Zimmer stands by claims against Christie administration after federal indictments hit Bridgegate officials
After U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman on Friday handed down indictments for two officials involved in the Bridgegate scandal, but none in relation to Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s claims that Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno linked Hoboken’s Sandy relief aid to support for a private development project, Zimmer issued a statement defending her allegations.
Fishman did not indicate on Friday whether indictments based on the Hoboken allegations were still forthcoming, but in a recent Wall Street Journal article, informed sources said the federal investigation into Zimmer’s claims had gone dry, with no interviews conducted in relation to them in almost a year.
“I stand behind my account which was corroborated by substantial additional evidence,” said Zimmer. “In addition to my contemporaneous journal entry, I told six people about the conversation on the day it occurred, including a lawyer representing the City of Hoboken.”
As further evidence, Zimmer pointed to statements by Christie administration officials revealed in an internal investigation of the Hoboken allegations conducted by the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
According to Zimmer, in the report, an aide recalled Guadagno stating that “she had to be firm and tell Mayor Zimmer to play ball” shortly after the May 2013 meeting in which she allegedly linked Sandy aid with a Hoboken development project desired by the Rockefeller Group. However, the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher report did not conclude that Guadagno was guilty of any wrongdoing. In the report, Guadagno said her “play ball” comment referred to Zimmer “not being a team player in failing to recognize the profound needs of the entire state” in terms of Sandy relief.
Zimmer’s statement on Friday made no mention of her prior allegations that state Sandy czar Marc Ferzan and Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Richard Constable had also delivered messages linking Sandy aid and the Rockefeller Group project.
“My responsibility is to cooperate with all legitimate investigations, tell the truth both to the public and to the U.S. Attorney, and to protect the best interests of the people of Hoboken,” said Zimmer in her statement. “That is what I have done and what I will continue to do.”
“It is the U.S. Attorney’s responsibility to determine whether these facts, as well as whatever other information they obtained as a result of their investigation, constitute a criminal offense provable beyond a reasonable doubt,” she continued.
“I believe that they have taken this matter seriously and respect the judgment that they have made.”
Uber will open Hoboken office in May
This past Tuesday, at least 10 Uber drivers appeared before Judge Cataldo Fazio in Hoboken Municipal Court at City Hall to answer charges of operating a non-certified taxi in Hoboken. In eerily identical succession, each driver pled guilty to an amended charge carrying a total fine of $283, including court costs, on the counsel of a lawyer sent from New Rochelle.
But within days, media outlets reported that Uber will be opening its first New Jersey office kitty corner to City Hall on Washington Street. An Uber spokesman said the site will act as a support center for drivers.
The two instances reveal the conflicting position Uber continues to occupy in Hoboken and northern New Jersey. While, by the admission of its own drivers in municipal court, Uber cars are illegal taxis, the service remains popular among Hoboken residents dissatisfied with the city-sanctioned yellow cabs and has been praised by a number of local politicians including Councilman David Mello and Mayor Dawn Zimmer.
“We welcome Uber to Hoboken,” Zimmer said in a statement. “They provide a valuable transportation option for our community, and I hope that legislation is adopted at the state level to accommodate their innovative operating model.”
New regulations to govern app-based taxi companies were approved by the New Jersey Assembly Transportation Committee last December, but Uber has come out against the bill, arguing that it requires a level of insurance that is much higher than municipal taxis must provide, among other things.
Uber’s Hoboken office will have a grand opening in May.
Peter Wolf to headline 2015 Spring Arts & Music Festival
J. Geils Band frontman Peter Wolf leads a strong showing at this year’s spring Arts & Music Festival, which will feature over 20 musical performers and nine blocks of food, art, and other fun. The event will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 3 on Washington Street between Observer Highway & Seventh Street.
The festival’s three stages will host performers such as folk singer-songwriter Anthony D’Amato, funky big band Jeremy Beck and the Heavy Duty Horns, hometown rockers The Fave, pop rock up-and-comers Wyland, and salsa outfit Frankie Morales & the Mambo of the Time Orchestra.
In addition to live music, this year’s festival will feature over 300 vendors along Washington Street. Among the expected offerings are crafters, photographers, sculptors, local restaurants and businesses, non-profits and car dealers.
A special children’s area adjacent to the Third Street Stage will offer rides, facepainting, balloons, and games. In addition, street vendors will offer cuisine from a variety of cultures, including Thai, Indian, Greek, French, Mexican, Cajun and Italian.
The City of Hoboken will provide 500 free bicycle registrations to residents (regularly priced at $10.00 per 10 year registration) at a booth set up on Newark Street between Washington and Hudson Streets. The registrations give law enforcement the ability to contact individuals in the event their bicycle is stolen and recovered anywhere in the country.
The Hoboken Reporter is a sponsor of the event.
The tentative performance schedule is as follows:
Observer Highway Stage
noon – Hoboken High School Rockin’ Redwings
12:30 p.m. – Zydeco Revelators
1:15 p.m. – Wyland
2:00 p.m. – The Fave
3:00 p.m. – Anthony D’Amato
4:30 p.m. – Peter Wolf
Third Street Stage – Children’s area
noon – Erin Lee & the Up Past Bedtime band
1:00 p.m. – Garden Street School of the Performing Arts
2:00 p.m. – Jason Didner & the Jungle Gym Jam
3:00 p.m. – Preschool of Rock
4:00 p.m. – Carol Lester
5:00 p.m. – Little Club Heads
Seventh Street Stage
12:20 p.m. – All Saints Hip Hop with Jenn Eisenberg
12:45 p.m. – Hoboken’s District Musical Shrek
1:10 p.m. – Maddy Bowes
1:30 p.m. – Fiscal Cliff
2:00 p.m. – Ed Smith & the Ego
2:50 p.m. – Jeremy Beck & the Heavy Duty Horns
4:00 p.m. – Abbe Rivers & the Glitch
5:00 p.m. – Frankie Morales & the Mambo of the Times Orchestra
Bethenny Frankel of ‘Real Housewives of New York’ to bring dating book to Hoboken
For anyone who has followed Bethenny Frankel’s career as a real housewife, what you see is what you get.
Frankel is coming to Hoboken on Monday to talk about her new book on dating, “I Suck at Relationships; So You Don’t Have To.”
She is currently on “The Real Housewives of New York” and will be doing a book signing with Moxy & Main at McLoone’s Pier House on May 4.
“Here’s my confession: I suck at relationships. As good as I am in business, that’s how bad I am at love. I find relationships to be just about the most impossible thing in the world and I’ve do so many things the wrong way that I’ve become, strangely, a sort of expert at what not to do,” she said in an interview.
The book provides “Ten rules for not screwing up your happily ever after.”
Frankel herself finally got married to New York real estate agent Jason Hoppy in 2010, had a daughter, then got divorced.
A successful entrepreneur, mom, and TV star, she admits that she has had a tough time in relationships. But that from this she has learned a few things that she can pass on to other people.
The book, she admits, is largely written as advice to women, but can help men understand women better.
Meet Frankel in Hoboken on Monday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Moxy & Main in McLoones Pier House (1300 Frank Sinatra Drive.) Who knows – maybe she’ll move here like the Manzo brothers on the New Jersey Housewives!
Celebrate CarePoint’s new Hoboken health center with champagne and face paint
CarePoint Health will host a grand opening for its new Women and Children’s Health Center in Hoboken this coming Wednesday, May 6 from 4 to 6:30 p.m. The center is located at 5 Marine View Plaza at the corner of First and Hudson streets.
You can expect free food, free champagne, free massages, free face painting, guided tours, live music, giveaways & raffles!
Please RSVP online at www.carepointhealth.org/open-house.
The mother of all Hoboken road races returns
The HOHA Classic, the longest running race in Hoboken, returns for its 17th running on May 10, and with it, fun and new features that will have everyone running to Hoboken as their Mother’s Day destination.
Joining the 5 Mile Run this year will be a formatted kids run and a 1.5 Mile Baby Jogger Jaunt (an event exclusively for runners pushing strollers). Moms will get flowers and, of course, HoHos, the light snack favorite of the Hoboken Harriers Running Club, known as the HOHAs. Runners will be able to register as teams.
Post Race events include a new Mom’s Spa on Pier A at the Finish Festival area.
Proceeds from the race benefit the Jubilee Center, a non-denominational community center in Hoboken that provides after school youth programs.
You can register on-line at www.hoha.net . Advance on-line registrations accepted through May 7. Single registration for the 5 Mile Race is $25 in advance, $30 on race day. Advance registration for combo run of 5 Mile Race and Baby Jogger Jaunt Run is $30. Fun Run race registration is $5 in advance and on race day.
Applications are available now at the Fleet Feet Running Store, located at 604 Washington St., and Hoboken Golf, located at 125 Grand St.
Hudson School student art featured in Washington Street storefront show
The Mason Civic League is pleased to present an exhibition of drawings, paintings and sculpture by students of The Hudson School. The show is titled “Significant Transformations: New ways of looking at ourselves and our world through art.”
The exhibit runs for the entirety of May, with an opening reception for the artists and the public on Sunday, May 17 from 5 to 7 p.m. The exhibit space is located at 1200 Washington St. The hours are Thursday to Saturday from 3 to 6 p.m. and by appointment.
The Hudson School’s Department of Fine Art and Art History provides a robust program of instruction in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography and art history, to students in grades 5-12. The classes within the department are chaired and supervised by educators Minna Packer, Peter Ziebel, and Holli Schorno.
For further information on the exhibit please call Packer at (201) 659-8335.