Hoboken Election 2025

Last night was the first one of two City Council candidate forums. The Hudson County View publisher/editor John Heinis fired off the questions and they were focused and significant. Some candidates and candidate slates provided good answers or odd answers and some provided sunlight that they have little to no understanding on the issues and what answers are viable.  One observer posted a number of observations on X and has no affiliation or connection to this website.  The topic of Michael Russo's aquatic pier park featuring a diesel submarine was discussed. Former councilman Dave Mellow sunk both pointing out the costs is simply prohibitive for such an ambitious offering.  It's unclear in any serious vein how such an aquatic water park re, pier pool on the Hudson would be paid for with no price tag even remotely referenced. That is Michael Russo's appeal to the low information voter.  Some will claim that there's no submarine with this aquatic park on the Hudson? ...

The heat of the Hoboken mayoral campaign is officially torrid. Councilman Paul Presinzano decided it's time to point out a fact check on his council colleague and mayoral candidate Emily Jabbour.  It's getting hot in here. Day636: As your Councilman, my job is to keep you informed. For 8 yrs, #Hoboken has been treated as 2nd place, with politics put before people. Team Emily/Bhalla has had no real accountability. That’s why I’m speaking up. It’s time for FACT CHECKS. pic.twitter.com/a4k8XOVAbb — Paul Presinzano 1st Ward City Councilman (@presinzano4hob1) September 29, 2025

Councilman Mike Russo, the poster boy for Hoboken's culture of corruption and a living legend for same among the Russo Crime Syndicate needs a 911. There's a two-alarm fire at Church Towers with the flames towering over Church Square Park, courtesy of Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher.  Both are rivals in the crowded mayoral campaign but no one has laid a glove on Russo and his lengthy history of corruption, past and present. Despite his questionable past and long list of problems, he's magically walked away a free man in Hoboken.  When others get indicted, convicted and "go away" as they say in Hoboken parlance, often to "West Hoboken" the federal prison in Lewisburg, PA, Russo skates. The Solomon Dwek FBI video came to light with release to the public based on efforts by this editor back in 2011. That should have ended his time in office but even after telling the FBI informant make out the check to "Russo for Hoboken," he never was arrested. Th...

 A New Jersey poll is sending shockwaves across the Garden State showing the governor's race is a dead heat.  The Hudson County View shared the details highlighting the national attention with comments by President Trump. Trump weighs in on the Emerson poll that has Jack Ciattarelli and Mikie Sherrill in a dead heat. https://t.co/YsBRex4zco pic.twitter.com/fcOYMNBYms — John Heinis (@HeinisHardNews) September 25, 2025

 Election season brings out some of the strangest pitches in Hoboken. This has always been the case and City Council meetings are the prime time place for such offerings. No love for Neuralink nor any "bionic brain" adjustments to human biology other than aid for human injury and a poor human condition but this is a charge above and beyond the usual, even by Hoboken standards. With no further comment, you have to wonder what the people who "liked" this are actually thinking?  Don't do drugs, kids.  View this post on Instagram  

  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ruben Ramos Jr. (@ramos4hoboken) The issue is real and is compounded with Hoboken City Hall approving a growing list of mammoth developments, often against the common sense of infrastructure requirements underground - not only above ground. It's not only the roads in crisis.  Councilman Michael Russo, highlighted as the biggest recipient of $100,000 in Big Development money from the biggest landowner in town notes City Hall can "manage" the process better. Which means he plans to see a lot more towers going up all over town to reward his Big Development friends as he's banked hundreds of thousands from these special interests. Forget about any small town feel of Hoboken. That's disappearing with every big construction underway and more slated to begin. Adding to the existing pileup isn't going to be "managed." It's going to manage you and your family as traffic slows, more a...

Here's a link to the Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher community newsletter. She's currently a candidate for Hoboken mayor but here the broad issues cited from development, backroom dealing and Team Bhalla's action against resident parking around City Hall and excessive Washington Street enforcement without sufficient business and community input.  Or as Councilwoman Emily Jabbour urges, 'shorter runways.' Government is the center of life, the people must abide, obey and pay homage to the government.  These citations are made available based on the substance highlighted in these and related issues; a complete counter to the politics first approach by Ravi Bhalla and the Ravibot team featuring Emily Jabbour and Joe Quintero. https://mailchi.mp/tiffanieforhoboken/a-big-newsletter-big-projects-big-politics?e=48e642e98b   Excerpt : PROPOSED HOSPITAL REDEVELOPMENT PLAN Although it didn’t make the agenda due to lack of City Council sponsorship (other than Mike Russo), Mayor B...

You're not going to believe this but there's more "news" on the Hoboken polling front. Okay, it's understandable that some may find that to be more snooze than news but this gristy chewable is so weekend delish. So on this late Friday, here's the cookie. Councilwoman Emily Jabbour is trying to gauge the mayoral race against several top opponents and ran a post Labor Day poll. We'd ask her to comment but the reaction last time was less than happy. It was radio silence which can only mean one thing: direct hit!  This September poll is going to have a lot more impact and meaning than a late summer poll in the Mile Square City.  Sadly for the Jabbour campaign, a source says the trauma of one council opponent only grows larger.  The Emily Jabbour campaign is feeling anxiety with its latest September poll. A nightmare of Fisher & sleeping with the fishes? While Jabbour is holding her own heading into a potential December runoff, it reconfirmed the campaign...

  Yesterday, Tapinto hosted the mayoral debate at the Hoboken Library. There were technical difficulties. If you see the camera wobbling, have trouble hearing and understanding the candidates and wonder why people are talking at the microphone while candidates are speaking, well, it is what it is. Early on, it appeared Tapinto tapped out as the audio was completely missing. Anyway, if you want to hear the candidates, it begins with Michael Russo and lots of hot air.  When you take this in, listen to people who are fluid in providing answers versus the "we need to" or "I will solve" and have been in office for many years. Why haven't they acted with solutions earlier? Of course, no one can be responsible for the massive damage Ravi Bhalla has done to Hoboken as mayor. Especially when you don't have the council votes to stop his single-minded self-promotion at the EXPENSE of Hoboken residents.  Two candidate are aligned with Bhalla: Emily Jabbour and Joe Qui...

Parking is the eternal issue in Hoboken and the latest subject of council action sees Councilman Paul Presinzano tapping the brakes.  He's none too pleased about the residents being denied parking around City Hall and new cash cams hunting down scofflaw parking on Washington. St.  The equally big part of his announcement is his official endorsement for Councilman Ruben Ramos for mayor.  #Hoboken Day625:Team Emily Jabbour voted NO to resident parking around City Hall, YES to unlimited parking fees set by an algorithm & ignored business requests for delay of cash cams on Washington St. We can’t afford 8 more yrs of Bhalla2.0 Vote Ruben Ramos for Mayor pic.twitter.com/PSbUehPGxW — Paul Presinzano 1st Ward City Councilman (@presinzano4hob1) September 18, 2025 The fur is flying in the Mile Square City and the subscriber issue is going out tomorrow. 

On the ballot with his parachute in November, the outgoing mayor of Hoboken, Ravi Bhalla, opts to go with the new party practice of declaring Hoboken a nation-state where federal law enforcement is ignored, muted, and turned away. The new principality of Hoboken is set to vote tonight in the City Council on an ordinance and "codify" the executive order that has Hoboken taxpayers tied up in the courts and facing potentially millions in losses of federal aid. That's not hyperbole: millions.  Didn't all these people take an OATH to uphold US law and the Constitution? I believe Ravi has taken this oath himself several times, and so have Emily Jabbour, Joe Quintero, Phil Cohen, and Jim Doyle. When did publicly breaking a sworn public oath become so much wet toilet paper? You never see them fight so hard for Americans or to end Hoboken pipe bursts. If we only knew why?  Hoboken residents witnessing a series of pipe bursts in lovely late summer weather can only cringe and t...

 There's a new telephone poll slamming the Mile Square City. This one comes with a twist. It's a push poll for Michael Russo. Councilman Ruben Ramos has proposed a public-private recreation center partnership for the northwest.  The Hudson County View features more details here .  Did you watch the three-hour Hudson County Chamber of Commerce mayoral forum? There's still time. 😍 Screenshot via Instagram Reel, c/o The Hudson County View About the Hoboken push poll pointing to Michael Russo as the culprit. It's loaded for bear and allegedly targets Council members Tiffanie Fisher, Ruben Ramos, and Emily Jabbour.  Fisher is someone who worked at BlackRock, and Ramos is someone who failed some environmental group's score while in the NJ Assembly. Jabbour allegedly has gone soft on Republicans, which will come as news to her since she recently pushed for a gun grab as a trans terror is under investigation by the Feds  for reportedly having known and bragged that Chr...

The first Hoboken mayoral debate is in the can. You can watch it at your leisure using the link below: https://hudpost.com/livestream/ By the way, did you get your Michael Russo mailer? 

Today, a reflection on the terrorist event twenty-four years ago. Hoboken will hold a service, and some clergy will be invited to say their piece at Pier A. As long as they don't point out the actors on the planes and their religious affiliations too closely.  Back when Dawn Zimmer was mayor, I attended one such service. A tall, handsome young man was speaking on behalf of Islam. He said the usual things about the terrorists, how they don't speak for or represent Islam. The rest was forgettable.  After the service, I left Pier A and began slowly walking up Washington Street. Past Fifth Street, I noticed this same young man on Washington was standing in the middle of the block near the curb, approaching Sixth Street. He was amiably speaking to another young man.  I paused, for a reason I don't recall. Maybe I was going to say hello, but I hesitated. In that moment, I could hear what he was saying to the other man. He was bragging about how he had deceived everyone at the 9...

Tonight is the first mayoral candidate forum, where all the candidates will appear in what amounts to a group press conference.  It's not clear if the public will get to ask any questions or who will decide the questions asked.  The forum is sponsored by the Hudson County Chamber of Commerce. If you want to attend, they require you to register.  The event is scheduled to be livestreamed tonight at:  HudPost.com/livestream Similarly, the Hoboken Library is set to host a forum and requires a similar process. If you are conducting a public forum for an elected office, there shouldn't be any required registration.  Aren't your tax dollars enough? 

Sure, Hoboken is in full-blown election season, but that doesn't mean we can't share more love for our lame-duck, outgoing mayor, Ravi Bhalla. (There's plenty of election season breaking out.) Ravi is on his way out the door as mayor and ready to embrace more bad government, hate and division in the NJ Assembly come January.  Here's Ravi doing an old political comedy bit interlacing legal immigrants with illegal aliens. That routine wasn't so successful last November in the national election. However, Ravi sees intellectual dishonesty as a bonus from where he sits in New Jersey. He's waving an anti-American flag with pride on that bottom-feeding, low-information bastion of cellar-dwelling pols, Instagram: A nation of laws, not men. That's the old standby for the Republic. Ravi, however, prefers "a nation of me," elevating his political profile using his old standbys, hate and division.  Some say Ravi isn't satisfied having Hoboken residents pic...

The City Council meeting last week provided an odd 4-4 deadlock on one ordinance for introduction. The vote deadlock ensured failure with no second reading and public discussion. The action showed the juxtaposition of what happens when the Power of the People goes up against the power of the State. Here, that power is Ravi Bhalla and his four Ravibot council votes.  After the silent disappearance of benches on Washington Street, Kurt Gardiner, a long-time activist on many issues spanning the years, took up the cause of seeing them returned.  A beach-style protest saw dozens of people join in the peaceful "power to the people" style response. Typically, in Hoboken over recent years, a park bench can't be painted without generating a voice somewhere crying out about the unfairness of it all.  After the peaceful protest, some benches were quietly returned, but no comment came from Ravi Bhalla or the mayor's office. As Gardiner followed up, asking for the rest of the benc...

Last night's City Council meeting went full-bore political season with half of the sitting eight council members running for mayor. Add in another council member trying to salvage re-election, and the inevitable clashes are what you get.  Obeying the law in Hoboken is a challenge. It's especially a challenge for politicians who feel entitled to bend or break the law to serve their personal political agenda. Whether it's an unforced error, failing to follow court-issued orders, or dropping a terror flier, the ends always justify the means for people of low character.  On the matter of Brian Crimmins and reinstatement to head the Hoboken Fire Department, the NJ courts have spoken, and no Hail Mary appeal in waiting is likely to see decisions below reversed. Making matters worse, Hoboken is being penalized with court-ordered fines reportedly reaching $10,000 and counting.  Councilwoman Emily Jabbout inadvertently  torpedoed the Bhalla efforts to ignore NJ court orders t...

Labor Day has come and gone, and the nervous winds of change are upon the Mile Square City. With it, the Hoboken mayoral race is firing with its armies of council candidates. Councilwoman Emily Jabbour, a loyalist vote on the City Council for the outgoing mayor Ravi Bhalla, is said to be less than enamored with the results of her campaign poll last month.  Councilwoman Emily Jabbour  According to senior officials outside Hoboken, there's unhappy braying within the Jabbour campaign.  Her campaign poll revealed not only is a hoped-for coronation no longer possible, but the most dreaded opponent stymying every alleged dastardly deed by Ravi Bhalla and his council adherents these past many years is headed into a runoff. That is, of course, Second Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher, who has led efforts to cut Bhalla's bloated budgets on an annual basis. This, as Jabbour stood ready to rubber-stamp them. Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher   On the heels of  Jabbour seeing h...

 The day after Labor Day is typically the reset, the shift where people reorient to their fall schedule and internal post-vacation clocks. Put your calendar on speed dial. A Washington St. bench protest is scheduled for late Wednesday before the City Council meeting at Hoboken City Hall, led by Hoboken resident Kurt Gardiner. The effort first reported here last month continues as some benches have been quietly returned downtown after a slew silently disappeared from Hoboken's main drag.  Hoboken's lame duck mayor, Ravi Bhalla, has remained utterly silent about all of it. Can you hear us now?  This makes for an odd summer clincher; the first organic street protest in the Mile Square City since Peter J. Cammarano was arrested for corruption back in 2009. With this shift, a late summer poll among the top mayoral candidates took place, and two City Council candidates are pegged as the top contenders heading to an early December runoff.  Hoboken Election 2025 will have d...