Thanks to the reader who forwarded the hMAG article "THE STATE OF MAINS: Hoboken and SUEZ Renegotiate Water Contract" published on July 12, 2017.
click to read
What happened? Nothing.
Team Giattino-DeFusco sat on it silently through 2 council meetings in July and August, waiting until 8 weeks before the election to sandbag the mayor and public with allegations that this liability was "hidden."
Team Giattino-DeFusco had the whole summer to (1) advise the public at the July and August Council meetings about their "concerns" and (2) inform the public of these "concerns" via newsletter or press release.
Silence was golden, politically speaking.
“Our aging water system is in need of expensive capital upgrades, yet the $350,000 provided annually by our existing water agreement from 1994 is not even enough for emergency repairs,” says Zimmer. “I am thrilled that our proposed agreement would provide on average over $1.8 million per year for capital investments... " In addition to the investment capital for water main upgrades, the renegotiated agreement will forgive $10 million owed by the City to Suez under the terms of the existing agreement for excess repair and bulk water costs. The agreement would extend the contract from 2024 to 2034."
There it was- and on the City web site. For two months.
Yet, Council President Giattino's Thursday press release:
(1) falsely claimed that "the $8.35 m liability... had not been previously disclosed to the public,"
(2) noted that she held closed mid-summer meetings (no public allowed) to discuss the SUEZ contract,
(3) noted that she waited one week before the September 6 City Council meeting, on August 30, to "express concern" about facts she knew since July.
WHY DIDN'T GIATTINO-DEFUSCO ADDRESS THE SUEZ LIABILITY IN JULY WHEN IT WAS PUBLICLY DISCLOSED?
Isn't it obvious? Sitting on the alleged "hidden liability" until September was a political maneuver for maximum effect close to election time.
This is my opinion, people: Giattino, Fisher and Cunningham are still seething that Zimmer sandbagged them with the Bhalla endorsement. Yea, sandbagged them.
Payback time.
Payback time.
Wednesday's sh*tshow made it clear Team Giattino wants to destroy Mayor Zimmer's legacy by de-legitimizing, gutting, then tarring her renegotiated SUEZ contract. Making the nerdy, honest Zimmer seem shifty, nefarious and/or plain incompetent accomplishes 2 Giattino campaign goals: (1) it undermines the candidacy of Ravi Bhalla and (2) it elevates Giattino as a so-called "whistleblower"- see MSV.
Too bad, we are the collateral damage to trashing of the SUEZ contract--Hoboken taxpayers.
GIATTINO REFUSES TO ALLOW SUEZ TO PRESENT PUBLIC BENEFITS
Like every political stunt, minds were made up before the meeting started, and what the public would and wouldn't be allowed to hear was preordained.
As noted yesterday, a SUEZ rep attended the Wednesday Council meeting to give a 10-minute presentation on SUEZ's new leak detection technology, a benefit under the renegotiated contract.
Apparently, the SUEZ rep ruined the night's choreography. The public wasn't supposed to hear anything good about their renegotiated contract. Giattino made sure of that. Under the slimmest of pretexts, the meeting "running late" Council President Giattino refused to allow the SUEZ rep to give a 10-minute presentation on proposed technology covered under the new contract at the meeting.
That didn't stop the tenacious SUEZ rep.
He actually hung around to speak during the public portion. And he did. But, Giattino cut him off at the 5 minute mark though (1) he wasn't finished and (2) he (SUEZ) was party to the contract being voted on that night.
GA was pissed; I was very interested in the new SUEZ leak detection technology, and wanted to hear what he had to say. This technology sounds like a great benefit to our city.. For example, if a pipe or a main bursts near your home- or even leaks, you will get instant notice on your device: cell phone, tablet, laptop, etc. So, let's say you're at work, and you get a SUEZ alert there's a water main break on your street. You may be able to save your car parked nearby or the stuff in your building's basement. Or call a friend in Hoboken to help you save your stuff. What a fantastic benefit.
The SUEZ rep was just getting into it when Giattino cut him off.
CITY COUNCIL WON'T DISCUSS PUBLIC BENEFITS OF SUEZ CONTRACT
Yes, it's true; the City Council had no interest in discussing the public benefits of the renegotiated contract because they came to shut it down.
GA will show you the proposal and its public benefits. This report has been in the public domain since July 12.
GA wants to know:
- WHY was the public DENIED a debate on these BENEFITS of the renegotiated SUEZ proposal (vs. the alleged down side)?
- Why was SUEZ shut down from presenting technology benefits?
- Why did both Giattino and DeFusco falsely claim the mayor "hid" the Suez liability from the public when it sat in the public domain for two months?
Here's the "hidden" liability which was disclosed in the public domain last July.
TAXPAYERS: Team Giattino and Team DeFusco and Dave "I'm with Stick" Mello chose to saddle you with this debt (for excess capital repairs) because they chose to keep Hoboken in our existing crappy contract until 2024.
They "protected" taxpayers by hurting taxpayers.
GA is no accounting bigshot like Fisher. But I would appreciate an honest public debate over the renegotiated contract which includes its BENEFITS, where SUEZ is ALLOWED to present the benefits it proposes, then answer questions from the public.
Councilwoman Fisher thinks she can nickel and dime a better contract- well, that is not her job.
Hoboken does not need patronizing, arrogant leadership to unilaterally decide the fate of something so critical to all residents at private meetings, to shut down the public's ability to hear from SUEZ about the contract's public benefits.
Oh yeah, the Council deserved every bit of alleged disrespect Mayor Zimmer gave them.
LET'S INVESTIGATE MIKE DEFUSCO, TOO!
Well folks, grab your popcorn.
More to come...
It's interesting that the "how dare you say we're political council members don't want to talk at all about the thing it's their job to do which is to solve the problem caused by the old agreement either by approving the new one or proposing a real concrete plausible something else.
ReplyDeleteZimmer saw a problem and negotiated a good solution. The next Council of No has no interest in this or any other solution, seeing political opportunity in letting the problem fester and grow instead while screaming about imaginary wrongdoing.
Sound familiar?
Like Mason, these cretins are practically creaming in their pants at the fantasy that they "got" the mayor. When their bubble bursts Dawn will as always be standing tall smiling, Ravi will be Mayor and they will have nothing left in their hands but .... (I think I'll the rest to your imagination).
Dreams die hard but they do die. Ask Mason. She had the same dream.
The Giattino-DeFusco deception is worse than I thought. Folks have contacted me about how this was publicly reviewed at the Council this summer. Then how could it be "hidden"? Where were the objections, concerns, press releases and statements? It kinda makes one wonder how long the Council knew about the SUEZ liability before last Wednesday's grand performance. Some "whistleblowers." The only thing Giattino blew is her reputation for honesty.
DeleteIt turns out a major DeFusco advisor who was supposed to be standing up for the little guys instead stabbed all the little guys in the back. The 2001 vote where he sided with Ruben Ramos and Terry Castellano to reduce the United Water/Suez maintenance amount from 500+K to 350K per year and put the tax payers on the hook for many millions more.
ReplyDeleteI don't think reform should be in a feud like two families back in 1880s we should focus on the real bad guys.
Check out the records from the 2001 vote for this sad betrayal of good government.
http://imgur.com/a/icgps
Don't you just love Hoboken politics. Politician makes mess then blames the people cleaning up the mess for the mess he or she created in the first place. BTW, I pretty much think some of the people backing Jen are just as bad as the people you consider "bad guys". When all you care about is winning and the truth and consequences be damned, you have basically turned in your reform credentials IMO.
DeleteSuez should put their presentation on their website for all of Hoboken to see what Giattino wouldn't allow, and we won't hold our breath waiting to hear what the DCA says in response to MDF's letter, or Medium Density Fiberboard as I like to call him.
ReplyDeleteGoddammit. Did anyone read this? I already told you not to read anything that isn't on the low-information-voter approved Team GiaFusco Reform Resistance corporate website.
ReplyDeleteEver.
You could be reading or rereading one of the at least 10 Suez articles we published in the last day and a half. For instance:
- Jen's Outrage
- Jen's Outrage in 3D
- Aerial Photographs of Jen's Outrage.
Collect 'em, trade 'em! Riveting stuff!
Instead you're reading this unapproved for your consumption doggerel? Why? We have provided you with perfectly good thoughts. Think those thoughts not these thoughts! Faaaaaahk. Don't start free-lancing on me.
What about added benefits for subscribers?
Who else still thinks the thoroughly recanted Seth Rich thingy has legs? Our corporate website.
Who's still running Pizzagate up the flagpole and telling you Jon "Pedo" Podesta is a pedophile? Our corporate website.
And where else can you go to get the latest always surprising thoughts from Indie, Kurt and Hatfield, who, like our candidates Jen and Mike, never find any of that other alt-news stuff objectionable? Our corporate website, that's where.
Not only is it unnecessary for you to look anyplace else for your news, you have already pointedly been told not to look anyplace else. So stop pissing me off, ok? I don't have all day to babysit you people and your goddam reckless reading habits.
Team GiaFusco: Fucking Change that's Fucking Changey
For the record, the above commenter using the handle SomeGiantIdeas with non-satirical commentary is not me. I, the original SGI, almost exclusive comment sarcastically. Please refrain from stealing handles to avoid confusion
ReplyDeleteAlso for the record, the commenter at the other site as SGI is also not me.
ReplyDeleteWell there are some very dishonest people over there who change IDs constantly b/c they know their arguments hold no merit. They think if they pretend there are more of them pushing an agenda than there really are, people will think they are right. That never worked for Mason and it won't work for her cheap clone any better.
DeleteFrom what I can tell, the other SGI shares my general worldview, just not my penchant for expressing it satirically. If it's a "friend," then this is a "friendly" request to come up with their own handle.
DeleteI am sorry, I'm new and I must have seen your ID and unconsciously stole it. I'll stop using it so that there is no confusion.
DeleteThank you very much, kind fellow concerned citizen. Like I said, I appreciate your perspective, just prefer to clear up the confusion. Welcome to the conversation.
DeleteI disagree with the assertions made. Zimmer made a calculated, smart effort that backfired. It happens. Shes been a great mayor.mistakes in judgement happen. I cant fault her for trying to do whats best for hoboken but i dont like nor support the idea that the council is somehow to blame for her choice of action. A mea culpa with best intentikns that turned out wrong os notjing to be ashamed of. We are humans and make mistakes.
ReplyDeleteDon't pull your punches, you're being too kind. Dumb-as-a-Doorknob Delayed Debt Dawn the Puppet Lady Lottery Ticket Mayor was hiding the liability. Just like she was hiding the budget and a 25% tax increase in 2010. Remember? She did that. Just as surely as she did this. And you know what? It's the reason she's not running. Everyone knows a person doesn't just love and serve their community for over a decade and then just ride off into the sunset with their head held high, Sikhing a better quality of life for themselves than putting up with complete assholes at every turn! No. There's a
Deletea hidden scandal she's running away from. Everyone knows. The Shadow knows. McVictim knows. He's been over at the DeFusco end of GiaFusco hq yucking it up with Mr. Sara about what a "c---" that Zimmer is. I assuming he uses the c-word about Zimmer to Sara since he used to love to tell that story about his neighbor calling Sara the c-word and would say it about her over and over and over again. Just don't say it's "small" of him to use that kind of language about women, because THAT would be offensive. And besides, now he's back in the saddle with Mr. Sara and who knows, maybe amends can be made with Dawn someday if there's a few bucks in it to warrant a change of heart.
Anyway, no need to pull your punches, Hobo1. Dumb Dawn screwed the pooch because she's dumb as dirt. Blaming the council for not recommending alternative solutions to her dumb, dumb, shadowy scheme is just all the more dumbness from Dumb Dumb Deferred Debt Dingaling Dawn Da Doobie-smoker.
DeleteI can't tell if you are being willfully ignorant, legitimately stupid or just dishonest there SGI. Or is it just sarcasm. Kind of hard to tell and don't really care. Pretty sure willfully dishonest and legitimately stupid dominates that other site. They done gone completely 411 over there complete with blocking, multiple screen names and next will come the outting and sharing of IP addresses. I bet they even trade emails and coordinate their posts, stories and talking points. Hmm.....that sounds familiar.
DeleteCalling the mayor Dumb Dumb Deferred Debt Dingaling Dawn Da Doobie-smoker was a 100% deadly serious statement that I expect to be taken with the utmost deadly seriousness. What's not to understand about that?
DeleteDa Ojo Rojo, SGI is our resident satirist.
DeleteHobo1, I really don't understand what you're talking about. There was nothing calculated about Zimmer's 1.5 years of negotiating with SUEZ to get out of that shitty contract that is costing taxpayers millions of dollars. It didn't backfire. The City Council behaved like a bunch of hyenas and ripped it, and the mayor to shreds, leaving Hoboken stuck in this miserable contract until 2024 WITH a debt expected to rise to $17M by 2024. Jen Giattino, Tiffanie Fisher, Peter Cunningham, Mike DeFusco, Mike Russo, Ruben Ramos were all on the same page of the Beth Mason playbook. Say "no" to whatever has Zimmer's fingerprints, harm the city, then blame the mayor for harming the city.
And yes, Giattino-DeFusco harmed the city. Because of them, taxpayers lost the chance to get our debt forgiven and the City lost $31M in infrastructure benefits AND we are stuck in this lousy contract for 7 more years.
Oh here's another onion to peel - Cunningham got in a nice one comparing the mayor to Dave Roberts. That's kind of true. Except Dave Roberts was a developer with no real municipal finance expertise, unlike Peter who knows of what he speaks. Therefore, Roberts had an excuse for making misstatements about budgetary matters, whereas Petey C seems a little more to be taking one for the team in terms of his reputation for integrity - taking one for Team GiaFusco like a champ!
ReplyDeleteOne might also say, since Roberts was genuinely ignorant and Cunningham seems a little more intentionally misleading, that when it comes to muni finance fact fudging vs being a good old honest but flawed public official, "I served with Dave Roberts. Dave Roberts was a friend of mine. You, sir, are no Dave Roberts."
Hobo1 is correct. The "council" is not responsible for the successful re-negotiation of the water contract.
ReplyDeleteAll but Councilmen Doyle and Bhalla however are responsible for condemning Hoboken to continuing in the status quo imposed on us by Mayor Russo, Ruben Ramos, Anthony Soares, Theresa Castellano and the rest of the council members who in June 2001 inflicted this travesty on our City for 23 years.
Take a bow Giafusco "council."
Especially the Giattino half that in one fell swoop has managed to screw the city and themselves as voters who were considering them turn away in surprise, disappointment and disgust.
I guess Hoboken should be grateful that they are letting the voters know who they really are. But Sadly, the price for their "honesty" about their dishonesty is being paid by the people they are being paid to serve.
integrity and reputation for honesty are things that, once damaged, can never be repaired. call me naive, but i never would have guessed jen would go down this path. i was pretty happy about how she served as a council person and liked what she accomplished as president, but that's all tainted now. i'll never think of her the same way again.
ReplyDeletewhat a disappointment, as a politician and a person. as one of her fellow GOP colleagues would say, SAD.
Fascinating times. The four principal characters at MSV have what SGI calls a non-aggression pact. But they have a job to do, and it isn't just savaging Bhalla, the mayor, and this website. But they represent two distinctly different candidates. What to do, what to do.
ReplyDeleteMSV has made its bones as a corruption watchdog, particularly around dirty money. Which Defusco positively stinks of. Of course it's possible that a prominent Hudson machine attorney filed the Romano papers that Defucso serendipitously opra'd on the filing date without any quid pro quo in place between campaign and attorney. It's just not possible on the planet that we're on right now.
MSV knows it is hosting a top advisor to what will inevitably be a filthy fall campaign by Defusco, polished off with a flood of VBMs. Yet it honors the non-aggression pact. Not a matter of being polite so much as positively pretending there is no difference of opinion to discuss. In simpler times, the throwdown would be on. But it's not on. What to do, what to do.
Hudson County View, recently recognized as #40 in the media Power List by InsiderNJ, is providing the bigly ironic answer. The one site not wearing its political bias on its sleeve is hosting the enduring "anonymous" (quel joke) cyber food fight of Hoboken's political id.
Finally, a place where no one needs to pretend to be all statesmanlike and adult and solely focused on the welfare of the masses. Good old fashioned cheap shots, outings, creepy stalkerish comments, sexual innuendo, the endless dark night of the soul of unresolved and unresolvable social media conflicts.
Here at last, Defuscofiles can take swings at Giattino and finally say something positive about their own candidate. None of which can be found on MSV. And MSV itself can express the opinion on DACA repeal that would make its own heavily promoted candidate (who in turn links to MSV) very queasy. Not to mention the required theatrical display of "disappointment" by other alleged democrats supporting the same candidate and/or Defusco. But say it on HCV and everyone can preserve the fiction that it's some stranger. What happens in HCV stays in HCV. Still I'm sure they're all pins and needles that MSV will choose this weekend to share its doubts about climate change.
Yes, there's still plenty of "I hate GA this much" on display on HCV. As well as what would be considered clever GA/Zimmer/Bhalla-skewering wordplay in junior high, but is now mostly sad.
Heinis's open-ended comment policy allows for the same handful of posters to create endless comment-specific screen names the day long. Were it not for moderation delays, he'd be seeing comments in the triple digits a la Patch.
So congratulations sort of, John. You've arrived and departed more or less simultaneously. Good luck.
Sign of the Times.
When they don't love you anymore and you're a woman, they say it with pictures.
Getting there.
There.
I call it a mutually agreed upon stupidity pact.
DeleteWhat a weekend we're having here at Team GiaFusco! Propeller McVictim is getting it done taking on Backroom Bhalli's team over on the other site. Pretty soon he'll be dropping the C-word with the same glee he has when he tells that story he loves so much about his neighbor at the Skyline saying of Sara Stojkovic, "I didn't call the c--- a c---! I called her a piece of s---!"
ReplyDeletePropeller mcvictim has taken over where Hatfield Mccoy left off after he got sores over a question. This one is a business administrator though, very impressive!
DeletePropeller doesn't get sores. He gets Hatfield McVictimized. He's being McVictimized this very moment by having it pointed out that he victimized women by gleefully dropping the c word in one of those stories he loves to tell over and over to show what a real player he is.
DeleteBut fuck it, Dude. Let's go bowing.
Business administrator, a nice deliberately vague title the boss generally gives to someone who does all the scut work. We also call them "operations managers" and "management support specialists". In otherwords, anything the boss doesn't feel like doing. I suspect it is a sore point especially since the question was really directed at someone who spends M-F watching daytime TV and picking his nose.
DeleteIt is a soares point for developer lobbyists who like to play dress-up and pretend to have legit jobs.
DeleteIt is shocking how many of those people either don't have legit jobs or just show up and post/blog for hire every election cycle and every time some scummy developer in a velour sweatsuit and some slicked back hair wants a variance. And the handful of them that switch names every time they change their socks are the worst.
DeleteI'm surprised propeller Mccoy has such problems with the sues deal. He supported it years back.
DeleteCouncilman Propeller McVictim voted to lower the $550k capital investment to $350k in 2001. Even funnier than Phony's oral flatulence, is Kray-Kray Kurt Bajardi practicing law without a license-- the only bar he'll ever pass is a Hershey's. When his NHSA term is up, he needs to be flushed. Whooosh.
DeleteI wonder if councilman Ramos and fellow DeFusco ally ex-councilman Soares have found the time as this debate rages to re-read (or more likely read for the very first time) the outlandish agreement they helped foist on the City in 2001?
ReplyDeleteThe incompetence (or worse) of those two together with the rest of the council that rubber stamped the deal, has cost the City millions, and will cost even more if thanks to the Giafusco team we stay stuck in the deal.
I wonder if they feel any guilt at all for what they did?
I'm guessing not.
The people who cause a mess usually blame the clean up crew for the mess they created.
DeleteBingo!
DeleteDo you mean to suggest Mayor Zimmer uncovered a problem created by DeFusco allies Ramos and Soares and Giattino ally Marsh and Team GiaFusco said "it's been cleared up"?
DeletePreposterous!
Propeller, Hatfield, WaxOnWaxOff, ChadPark and many, many others will have their hands full today trying to prop up the HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE lie that Patty "What is his name? Weitzman, Heller, Einstein, every corner okay?" Waiters is underwriting the Romano challenge. You know, the one that was the subject of Defusco's miracle OPRA.
ReplyDeleteThe lies just keep getting bigger from Team Shake Shack.
We at Team GiaFusco regret our team member's choice of words in the heat of the moment. But in fairness, there was probably blame on both sides, on both sides. I don't recall seeing any follow-ups with the Weitzmans, Hellers and Einsteins despite their presence on every corner. Seems like sloppy journalism at best and gotcha journalism at worst!
DeleteStill, we stand in magnanimous opposition to anti-semitism in all its forms and are actively helping support calls for less of it. I think you'll be favorably impressed by our full Help Support Calls agenda which has been expanded to include our opposition to slavery and nuclear war!
Team GiaFusco: Change that's Changey
Fair enough. Mike is all about inclusion. For too long unapologetic rabid anti-semites have been made to feel they have nothing to contribute to our political life.
ReplyDeleteBut in the spirit of inclusion Mike is bringing them back. That should help shore up his alt-support.
This whole situation is quite troubling. The original sin for Jen was that she had no real reason to run other than being upset that Dawn after working with both of them trusted Ravi more to be the Mayor than her. It's been two months now and no one including Jen seems to really be able to articulate a strong rationale for her candidacy other than resentment.
ReplyDeleteSeems like the mayor's trust was not misplaced based on the antics of Jen and her band of dingleberries.
DeleteHey, "All Hoboken", you have hit the Nail on the proverbial Head! "Jen", like "Mike" DeFusco, has no real reason to run for Mayor other than to satisfy her own ego. Both campaigns are publicly and painfully trying to figure out what they want to be when they grow up. It seems to me that all "Jen" is concerned about is to get her picture in every window of every residence in Hoboken. Both "Jen" and "Mike" are sadly unqualified to govern this City. Lord knows whatever convinced them that they were. The unfortunate aspect of all of this is that "Jen" and "Mike" will do anything they can to trash Mayor Zimmer and her reputation in service to their own selfish needs.
DeleteThe DAWG is BACK!!! Woot woot woot! Welcome back, Rudydawg!
DeleteSo happy to see you!!
It is pretty telling how many people have come back and how many people have resumed posting in the wake of the full blown MSV meltdown into alt-facts.
DeleteThere's no MSV meltdown! At this very moment we're working on another one of those homophobic cartoons like the one I ran on The Hoboken Journal with Raia, Occhipinti and Fulop dancing around in miniskirts. I am so funny! Racism is funny! Got that, Bhalli? Sexism is funny, right, dumb puppet mayor? Homophobia is funny! Espcially in funny cartoons!
DeleteYou know what's not funny? Facts. All that knowledge GreenGopher and HobokenOwl are dropping over there? Me and Mr Horsey and now Mr Pink_NOVA Health Benefits Double Dipper don't like that at all. I'd say our guru Mr. Hatfield McPropeller McBowlingCash doesn't like it, but we haven't heard from him since word got around that he was complicit in the original Suez contract. We hear he's hiding out in the McVictim Shelter and building a bowling alley down there, but nobody's heard from him to be sure. Some say he's a pathetic coward, but that's no way to talk about my Sewage Guru.
Anyway, keep those facts away from us. We don't like them. We like nice, simple code words like "unelectable," "outlandish," or just plain old "Bhalli." Reform needs a reboot. We need more transparency. And me and my Real Reform crew are as transparent as it gets!