From last night's council meeting (with more to come later)...
TRIUMPH OF THE POOP ORDINANCE
GA's shoes thank the entire council for passing the 'doggie doo' Ordinance 18-358 on First Reading. As mentioned, the ordinance hikes fines for those who leave Spot's excrement on public/private property for others to step in/clean up. The ordinance proposed to hike fines from their current $100-$1,000 to $250-$2,000.
Believe it or not, the doogie doo ordinance stirred council debate.
Councilwoman Fisher was skeptical. She asked Director of Environmental Services Leo Pelligrini for the City's annual poop statistics- how many offenders were fined-- and questioned the notion of raising fines as a deterrent for offenders. She also suggested additional police be assigned on doody. Director Pelligrini did not know the shit-statistics offhand, but said that the City was working on the enforcement side, and raising fines was a first step.
Council VP Giattino spoke about introducing DNA testing; she's a proponent of DNA testing as an alternative to old-fashioned law enforcement. GA thinks this is a fantastic idea. Of course, that technology is a slam-dunk.
Here's how it works: all Hoboken pooches are registered (DNA profiles) with City Hall. Poop left on city property traces back to the registrant owner. If this (costly) system is implemented, then fines must be jacked up accordingly. The City should seriously consider this option. DNA testing is the future of Hoboken dog shit.
Here's how it works: all Hoboken pooches are registered (DNA profiles) with City Hall. Poop left on city property traces back to the registrant owner. If this (costly) system is implemented, then fines must be jacked up accordingly. The City should seriously consider this option. DNA testing is the future of Hoboken dog shit.
IS HE AN IDIOT? YES, HE IS.
GA is convinced that the reasons why Mike DeFusco outperformed expectations in the 2017 mayoral election are because:
(1) he started with low, low name recognition which allowed him to paint a blank canvas to the electorate
(2) he's really good at canvas-painting (marketing): professional videos, fancy renderings, press releases, social media...
(3) he employed Vision Media, Paul Swibinski's company--- no slouches in the Art of War
(4) no one (except 2 dozen nerds) streams Council meetings. That's where MDF's carefully-cultivated facade slips and he sounds off like an unstrung violin.
Last night was no exception.
During the New Business portion of the meeting, our Unstrung Violin launched a truly bizarre conspiracy theory that Mayor Bhalla was running a "whisper campaign" against him, and other (un-named) Council members. After that, he ordered the mayor to attend council subcommittee and regular meetings-- like the mayor doesn't have his own job. Very strange.
Enjoy that?
Why, oh why, does every DeFusco tirade sound like a chapter of The Perils of Pauline ?
No kidding. Notice his never-ending litany of dissatisfaction with.... everything. And he's the central character, it's all about him:
- his calls aren't answered,
- he isn't invited to the LGBT flag raising,
- he does not get collaboration* from the Mayor's Office (* collaborate is this season's buzz word, last season's was vibrant )...
- he's the victim of the Mayor's "whisper campaign"
GA asked John Allen, the Mayor's Chief of Staff, about the veracity of DeFusco's various allegations.
GA: "Is it true that Mike DeFusco has made many calls to Mayor Bhalla?"
Allen: "To my knowledge he has never called the mayor. He calls me."
GA: Is it true that the Mayors Office does not work collaboratively with Councilman DeFusco?
Allen: Absolutely false.
Allen provided me with proofs that the Mayor's Office does work collaboratively with the First Ward Councilman.
Allen: "To my knowledge he has never called the mayor. He calls me."
GA: Is it true that the Mayors Office does not work collaboratively with Councilman DeFusco?
Allen: Absolutely false.
Allen provided me with proofs that the Mayor's Office does work collaboratively with the First Ward Councilman.
PROOF THE MAYOR'S OFFICE WORKS COLLABORATIVELY WITH DEFUSCO
read from bottom to top
MORE PROOF THE MAYOR'S OFFICE WORKS COLLABORATIVELY WITH DEFUSCO
See that? What a liar. Imagine that.
As for a "whisper campaign"-- um, the mayor is working, not whispering.
Moral of this story: I told you he's an idiot. Now do you believe me?
THE CITY'S SLAMMIN' NEW VIDEO PLATFORM
For those who tried to U-Stream last night's Council meeting, you noticed something was missing: the AUDIO. Great for lip-readers, not so much for the rest of us. How fortuitous that last night the City launched their new platform to stream meetings at the link http://hobokennj.iqm2.com/Citizens/default.aspx And if you missed last night's meeting, it's there with audio.
[Note to City Hall: purchase a simple, user-friendly .gov domain to redirect to your impossible-to-remember URL]
The City broke the news on Twitter:
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| Announced on Twitter |
The long, complex URL may suck, but the new platform is great. It looks like this:
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| Screen split to access and display meeting documents during streaming. |
What's great about it?
(1) No buffering issues. The video plays straight through without coughing, belching, hiccuping, napping.
(2) No commercial interruptions.
(3) Video can be played in full-screen mode.
(4) Easy access for video playback.
(5) The best part: you can view the agenda, open and view up meeting documents while the meeting streams, as they are being discussed in real time. That's a big one: last night's Resolution packet was 413 pages--try searching through that. You don't have to now.
Curiously, Councilman DeFusco knew about the U-Stream audio problem during the council meeting- probably because he looks at his phone, appears to text and/or read texts all meeting long. The Councilman asked about putting meetings on Facebook.
Sure, that is possible but a better idea is to use Facebook as a portal to http://hobokennj.iqm2.com/Citizens/default.aspx
Viva transparency.
And here I thought when Beth Mason was gone the whining would stop. Nope, now we have multiple whiners on the CC and they like to take turns.
ReplyDeleteI really can't keep up with the pace of bullshit. While I was writing this, I was told that Ruben and DeFusco churned out a press release attacking Bhalla for not answering the council's 26 questions about his 'of-counsel' gig. So dishonest. Well, Ruben may be hard to beat in the 4th Ward, but DeFusco is another story.
DeleteUh - that was made public weeks ago. Idiots.
DeleteI hope Mike doesn't whine this much at his day job. Christ he must be fun at parties.
ReplyDeleteThe arrogance of DeFusco is disgusting. His demand that the mayor be present to watch that whiny, repellent little twerp not do his job, reminds me of the days when Russo and Co. would conduct their public inquisitions of Zimmer's directors at every council meeting.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty obvious that a city councilman can't "order" the mayor to attend council meetings. After 3 years on tbe council DeFusco ought to know enough about his job to understand what a councilman (and the council as a body) can and cant do. The posturing is tiresome and dies not serve Mike well.
ReplyDeleteIt also seems to me that the outside employment ordinance, whatever the merits of the idea of the disclosures the ordinance calls for, is clearly ultra vires under the Faulkner Act - a legal term meaning void because it's not within the council's authority to legislate.
You do realize DeFusco is stupid enough to believe he can order the mayor to show up. The man is really a moron. He also likely believes his farts smell like roses, he can walk on water and that all those GOTV check recipients voted for him because they really believe in him. Never underestimate the stupidity of "The DeFusco".
DeleteBeing "of counsel" on a law firm's letterhead is not a second job. DeFusco is too dumb to know that, or thinks that we don't. Mike has a second job: being a paid city councilman. One that he does very poorly.
ReplyDeleteIs Terry Castellano's son going to run against him? He'd clean up if he did.
You're right. A law partner friend of mine told me that it is common practice for politicians to take 'of counsel' gigs-- for various reasons, not least of which is financial. Yes, politicians have mortgages and kids to feed and send to summer camp. Pretty rich that the shady triple-dipping, P2P law-breaking council members (who have Sacco's political strategist pitching in) keep flogging this.
DeleteI haven't heard that name in the mix. The one I heard- if true- will clean DeFusco's clock.
It's no surprise that Cunningham didn't disabuse the old guard's yappy lap dog mascot of this notion.
Delete