Zimmer names top director
Mayor Dawn Zimmer announced her choice for the top director in City Hall, the business administrator, on Friday. Her choice, Arch Liston, is currently the business administrator in Bridgeton, N.J. The City Council will consider his appointment at their meeting on Wednesday (which you can watch live at www.hudsonreporter.com).
State-appointed fiscal monitor Judy Tripodi has been acting as the BA since her appointment in 2008, and the hiring of Liston is one of three remaining criteria that will release Tripodi from her position with the city.
Liston was previously the township manager for Mount Holly and spent 25 years as police chief of the Mount Holly Police Department.
Zimmer released Liston’s resume on Friday and said she would make Liston available to the City Council on Monday, April 19 should any members of the council want to meet with him before their vote on Wednesday.
Buy a bowl; help the homeless
Students from the Hoboken Charter School and All Saints Episcopal Day School are organizing their annual hunger relief and homelessness awareness day, Empty Bowls, on Saturday, April 24. Monies and food raised by students and their families from both schools on and before that date will benefit the Hoboken Homeless Shelter, St. Matthew’s Lunchtime Ministry Program, and the “In Jesus Name” Emergency Food Pantry in Hoboken.
On Saturday, April 24, HCS students will host the Empty Bowls luncheon at the Hoboken Shelter, 300 Bloomfield St., at 12 p.m. followed by a brief student program of poetry and music under the direction of arts teachers SK Duff and Sean Gavarny.
HCS students and their families will spend the rest of the afternoon collecting canned and dry goods at various partnering grocery stores around town.
Tickets for the lunch and program are available for sale at The Hoboken Charter School or at the Hoboken Shelter on April 24. Tickets are $10 per person, or $25 per family. In addition to a simple lunch, each person in attendance will receive a handmade bowl made by a Hoboken Charter School student as a reminder that unfortunately somewhere someone’s bowl is always empty.
Also during that day, All Saints will host a breakfast on their premises and will collect donations all morning at local grocery stores.
For more information, contact SK Duff at (201) 707-5431, Cheryl Bonder at (201) 963-3280, or Jill Singleton at (201) 792-0736, ext. 15.
Landlords’ lawsuit vs. rent control moves forward
Hudson County Superior Court Judge Bernadette DeCastro has granted class certification to a group of Hoboken landlords who are seeking a declaration that the city’s rent control ordinance enforcement is unconstitutional. They also are seeking damages.
The city’s rent control law has been in effect since 1973, and limits the amount that landlords can raise the rent on buildings built before 1987. But some landlords believe that aspects of the enforcement of the law unfairly favor tenants.
The city was named in, but failed to answer, the lawsuit, although the city did provide support to local tenant attorney Cathy Cardillo’s application to intervene.
An ad hoc committee of the City Council headed by Councilwoman Beth Mason held a series of meetings months ago to consider changes to the rent control ordinance, but her recommendations have not been made to the City Council as of yet.
Hoboken blogger files police complaint after alleged incident at forum
Some of the discourse in the Hoboken Board of Education election has gotten very nasty in recent weeks, and in the midst of this climate, a police complaint has been filed.
A local blogger said last week that he has filed a police complaint against a critic whom he alleges grabbed his camera during Monday’s Board of Education forum at the Stevens Institute of Technology, in front of witnesses.
The alleged victim’s blog is sometimes favorable toward Mayor Dawn Zimmer, whereas the accused critic is an ally of former mayoral candidate Beth Mason. The critic has criticized Zimmer’s allies at several meetings and on the internet.
Zimmer is supporting the “Kids First” slate in this coming Tuesday’s school board election, while some of her critics are supporting the “Real Results” slate. In recent weeks, people from both sides in the election have launched internet attacks on each other, and one blog even published a graphic of the “Real Results” slate in a punch bowl with a floating turd in it, leading to more back-and-forth.
The victim’s blog has not published those same graphics. The author of that blog said Thursday that he didn’t know why his camera was allegedly taken by the critic, and that we would have to ask the critic – who didn’t return phone calls by press time.
Hoboken Charter finds space
The Hoboken Charter School announced last week that it has secured a new space for its K-8 students for next year.
The school, currently housed in the Hoboken school district’s Demarest building, will move to the Academy of the Sacred Heart building at 713 Washington St. for September, 2010.
According to a press release, “A two-year lease with an option to buy was signed April 9 with the property’s owner…The [charter] high school will remain at Demarest.”
HOHA Classic
On Sunday, May 16, the Hoboken Harriers Running Club (or HOHA) and All Saints Community Development Corporation will hold the 12th annual HOHA Classic 5-Mile Race, starting at 10 a.m. at Pier A Park, one block north of the PATH station. A shorter, 1-mile Fun Run for children will be held at 9:30 a.m.
The five-mile course, the only race route in town which is farther than 3.1 miles, includes a significant hill, and as such it is considered a greater challenge by the runners.
Proceeds from the race will benefit the Jubilee Family Life Center, a non-denominational community center in Hoboken that provides after school youth programs for Hoboken’s needy.
Advance registration is $20, and race day registration is $25; the fun run is $5. Advance registration is available on the Internet, through a link at www.hoha.net, or you may complete and submit an application through the mail if postmarked by May 11. Applications can be obtained at Fleet Feet running store, located at 604 Washington St. For more information, visit www.hoha.net.
Day of silence
The Hudson School joined students across the nation in a “Day of Silence” to protest the discrimination, harassment, and abuse faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students and their allies in schools.
The “Day of Silence” was held during school hours on Friday, April 16.
Over 30 percent of students in grades nine to 12 were silent on Friday, wearing stickers and t-shirts and passing out “speaking cards” that read: “Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement protesting the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies in schools. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by harassment, prejudice, and discrimination. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the silence?”
The “Day of Silence,” according to local organizer, ninth-grader Corey Bernstein, “is especially relevant to The Hudson School because of our diverse, accepting environment and our close ties to the community.” Bernstein hopes that the event will work towards ending some of the silence and hatred students face in the community and elsewhere in the nation.
Citywide yard sale
Hoboken is planning its first “citywide yard sale” for Saturday, May 15. Any home or building in the city can have a yard sale that day, and if they let the city know, the city will put it on a master list for flyers and a map that will be distributed throughout town. This way, buyers know where to stop and shop.
There is a voluntary suggested donation of $10 per household or $25 for a group of households planning one together.
Condo residences must get permission from their homeowner’s association before registering. Everyone must keep their sidewalks safe, and clean up after the sale.
The hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the rain date is Sunday, May 16.
There is a form to fill out to participate, which may be mailed to City Hall. For more information, call the Department of Cultural Affairs at (201) 420-2207 or visit the city website at www.hobokennj.org.
Correction
During the editing process, a digit in a number was inadvertently left out of Maureen Sullivan’s letter in the Hoboken Reporter on April 4, 2010. The first part should have read:
Dear Editor:
During the school board budget workshop on March 22, Business Administrator Robert Davis said Trenton was cutting our state aid by 25 percent while the county average was 8 per cent.
Why? I asked.
“Because you spend too much,” said Davis, a veteran of more than 40 school budgets in his career.
Bingo! We spend too much.