After the Election - Staying Active

Now that the election is over many people who became active in politics and government on many different levels may want to continue. Here is a list of ideas for those living in Hoboken:

1. Attend city council meetings. In fact there is one tonight at 7pm at city hall. Here is a link to the schedule.

2. Learn more about local officials. You can see a list of council memebers here, many with bios and here for our Mayor. Remember, local elections are next May, only 6 months away!

3. Join the Hoboken Historical Museum. Gain a better understanding of where Hoboken has been in the past and it may help put the present in a clearer context.

These are just a few ideas. I would love to hear more. How are you involved in Hoboken politics? Please leave a comment.

Don't Forget to Vote

If you are registered to vote, please do so. If not, don't worry, just register soon for the next election. Here is the link to find your place to vote.

Pumpkin Cheese Cake

I was visiting family today for dinner and stopped by Carlos' bakery to get dessert. At the register they had samples of their pumpkin cheese cake. After trying one I forgot about the tiramusu I was planning on getting and ordered one of these too go. I definitely recommend you stop by the bakery which is right across from City Hall and get a piece for yourself.

Delays

I try to walk everyday and usually my walks take me along the waterfront where the views of the Manhattan skyline are amazing. I also pass the WWII memorial construction site which is just north of 4th street along Sinatra Drive. Today when I passed it I noticed a sign that stated the memorial would be opened in January 2008 and then another larger one stating the dedication would be on November 8, 2008. Peering through the gates, it looks like construction is done so I do believe the second sign about the dedication. But it amazes me that the opening is 10 months after the first date of January 2008. When I walked by the site the many times I have since I moved here in June I don't think I ever saw anyone actually working there so I doubt the project required more man hours than projected. I'm sure the delay was due to budget constraints but it would be nice to know the actual reason for the delay. To me construction sites can be such an eyesore.

Sizzle, Sizzle!

Yesterday I had dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Weehawken. Ruth's Chris is a well known steakhouse with many locations throughout the US but I'm not sure that many Hobokenites know that this one exists so close. Its located at Lincoln Harbor and one could actually walk there. In fact, from the seat I had I could see the Hudson Tea building.

Here is a link to the company's web site.

Election Time and Hoboken: US House Race

This year's race for our district's US House of Representative seat (13th District of NJ) is between the incumbent Albio Sires (Democrat) and Joseph Turula (Republican) . I found it interesting to note that the 13th District is 46% latino and in fact the incumbent was born in Cuba and came to the US when he was 10.

Albio Sires was elected to the seat in a special 2006 election after the seat was vacated by Bob Menendez who replaced Jon Corzine as a US Senator after Mr. Corzine became Governor of NJ. Prior to that Mr. Sires was the speaker of the NJ Assembly. You can find out more about Mr. Sires at his campaign website.

Congressional website
VoteSmart profile
GovTrack profile

The challenger, Joseph Turula, is a lawyer who lives in Jersey City. Not much came up when I did a Google search. This is not so surprising as the district is heavily Democratic with Sires beating his Republican opponent in 2006 with a 58% point margin (77% to 19%).

Getting Out of Hoboken

Yesterday morning I had plans to meet up with a former colleague in Montclair. We were to meet at 9:30 at the Starbucks on Bloomfield Ave. I used to live in Upper Montclair and knew it should take about 30 minutes. In fact Google Maps says it should take 29 minutes and up to 50 minutes in traffic. So I left at 8:45 thinking that would give me enough time as I thought the traffic would be in the other direction going toward the city. Was I wrong. I didn't arrive until 10:20, a 90 minute trip to go 15 miles! The whole hold up was getting onto 495, the road coming out of the Lincoln Tunnel. Traffic was diverted along the service road until the intersection with the Turnpike ramp and with stoplights every block I must have sat in traffic for an hour. However, once on Rt 3 I flew.

If I get a job where I can live in Hoboken I will most likely have to drive to work heading west so this was definitely an eye opener for me.