Merry Christmas, people.
GA is sorry to report that a 3-Alarm fire broke out at Marine View Plaza 1 last night, causing the building to be evacuated and families temporarily displaced on Christmas Eve. It appears the fire was contained to one apartment. An eyewitness told GA, "There were flames coming out of the window."
Thanks to Hoboken Chief of Police Ken Ferrante for real-time reporting on his Twitter Feed. Excerpts:
Thank goodness, no one was seriously injured.
Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla told GA this morning, "The City's response was really excellent. Both the Police Chief and Fire Chief were at the scene along with their officers. Sergeant Montanez from OEM and Mario Patruno were also present and working. When I arrived both Jason Freeman and Caroline Caulfield were already at the lobby of the W Hotel providing updates to residents and working with hotel staff to secure rooms in case anyone was displaced. We all stayed until the all the units were inspected and all tenants were able to return to their homes safely."
Hoboken residents should feel comforted that our city has such responsive and caring public officials: the mayor, his staff, police, fire and emergency services who were there on the scene right away, helping temporarily displaced residents throughout the night. Management of this crisis was a team effort. Well...
The team was minus one...
What happened to First Ward Councilman Mike DeFusco? Marine View is in his ward. Remember how he didn't want to pay for pizza served to Marine View residents because he "wasn't invited" to a meeting there? The First Ward Councilman is always invited to the scene of First Ward emergencies.
GA asked the Mayor if Councilman DeFusco showed up.
"Jason called him as a courtesy because he is the local councilman but did not receive a response. No, he was not there."
"Jason" is Jason Freeman, Bhalla's Deputy Chief of Staff. The one whose small stipend for overtime work (like helping Marine View residents on Christmas Eve) Mike DeFusco tried to cut. Unsuccessful at cutting Jason's small stipend, DeFusco tried to eliminate his job. In fact, DeFusco's ordinance limiting the mayor to "one" Chief of Staff or Deputy Chief of Staff passed on December 19th. And you know what?
Not one of the "yes" voters to eliminate Jason's job showed up to help last night. Go figure.
GA will keep you posted with any new developments. My own personal thanks to ALL those who were there on the scene, caring for our Hoboken neighbors on Christmas Eve.
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