Hi,

I am getting wierd automated calls asking if I am a certain person (my maiden name) who lived at a certain place in Hoboken a long time ago. I did live at that address, but am afraid to answer the prompts and say it was me. Does anyone know what this could be? I don't know if it is something from the city of Hoboken, or a stalker. The computer voice does not identity itself.

When is Hoboken going to get REAL affordable housing for residents who want to get out of public housing but can't afford to due to the enormous rents being charged? If I could afford to move out of there, I would in a heartbeat but I can't. There are a lot of us who would love to move but can't afford to.

Rent Control in Hoboken is outdated and unconstitutional

The majority of the housing stock in Hoboken is excluded from the ordnance while the remaining old tenement buildings with 2 or more families are the ones faced with its restrictions. As it stands today the rent control ordnance selectively applies to a minority of renters that have steadily lived in the same apartment and it also negatively impacts the mom and pop owners of these old tenement buildings to which the ordnance selectively applies while at the same time excludes and protects other more powerful landlords.

To make matters worse now there are a few activists, lawyers and politicians that have found a way to exploit the situation to their advantage. If a mom and pop owner is not careful enough about record keeping and is found to have inadvertently collected the wrong amount of rent the tenant can almost bankrupt this owner. In many instances these small property owners perhaps because of their inability to understand the ordnance or doing things the old fashion way are further penalized by this outdated ordnance.

It’s a big myth that has been perpetrated for too long by a few activists and politicians to say that every apartment in Hoboken is rent controlled and that the ordinance has kept the rents in check. This outdated ordnance is unconstitutional because it discriminates against the mom and pop owners that in addition to the restrictions imposed by the ordnance are obligated to pay the city an annual registration fee that the big landlords do not have to pay because of their exclusion from compliance.

I do not have the exact number of apartments that the ordnance selectively excludes from compliance nor do I have the number of apartments that the ordnance applies to. Although we know that the ordnance applies to every apartment in Hoboken except the following:

1. all the public housing projects
2. the senior citizens and handicapped projects
3. all the subsidized apartments owned by Applied Housing
4. other subsidized smaller projects
5. Church Towers Apartments
6. Clock Towers Apartments
7. Marine View Apartments
8. all ‘new construction’ apartments
9. apartments that have been converted to condo and put back in the rental market

Here again we can see how this ordnance is undemocratic and unconstitutional. Whenever there has been a referendum to have the voters overturn changes to the ordnance the majority of the tenants voting come from the list of apartments that are excluded from the rent control ordnance. The activists will work in conjunction with the big landlords to mobilize the tenants from those subsidized apartments to overturn any changes to the ordnance knowing that the ordnance does not affect them. Their rents are calculated based on the family income and the federal government provides the subsidy that makes up the difference up to market rate for the unit.

It might interest you to know that Applied Housing and others get the market rate for their units no matter what the rent control ordnance says. The tenant pays based on family income and the difference is paid by the rest of us thru federal taxes. Some sweet deal, besides the federal funds they got to purchase and rehab the apartments in the first place. No wonder some people get so rich so quickly.

They’ve used scare tactics and deceived the tenants in those subsidized apartments into believing that if the rent control law is changed their rents would go up and so the majority of the voters participating in the referendum come from that voting block that have traditionally overturned any amendments to the ordnance. Is this democratic and constitutional?

I see that some of these activists are once again threatening with a referendum in the event that the city council attempts to change the ordnance. I’d like to ask these activists to stop and realize that they are being used by the big landlords to do their dirty work. That the small property owners like mom and pop buildings have been carrying a disproportional load of property taxes in Hoboken for many years while the big landlords get richer and richer through tax abatements. That when many old residents expected some property tax relief as the result of all the development that has taken place that the relief never materialized and Hoboken has become more expensive to live.

Please open up your eyes and stop allowing yourselves to be used.

Drug usage and sales is rampant on the campus of Stevens Tech. Especially so within the fraternities, one of which has become notorious for both usage and sales. The aroma permeates Castle Pt. Terr. Why is nothing done?

Drug usage and sales is rampant on the campus of Stenens Tech. Especially so within the fraternities, one of which has become notorious for both usage and sales. The aroma permeates Castle Pt. Terr. Why is nothing done?

Hi there. What part of New York is Hoboken in? I am trying to move over there but don't really know where to begin. Any tips?