. AND I came back and said I was wrong.
Castellano: It's been, it's been cleared up.
DeGennaro: I just wanted to make sure...
Castellano: It's been cleared up.
Well, GA can tell you what hasn't been cleared up.
How the TEAM effort to cover up this theft on behalf of a few City Council members has escaped the NJ Attorney General's eye.
Can somebody "clear that up"?
Has anyone at the NJAG's office ever asked Terry Castellano and Cousin Mike Russo HOW this million dollar theft got 'cleared up' between December 6 and December 19 in 2007?
It seems to me that Corea ought to have company where he's going.
Maybe this is why he got a stiff sentence- because he didn't 'cooperate' and provide details on how the City Council 'cleared it up'. Because maybe he's counting on the good will of 'friends' after he's done his time and protected these 'friends'. Maybe.
Well, one thing that's not a maybe- Mo DeGennaro stepped up for the City to ask a question we all wanted the answer to.
So on this day of his internment, GA remembers a MO-ment that is now a piece of Hoboken history and a testament to a life well-lived.
Thank you, Mo.
yes thank you Mo for trying to protect our Hoboken...may you rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteps...who was the inside auditor who came up with 34.00?
ReplyDeleteThe only mistake Russo made was in expecting us to believe that meter revenues would drop by a million in one year.
ReplyDeleteIt's very likely that he knew what was going on between Corea and the no-bid vending machine contractor and probably only chose to call him out on this when La Famiglia Russo was cut out of the spoils.
La Corea e le famiglie Russo dare agli Italiani una cattiva fama
MBB wonders if anyone ever interviewed Mr. D. for an oral history. He always impressed as someone who probably had particularly fascinating stories & experiences to share from his life in Hoboken.
ReplyDeleteHis experiences as a longshoreman. His long arc of political involvement. His hard work to establish housing for seniors.
He was deeply involved in so many aspects of Hoboken civic life for decades. And witnessed so much that changed, while also remaining so much (& too much) the same.