Mayoral candidate forum
All six candidates for mayor will participate in a public forum on Tuesday, April 28 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Dubbed the “Mayoralty Candidates’ Forum,” the event will take place in the auditorium of Our Lady of Grace School on Willow Avenue at Fifth Street. The forum is sponsored by People for Open Government, the Hoboken Quality of Life Coalition, and Our Lady of Grace/St. Joseph Parish, who also sponsored the City Council candidates’ forum earlier this month. Bob Bowdon, anchorman, documentary filmmaker, and Hoboken resident, will be the moderator.
Admission is free and everyone is invited. For more information, contact Helen Manogue at (201) 963-3511.
Spring Arts and Music Festival
Mayor David Roberts and the city of Hoboken proudly present the 15th annual Hoboken Spring Arts and Music Festival on Sunday, May 3 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The festival extends along Washington St. from Observer Highway to Seventh Street and admission is free for all.
The festival features three stages of live music and over 300 artists, sculptors, photographers, and craftspeople.
Headliners include Alex Chilton and the Box Tops, and Val Emmich.
Chilton, who has written hits for numerous other recording artists, started out with the Box Tops and is returning to play with them now as a special treat.
The street fair includes fine artists between Second and Third streets displaying oil paintings, watercolors, acrylics, sculpture, mixed media, and more.
A children’s area is set up on Third Street with rides, games, creative activities, ponies, petting zoo, magic show, face painting, clowns, balloons, and live performances.
For more information, call Geri Fallo, division of Cultural Affairs, at (201) 420-2207, or visit www.hobokennj.com or www.myspace.com/hobokenculturalaffairs.
Meet and greet the independents
Independent mayoral and council candidates invite you to an informal “meet and greet” on Thursday, April 30 at 6:30 p.m. at Texas Arizona, 76 River St. This event is pay as you go and all are welcome. Candidates invite voters to stop by for a drink and get to know them in a more informal setting. Confirmed candidates attending include mayoral candidates Ryn Melberg, Frank Orsini, and Tom Vincent, and council candidates Chris Carbine and Timothy Occhipinti.
Landlords to city: stop rent calculations
A group called the Mile-Square Taxpayers Association issued a press release Wednesday after filing a motion in Superior Court to stop the city of Hoboken from performing “rent calculations.” “Rent calculations” are often performed at the request of tenants so they can figure out what their rents should be (and what they should have been in the past) under the city’s rent control ordinance. The process has been somewhat controversial in the past. Sometimes tenants have discovered that they had been paying too much rent, and have successfully sued to receive hundreds or thousands of dollars in back rent from their landlords. Some property owners believe that it is unfair for tenants to get years and years of back rent that they never complained in the past.
The release said the motion was filed with Superior Court Judge Shirley Tolentino, who scheduled a return date of May 4 to require the city to show cause why an injunction against the practice should not be issued. According to the release, “This is the first time a case has challenged the impact of the city’s administration of the rent control ordinance on all property owners.”
Nursing scholarship available
The Hoboken University Medical Center Auxiliary is offering a nursing scholarship to any Hudson County resident who is interested in pursuing a career in nursing. Applications are available at the Gift Shop located in the lobby of the hospital, 308 Willow Ave.
The deadline for applications to be returned to the Gift Shop is May 4. For more information, please call Auxiliary Chairperson Gail Beck at (201) 892-9823, or the Gift Shop at (201) 418-1043.