Hoboken unlikely to see a St. Patrick’s Parade this March
Hoboken has not had a St. Patrick’s Parade since 2011. The popular event was held every year for 25 years on the first Saturday in March in order to get the best marching bands ahead of St. Patrick’s Day. Residents threw house parties that same day, thirsty patrons crowded the bars starting early in the morning, and young people came from throughout the Northeast to party.
But in 2012, Mayor Dawn Zimmer said the reveling had gone too far and caused too many public safety problems. She floated the idea of holding the parade on a Wednesday. The St. Patrick’s Parade Committee, which is independent of City Hall, said no. The two groups have not compromised, and since then, no parade has been held.
Last week, one parade organizer hung up the phone when The Hoboken Reporter called to find out if there were any talks of holding a parade this year. Another organizer failed to return phone calls, and an email went without response.
Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s spokesman, Juan Melli, said he had not heard anything about plans for a parade this year.
When the parade was held annually, there was usually some word of a fundraiser by now.
In the absence of the parade, independent business people have held events like “Leprecon,” a bar crawl, on the first Saturday in March. The city also plans an Irish festival each year. According to its website, the Leprecon Bar Crawl will be held this year on March 7, 2015.
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Zimmer’s fifth State of the City address scheduled for Feb. 10
Mayor Dawn Zimmer invites all members of the community to attend her fifth State of the City address. The event will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. at the DeBaun Auditorium in Edwin A. Stevens Hall on the campus of Stevens Institute of Technology. Seating is open to the public and tickets are not needed to attend.
The main entrance is on Fifth Street directly across from the Stevens Park. The wheelchair entrance is located in the rear entrance of the building on River Street with handicapped parking located behind the two buildings (McLean & Babbio) located directly across the street from the ramp.
Break your ‘Cabin Fever’ at Hoboken Family Alliance winter festival Feb. 8
Come kick off Valentine’s week with a fun-filled day of family-oriented activities at the Thirteenth Annual Cabin Fever Festival. The fun will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 8 at The Brandt School on Ninth Street between Garden and Park. Free for HFA Members and $20 per family for non-members.
More than 10 day camps from all over New Jersey and New York will be on hand to answer questions about attending their camps via bus service from Hoboken. Also, the event will also feature local kid musicians, Hoboken dance performances, face painting, balloons, spin art, arts & crafts, and games. The main stage will be a revolving door of all your Hoboken favorites.
There will be over one hundred raffle prizes to area restaurants and classes all over town. They were generously donated by members of the Hoboken community. Plenty of kid and parent friendly food will be available for purchase, served up by Hoboken Catering. Polka Dot will emcee the entire event.
During the Cabin Fever Festival, HFA will also be granting over $10,000 for Community Neighbor Award Grants.
Super Bowl prep: make sure your TV set won’t fall on a child
Every 45 minutes in the United States, a child is rushed to the emergency room for injuries caused by televisions that are not appropriately secured.
To bring awareness to the problem and educate parents and caregivers on the simple things they can do to make their homes safer, Safe Kids New Jersey is launching National TV Safety Day on Saturday, Jan. 31, the day before Super Bowl XLIX, the biggest TV event of the year.
“We don’t want any parent to have to endure the loss or injury of a child due to a TV tip-over” said Marissa Fisher, RN, Injury Prevention Manager for the Trauma Division at Jersey City Medical Center-Barnabas Health. “National TV Safety Day is a time for families to conduct a quick TV safety check and learn what to do with older TVs that can be dangerous for young kids.”
Many TV tip-overs, said Fisher, are a result of televisions not being properly secured or placed in an unsafe location. From 2008 to 2012, 12 children in New Jersey under the age of five were killed and 33 children were hospitalized due to TV/furniture tip-overs. Nationally, nearly 2,000 children under age five visited ERs during this period due to tip-overs.
Safe Kids encourages families to include TV safety as part of their childproofing plans by placing CRT TVs on low, stable pieces of furniture. If families no longer use their CRT TV, consider recycling it. For families with flat panel televisions, Safe Kids recommends mounting TVs to the wall to reduce the risk of TV tip-overs.
“This is a time of year when many people buy new televisions because they want to watch the game at home on a large screen TV,” said Fisher. “That’s why it’s so important that the TVs are mounted properly. If you’re unsure, get professional help in installing it. You don’t want to look back and say ‘If only I had done this properly.’”
Man allegedly tries to buy $2,000 in Ben & Jerry’s gift cards, jumps in dumpster
A Brooklyn man attempted to escape police by jumping into a dumpster after allegedly trying to use a fraudulent credit card to buy gift cards, according to the Hoboken police. The man’s wallet, dropped as he allegedly ran from police, allegedly contained 15 fraudulent credit cards, police said.
The man, 34-year-old Johnny Taylor, was arrested and charged with theft, obstruction, hindering apprehension, and as a fugitive from justice. He was remanded to the Hudson County Correctional Facility with a $15,000 bail.
On Jan. 22, police received a call from the owner of the Ben and Jerry’s at Fourth and Washington streets reporting a man trying to buy 20 $100 gift cards. Upon arriving on the scene, police officer Marc Marsi saw Taylor leaving and asked if he had tried to buy gift cards, according to police. Taylor denied doing so and departed, police said.
After a Ben & Jerry’s employee claimed Taylor was the gift card customer, Marsi allegedly chased Taylor and pulled him out of a dumpster on Court Street, according to police.
A wallet allegedly dropped by and belonging to Taylor contained 15 credit cards believed by police to be fraudulent and five other gift cards. A fake Maryland driver license was also in the wallet, under a name that matched some of the fraudulent credit cards, police said.
Three more arrests for package theft in Hoboken last week
Three Hoboken men were arrested for allegedly stealing packages from apartment buildings in the city this past Wednesday, according to police. Package thefts have been a persistent crime issue in Hoboken in recent years as online shopping gains ever more prominence.
Twenty-nine-year-old Jose Ovalles and 47-year-old Nathaniel Peterson were charged with burglary, theft, and resisting arrest, according to police. Forty-eight-year-old John Lynch was charged with burglary, theft, and bailjumping, the final charge being in relation to an open warrant for child support, police said.
All three men were remanded to the Hudson County Correctional Facility.
The investigation that resulted in the arrest of the three men was a collaborative effort of the Hoboken Police Department Detective Bureau, the Anti-Vice squad, and police officer Christopher Markey.
Several thefts with similar modi operandi led to the surveillance of two suspects, who were followed to other locations, according to police. One of the individuals was arrested with stolen items in his possession, while the others fled and were later caught by other officers, police said.
The Hoboken Police Department asks that Hoboken apartment dwellers who receive packages arrange for them to be delivered to a secure area in their building or directly to their apartments themselves.
New Jersey awards $50K TO HOPES for wheelchair vehicle
The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) awarded a $50,000 grant to HOPES CAP, a community action agency based in Hoboken, DCA Commissioner Richard E. Constable III announced Jan. 26.
This grant will allow HOPES to purchase a wheelchair-accessible vehicle which will provide much needed assisted transportation services to the low-income, senior and disabled population that HOPES serves.
“Every citizen, including individuals with disabilities and special needs, holds the universal goal of being able to earn a living and be self-supporting,” said Constable. “We are dedicated to aiding communities most in need of assistance and we are delighted to partner with HOPES.”
Each year, HOPES empowers more than 3,500 individuals on their pathway to self-sufficiency. HOPES’ mission is to benefit people throughout all stages of life by offering an array of relevant services in the areas of early childhood development, youth enrichment, adult services, and senior assistance. Accessibility is one of the many challenges faced by low-income household of Hudson and Union County. Many low-income seniors and individuals with disabilities have limited access to resources that can help them care for their most fundamental needs.
The DCA is funding HOPES with Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CSBG grants provide core funding to local agencies to reduce poverty, revitalize low-income communities and to empower families to become self-sufficient.