Talk of the Town - Power Outages in Hoboken - Balloons, Seriously?

Welcome to the Talk of The Town, a periodic blog series that catches you up on the latest political rumors and happenings around Hoboken, our beloved Mile Square. It is similar in respects to Al Sullivan's or "Between the Lines" or MSV's "Grist for the Mill" columns in that only a single reliable source is necessary to publish but sometimes with a bit of political satire mixed in for some entertainment. Keep in mind that this editor does endeavor to be correct as possible on these columns but do take this with a bit of cautious skepticism as all discerning citizens should. For this first column I am going to start out with something more lighthearted given the heated Hoboken election season and everyone's need to tamp it down a bit.

Party Balloons in Weehawken Cause Power Outage in Hoboken, For Real: 

Around 10:15 PM in Hoboken, many uptown residents lost power for about 10 seconds last night. Then about 7 minutes later around 10:22 PM many of those same residents lost power again for about 10 minutes. In the end it was only a a minor inconvenience but happened during the 2nd half of a very anticipated Dallas Cowboys Philadelphia Eagles NFL game. Perhaps the  inconvenience would be best summarized in the hashtag #FirstWorldProblems. No known other power incidents happened after that time.

6th Ward Councilwoman Jennifer Giattino was responsive as usual. She wrote on Facebook last night:  "If your power went out it tonight it was apparently due to party balloons hitting power lines in Weehawken. Thankfully power is back."

Party Balloons in Weehawken Source of Power Outage

This naturally begs the question: Was Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner throwing a party after foisting NY Waterway and NJ Transit on Hoboken with their recent purchase of the Union Dry Dock site? Just kidding of course. Richard Turner is a popular Mayor in Weehawken and very effective serving his constituents. They said "Not in my backyard" and he proved to be far more effective than Mayor Zimmer who had years to acquire Union Dry Dock but never made it a priority until it was too late.

The last time this area had a power outage in the area it was due to a squirrel that blew a transformer several months back.It is clear to me now that Hoboken has a knack for unorthodox causes of power outages. At least one enterprising chef knows what to do with the leftovers.

No squirrels were harmed during last night's power outage

Hoboken Police detectives are reportedly interviewing 99 Red Balloons as an object of interest despite their heavy case load looking into the persons behind the pre-election racist flier depicting Ravi Bhalla as a terrorist. Not sure what the point is investigating nonmetallic red balloons other than being very thorough but it does at least give me an opportunity for an 80's flashback:

More juicy tidbits on the post election fallout tomorrow.

NHSA Update - 2018 Preliminary Budget Flat and Zero Percent Usage Rate Increase Projected! Yipee!

Your Projected Usage Rates are Flat in 2018 Hoboken!

Flat 2018 Budget with no usage rate increase:

Last night the NHSA Board approved unanimously 9-0 the preliminary 2018 Budget for first submission to the State of NJ for comment. The budget is flat compared to last year with $52,593,032 in Revenues and $50,737,897 in Total Appropriations. The good news is that for rate payers there is no rate increase projected for this year. The annual facilities charge is projected to go up only $4. The long term trend is that usage overall for municipal sewers is averaging about 1.5% less every year due to more efficient appliances, demographic changes in household sizes, and smaller capacity toilets that are driving consumption down in spite of recent development in the area.

Keep in mind this is the preliminary budget but if this should hold up it is good for ratepayers in all 4 cities served by the NHSA.

About the NHSA: 

The North Hudson Sewerage Board serves Hoboken, Weehawken, Union City and West NY communities. Each city has two appointed commissioners except Hoboken which has three. The current Hoboken commissioners are Kurt Gardiner (myself), Brian Assadourian and Ed Friedrich. 7 votes out 9 are required to pass any resolution so Hoboken does have veto power but has not used it since I started my five year term in February of 2016.

Executive Director Contract Renewed:

The contract for Executive Director Richard Wolf was also extended for another 5 years and unanimously passed by the board. Richard Wolf has done an excellent job with his execution and stewardship over the years and is a key to continued success of the Authority. As long as Richard desires to continue and is able to work there he will continue to have support from all the major stakeholders. All three Hoboken commissioners including Mayor elect Ravi Bhalla were in agreement in the contract extension and see him as a key to getting the third pump completed at the BASF site which will further help alleviate flooding and remain in CSO compliance for the Authority as a whole.

Mayor Elect Bhalla Outreach:

I did receive a call from Mayor elect Ravi Bhalla before the NHSA meeting last night. He expressed his support for the contract renewal. We also discussed our shared goal of seeing the third wet weather pump in Hoboken which will be funded by the Sewerage Authority but of course require cooperation from the Bhalla Administration in terms of integrating into BASF Park Design. Also discussed in the 9-11th and Madison Sewer Collection Improvement Project which will get out of design phase in February of 2018. I hope to continue to have a professional working relationship with Ravi with respect to these infrastructure initiatives.

NHSA Debt is down:

Through a program of graduated defeasance The Authority has paid down its debt. In 2013 that debt was $443 million and in 2017 it is down to $394 million, a reduction of $49 million in just 4 years.  Additional pay down of some debt in 2018 is expected to continue. The NHSA won't know the exact figure for 2018 defeasance until the budget is completed.