Two factors I feel impacted the recent Mayoral and City Council elections and the final outcome, not necessarily in terms of who won but the margin of victory achieved by Mayor Dawn Zimmer and her slate.
The first is the proposed Vision 20-20 plan, which if implemented in its initial conception and ham-handedly promoted by HHA Executive Director Carmelo Garcia would have more than doubled the size of the projects. From taxpayers to police, no one that I know either in the private sector or public sector was too keen if that were the final density. Carmelo Garcia is a Ruben Ramos ally but both Occhipinti and Ramos aggressively supported this unpopular plan if you could even call it a plan.
Mayor Zimmer ran a positive campaign about her record. She could have really hit Ramos hard on the Vision 20-20 issue but she did not mount a consistent plan. I do believe Vision 20-20 hurt both Ramos and Occhipiniti to some extent. The sleaze associated with Carmelo Garcia's shameless lawsuit accusing the Mayor of "ethnic cleansing" with respect to Vision 20-20 certainly did not help Ruben or even Tim Occhipinti among educated voters.
The other aspect that I feel hurt Tim Occhipinti's final numbers was the destructive campaigning and ineptitude of James Barracato aka "Fin Boy". Fin Boy who was instrumental in the downfall of last year's Move Forward BOE race that featured a "Nazi Truck". Known for his vile campaign tactics this freak has a penchant for tuning off voters. He is simply over matched and his anger management issues always seem to sink every campaign to the lowest common denominator. Tim wasn't going to win the election and the numbers show "Pupie" Raia really had no shot at stealing a City Council seat but the nastiness of the campaign backfired big time and sent Tim into the upper teens in terms of percentage of votes.
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| Hoboken's very own Jolly Green Poet (yep that's me courtesy of GA) |
Here goes.....
Vision 20-20 Limericks:
Garcia once
came up with an HHA "plan" out of thin air,
And defended it with
acrimonious flair,
His supporters were Cammerano-esque smug,
and protested like
angry thugs,
and its impact on Hoboken they did not care.
As it succumbed to developer greed,
Vision 20-20 was a dog with fleas,
that would only a corrupt insider please,
And cause the honest taxpayer to bleed.
Garcia has committed unconscionable acts,
Like for Vision 20-20 where are all the facts?,
The street thug pimped that debacle with glee,
While letting elevators all get soaked in pee,
the bottom line is that he deserves the axe!
Ruben Ramos is really quite the dolt,
He should have run away from 20-20 like Usain Bolt,
Any taxpayer in the know,
Will steer clear of this bloated show,
and give his opponent the Mayor a heck of a jolt.
Garcia as ED has shown that HHA buildings he can't
maintain,
And due to his negligence conditions are purportedly
inhumane,
Between pee, mold, no generators and labs of Meth,
20-20 support from the "Old Guard" and crazy
Beth,
To consider him competent would be legerdemain.
Garcia can't maintain buildings so he says knock them
down,
These are acts of an incompetent and clueless clown,
With him at the helm of the HHA,
things in the projects have gone quite astray,
So now he wants to destroy the character of the town.
This might seem like a political joke,
But Stack picked Garcia cause he's broke,
He was hoping that developer dollars from the HHA,
Would somehow be magically steered his way,
And they don't care about the taxpayer being soaked.
Beth Mason Political Operative "Fin Boy" James Barracato Limericks:
There once was a operative named Fin,
Who was so angry he couldn't grin,
He tried to
support the Mason of Beth,
But came across
like on crystal meth,
And what is that chum on his chin?
Finboy has really gone berserk,
He is troll on this thread and a jerk,
Like Beth Mason he is sinking fast,
His career as an operative won't last,
Because he he is incapable of quality work.
