Photo of the Week

Photo of the Week

On Monday, December 22, Weehawken Girl Scout Troop 12933 and Troop 12779 got together to entertain the patients at Castle Hill Acute Care Facility in Union City. Both the patients and the scouts had a great time and the Scouts truly helped make the holidays brighter!

Weehawken tree-lighting draws merry-makers

Weehawken tree-lighting draws merry-makers

Weehawken Reporter, 21-Dec-14

On a very cold, windy Sunday evening Weehawken residents gathered in front of the township Municipal Building for the annual lighting of the town Christmas tree.

Children sang Christmas carols, some accompanying the singing on musical instruments.

Afterwards, cookies and hot chocolate were handed out inside the Municipal Building.

Restaurant Review - Beyti Kebab

A Review of Beyti Kebab

The New York Times, 20-Dec-14

By FRAN SCHUMERDEC

Once the holiday season starts, restaurants in which you can dine well and festively, free of crowds or the necessity of advanced planning, are as rare as a perfect Christmas.

May I, therefore, introduce you to Beyti Kebab?

Since my children were in high school (they are now too old to eat anywhere but in Brooklyn), our family has been joining friends for dinner, somewhat irreverently, on Christmas Day at this casual and cheerful bastion of sumptuous Turkish food.

Traditional it is not, but given our mix of religions and orientations, neither is our crowd. Our only common bond: We like good food, a lively atmosphere and a celebration that is hassle-free. Beyti Kebab, which originally opened as a butcher shop in the early 1980s, fulfills those requirements.

The food is similarly basic and authentic. Any review of the menu must start not with appetizers but with the restaurant’s pièce de résistance: any meat entree where the word “yogurtlu” appears in the name. The various “yogurtlu” dishes consist of a meat kebab set in a pool of satiny yogurt in which bits of pita bread are in the process of disintegrating. It is the apotheosis of a soggy sandwich — and it is irresistible. Try it and I predict that nostalgia for holiday baked ham or stuffed turkey will cease.

The more highly seasoned beyti kebab, the restaurant’s namesake entree, is best eaten without yogurt, because then you can appreciate the judicious use of garlic, onions and red and green peppers that bring out the rich, gamy flavor of the veal and lamb in the dish.

Except for the ones with yogurt, plain kebabs, which dominate the list of entrees and include combinations of chicken, lamb, veal or gyro (a mix of veal and lamb), arrive on a bed of buttery, seasoned rice. The accompanying mealy tomato is best ignored, but the long-green pepper beside it is essential: its juicy texture and fruity flavor lighten the experience of eating all that meat.

Another suitable companion for the kebabs is the shepherd salad. Long before chopped salads became fashionable, Beyti Kebab was carving chunks of tomato, cucumber and Spanish onions into jewel-like cubes. Chopping the ingredients allows more of their juices, and therefore their flavors, to mingle. The fresh parsley and lemon juice add so much verve that even without feta cheese, the salad sparkles (with feta, it is $2 extra). Like the owner, Ozcan Arslan, the chef, Turan Dayakli, was born in Turkey. When I asked him in a telephone call after my visits where he learned to make the kind of thick, tangy, tahini-rich hummus that is rare outside of the Middle East, he answered Israel. There, too, he perfected his falafel, which he makes with chick peas and broad beans, and serves with a cool, minty sauce.

The Turkish bread that appears instantly at your table is a highlight. Served still warm, the slightly charred strips have the qualities of great pizza dough: crusty on the outside with a soft and airy interior. Slightly sour because of the yeast, the strips are perfect for scooping up the ultrarich hummus or the thick, gooey and unforgettably smoky baba ghanouj.

Will the more fussy family members in your party find flaws? Don’t they always? One night when the lamb cubes in every other dish were moist and tender, the chunks in the lamb shish were, in fact, leathery. The chicken, a tad dry, might benefit from less cooking. Fried eggplant, the centerpiece of the appetizer known as patlican tavasi, was overwhelmed by yogurt in this version.

Perhaps because we come here during the holiday season, our excursions usually end not only with the strong Turkish coffee, but with a stop at the retail shop at the front of the restaurant. There you can purchase gifts: halvah made with pistachios, plump Middle Eastern dates, and the kind of large, buttery Turkish walnuts used in the restaurant’s best dessert, the sweetened shredded phyllo and walnut pastry known as kadayif.

Typically quiet on Christmas and New Year’s, Beyti Kebab is quite different on holidays like Ramadan, after the sun sets and daily fasts are broken. “Then, even my banquet room is full,” Mr. Arslan said.

Beyti Kebab

4105 Park Avenue

Union City

201-865-6281

beytigrill.com

THE SPACE In spite of the lack of frills, this rather pedestrian storefront manages to exude good cheer. Tables inside seat 85; adjacent banquet room seats an additional 150. Restaurant is not completely wheelchair accessible; there are a few steps to negotiate.

THE CROWD Many Turkish-speaking diners but English speaking ones as well. Dress is casual. The lone server presiding during each of my recent visits was pure charm and efficiency.

THE BAR Diners may bring their own wine or beer.

THE BILL Lunch: $11.99, includes appetizer and entree. Dinner: appetizers, $4 to $33 for a large combination platter; entrees, $14 to $26. Desserts, $5. American Express, Discover, Visa and MasterCard accepted.

WHAT WE LIKED Bread; shepherd salad; baba ghanouj; hummus; falafel; beyti kebab; any kebab with yogurt; Turkish coffee; kadayif.

IF YOU GO Lunch, Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dinner, seven days, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Reservations recommended for large parties and banquet room.

RATINGS Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor.

Panoramic Video of Weehawken

Throwback Thursday - Weehawken High School Hires a New Football Coach

Former University of Cincinnati defensive end Zach Naszimento starting fresh as new Weehawken High School football coach

The Jersey Journal, 12-Aug-11

By Patrick Villanova

Sitting behind his new desk in the basement of Weehawken High School, Zach Naszimento speaks fervently about the leaps and bounds the school's once downtrodden football team is making.

Naszimento, who is entering his first season as the school's football coach and athletic director, has a plan for transforming the Indians football program into a successful one.

But the first-year head coach won't be going it alone. Across from him sits his best friend, his mentor and his new assistant coach -- his father Bruce.

"My father was the first person I contacted to come with me, because I couldn't do it without him," said Zach, adding that Bruce will serve as the team's offensive coordinator.

"On top of him being my father, he's my best friend. For us to be together doing something like this, it's exciting, it's fun."

The father-son tandem's top priority is reshaping the culture of a program that has won a combined four games over the last three seasons.

"He's just relentless. He's changing the climate and the culture of the team," said Bruce.

Naszimento, 33, graduated from Secaucus High School in 1996 and earned a scholarship to play defensive end at the University of Cincinnati, he graduated in 2000.

For the last three years, Naszimento has been at the right hand of former Hoboken High School coach Ed Stinson at Queen of Peace in North Arlington, from 2008 to 2009, and last season at Hackensack High School, where Stinson now serves as an assistant coach.

While Stinson has been one of his chief mentors, Naszimento said his father has brought credibility and stability to a program in transition.

"There's nothing out there that he hasn't seen," Naszimento said of his father, who spent the last 12 seasons coaching with Charlie Voorhees at Secaucus High School. "I constantly use him for guidance."

Structure and discipline are no doubt the bedrock of Naszimento's approach, from his regimented practices that are filmed each day to grueling workouts in the school's newly updated weight room.

"He has a plan and we all follow it," said Bruce Naszimento. "He's ready. There's no doubt about that. He's ready.

Make no mistake, as close as the father and son are, emotions often run high between this fiery duo.

"I definitely fired him a couple of times, but it's usually over dinner," the son joked. "I've fired you twice, but rehired you at least three times."

Despite the effort and time Naszimento has put into the football team, he's looking forward to his duties as the school's athletic director, as he replaces longtime administrator Richard Terpak.

He'll apply the same standards he has set for the football team to the rest of the school's athletic programs, Naszimento said.

"Everything that Weehawken was in the past has nothing to do with what we're going to do today.

"People looking at Weehawken as an (automatic) win, those days are done, those days are over," Naszimento said.

Weehawken Police Director Jeff Welz Makes $84,966/Year

Who is Hudson County's highest paid police chief? The answer may surprise you

The Jersey Journal, 13-Dec-14

By Terrence T. McDonald

Can you guess which Hudson County town pays its top cop the most?

Is it Jersey City, which FBI statistics show has the highest violent crime rate by far, at 7.3 violent crimes per 1,000 residents in 2012? Nope. That city's chief, Philip Zacche, ranks No. 5 on the list with his $194,069 salary even though he oversees the largest police force in the county, at about 840 officers.

Is it West New York, which has the next highest violent crime rate, 3.8 violent crimes per 1,000 residents? No again. The town has no chief, and Robert Antolos, its police director, makes $70,000, putting him next to last on the list.

No, the chief with the highest pay is Bayonne, the county's southernmost municipality and a city with a population of 65,028. Its new chief, Drew Niekrasz, makes $238,394 a year overseeing Bayonne's roughly 155-officer force.

That's a full $33,394 more than the salary of the county's second highest-paid chief, Union City's Richard Molinari, who makes $205,000. And it's $63,394 more than Gov. Chris Christie is paid.

Niekrasz, who joined the force in 1988, isn't the only guy running Bayonne's police force, either. Robert Kubert, the public safety director, makes $70,000 (Kubert also helps to run the fire department and EMS).

And this for a city with the county's fifth lowest crime rate, 2.1 per 1,000 residents.

Across the Hudson River, New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, who oversees over 34,000 police officers, has a base salary of $205,180.

Niekrasz became chief in July, succeeding Ralph Scianni, who made $234,000 a year when he retired.

Bayonne Mayor James Davis, a cop himself, said he didn't know his city was home to the county's highest paid police chief. Davis said even though the chief isn't part of a contract, contractual obligations to the city's two police unions help to keep the chief's salary high.

The city's contract with its police superiors guarantees a 15 percent pay differential between ranks. Davis said he hopes to negotiate a better deal for taxpayers for the next contract, and he wants to have a contract for the chief and his deputy so pay details are "all spelled out," he said.

"At some point, it's getting to be too much to hand people percentage raises," Davis said.

Of course, Davis may not be mayor when this contract expires – in December 2018, seven months after the next Bayonne mayor's race.

The 14 police chiefs and police directors in Hudson County (only Bayonne and Jersey City have men in both positions) make an average salary of $147,186. That includes the county's top cop, Sheriff Frank X. Schillari.

Three of the men – there are no women in either position throughout the county – make more than $200,000 and five make less than $100,000. Of those five, one, Weehawken Police Director Jeff Welz, has a second public job, co-director of North Hudson Regional Fire & Rescue, that gives him an additional $84,462.

The county's median household income is $58,722.

There is no correlation between the size of a police force and the pay of its chief. Zacche, who runs the Jersey City police department along with Public Safety Director James Shea, who makes $185,000, heads a department 13 times the size of Secaucus' force and yet makes a smidgen less than its last chief, Dennis Corcoran.

Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner said chiefs in smaller towns don't necessarily have fewer duties.

"The bigger the structure, the more backup there is," Turner said. "You may have one chief and five deputies. In a small town, you may have one chief and no deputies."

He added: "It all kind of washes out."

Census figures show salaries for New Jersey public employees are some of the highest in the nation, especially for police personnel. Police officers here in the Garden State earn about 40 percent higher than they do in the rest of the nation, figures show.

Full list of Hudson County police chief/director salaries

Bayonne Chief Drew Niekrasz: $283,394

Union City Chief Richard Molinari: $205,000

North Bergen Chief Robert Dowd: $203,168

Secaucus Chief Dennis Corcoran (retired): $194,137

Jersey City Chief Philip Zacche: $194,069

Kearny Chief John P. Dowie: $190,446

Jersey City Public Safety Director James Shea: $185,000

Hoboken Chief Kenneth Ferrante: $162,000

Harrison Chief Derek Kearns: $161,817

Hudson County Sheriff Frank Schillari: $117,938

East Newark Chief Anthony Monteiro: $94,527.26

Weehawken Police Director Jeff Welz: $84,966

Bayonne Police Director Robert Kubert: $70,000

West New York Police Director Robert Antolos: $70,000

Guttenberg Police Director Michael Caliguiro: $36,334 (also the town's administrator for an additional $36,334)

Salaries include longevity pay where applicable

Weehawken Girl Scouts Learn a Variety of Skills

Weehawken Girl Scouts Learn a Variety of Skills

Hudson Reporter, 12-Dec-14

Weehawken Girl Scout Troops 12933 and 12779 have been busy.

They recently traveled to Branch Brook Park Roller Rink in Newark to participate in a special Girl Scout program called Stemtastic. The girls participated in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) lesson and had hands-on activities connected with roller skating. Then they had pizza and skated roller-derby style. The girls learned a lot and had a great time. Troop members who participated were Daisy Scouts Lexie, Audrey, Charlotte, Livyanna; Brownie Scout Kisa; Junior Scout Nina; Cadette Scouts Amelia, Gaby, and Yelienne; Senior Scout Ambar; Troop MentorAmanda Earle; and Troop Leaders Lynn Earle and Evita Fritze.

Also, the sixth to 10th grade members of Girl Scout Troop 12933 assisted the younger scouts of Troop 12779 in making Thanksgiving holiday treats. The girls made pilgrim hats from dipped marshmallows and cookies, teepees from ice cream cones, pretzels and chocolate, as well as turkeys from spice drops, and wagons from cookie wafers, candy, pretzels and icing. They can't wait to participate in the gingerbread house workshop this month.

Throwback Thursday - Elk Club

Elk Club, Weehawken - 1930s

Elk Club, Weehawken - 1914

Weehawken settles employee sex discrimination lawsuit for $49,500

Weehawken settles employee sex discrimination lawsuit for $49,500

Hudson County View, 9-Dec-14

By John Heinis

A former Weehawken assistant recycling coordinator, who still works for the township, settled a sex discrimination lawsuit earlier this year for $49,500 – which wrapped up a Hudson County Superior Court lawsuit that was filed back in January 2012, court documents show. 

Through her attorney Louis Zayas, Pilar Bardroff alleged in the lawsuit that the township created a sexist work environment, which included graffiti of a man’s genitals and a woman’s breasts on a wall visible outside of her office.

The graffiti was reportedly removed shortly after the lawsuit was filed.

The lawsuit also says that Bardroff was passed over for the role of recycling coordinator in early 2008, with a male counterpart who was allegedly less qualified than her being selected for the position.

Around the time the suit was filed, Zayas told me that Bardroff would likely net “$1.1 to 2.1 million” from the lawsuit, while Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner said the suit was “frivolous nonsense that is an attempt at public blackmail” (The Jersey Journal).

Public records show that Bardroff has been working in Weehawken since 1992 and makes approximately $36,200 annually.

According to the settlement, which is dated January 4, 2014, Bardroff is entitled to $45,000 as part of the mutual agreement, with an additional $4,500 being allocated for attorney’s fees.

Furthermore, she agreed to a transfer to another department, at the township’s choosing, as a clerk/typist where her seniority and benefits will not change, the settlement says.

Finally, the township of Weehawken does not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

Although the settlement is nearly a year old, no media outlet has given an update on the legal matter until now.

Around Weehawken - The Port Authority Bus Terminal: Myth, Mystery, Mess

The Port Authority Bus Terminal: Myth, Mystery, Mess

Failed Architecture, 2-Dec-14

By Margaret McCormick

A sordid history full of egos, sabotage and reputation issues made New York's main entry point the city's most intensely used as well as its most hated building.

For many coming to New York City (and those taking NJT bus from Weehawken to NYC), the available entry is the Port Authority Bus Terminal (PABT). However, if a traveler seeks the charm of a grand entrance, they will be greatly disappointed. The PABT is considered, colloquially, to be a hall of unfathomable nightmares. As one Yelp! reviewer put it: “If I die and go to hell, I think it might resemble this.” With another cryptically writing: Nothing makes sense. I will never be the same.”

\Despite this general, frothy disdain there is no suggestion of tearing it down. In fact as of Summer 2014, it is slated approximately $90 million for improvement renovations. How then did a place so hated even come to be? The answer is a tale of necessity, ego and intention gone horribly awry.

A Dark and Stormy Night

In 1921 New York City had a problem (one of many): Hundreds of buses were navigating to different drop-off locations, causing commuter havoc. It was through this storm a cross-state agency called “The Port Authority” was formed.

23 years later (under the leadership of Frank Ferguson) the Port Authority announced their intent of creating “The World’s Largest Bus Terminal”. A project to be funded, designed, constructed and operated by the agency itself. No specific architect was highlighted in this planning, leading several to believe the structure would be designed by committee. It almost certainly was. However it would not be until 1946, that the stars would be aligned for construction. The delay came down to the famous and infamous commissioner, Robert Moses.

Moses had developed a deep hatred towards public transportation and made it his mission to eliminate it. Without a charismatic figure to oppose him, it seemed the Commissioner had no obstacle. Allied with the Greyhound Bus Company, he mounted a two-year counterattack against the proposed terminal but was eventually beaten. The PABT construction had been a rare defeat for Moses, but he was not done fighting.

Originally built as an art-deco influenced structure with the parking lot on the roof, the building was relatively well received. Taking up roughly the size of a city block, the warm brick colors were very much of the Works Progress era. Clean with an almost moral simplicity. It was completed in 1950, as advertised, for the price tag of $24 million.

Yet even at its opening the facilities were not enough and the agency sought $550 million for continued renovations over the next ten years. Moses however, had other plans. As the de facto Tsar of New York’s urban planning he used all of his acumen and ability to encourage individual vehicle agendas. By 1955, he had influenced planning so much that almost all transport funding was promised to highways and parking. Sure enough, the PABT fell into disrepair.

Mad Men
Unsurprisingly 1960 brought the PABT’s first large-scale addition: a three floor parking garage. Formed mostly of steel and not reflecting the original design intent, it was a grim portent of things to come. By 1966 the building was already overcrowded and garnering a terrible reputation. The renovations were haphazard, quickly done and lead to lingering user confusion. With millions of day-to-day transitory passengers, the terminal was also becoming an epicenter of crime.

On the other side of town, Moses was losing the popularity that had been so crucial to his political strength. In the end what brought him down was a literary one-two punch. The first book was 1961’s The Life and Death of Great American Cities, where dark horse Jane Jacobs systematically broke down each of Moses’ efforts as short-sighted at best and bigoted at worst. The death knell for his career was 1974’s The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro which portrayed him as a complex, but ultimately extremely flawed planner. Though he was out of the picture, his prejudice against the PABT had already had its effect.

By the 1970s New York had a distinctly different reputation than it had only 10 years before. The economic troubles facing the United States seemed to be condensed into the city itself. It was no longer the New York of Broadway babies and glimmering optimism, it was instead the setting for the Son of Sam murders, rolling blackouts and massive unemployment. The PABT subsequently became a nexus of social issues, from prostitution to panhandling. In 1977 a user survey was commissioned to see what patrons thought of their experience at the terminal. The findings were not glowing to say the least.

In the wake of these problems, the building again went under renovations. The 1979 Port Authority designers expanded the building another 50%, covering up the bricks with darkly painted exposed metal beams to match the 1960 garage aesthetic. This renovation made the natural light, if indeed there had been much to begin with, almost indistinguishable from the fluorescent tubes. The final floorspace toppled over 1.5 million square feet.

Though afterwards the PABT was all but ignored. The booming Reaganite economy of the 1980s meant travelers could do better than the bus and focus was placed on Airports instead. While the usage of the Bus Terminal did not lighten up, the pressure to make it a usable space dwindled. Moreover, the expansive parking garages, which had at one time been packed, were now sparsely used. Resulting in underlit and underutilized space that was notorious for both prostitution and rape. Additionally the elimination of nearby federal mental-health facilities meant the city’s homeless settled in, finding the PABT a better option that freezing to death in harsh New York winters.

Give’em The Old Razzle-Dazzle
Ten years later, the adjacent theater district revival put pressure on the PABT to clean up its act. The Port Authority hired the still-in operation nonprofit, Project for Public Spaces (PPS) as a consultant. PPS submitted about 100 suggestions for improvement, and hoping to make them a reality, the Comprehensive Improvement Program (CIP) was established in 1992. Some of the suggestions included improving entrances, streamlining circulation, straightening site lines and, of course, alleviating the homelessness problem.

A positive spin on the initiative that followed would classify it as ‘directing the homeless to facilities elsewhere’. An alternative claim was the homeless were being ejected to certain peril. To address this concern, the Port Authority staff were encouraged to identify the differences between loiterers, vagrants, and ‘street people’. The subsequent effort, known as ‘Operation Alternative’ meant that suggestions could be offered for charitable gathering space, rather than physical removal. At the end of the day, there was not much that could be done for the issue aside from best-judgement and individual circumstance on the part of the Port Authority staff.

For a while, Operation Alternative and the design suggestions seemed to work. Customer service was at an all-time high and while the building still had serious architectural and space-planning issues that could not be easily resolved, there was marked improvement.

Then the recession hit.

The Who-Dun-It
If the question of the PABT’s terribleness was a true crime novel, the guilty party is everyone involved. That’s right: they all did it. The original Port Authority designers did not anticipate long-term requirements. Robert Moses did his best to destroy it. The economic downturn of the 1970s made crime rampant. The 80s boom ignored social problems. And now, the impossible maintenance costs of a 1.5 million square foot structure with a bad reputation burdens everyone.

The Port Authority Bus Terminal proves that modern monsters are complicated creatures, only as ugly as their resonance is. This next chapter could finally be the one that turns it around, but then again it might be just a $90 million plaster on an infected wound. Either way the sordid past of the PABT is no easy shadow to escape. Especially when the Chinatown Bus is only 10$.

Throwback Thursday - NY Skyline from Blvd East

NY Skyline from Blvd East 1930s Click Here for the Source of the Picture

NY Skyline from Blvd East December 2014

Around Weehawken - Only in NJ: Christie Vetoes Pig Crate Ban

Christie vetoes pig crate ban, accuses sponsors of partisan politicking

NJ.com, 28-Nov-14

By Claude Brodesser-Akner

Decrying what he called “partisan politicians” seeking “a political cudgel” with which to beat him, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed legislation banning the use of pig gestation crates in New Jersey today.

The move was expected.

In a statement released to the media, Christie urged legislators “to turn their attention to actual problems facing New Jersey” noting he rejected nearly identical legislation last year sponsored by the same legislators. At that time, both the N.J. State Board of Agriculture and Department of Agriculture found the bill to be unnecessary.

"I will rely on our in-state experts rather than the partisan politicians who sponsor this bill. These facts are no less true today," Christie said.

The Senate bill (S998) would have directed the State Board of Agriculture to adopt rules and regulations “prohibiting the confinement, in an enclosure, of any sow during gestation in a manner that prevents the sow from turning around freely, lying down, standing up, or fully extending the limbs of the animal.”

The bill, which Christie called “a solution in search of a problem,” gained national notoriety not so much for the effect it would have on New Jersey’s actual swine – there are only 9,000 in the state, according to USDA statistics – but on Christie’s political fortunes: Iowa is not only home to the first-in-the-nation political caucuses for the 2016 presidential election, but to 20 million pigs. Nearly one-third of the nation's hogs are raised in Iowa, where hog farming alone represents $7.5 billion in total economic activity for the state, according to the Iowa Pork Producers Association.

Still, the vetoed bill had attracted the attention of Hollywood celebrities and local residents alike. The Humane Society organized a campaign with letters from stars like Danny DeVito, Bob Barker and Bill Maher; Jon Stewart mocked Christie’s planned veto from his perch on “The Daily Show. Two New Jersey teenage sisters delivered over 125,000 signatures collected from state residents urging Christie to sign the bill into law.

This is the second time Christie has vetoed a measure meant to ban the practice of keeping gestating pigs in close-confining crates.

Last year, Christie vetoed a bill (S1921) that would have made the “cruel confinement” of a gestating sow an animal cruelty offense.

The bill Christie vetoed today was slightly different, but intended to achieve the same end.

Both bills passed overwhelmingly. But when state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), its sponsor, attempted to override Christie’s veto last year, Lesniak pulled it at the last minute when Republicans who initially voted for it refused to break ranks with the governor.

This time, Lesniak said, he will wage a much harder campaign to override Christie's veto.

“It will be a campaign the likes of which has never been seen before. Supporters of this bill got 135,000 signatures asking the governor to sign it. From across the nation, but mostly from New Jersey. That army of supporters will be mobilized,” Lesniak said.

The vetoed bill cannot become law unless the Legislature overrides the veto by a vote of at least two-thirds of the members of each house: 27 votes in the Senate; 54 votes in the General Assembly.

Lesniak said he was not shocked by the veto, but he was “hoping for a surprise.”

“It reeks of Christie’s priorities,” said State Sen. Ray Lesniak (D – Union), adding, “And his priorities are the preservation of his national political ambitions.”

In a statement released to the media, Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, called Christie "an outlier on the issue of extreme confinement of farm animals," adding that his veto left New Jersey lagging behind the practices of the nation's largest purveyors of pork.

"McDonald’s, Safeway, Costco, and others have decided to cleanse their supply chains of pork from operations that don’t let the animals move, and even major producers like Smithfield Foods are making the switch," said Pacelle, adding, "This veto shows cynical political calculation from the governor and an obvious capitulation to special interests, rather than leadership or humanity.”

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Weehawken Mayor Uses 'mob' Tactics to Intimidate Cop, Attorney Says

Weehawken Mayor Uses 'mob' Tactics to Intimidate Cop, Attorney Says

NJ.com, 26-Nov-14

By Kathryn Brenzel

A Weehawken police officer says Mayor Richard Turner is trying to intimidate him as well as witnesses in order to silence his seven-year-old corruption claims against the township.

The attorney for Lt. Richard DeCosmis filed a motion on Nov. 14, claiming that the township is trying to fire DeCosmis from the township police department as "leverage to negotiate a favorable settlement," of his civil rights lawsuit or to drain him of his finances as court proceedings drag on, according to court documents.

The motion, filed in New Jerset federal court by attorney Louis Zayas, seeks to bar the township from firing DeCosmis and from disciplining witnesses who plan to testify in his trial, which will likely begin early next year. Zayas alleges that Turner and his "circle of political cronies" are trying to quash his client's corruption allegations by taking bogus disciplinary actions against DeCosmis and potential witnesses.

“This is outrageous. It’s not a matter of civil proceedings anymore. It’s criminal. It’s a mob,” Zayas said on Wednesday. “Mayor Turner and his political cronies are using government resources to go after those who report corruption.”

An attorney for the township, David Corrigan, called the motion "frivolous."

"These allegations are false. There's nothing to this," he said. "The only person who's trying to intimidate anyone is Mr. DeCosmis for filing this frivolous and false lawsuit."

He added that Zayas is well known for slinging mud at Hudson County officials. (He's represented several clients in litigation against Hudson County towns. He represents Assemblyman Carmelo Garcia in his latest lawsuit against Hoboken.)

"He says outlandish, reckless things to get his name in the newspaper," Corrigan said.

Turner would not comment on the case.

The motion is the latest development in litigation that has spanned seven years. DeCosmis filed his lawsuit in 2007, alleging that he faced retaliation after filing his first corruption lawsuit against the township.

In his 22 years on the force prior to 2007, DeCosmis hadn't faced any major discipline, Zayas said. But since he became involved in litigation against the township, he's faced three major disciplinary charges, the most recent of which claims he took excessive sick leave in 2012, according to the motion.

The motion seeks to bar Weehawken from taking any further action against DeCosmis and any township employee identified as a witness in his lawsuit. It also asks that independent investigators and hearing officers be appointed to review the disciplinary charges, alleging that they are "entirely retaliatory and without any scintilla of legitimacy."

Weehawken's Girl Scouts Selected to Participate in Macy's Design Studio Tour on Press Day

Weehawken's Girl Scouts Selected to Participate in Macy's Design Studio Tour on Press Day

Weehawken's Brownie Scouts in 2nd & 3rd Grade, Junior Scouts in 4th & 5th Grade of Troop 12779, and Cadette Scouts in 6th-8th Grade of Troop 12933 were selected to participate in Macy's Design Studio Tour on Press Day where this year's new floats were presented. The Scouts learned how a float develops from concept to an elaborate completed project right in the Studio in Moonachie. The girls had a great time and are looking forward to seeing the floats in the Thanksgiving Day Parade!

$6.2M House Sells in Weehawken

$6.2M house sells in Weehawken

Hudson Reporter, 23-Nov-14

By Carlo Davis

Historic mansion was most expensive sale in county history

At the turn of the nineteenth century, Weehawken’s wooded bluffs were home (8 Hamilton Avenue) to a secluded ledge accessible only via the Hudson River, where gentlemanly duels continued long after they had become illegal. In 1804, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton engaged in a famed conflict there that resulted in Hamilton’s untimely death.

Now, the quiet residential neighborhood of Weehawken known as King’s Bluff boasts exclusivity of a different kind. The houses on Hamilton Avenue, King Avenue, and Kingswood Road offer nonpareil views of the New York City skyline and prices to match.

Last month, a 7,200-plus-square-foot house in King’s Bluff sold for $6.2 million, netting the record for the most expensive single-family residence sale ever in Hudson County, according to data from the Hudson County Multiple Listing Service.

A New York Post article suggested that an “unnamed top fashion family” had purchased the property.

According to Francesco Mazzaferro, the Hoboken-based Coldwell Banker real estate broker who represented the buyer in the deal, a combination of commanding views and ultra-luxury accommodations made the property at 8 Hamilton Ave. exceptional.

Above the rest

The large white house at the bend in Hamilton Avenue was built custom to the specifications of its original owners in 1950. The structure spans two plots of land, 6 and 10 Hamilton Ave., and takes ample advantage of the extra space. “It was not an investment to them,” said Mazzaferro.

According to state property tax records, the house was recently sold by the trust of John D. and Bella Ross to Hudson Mgmt Group LLC. Mazzaferro refused to comment on the identity of the buyer.

The original owner’s unique specifications called for four bedrooms, three of them master suites with ensuite bathrooms and large walk-in closets. The residence also boasts an elevator, library, kitchen, dining room, media room, double garage, and a living room with 22-foot high ceilings.

Still, the main attraction of the property is unquestionably the view. 8 Hamilton Ave. protrudes out farther than any of its neighboring structures to sit directly on the edge of the King’s Bluff cliff, allowing a clear, unencumbered panorama from the George Washington Bridge to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

“That’s the beauty of the home,” said Mazzaferro, “because it’s private, it’s at the end of the street, and it’s stunning.”

Hamilton-Burr

For a house with such intrinsic aesthetic value, the strange historical asterisk that is the Burr-Hamilton duel is just the icing on the cake. Still, Mazzaferro said the seller of the house told him and his clients explicitly that 8 Hamilton Ave. lay on the site of Weehawken’s former dueling grounds.

As with so many other facts about that fateful July morning in 1804, the exact location of the duel may never be known definitively.

Historian Charles Whitfield described the site in 1874 as a natural ledge six feet wide and 11 paces long, hidden among cedar trees at the base of the bluffs some twenty feet above the water. By the time Whitfield’s book was published, the exact location of the ledge had already been obliterated to make way for the New York and Fort Lee railroad. The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail follows the same alignment cut by those tracks in 1870.

A monument in honor of the duel now stands on the Hamilton Avenue terrace just a handful of houses north of 8 Hamilton Ave., but even it states that the actual dueling pitch lays somewhere below the site.

“I don’t know if it was a marketing skill,” said Mazzaferro’s of the seller’s certitude about the site. “I don’t think so, but it has to be somewhere around that property.”

Gold Coast real estate

Proud though he is of the record sale of 8 Hamilton Ave., Mazzaferro suspects that it won’t hold the top spot for long. The Gold Coast residential market has seen steady growth since 2009, he said, and “all the signs are there” for that growth to continue.

If recent history is any indication, the next record for a single-family home sale in Hudson County will likely come from another property in King’s Bluff. The record that 8 Hamilton Ave. broke this year was set by a house just blocks away at 83 Kingswood Road, which sold for $5 million in 2012.

Sotheby’s International Realty associate Donna Reid, who closed the deal on 83 Kingswood Road, said, “When you’re standing on top [of King’s Bluff], you feel like you’re on top of the world.”

According to projections by the Liberty Board of Realtors, the average residential deed amount in Hudson County has increased almost $38,000 in just the last year.

For Mazzaferro, the culprit is a perfect combination of low inventory and growing demand. Among prospective home-buyers, Mazzaferro sees a roughly equal mix of New York City expats and New Jersey suburban pioneers.

For those leaving Brooklyn and Manhattan, said Mazzaferro, the prospect is “more square footage for equal or lower price,” not to mention the income tax savings some New Yorkers can accrue by moving to New Jersey.

Even the most luxurious properties in Hudson County are deals compared to the deep end of the pool in Manhattan. For example, Forbes reported that single-floor “simplexes” in 520 Park Ave., one of the new luxury skyscrapers being built around Central Park, will start at $16.2 million (the asking price for the three-floor penthouse apartment is $130 million).

But just as many of Mazzaferro’s clients are suburban dwellers seeking the quick New York commute offered by Hudson County’s PATH train, busses, and ferries. “When you start having kids,” he said, “even though it’s nice to live in suburbia, you realize that your commuting time is so long that you spend less time with your family.”

Another key factor is interest rates, which have been kept artificially low by the Federal Reserve since the recession hit in 2008. Reid said as long as the rates stay low, encouraging buyers to sign mortgages, prices will continue to rise.

At home in Hoboken

Mazzaferro cited Hoboken as a perfect microcosm of the Hudson County high demand real estate market. Though waterfront properties like Maxwell Place and the Hudson Tea are currently the hottest properties on the market, prices are rising around the city as development expands into the Western Edge and North End and buyers seek out Hoboken’s combination of quaintness and urbanity.

“I lived with a view for maybe 10 years,” said Mazzaferro, “and you become numb after a while.”

Though Mazzaferro currently lives in West New York, he was introduced to Hudson County through Hoboken, where he was an owner of La Scala Restaurant for 13 years before jumping into real estate.

“People like the quaintness, the brownstones, sitting on your doorstep, knowing all your neighbors,” he said. “I grew up in a small little town [in Calabria, Italy] where everybody knew each other, so I appreciate that.”