Hoboken council names Ramos new president, Giattino vice president

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The Hoboken City Council named 4th Ward Councilman Ruben Ramos the president, succeeding 6th Ward Councilwoman Jen Giattino – who will serve as the council’s vice president this year.

Ramos joked that the Vegas odds of him being the council president in 2018 couldn’t have been very good when he was elected in November 2015, noting that this is a great example of the collaborative efforts of the council over the past two years.

“Two years ago, if you made a bet in Las Vegas, Las Vegas bookmakers would’ve taken a bet two years ago, that I’d have been council president today, you’d have made a lot of money, but I thank that’s just the road we’ve taken in the past two years of really becoming a more collaborative city council,” Ramos said.

” … Honestly, 90 percent of the time, the votes here are unanimous, so [there’s] that 10 percent that we’ll work to get through, plug away to produce the best outcome for our 55,000 residents of Hoboken.”

Ramos and Giattino were both appointed to council leadership roles by a vote of 7-0(2), with Council members James Doyle and Emily Jabbour abstaining.

Hudson County View reported on Tuesday that Ramos and Giattino would be assuming the Hoboken council president and vice president roles, respectively.

In their next order of business, 1st Ward Councilman Mike DeFusco was voted on to the planning board by a 7-2 majority, with Doyle, the most recent council representative on the planning board, and Jabbour voting no.

When addressing the governing body, DeFusco seemed elated to be a part of the planning board in a year where the city’s master plan will take center stage.

“As we enter a year where the master plan is going to take center stage on the planning board, the belief that my colleagues have placed in me is not forgotten and I will work hard every day this year keeping everyone on this body apprised of what’s going on on the planning board,” DeFusco stated.

After appointing Jim Aibel, who ran on Giattino’s council slate in November, and Antonio Grana, to four-year terms on the Zoning Board of Adjustment, the vacant five-year North Hudson Sewerage Authority seat was discussed.

Giattino nominated Tony Soares, a former councilman and NHSA board member who is a close ally of Ramos and DeFusco, while Doyle nominated Brian Asadourian, a friend and political ally of Mayor Ravi Bhalla who was hoping to be reappointed.

Frank Raia, a former NHSA chairman, also expressed interest in the seat, but did not receive a nomination from the council.

Prior to the vote, Hoboken resident Cheryl Fallick said she felt Soares was the best fit for the NHSA.

“Tony Soares is a friend of mine and I know him to be a smart, caring and proactive person,” Fallick began.

“I know the fact that he’s my friend has nothing to do with this, but aside from that, when Mr. Soares was on the sewerage authority – he was for quite a few years – the things I heard was he was very proactive, he was very responsive to all calls and very much participated in the meetings.”

Soares got the nod from the council by a vote of 7-2, with Doyle and Jabbour voting no.


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45 COMMENTS

  1. Well, at least we see who are the crybabies in 2018. It’s Ravi’s two council campaign members Jim and Emily. Guess that means we’ll see a whole lot of blubbering at Ravi political operative central in the Syb’s Cave.

    Wot a bunch of wankers!

    • remember when jim was considered a stand-up guy who along with his wife represented the best of hoboken volunteerism? remember when ruben blindly supported what you always called project money-money? remember when people were dropped from boards for cause instead of for political reasons like assourdian? remember when you used to care about stuff like that?

      all distant memories. like your credibility.

      • Late Wednesday night someone’s better half was at a bar asking people ” have you seen my husband”? …
        Later Bhalla was seen walking by himself going for Pizza, but wait, he was claiming he had death threats and had to tow cars on Garden Street for his safety…

          • Nancy411 is paranoid and thinks everyone who tells a few truths are the ones not available for censoring at her lunatic bin website. So very protective her H411 screed of lies that goes on there ad nauseam. All the facts are not good for Ravi, wahhhhhhh, he can’t control everything wahhhhhhh. Delete, delete, delete!

            Heard the same reports stated as JF. No problem with Ravi going for pizza. Why not? But there’s talk of a new security detail. The public will probably need to know why and the cost at some point. After all, Ravi is already expanding the political section of the mayor’s office and the bill is far higher there then when Dawn Zimmer became mayor.

            Then there’s a new “constituent” office. Expect more patronage hires. Clearly not to serve Hoboken but to serve Ravi’s political ambitions.

            Guy has been in office for only days and is already leveraging Hoboken to get out.

  2. And the true colors for TiffJenPeter come out. No more guessing or hinting at what they really believe any more, they are officially on the record–“reform resistance” means flat out rejecting reform and aligning with the old, questionable governance, guard.

    After all their hysterics over the Suez contract last summer, they have elevated two people who voted to make that contract much worse for Hoboken residents. The council prez and the sewage authority are the rewards for those votes. Where’s the outrage now PeterTiffJen?

    Heck, even JenPeterTiff’s and Trump’s biggest blog supporter has numerous articles decrying Ramos. But I
    suppose those will be overlooked now in the expedience of sticking a finger in Ravi’s eye for having the audacity to win an election.

    Congratulations on the successful tantrum. You have flexed your muscles and revealed your true alignment. At least the facts are out in the open now.

  3. The real reform council members: Peter, Jen and Tiffanie didn’t do anything rejecting “reform”.

    Ravi Bhalla and Michael Russo cut a deal earlier. That isn’t reform.

    Your comment shows only you are hysterical. The council meeting shows most will continue to work collegily for Hoboken.

    That should be what everyone appreciates.

  4. Can’t believe everyone is talking about Suez. The headliner from the meeting was Mello pointing out so eloquently the hypocrisy of Dawn vetoing the runoff ballot vote. Wish I could be there to watch her wipe the egg off her face when she watches that video.

  5. Dawn and Stan talk about Suez where Ravi’s firm has as a client because they were too STUPID, inept and inattentive to the contractoral obligation for 8 years

  6. Folks are talking about Suez because Soares and Ramos have failed to acknowledge their mistake in voting for the disastrous 2001 extension.

    How about it posters who aren’t Tony. A little mean culpa by you and Ruben could go a long way. We’re waiting.

    • While we are at it was Councilman Russo’s father who while mayor first screwed over Hoboken with the original Suez. He was latter convicted and ant to prison for taking bribes.

      Speaking of Hoboken crooked mayors who went prison. There was no tighter Council friendship than Councilmen Peter Cammarano and Ruben Ramos who served under Mayor Roberts who together they voted to overspend and bankrupt the city to the point the State took over.

      Do we expect this bunch to fix what they broke in the first place ?

  7. I think Cunningham, Fisher and Giattino are going to find some of their supporters in their last election won’t come within a mile of them next go around

  8. Longtime reader of all things blog Hoboken here, but not any of those people. I did notice GA’s blog where she mentioned how Ravi reached out to her. Then she thew a little hissy fit. Pretty funny. Laughed when I saw that. He needs to cut her off. She is a toxic avenger.

  9. It’s funny, Bhalla trashes the SUEZ deal but his firm profited from SUEZ. Guess Ravi didn’t have a company 401K or firm bonus?
    Ravi appointed the most senior council member from 1999-2001 to lead his transition team. Funny, he voted for the SUEZ change too, but we hide that fact when it comes to Bhalla’s scorched earth campaign to destroy people.

  10. I just love how the toxic blog doesn’t mention anything about Mello’s response to the mayor’s silly veto of the runoffs. Mello did a great job of smacking down the mayor and her veto tantrum.

    I just love how the toxic avenger bloggers keep shrieking about how Soares and Ramos haven’t apologized for the Suez deal. I’m wondering when the former mayor is going to apologize for the 424 unit monster building in the northwest that we got stuck with! Same situation right? She blamed the need for a monster building on an existing agreement. Seems to me Ramos and Soares were stuck with an existing agreement too! It is called making the best of a bad previous deal, but the toxic blog and Stan’s toxic bloggers would rather lie and whine. Very tiresome.

    I’m wondering why the toxic blog didn’t have a problem with Zimmer becoming council president when Camarrano won the election. By toxic’s poison logic, it should have been Giacchi’s seat.

    Bhalla needs to cut these people loose. FAST!

    • See there you go lying again new poster who isn’t Tony Soares. Ramos and Soares approved a 10 year extension of the Suez contract when there were 13 years left on the existing contract and rather than make the deal better they made it significantly worse.

      There are no two sides to this one – no cost benefit analysis on which reasonable people could disagree. Just an irresponsible sell out of the city’s long term financial interest for a short term budget bandaid.

      Ramos and Soares helped cause the problem and then helped block the solution. Their irresponsible actions have literally cost taxpayers millions and if the renegotiated contract is rejected and we stay in the existing Ramos/Soares deal it will cost taxpayers millions more.

      All the lies with all the anonymous screen names won’t change that.

      • How about that PILOT Zimmer gave her boyfriend Bijou?
        25 million dollar tax cut i exchange for funding her substandard bike program
        FBI should look into her past since only 1 developer was allowed to build anything.
        If Stan met secretly with Carmelo, who else could he have met with?

        Lawyer Dana Wefer says there’s more to come on Stan Grossbard… the shadow who cost Hoboken enough money already!

      • Thanks for sharing your views on this Stan or Jake or Vijay. Now, do any of you want to share the real reason why Carmelo will get a 700K payout? Also still wondering about your quick exit from city hall. Do tell.

        • ShadowSham and Fake Striver keep defaming Hoboken’s most honorable public servants even after both of them ran away like little crybabies when it was about to come out how badly they screwed up. They’ve already cost the city 700K and may have played a hand in the other HHA settlement that just got revealed. Fake still has unresolved issues with his bad-breakup BFF Carmelo and Sham’s secret lunch scandal isn’t even all the way out of the bag yet.

          What will the Dynamic Juo do for their encore, get the city sued again and laugh about it over latkes?

        • The difference us that Ramos and Soares vote on the indefensible Suez extention occurred as a matter of public record in June 2001. All the deflections in the world won’t change that.

          Mr. Soares and Mr Ramos need to man up, admit their mistake, and support Mayor Bhalla in solving the problem they caused. They have already cost taxpayers millions. Please stop hurting the city you represent.

  11. Brian should have been removed the minute he made up that lie about Tony. Despicable, disgusting human being that would do such a thing. Total sicko. Wonder if Bhalla actually believed the lies or if he just pretended to in order to appease Stan.

    Has anyone else noticed that Dawn hasn’t posted a Facebook comment since election day? I always wondered who was running her social media during her time as mayor. Was it Stan? Vijay?

  12. And one more thing – if Brian was doing such a great job, how come everyone says he was just a puppet of the shysters?

    GrossLies, ZimShim, Striver – were they just conspiring all along to trigger lawsuits to generate business for lawyers in the tribe?

  13. Well will you look at that! A Bhalla blogger stealing my handle! Now, I am aware that there is no limit to how low the Bhalla bloggers will go, but to start posting veiled anti-Semitic comments using my screen name is just about as low as it gets.

  14. Folks- The guessing game is getting a bit tiresome because you are wrong. I have not posted in over 2 weeks anywhere. I took a little time off for the holidays but have a nice summary on Ravi’s first week. Since I did not vote for him I don’t have any need to kiss the ring. Here is hoping Ravi does better than I expect by focusing on Hoboken issues and not higher office per se.

    He is quite capable. We shall see. In the meantime the resistance is there as a watchdog.

    Here is the link: https://hobokenresistance.blogspot.com/2018/01/hoboken-mayor-ravi-bhalla-somewhat-weak.html

    • If you see yourself as a political watchdog you should step down from the NHSA. Or are you genuinely incapable of understanding the conflict between the roles? It’s not a complicated concept.

      • Nonsense. I can share publicly related information about the NHSA as long as it is approved by the executives. I do not give up my right to continue my advocacy outside of Municipal Sewerage. In fact I cleared it with NHSA Corporation Council that I was capable of filing for candidacy for Hoboken City Council. Many of the appointees at the NHSA are also in political positions in the other municipalities.

        Once again Bhalla-bots don’t seem to like the First Amendment unless it is lavish praise for all things Bhalla. I had a cordial conversation with Ravi after the election about infrastructure and NHSA issues. I expect to be able to work with him on these issues in a constructive fashion on issues we share in common view. Other than that I live in the USA where free speech was once cherished.

  15. The first amendment has nothing to do with whether your blogging shenanigans interfere with your ability to work with the mayor effectively on NHSA issues. If you can’t see to conflict then you are truly an idiot.

    Unless you’re dog sitting for a friend’s dog calling yourself a “watchdog” is pretty delusional. “crying cow” might be a better moniker.

    • Blogging shenanigans? You make me laugh.

      You mean shenanigans like when Ravi’s paid political blogger made defamatory claims about my personal life and run for Freeholder. Her unhinged and reckless story was categorically false and exposed her legally to another lawsuit. Lucky for her I don’t like suing. If anything the shenanigans from the cave are hurting Ravi’s chances to build bridges. Nice try.

      There is no conflict between Ravi and I on infrastructure issues where we are basicallly on the same page. In fact I let NHSA executive leadership know that I believe Ravi will be very committed to infrastructure issues like Mayor Dawn Zimmer was.

      Ravi knows I am not going to be an insider on his team but he called me after the election and I expect to have a professional working relationship with him. I am proud to have not voted for either Super PAC candidates because first and foremost I want the focus to be on Hoboken.

      Your post is nothing but uniformed drivel. Your idiocy is the issue not mine. You also forget that Ed Friedrich sits on the board and I believe he supported Ravi. So what? There are three commissioners from Hoboken and Ed is not only a good commissioner but a good man. Hoboken’s interests will be well served by Ed Tony and myself.

      Did you know our Fitch ratings on the NHSA just went up? I have been advocating for defeasance since I have been on the board to reduce the overall debt on the books. We just went from A Stable to A positive.

      Have a nice day.

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