DEFUSCO AND CUNNINGHAM CRITICIZE CITY FOR SANTACON/LEPRECON CRACKDOWN
It's no surprise to that First Ward Councilman Mike DeFusco jumped to attack the City's long overdue crackdown on liquor license "tavern sheets" (violations) handed down by Hoboken's quasi-judicial ABC board last Thursday. Most of the bars received penalties for tavern sheets racked up on SantaCON (December 16, 2017) and are in his ward. Some of them are campaign donors.
GA gets why he's crying big, sad tears. DeFusco is the direct beneficiary of First Ward bar owners' largess if he protects their interests. And he does so vocally.
But 5th Ward Councilman Cunningham? Yesterday he criticized the ABC Board license suspensions as excessively harsh, and added "this is not a method to get things done in a collaborative fashion that serves everyone’s interest."
Really? Whose "interest" are Councilmen DeFusco and Cunningham looking out for?
Moreover, how was the process not "collaborative"?
Moreover, how was the process not "collaborative"?
The "collaborative process" started with Public Safety Transition Team recommendations, then the creation of an 11-member Public Safety Task Force, with the City Council's consent, the Public Safety Subcommittee held a public meeting for stakeholders, also attended by Mike DeFusco, the mayor held meetings with the Public Safety Task force- including HPD Chief Ferrante and HFD Chief Crimmins, the Hoboken municipal prosecutor was consulted, and finally the quasi-judicial ABC Board having received all of the reports (including police investigation, witness statements, arrests) and recommendations arrived at through a collaborative process, then meted out penalties.
In fact, a tiny fraction of Hoboken's bars create the wildly disproportionate amount of the problems associated with bar crawls like Leprecon and SantaCON. Those are the licenses being punished.
- There are 133 liquor licenses in Hoboken.
- In 2017, more than 50% of license holders had ZERO "tavern sheets".
- 11 Hoboken bars (8%) received half of 2017's 277 "tavern sheets."
- On Thursday, the ABC suspended 5 licenses and revoked 1 license
- 4% of total Hoboken liquor licenses were suspended
- 0.75 % licenses were revoked.
See what I mean? The vast majority of license holders are good neighbors. The rest are now on notice that (finally) the City is holding them accountable for the public safety of our residents.
GA hopes that residents can share the streets with "guests" on March 3rd without adverse consequences. What I want to know is, why are Mike DeFusco and Peter Cunningham questioning the judgment of the quasi-judicial ABC board for the handful of bars that cannot seem to obey the law?
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| ABC Notice of Charges for incident at 1-Republik on December 4, 2017 |
Whose side are they on? Instead of holding the handful of 'problem' bars' feet to the fire they are defending them.
Finally, none of this would have happened without the direction of the Mayor who, at his inauguration, promised to crack down on the lawlessness that comes with the CONS.
READER TIP
Ah, GA didn't know this. Might explain 5th Ward Councilman Peter Cunningham's hostility toward the City's bar crawl crackdown, and Council VP Giattino's silence.
"Cunningham is a close family friend of David Jacey, owner of Mills Tavern that got suspended and Black bear, and Jen's brother owned Wicked Wolf, so they're all compromised."Maybe Mike DeFusco and Peter Cuningham need to understand the magnitude of charges against the liquor license that received the most "Draconian" penalty- revocation. Below are the ABC Board's 3 "Notice of Charges" against 1-Republik, corresponding to dates September 4, 2017, December 4, 2017 and December 16, 2017 (SantaCON).
Finally, none of this would have happened without the direction of the Mayor who, at his inauguration, promised to crack down on the lawlessness that comes with the CONS.
NOTICE OF CHARGES RE: SEPTEMBER 4, 2017
NOTICE OF CHARGES RE: DECEMBER 4, 2017
NOTICE OF CHARGES RE: DECEMBER 16, 2017 (SANTACON)
MDF and cunningham aren't dumb. they're just full of shit.
ReplyDeleteWe're collaborating.
ReplyDeletePeople give us money and we "collaborate" with them to do whatever they want in exchange for the money.
Pretty soon we'll bring back bought elections with December runoffs. We're doing that to because we want to let the people "collaborate" on the decision. But it will be the last thing the dopes "collaborate" on. Because after that we're only going to be "collaborating" with the people we pay to vote. And the only "collaboration" they expect in return is $40.
It's not our fault you aren't any good at "collaborating."
Great job laying out how much process and consultation went into the decisions here. My guess is that neither Councilmen read the charges which detail the severity of the behavior by the offending bars. Great start Ravi. It’s clear he means business. Now let’s see how the 3rd goes.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that neither councilperson read the charges is a pretty good sign neither one gives a damn about the facts.
ReplyDeleteAdvocating for your friends and patrons when their interests are at odds with the public interest isn't an appearance of impropriety issue. It's a genuine corruption issue.
It is moves like this that make us all ignore Peter's advice to ignore what he does. No Peter, we are closely watching every move you make and quite frankly, we don't like what we see.
DeleteWhy read the charges when you rely on alternative facts? It's a republican thing.
DeleteWhy read an agenda when you bring your own? It's a Hoboken current city council majority thing.
Councilman DeFusco previously trying to make a political issue by saying he wants to curb the bar problem in his Ward and then taking as much as the law will allow from what has long been known as the worst offending bar in Hoboken is yet another hypocritical move to add to a long list of hypocritical history in his short political career.
ReplyDeleteHypocrisy, maybe. But it's collaborative hypocrisy. That's why it's ok.
Deletevery Marco Rubio over him #easytobebought
Deleteapologies for going off topic again (sorry GA!), but this comment on hoboken reddit about last night's fire at Observer/Madison is worth sharing:
ReplyDelete"we’re all ok. top floor apartment is destroyed, fortunately the fire didn’t reach below that, although i have water damage in my apartment (the floor beneath) - they said it originated in the apartment above me. we weren’t able to go back, but they did escort us to go in and get some important things to take with us. mayor Bhalla showed up and was there all night with us, and arranged with former mayor Zimmer (who lives a few blocks over) to take in 4 people."
this is what real leaders do. they don't perform a petulant crybaby routine at city council meetings or parrot fully vetted talking points as BS social media posts about batons being handed over or collaboration. they help people behind the scenes when no one is looking and extend a hand of actual care for people in their time of need.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Hoboken/comments/80a8vr/fire_observer_madison_my_photo_reuse_w_credit/
DefucoRubio tweeted "Sending my thoughts and prayers to the top floor of Observer/Madison - luckily none of the donors from 1 Republik were injured".
DeleteOh awesome! Thank you, me. I will add to my post (in progress).
Delete