Dear Editor:
Last week’s edition of your paper reported on two turbulent public meetings. At times I have been involved in a number of heated political battles over the years, both as a citizen and an elected official and received plenty of news coverage from different viewpoints. Last week’s stories contained blatant inaccuracies on the part of your publication.
I did not attend the Hoboken Housing Authority meeting. Later that evening, I spoke to Councilman Ramos, who told me what had happened. Your reporter alleged that Councilman Ramos was leading the disturbance. Anyone who knows Ruben Ramos Jr. knows he’s a mild mannered individual who doesn’t create disturbances. He arrived at the meeting late after an appointment with his doctors in New York City and stood in the back of the room, quietly greeting his many constituents.
I did in fact attend the Hoboken Parking Authority meeting, which became argumentative at times.
I can’t speak for the comments made by certain commissioners, but I can and will speak on actions in which other commissioners involvement was exposed. The Reporter failed to report on Commissioner Pellicano’s admission that he had taken a second parking pass for his second car. This is an item worth $150 in value, but that’s not the worst of it. Commissioner Pellicano spent a large portion of the meeting complaining about a $15 item on the agenda ignoring the fact that he unfairly obtained free parking. When I asked him about this during the public portion of the meeting, he admitted he had taken an extra parking pass.
Something’s very wrong with a newspaper that would rather write about public officials trading insults than comment on a public official that was caught stealing.
One might attribute some of these meeting outbursts to the stress we are all feeling at this time. It can also be attributed to the truly free and open government now alive and well again in Hoboken after years of oppression from a totalitarian administration. Democracy isn’t easy but we should be able to depend on our one and only hometown newspaper to report these events fairly, to help keep us in check and on our toes. When your publication fails to report a public official’s publicly admitted improprieties and favors one side over another, we are offended. Maybe the Reporter needs a watchdog too!
We’re working to get away from the terrible example of the previous administration and limit insults and raucous outbursts at meetings. If there are battles, they should be sincere and for the public good. Yes, democracy isn’t easy but we all have to work at it. So does The Hoboken Reporter.
Anthony Soares
President, Hoboken City Council