ge jars Hudson yuppies - DigiFind-It

MaI. - • *

offor a »»<*" .

last weeks MOCKinstead, he plan, to

,w devastated."a b r o k e r

•a id <n* >i?lLnPm«del Hirl-brumhing with h* « * « Vfriend yesterdayat M MWashington Street

a bull market since enteringbusinesss in the last five ye

My firs4 thought was that Ihave to get a new job, he saifl

La*t Monday's 50B-point dropin the Dow Jones Industrial Av-erage is likely to hurt manyyoung urban professionals likeftenaud. who have made thiscity parts of Jersey City theirnew home in recent years Manylikely will reassess their spending habits, putting luxury goodsand big ticket items on holdeconomists say And that could

growth of com

ge jars Hudson yuppiesParking AuthorityOKs appeal motions

munities lite *j» • • f v ' * " ! !vuppie restaurants ana &wmmstores have flourished up anddoun Washington Street sincethe the yuppie* weved in.

•Mavbe people who thoughtmoney" was everything will reassess their values,' said Roie-marv Mcl-aughlin. 33. who doesnot put herself into the yuppiecategory and cringes whenmerelv hearing the word May-be they 11 realize that money andmvestments are not the onlygoals in life-" ___

Please see VUPPIkfc Haye *

y E . r l M . r j a n

YUPPIESCONTINUED (ROM f'AGt

But the mood among mostyoung city residents remainedupbeat yesterdas in wake of lastweek's Wall Street gyrations

Kim West, the model with Renaud at East L A . said she stillplans to spend $500 on RalphLauren clothes, even though shesuffered substantial paperlosses last week. "1 m stillspending money." she said

And most remained positivethat the market s loss will noteat away their investments inhigh priced bro rnstones andcondominiums

%>lf Hobokett v a^hes. we're allin trouble," joked one youngprofessional, while talking withneighbors on a street corner.But the market will have littledirect impact on their spendinghabits, they said

Most young professionals wholive here have put a large per-centage of their money into theirhomes, not the stock market,said Noel Thompson, a market-ing consultant who lives here."Our greatest asset is in ourhomes," he said "We've putmost of our money into fixingi t ."

Some real estate agents pre-dict that the Dow Jones plungewill reduce real estate values inthe entire New York metropoli-tan area, including HudsonCounty.

Mati Marcus, an economist atRutgers University, said luxurypurchases, including expensive

condos, will dry up m com ngmonths Others disagree. sa>mgmore investors will put tht«;money into real estate, a salt rhaven than the stock market

Thomspson and his friends artnot worried "We have themoststable economy in the worldsaid one. "Even if stocks in oth-S markets faM. our governmentmakes ours a good haven lor

OtTh?stock market plunge wasgood for interest rates last week,added another of Thompsonsfriends, who is a bond broker onWai" Street W that keeps up.real estate values only will continue to climb, she said

noTnoticed a change in spending

bruncningcuMw-Asked to comment «•"""; ; " opact of the market plunge onbusiness, a manager at theWashington Stree c l u b - r e s ^rant said she was too busy even[o talk imless customers weredrowning their sorrows inomelets and orange juice, every£ was business as usual.

Joe Bergstein, who just

opened his second gourmet foodshop on Washington Street lastmonth, said business has not suf-fered

"People still have to eat," hesaid "if all they want is a pro-volone and salami sandwich, westill do that

"My outlook is sanguine,' hesaid, "except if we really findourselves in some dire depres-sion ." Although one specialyfood shop has closed here andthe market for gourmet foodmay be shrinking, he said de-mand for convenience foods willremain, and those who go afterthe market aggressively willflourish.

Much of the impact will de-pend on what happens in thestock market during this andcoming weeks, said a WallStreet executive dining at Maxwell's It also depends on whatthe government does, and if Con-gress and the president are ableto settle their differences andtake steps to end the massivefederal budget deficit.

If not, many people will behurt, said the executive who didnot want to give his name, espe-cially those in places like thiscity and Jersey City, which feedon events in New York

"If you see your stocks declineby 25 percent, 1 think you'll putthat $300,00 condo on hold fornow," he said. "And if it con-tinues, a lot of people will losetheir jobs."

STUDY PUSHED

Hoboken may relax itsrictions on parking

i f and the city will begBy FELIPE ALBUQUERQUE a date for the council's review ofSpecial to The Hudson Dispatch the amendment, he said that it

HOBOKEN-The City Council would "definitely" be before thewill consider an amendment to end of the year. In an effort tothe new parking ordinance that accommodate residents whowould allow residents with out- cannot provide the proper iden-of-town registrat ions and '" :—'— ~«» **> Parking Audriver's licenses to obtain per-manent parking permits.

In order to receive a permitfrom the Parking Authority, res-

cannot proviae me H 1 " ^ ' - "tification now, the Parking Authority will grant temporarypermits valid through Decem-ber.

from the Parking Authority, res- The city began enforcing theidents first must present either a ordinance, which prohibits non-driver's license or registration residents from parking on un-listing a local address. The metered spots for more than

' " :~uu—"-» inhP f o u r h o u r s o n Wednesday,ticketing more than 60 cars in afour-block test area that in-cludes: River Street betweenThird and Fourth streets,Hudson Street between 10th and

"we. nth streets. Washington StreetCouncilman E Norman between Ninth and 10th streets.

Wilson Jr. said yesterday that, a nd Bloomfield Street betweenbefore the amendment can be nth and 12th streets,brought before the entire coun-cil, the Transportation Commit-

<•:—, !,„„ tri Hptprmine what

listing a local auure»». »«.v.amendment, which has yet to bebrought before the council,would broaden the ordinance toaccept other forms of proof ofresidence, such as gas andphone bills bearing an addresshere.

Councilman E Norman

tee first has to determine whatother types of identification willbe acceptable.

Though Wilson could not give

Parking Authority DirectorPat Caufield said yesterday thatthe test area will be expanded tothe first block of BloomfieldStreet by the end of the week,

and the city will begin im-mobilizing or "booting" carsparked illegally in those areasas early as next week.

More than 8,500 residents outof an estimated 12,000 alreadyhave been given permit stickersor visitor placards, creatingwhat Caufield calls "a tremen-dous amount of paperwork."

As a means of lessening theworkload and cutting costs,Caufield said that, next year, theauthority will issue two-yearpermits as opposed to the year-long stickers now being granted.

Caufield added that he expectsit will take at least a year towork out all aspects of the or-dinance

"We have to give it at least ayear, or maybe 18 months, to de-termine the impact of the or-dinance and if it's worth it atall." he said. "It's like goingfrom a manual system to a com-puterized system in a brokerageoffice. It takes a while to workout the glitches."

Hoboken and EPA agreeon sewer tines settlement

the trial transcript before de-ciding to actually authorize anappeal.

The commissioners also re-organized several committeesincluding the personnel/and fi-nance committees When ques-tioned by a reporter about thereorganization, the comis-sioners conceded the actionwas taken because several em-ployees, including the formerassistant director, left theagency in the past or weretransferred without thei rknowledge.

The commissioners hud-dled with their attorneys fornearly three hours last nightduring a closed caucus of anemergency meeting called todiscuss the court decision andits ramifications last night inthe agency's office on BergenAvenue.

The award was granted toTyrone Reynolds. 27, of JerseyCity, who is black who claimedhe was beaten unconcsious boa white co-worker who con-stantly used racial epithets inhis presence in 1984.

The altercation took placein the Jersey City Parking Au-thority building Reynolds sayshe was hospitalized overnightbecause of injuries hereceived.

During the public portionof the meeting it was an-nounced that the JCPA Attor-ney, Edward Van Dorn, will beallowed to proceed with posttrial motions that have to befiled 15 days after a court deci-sion has been rendered.

But the commissionersagreed not to approve an ap-peal until they have a chance toread transcripts of the trial.The authority counsel said thetranscripts won't be availableuntil the first week inDecember.

According to sources theiris some concern among thecommissioners that the cost ofthe case, already nearing the$200,000 mark, will be an evenheavier burden on the agencyif the appeal is lost.

Ralph Cole of the JerseyCity Branch of the NAACP at-tended an earlier emergencymeeting the commissionersheld last week to discuss thematter and delivered a scath-ing letter suggesting that au-thority executive director,John Vicari be dismissed. Com-missioner Gloria Esposito saidshe and her colleagues arewaiting to read the transciptsbefore responding to theNAACP's demands. Coles andNAACP President Tom Taylormet with Jersey City Mayor An-thony Cucci Tuesday to deliverthe same letter they gave to theJCPA to the mayor.

Coles and Taylor claimedCucci told them he sent a letterto the JCPA urging them to ap-peal the case based on a con-versation he had with Vicari.He said the JCPA can win thecase on appeal. But Cucci saidhe was not aware that theaward decision was made by ajury. Coles said the mayor toldthem he was under the impres-sion, after his discussion withVicari, that it was a decisionrendered solely by the Judge.

Coles also claimed that themayor said since the JCPA is anautonomous agnecy he has nojurisdiction to fire Vicari andsaid that he couldn't do that inany case because of an "ironclad," five year contract Vicariwas given by former Mayor Ger-ald MeCann.

ANNUAL PARADE

HISTORIC PAULUS HOOKRESIDENTIAL PARKING PERMIT

ZONE 3 3251c * * * * * * * «» t>f t *******

Hoboken

Permits like these do not assure a parking space norresidents complain — does the absence of such a permit

assure a parking ticket,

is parking-by-permit/aw too permissive?By Emily M. Smith

More often than he wouldlike, Dan Katz has to park ablock or two away from his Sus-sex Street home.

"I'm not saying 1 have aright to park right in front of myhouse," he says. But parking onthe same street would be nice.

Parking is the bane of Jer-sey City living. It turns runninga simple errand into a quest forthe Holy Grail. It eats away atthe quality of home life. It isthe link that binds strangersEveryone can relate to a talc ofparking woe.

In an attempt at least toimprove the quality of residen-

Related story on Page 19.

tial life, Hoboken and JerseyCity recently initiated residen-tial parking programs whichsupply area residents withparking stickers.

So, how much has the qual-ity of life been improved?

In Hoboken, where ticket-ing began Wednesday, it's tooearly to tell, says Pat Caufield.director of Hoboken's ParkingAuthority.

Even if the city ordinanceestablishing residential park-ing doesn't work, at least thecity tried, Caufield says. "It'sthat bad, we would be ncgli-

See PARKING — Page 12

JjJPARKING

TOW-AWAYZONE

ANY VEHICLESWITHOUT

ZONE 3 PERMITPARKED

HOBOKEN-The city is brac-ing for an onslaught of goblins,ghosts and ghouls set to descendon Washington Street Saturdayafternoon

Halloween plans for the tradi-tional Rag Muffin Parade are infull swing

"The whole purpose of the pa-rade is the children." AngeloValente, former City Councilmember and current Assemblycandidate, said yesterday.

Valente was the driving forcebehind the move to reinstate theparade when, as a councilman in19B5, he organized its re-emer-gence after a 10-year hiatus.

In the two years since, the pa-rade has resumed its former sta-tus as a centerpiece of the city'sobservance of Halloween Lastyear, some 2,500 childrenmarched in the parade, andValente said he expects a simi-lar number this year.

"There will be floats and aprize for best costume," Valentesaid "We've gotten full cooper-ation from the city ... the PoliceD e p a r t m e n t , p r i v a t emerchants, the Fire Depart-ment. Everybody's working to-gether."

Any child in a costume iseligible to march in the parade.Potential spooks are asked togather at 14th and Washingtonstreets at 11:30 Saturday morn-ing.

The parade is scheduled to be-gin there at noon and proceedsouth to Fourth Street, then eastto Hudson Street.

—CHRISTOPHER AVE

Photos by Michael Madid

The sign seems definite,but Jersey City residentssay non-residents ignore

it with impunity.

br MkkoJ M«*o

Residents say Jersey City's residential parking program is not relieving the crunch on theirneighborhood streets and Hoboken residents have the same complaint.

Permit parking too permissive?^ n.Tiidaiinn in street sweepers and metere

By Bill Campbell

Hoboken and the federalEnvironmental ProtectionAgency have reached a tenta-tive settlement in a six-yeardispute over city violations ofthe Clean Water Act,

Hoboken was facing $18million in fines and the threatof a sewage ban for violatingfederal standards for effluentdischarged into the HudsonRiver.

City officials announcedyesterday that the EPA willdrop its action if Hoboken pays$225,000 in fines and complieswith its timetable to upgradethe beleaguered 35-year-oldsewage treatment plant.

"We are very happy aboutthe resolution of the EPA fines,both in terms of the money andeliminating the threat of a sew-

er ban," said Ken Laptook, aspecial counsel who acted asthe city's top negotiator.

The settlement, reachedbefore U.S. District CourtJudge Harold Ackerman inNewark, still needs municipaland federal approval. Laptooksaid the U.S. Attorneys officeand the local DEP office havealready agreed to the terms

The EPA suit was the last oftwo major environmental ac-tions related to the city s at-tempts to upgrade the munici-pal sewage plant In August,Hoboken and the state Depart-ment of Environmental Protec-tion reached a settlement in ayear-old suit over infrastruc-ture repairs.

Hoboken received a re-nrieve from a state sewage banwhen it settled its DEP litiga-tion Although the state ban

has not been recinded, repairsto the existing plant will allowthe city to increase capacity atthe plant.

The plant, which must beupgraded from primary to sec-ondary treatment by late 1990,was classified as "unaccept-able " last year by the DEP. Theagency said the facility suf-fered from "serious" opera-tional deficiencies and an offi-cial close to the investigationcalled it "the worst case sce-nario I've ever seen."

The EPA said the plant hassuffered from chronic deficien-cies, ranging from decrepitconditions of the facility topoor management. Last Decem-ber, federal inspectors said theeffluent discharged into theHudson River "was always very

See HOBOKEN — Page 31.

HoboicenTEPA agreeon sewerage fines

J _ — ! - _ _ t\

Continued from Page 1dark, either brown or black."

Hoboken's constant failureto comply with federal treat-ment guidelines prompted theEPA to hit the city with themillions of dollars in fines. TheEPA report concluded that theHudson River will be subject toblackened effluent until thesecondary plant, which re-moves 85 percent of waste wa-ter pollutants, is constructed.

Municipal officials havesaid the existing plant, which isundergoing repairs, removesless than the 30 percent of pol-lutants currently required byfederal law.

According to Laptook, theEPA fines were levied at a rateof $10,000 a day since 1981. Hesaid fines from 1975 to 1980

were erased when the statuteof limitations expired.

"A settlement in this dis-pute is extremely important toHoboken because the EPA hadthe authority to put us out ofbusiness," said City AttorneyWilliam Graves. "A federalsewage ban would have meantno new hookups at all until theexisting plant is upgraded."

He said the city's ability toreassure the EPA that the re-pairs would be made was a keyfactor in the settlement

"The EPA was extremelyserious in its threats becauseHoboken has a long history ofnon-compliance," Laptooksaid. "This clears a major hur-dle which should relieve thecity of substantial financialharm."

Continued from Page 1gent if we didn't try some-thing." he said.

The first two days offered agood omen. In Hoboken's fourtest areas, 29 tickets, at $25apiece, were issued Wednes-day. Thursday, only 19 werewritten. Booting, a device thatimmobilizes cars, starts in No-vember and carries a $25 re-moval fee. That should bringeven better results, Caufieldsays.

The five-month-old JerseyCity program has kept Aristi-des Pappidas in shape and onhis toes.

"I try not to use my car verymuch. I use a bicycle," he says.An independent contractor,Pappidas works out of his Es-sex Street home.

Sometimes, such as whenPappidas needs to pick uplarge piece of lumber, a bikewont cut it Then, finding aparking space on the returnhome is tough.

"I'll double-park," he says."I'm not happy about it. I'vebeen ticketed" Double-park-ing means automatic participa-tion in the parking game. Pap-

change Place PATH station. Inthe past four weeks, about 1,200tickets have been given for vio-lating residential parking inthose zones, says Ron Buono-core director of Jersey CityPublic Works, which super-vises parking violation officers.

Residents complain thatmany more should be given.

Katz. president of the Sus-sex Street Block Association,said life around there would bewonderful if Jersey City's pro-gram were enforced.

"The program in its imple-mentation is awful." he said"It didn't take but a couple ofweeks for commuters to discov-er that there was noenforcement"

"It's an insult to us, Katzsays "Us literally a slap in theface to go through this charadeof passing a law and then notenforcing it Did they think wewouldn't notice?"

Mark Kennedy and JosephCosenza, both Sussex Streetresidents, say parking regula-tions are enforced butinconsistently.

Sporadic enforcement ex-ists because the Jersey Citytion in uie pariuins f""'-; r*\ " ^ C o u n C i l didn't consult the

pidas spends the rest of the day Citycounc D e p a r t m e n tP

ai his window, spying for legal ^ ™ t ' U s ability to enforce theparking ordinance before thecouncil passed it, Buonocore

Buonocore says five of thecity's 25 parking violation offi

parking spaces.Jersey City's parking pro-

eram allows two-hour parkingfor non-residents in threezones. Zone 1 is the City Hallarea. Zone 2 covers CottageStreet from Kennedy Boule-vard to Herbert Place and Zone3 affects parking near the Lx-

arkingcers are on long-term sickleave.

"Our main concern

street sweepers and meteredposts," Buonocore says. The de-partment is allowed some po-lice officers but those are be-ing used to crack down ondumping of debris and cars.

The shortage of parking vi-olation officers will be correct-ed in November when betweenfive and 10 people will behired, tie said.

A teacher at Cornelia F.Bradford school, 96 Sussex Stsaid the program has helpedbut not solved parkingtroubles.

Permits are given to peoplewho work in the area.

Arriving 45 minutes beforeschool starts at 8 a.m. does notguarantee a space "Now, howmuch earlier am I supposed toget here and have it be safe forme?" she says.

Despite its hit-or-miss na-ture, the program has inter-rupted one New York woman'svisit to her son. No provisionfor visitors in the three zonesexists. . , . .

Ever since she was ticketedon Grand Street, she's beenplaying the parking game -keeping eye on the clock andmoving her car every twohours. , .

"It isn't easy." she saw,parking her car on WarrenStreet. "I try to be on myguard."

Despite the lack of consis-tent enforcement. Jersey Cityresidents have one consola-tion. KaU says: •Its nowhere

is the near as bad as Hoboken

12 officialsare indicted

COPINGCOMTIMUEO FROM PAGE 1

ready had 50 calls for service to-day."

/ c ~Drugs; Misconductare among charges

•y JOHM ROFEStaff Writer

Prosecutors unsealed indict-ments yesterday ol 12 public andlaw enforcement officials, ineluding two Hoboken tirefighters charged with dealingdrugs on duty and a HudsonCounty oti'iciai accused of steal-ing up to $100,000 in quartersfrom a copy machine

The indictments, handed up inJersey City by a Superior Courtgrand jury Wednesday, alsoname six police officers fromJersey City. Union City,Hoboken and Bayonne oncharges ranging from ag-gravated assault to possessionof cocaine

In the most bizarre of those in-dictments, two Bayonne policeofficers are charged with heat-ing a Brooklyn man with blackjacks after he asked them to

INDICTCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

stop making sexual advances onhis daughter, and then arrestinghim and his w lie and accusingthem of pimping the girl

Also charged in the indictments is a campaign aide toSteve Cappiello. Hoboken CityCouncil member The aide. Antoinette Calabrese, allegedlyvoted twice in six elections dat-ing back to l«K4

Also, a Jersey City welfare of-ficial is accused of possessinglarge quantities of heroin andcocaine, which his son ischarged with selling out of theirapartment. A Hotwken police officer is accused ol tipping off thethree city firefighters that theywere the subject of an investigaturn

A Jersey City police officer ischarged with possession of co-caine, and a county employee is

Please bee INDICT Page 10

May be justthe tip ofthe iceberg

Businesses struggleto keep up the pace

•v JEFFftEStaff Writar

RUBIN

PAUL M. DEPASQUALECites violations of tiuM.

By CHRISTOPHER AVEand BRENDAN NOONANStaff Writers

The indictments of police of-ficers and firefighters onnarcotics and misconductcharges signal deeper troublesin local public safety departments. Hudson County Prosecutor Paul M DePascale saidyesterday.

"If the question is whetherthey ure symptoms of a largerproblem,"' IX'Pascale said of theindictments, "the answer to thatis pretty clear."

Some officials in Jersey City,Hoboken and Union City sup-ported DePascales contention.Few expressed surprise at theindictments of seven local policeand fire officials announced yes-terday.

Please see REACTION Paye 16

HOBOKEN-In bathrooms,kitchens and workplacesjfewitliout the city, people werewandering yesterday where thewater went.

It went to Iris AraujoAraujo, owner of Araujo Tire

and Brake Corp at 1414 WillowAve., got a call from city officials yesterday mornmg to getdown to her place of business assoon as possible When she ar-rived, she was greeted by swirl-mg torrents of icy water a footdeep, even deeper puddles ofstagnant, oily water in her ga-rage, and appalling visions of ahuge repair bill for car lifts andelectronic repair equipment that

had been damaged or destroyedin yesterday muin;r.g s watermain rupture

The 5 am rv ; M»ntwater streamm. eetsfor about seven hours. * d s thesecond one to hit Art u>> ,s ga-rage this year The first, in Jan-uary, <! ' ' "• less damage andwas i rapidly Thistime, however, her business wasa magnet for media represent-atives who wanted to oVtcumentthe worst effects ot the majorwater main break.

"I feel like crying." said Arau-jo. who has run the businesssince her husbai.d died threeyears ago. 1 feel bad for mycustomers because we've al-

Please see COPING Page 14

accused of laundering $60,000 incounty funds through a phonybank for herself ana herboyfriend in other indictments.

County Prosecutor Paul M.DePascale said the indictments— many from separate in-vestigations — are part of acrackdown on officials who vio-late the public trust, and said theindictments reflect a wide-spread problem among local po-lice and fire departments. Headded that they underscore theproblem of drugs in public safe-ty departments.

"There is a real concern forpublic safety when the man whoresponds to the alarm at yourhouse is on drugs," DePascalesaid at a press briefing in his of-fice yesterday afternoon. "Youobviously can't do your job ifyour mind is blown on narcotics.

"You have to treat violationsof trust very seriously," he said."It is the representation of thetype of attitude you can't have."

The indictment of the theHoboken firefighters - Capt.John Lisa, acting Capt. RalphCorrado and Fi ref ighterMichael Sheehan — had been ex-pected since April. In separateincidents, Lisa is accused of sell-ing small quantities of hashish,and Corrado of dispensing mari-juana . Sheehan is charged withpossession of cocaine and is ac-cused of trying to buy the drug.

DePascale would not com-ment on to whom the drugs werebeing sold, but said the in-vestigation is continuing. Allthree have been suspended, ac-cording to city fire officials.

Michael Coppinger, theHoboken police officer whomDePascale said tipped off thefirefighters to the investigation,was suspended yesterday after-noon without pay, according topolice Chief George CrimminsSr.

In the other indictments:QJohn Hampton, 48, the assis-

tant register of deeds and mort-gages for Hudson County, is ac-cused of stealing quarters froma copy machine at the Adminis-tration Building in Jersey Cityevery day for five years whilehis supervisor was on a break.DePascale said Hampton, whoearns more than $25,000 in hisjob, could have made off with asmuch as $100,000, but stole atleast $60,000. The supervisorcould not be reached for com-ment.

(Nicholas Esposito, 35, a Jer-sey City police officer, is ac-cused of accepting $100 from amotorist in exchange for ignor-ing a traffic violation. De-Pascale said the motorist, whensolicited for the bribe, told theofficer he would return with themoney in an hour. He returnedwith bills marked by the Prose-cutor's Office.

"I never said you had to be arocket scientist to be a police of-ficer," DePascale said.

Esposito, an eight-year veter-an, has retained his job for nowbut his weapons have been con-fiscated, city police officialssaid.

OPaul D. Berman, another 35-year-old Jersey City police of-

ficer, has been suspended sinceAugust after his arrest on co-caine possession charges. Hewas named in an indictment yes-terday.

G Vincent Fego, 24, and CorrieSzatkiewicz, 22, off-dutyBayonne police officers moon-lighting as security guards atRobin's Reef Yacht Club, al-legedly beat Edward McGuinessof Brooklyn with 18-inch hard-plastic clubs after McGuinesstold them to keep away from hisdaughter. The officers then alsoarrested McGuiness and hiswife, Florence, and accusedthem of pimping for the daugh-ter, according to law enforce-ment sources. Those chargesare pending. The officers havenot been suspended.

UJames Ray Sr., 44, the act-ing deputy director of the JerseyCity Welfare Office, is chargedwith possession of cocaine andheroin. Arrested with him washis son Ray Jr., 25, and HonorioYont, 27. The son is accused inthe indictment of selling thedrugs, which included 3.5 ouncesof pure cocaine. DePascale saidYont wad a buyer.

n Police Officer Charles Donvbrowski, 37, of Union City, is ac-

cused of assaulting two motor-ists after their car was involvedin a traffic altercation with theofficer's van. He allegedly beatKhalad Bedaway and thenpointed his gun at him. Whentwo Jersey City police officersresponded, he told them to ar-rest Bedaway and a companion.Further investigation revealedthe two men had done nothingwrong. Union City's public safe-ty director, Bruce D. Walter,could not be reached for com-ment.

l Sarah Welborn, 47, an$U,000-a-year clerk in the coun-ty Treasurer's Office, is chargedwith laundering $60,000 in coun-ty funds through a phony bankset up by her boyfriend and thenspending the money to live in an$l,100-a~month North Brunswickapartment and make $26,000 indown payments on three luxurycars. She was suspended fromher job when she was arrested inJune.

DCalabrese, 52, Cappiello'campaign aide, is charged withvoting under her married andmaiden names in six electionsdating back to 1984. She faces 18months in jail on each charge,and DePascale said the in-vestigation is continuing.

The prosecutor said that

evidence was gathered for manyof the indictments using videoand audio recorders. He said hebelieves the state has a "sofidcase" in each of the indictments.

The indictments remainedsealed until yesterday to pre-vent compromising ait in-vestigation into the Jersey CityPolice Department that resultedin three arrests Friday.

DePascale said all of thosenamed in the indictments will bearraigned tomorrow in SuperiorCourt.

quicker to adapt to the <By 1 p m , they were dancingwith their mops as they beganUK long process of drying outthe garage And as PSE&G officials and reporters visited thegarage in a steady succession,Araujo's daughter Myra light-heartedly documented the visitswith Polaroid snapshots

"I was thinking if it was nicerweather, I would have put on abathing suit and gone swimmingoutside," she said.

Throughout the city, peopleand businesses struggled tomaintain a similar business as-usual attitude about the breakIn some cases, that struggle wasunsuccessful, partiuclarlyamong some of the larger fac-tories which were shut downduring the crisis.

At General Foods' MaxwellHouse coffee plant on RiverDrive, production came to astandstill for eight to 12 hours.According to plant managerFrank Meegan, 400 laborers didlittle more than clean up theirposts during that time. The lossof production cost the plant$100,000 to $150,000, Meegansaid. He added that the coffeeplant was expected to pick upproduction last night.

St. Mary Hospital had waterfor bathing and drinking, but notfor making steam to sterilizesurgical instruments. Accordingto spokesman Ed Capparucci,the hospital was able to rely onreserve supplies of sterile in-struments yesterday. However,all but critical surgeries werepostponed during the watercrisis.

At schools, meanwhile, educa-tion officials were able to avoidcancellation of classes, a situ-ation which delighted them butdisappointed students who had

SftS ? f an early end t0 ^eschool day.

"We were hoping it was can-celed," said Clara Rios, 17 asenior at Hoboken High School"It's not fair."

REACTIONCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Hobokenfreezeordered

7.25M cut OK'din school budget

? .25M cut OK'din school budget

the

•y CtflMSTOPHER AVEStaff Writer

HOBOKEN—In the wake ofrecent Wall Street jitters. MayorThomas F. Vezzetti yesterdayordered a freeze on promotionsin the Police and Fire depart-ments.

The heads of the two depart-ments, however, said the im-mediate effect of Vezzetti's ac-tion would be minimal.

Police Chief George CrimminsSr. said he was not aware of anyscheduled promotions in nearfuture. Fire Chief James Hounsaid the next scheduled promo-tion is not until Feb. 1 of nextyear, when two deputy firechiefs are expected to retire.

Both officials said they ex-pected the freeze to be lifted bythen.

In a letter to the City Councildeclaring the freeze, Vezzetticited ongoing arbitration be-tween the city and various un-ions of the two departments overa new contract. He also listedthe "volatile effects on WallStreet."

"I have instructed the directorof the department of law to re-frain from approving any pro-motions until the affects of arbi-tration and the volatile effectson Wall Street are analyzed,"the letter states.

The action follows resolutionspassed by the City Council lastweek which relax Tables of Or-ganization for the two depart-ments. The tables require cer-tain upper-level staff reductionsin the two departments; thecouncil decided to allow the re-ductions to be fulfilled by volun-tary retirements instead of bydemotions.

By Bill Campbell

The Hoboken City Counciland the Board of Educationhave approved a $1.25 millioncut settlement of the disputedschool budget, ending a five-month battle..

The board and council, inseparate closed door meetings,ratified the agreement lateMonday. The action will likelyend a budget dispute which be-gan last May when the councilmandated that the board trimits $26 million 1987-1988 spend-ing plan by $3 million, officialssaid.

The agreement wasreached in Newark Friday af-ter three days of intensive ne-gotiations before state Admin-istrative Law Judge WardYoung.

The settlement is stillpending approval by Young

and state Education Commis-sioner Saul Cooperman. Offi-cials said final approval is ex-pected within 45 days.

The cuts to this year'sschool budget will be reflectedin the 1988-1989 fiscal year, ac-cording to City Business Ad-ministrator Ed Chius, but justhow is unclear.

The council had recom-mended that the board reduceits budget by reducing staff andclosing two schools. The boardargued the increase was neces-sary to offest the loss of statefunding.

Anthony Curko, schoolbusiness administrator, said hewill meet with School Superin-tendent Walter Fine this weekto develop a plan to implementthe cuts He said it was "unlike-ly" that the board would agree

See $1 25M — Page 26.

Continued from Page 1to close a school duringcurrent fiscal year.

"We arc caught between arock and a hard place," Curkosaid. "The city says our budgetis too big and will hurt taxpay-ers and the state's Level 3 re-port says we have to implementchanges." Curko said the sys-tem will have to spend moneyto follow recommendations inthe report.

The school system hasfailed to attain state certifica-tion the past three years and isunder Level 3 monitoring bythe state

Concerning the budget set-tlement. Curko said, "We arepleased with the outcome Wewould not have been able tocontinue the school year withthe entire $3 million cut."

The agreement is seen as asmall victory for the schoolboard which was deadlocked inearlier negotiations with theCity Council.

Both sides were reportedly

$1 million apart, with the coun-cil refusing to accept less thana $2 million cut.

"1 was surprised by thecompromise," said City CouncilPresident Pat Pasculli. "How-ever, on the advice of (Law Di-rector) William Graves, we de-cided it would have been toomuch of a gamble not to accept.

Graves, the governingbody's chief negotiator, saidhis side had few options; agreeto the settlement or risk all thecuts during the lengthy stateappeal process.

"Had the council not ac-cepted the settlement, we'dlikely be in the next fiscal yearbefore resolving this budget,"Graves said.

City voters rejected theboard's budget by a 3-to-l mar-gin last April, promting thecouncil to make the cuts. Thebudget would have increasedthe amount to be raisedthrough local taxes from $9 mil-lion to $12 million for the cur-rent fiscal year.

In Jersey City, Mayor An-thony R. Cucci called the news"disheartening," but said itstrengthened the case for an out-side review of the Police Depart-ment. Cucci has hired Patrick V.Murphy, a former New YorkCity police commissioner, toconduct such a review, over theobjections of some city officials.

Hoboken City CouncilwomanHelen Cunning said she wouldconsider supporting a move tobring in an outside consultant asJersey City did.

"I have no problem withbringing someone in from out-side to investigate," Cunningsaid. "I think our departmentscould use a little help."

Cucci said that withoutchanges, public confidence inthe police will be eroded andgood police officers will feel"like they're on the wrongballteam."

Police Director WalterAdams, reached at a police con-vention in Toronto, said thecases of Officers NicholasEsposito and Paul Berman arewell known, adding that Bermanhad been suspended followinghis arrest in August on chargesof cocaine possession. Esposito,charged with trying to extort$100 from a motorist in ex-change for ignoring a traffic vio-lation, was not suspended as oflast night.

Chief of Patrol Raymond V.Blasczak said Esposito had beenthe object of investigationsbefore , but dec l ined toelaborate. But he said top policeofficials were "shocked" at thecharges against Berman. abugler who performed at manypolice cermonies.

In Hoboken, Mayor Thomas F.Vezzetti said the Fire and Police

departments were fortunate tofind that only four officials werecharged.

"First of all, they are not guil-ty until proven so," Vezzettisaid. "Beyond that, 1 think thatit is a very, very low number intoday's promiscuous world."

Hoboken officials facing 10year prison sentences on variouscharges filed yesterday are: fireCapt. John Lisa, a 15-year de-partment veteran charged withpossession and distribution ofmarijuana; acting fire Capt.Ralph Corrado, a six-year fire-fighter charged with possessionand distribution of hashish;Firefighter Mark Sheehan, atwo-year veteran charged withpossession of cocaine; and po-lice Officer Michael Coppinger,charged with official miscon-duct.

Fire Chief James Houn saidnone of the Fire Departmentemployees had previous recordsfor drug-related offenses, andsaid none had entered the de-partment's drug-abuse treatment program, run by the Jer-sey City Fire Department.

City Police Chief GeorgeCrimmins Sr. said he had nocomment on the indictments orany ongoing investigations.

In Union City, police told a re-porter that the assault andweapons charges against Po-liced Office Charles M. Dom-browski were trumped up.

Several officers, who spokeonly on the condition that theynot be identified, said the lawmade it too easy to file assaultcharges against police.

Public Safety CommissionerBruce D. Walter said Dombrowski was charged in an off-duty incident in Jersey City in-volving alleged misuse of hisfirearm.

4 cops, 3 firemen freed after arraignmentBy Raul Vicente Jr.

Four policeman and threefighters were released yesterday ontheir own recognizance after arraign-ment in Superior Court on chargesthey violated the public trust. Thecharges stem from two separate casesin Hoboken and Bayonne.

Two other suspects, who ap-peared and were charged before Su-perior Court Judge Maurice Walsh,are being held in bail and two otherswere carried over and given new ar-raignment dates pending finalizationof paperwork required by the courts.A warrant was issued for another sus-pect already in the Manhattan Correctional Facility in New York.

A total of 12 Hudson County resi-*• o xlents, mostly police, firemen and pub-

fire- lie officials, were to appear yesterdayafter sealed grand jury indictmentsagainst them were released Tuesdayby Hudson County Prosecutor PaulDePascale. The indictments were allunrelated.

Acting Captain Ralph Corrado.Captain John Lisa and Mark Sheehan,all Hoboken firemen, were each re-leased on a $10,000 recognizancebond. Corrado was charged with pos-session and distribution of hashish.Lisa was charged with possession anddistribution of marijuana, and Shee-han was charged with possession ofcocaine and attempting to buy thedrug.

Hoboken policeman Michael Cop-pinger, 30, was released on a $10,000recognizance bond and charged withofficial misconduct. Coppinger alleg-edly tipped off firefighters to the pros-ecutors' investigation.

In an unrelated case, Bayonne po-licemen Corrie Szatkiewicz. 22.Charles Dombrowski, 37, and VincentFego. 24. were also released on$10,000 recognizance bonds. Szat-kiewicz and Fego are each chargedwith aggravated assault, official mis-conduct, unlawfull possession of aweapon and conspiracy to commit of-ficial misconduct. Dombrowski ischarged with aggravated assault, pos-session of a weapon for unlawfull pur-poses and official misconduct.

Paul D. Berman, 35. a Jersey Citypoliceman charged with possession ofcocaine and official misconduct, wasordered held on $10,000 bond or $1.000cash bail in a separate case.

In yet another of the cases, JamesRay Jr., son of the former acting depu-ty director of the Jersey City Welfareoffice, was ordered held on $3,300 bailon charges of possession of cocaineand possession with the intent to dis-tribute cocaine.

Former acting deputy welfare di-rector James Ray Sr. was chargedalong with his son with possession of3.5 ounces of pure cocaine. Rays ar-raignment was carried over for oneweek.

Nicholas Anthony Esposito, 35, a

Jersey City cop. was charged with at-tempting to extort $100 from a motor-ist, also in a separate case. Espositowas not arraigned yesterday becausehis paperwork had not beencompleted.

Honorio Yont. 27, who was pickedup by Jersey City police in a raid atRay's home, was described by theprosecutor as a buyer. He was notpresent at his arraignment yesterdaybecause he is being held at the Man-hattan Correctional Facility in NewYork. However, Walsh ordered a war-rant for his arrest to insure his returnto Jersey City if he is released Yontwas already out on bail from a munici-pal arraignment held just after hisarrest.

WILLOW

Hoboken underwaterJ O H N F £ T R I C K

Pipe rupture leavesmany residents dry

• « JEFFREY RUBINf Writer

Hi " morn-ing v e leftVirtually aii ttie i .dentsand many of its bu <> withlittle or no water lor severalhours yesterdm while officialsconducted a hectic search forthe valve to turn the water off.

The break at Willow Avenueand 14th Street, which occurredat 5 a.m. and Wed millions ofgallons of water until the shutoff valve was found at noon, isthe fourth here since July 1986and the third since January onWillow Avenue between 14th and16th streets

Like the previous bursts, yes-terday's flooded local estab-lishments and tied up trafficfrom the Lincoln Tunnel inWeehawken and the HollandTunnel in Jersey City. Even af-ter the break was isolated, thepipe shut down, and water pres-

sure restored to most of the city,police continued to direct trafficaway from the broken asphalton Willow Avenue. A policespokesman said yesterday thatrerouting was expected to con-tinue throughout the night.

Unlike the previous pipebreaks, however, yesterday's in-cident confounded officials atthe Public Works and Water departments for hours, prolonginga situation that saw the citywaste as much icy water as itsdenizens actually used yester-day morning

According to Roy Haack, thedirector of public works, inaccurate maps of the city's under-gound water system was one ofseveral obstacles his 20-manwork crew confronted as itscoured roads from 11th to 16thstreets, and from Willow Avenueto the edge of the Hudson River,looking for the source of the

Please s«e BREAK Page 14Water rushes along Clinton end 14 th streets in Hoboken after a water main break ve;Willow Avenue. DOM M< • , •

txrdey on nearbyTl<* HUDSON DISPATCH

Jimmy Araujo tries to sweep away some of the water that flooded the Ara..,., ,.. „ and Brake Corp. onWillow Avenue in Hoboken after a nearby water main break as P. J . Lopez moves some equipment todrier quarters. The water there filled a 9-foot compartment in the floor in which mechanics stand to dorepair* under cars. DON M c c o v T H E HUDSON DISPATCH

Vick Lucatorto, kneeling, and two other Hoboken workers, attempt to shut off water gushing from aburst main at 14th Street end Willow Avenue yesterday. AP LASERPHOTO

BREAKCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

gushing water."We're trying to shut the

gates down and isolate thisthing," said Haack, who wascalled in to handle the emer-gency only minutes after thebreak apparently occurred.

The search went on so longthat the city, which normallydraws 9 million gallons of waterfrom a Morris County reservoir,went through 18 million gallons,according to Tom Neilan, waterdirector for neighboring JerseyCity. Water pressure dropped bymore than 33 percent, leavingresidents of some highrises dry.

According to a Fire Depart-ment spokesman, several truckscarrying 500-gallon water re-serves patrolled the city duringthe crisis, keeping the city pre-pared in the event of a fire.

Also, school officials heldmeetings to decide whether ornot to close the schools in the af-ternoon Although the schoolsremained open. Mayor ThomasF. Vezzetti declared a state of

. emergency, calling upon resi-

dents and officials to cooperateduring the crisis.

Haack, who joined the searchfor the valve and looked on ashis men popped a succession ofmanhole covers, said the work-ers also stumbled across a half-dozen inoperative water valvesand water gates designed tostem or reroute the flow of waterduring such emergencies. Hesaid he does not know how thedamage occurred, but ruled outvandalism.

The appropriate shut-off valvefinally was located at 13th Streetand Bloomfield Avenue. Shortlyafter the flow of water to the 14thStreet break was halted, work-ers from the Department of Pub-lic Works moved in to excavatethe gutter and get to the rup-tured pipe. Haack said he is notyet certain which of three mainsruptured — a 30-inch main, a 16-inch main, or an 8-inch one. Healso did not know how long re-pairs would take.

As the rupture was isolatedand later excavated, work crewsdrew an occasional audience of

residents and workers fromsome of the nearby industrialplants, which were shut downthroughout the seven-hourcrisis.

"We're shut down until we getwater," said an employee fromthe Maxwell House coffee planton River Drive.

In many respects, yesterday'sincident was a re-enactment of aJan. 7 water main break a blocknorth of the most recent rupture.A week later, a second, less seri-ous burst at nearly the same lo-cation created traffic dis-turbances, although no waterservice was disrupted.

During the past several years,Hudson County has cited thiscity for wasting hundreds ofthousands of dollas in water rev-enues a year, partly because offrequent leaks. There have beendozens of breaks, both major inminor, throughout the city dur-ing the past decade, contribut-ing to the city's high expen-ditures on water and water-main repairs.

On a midnightdark and dreary

( ontinuod fromto yet to the '"cave," where anendless spring offered crystal-pure drinking water.

Somr even believed thewater held medicinal proper-ties, and crowds would gatherdaily for a taste of its magic.

More than 150 years later,there are no crowds. . there isno crystal spring . there isn'teven any cave. Just cliffs dottedwith empty soda cans, the usualHour and eggs of mischiefnight, and the Maxwell HouseCoffee plant a little down theroad.

But if the maps wore right, Iwas standing right where thecave once was . .. and rightwhere Mary was beaten, stran-gled with a piece of lace fromher undergarment, bound anddragged a few yards into theHudson River on July 25, 1841

The mysterious slaying ofthis 19-year-old femmo fatalhas inspired much conjectureby historians and crime buffs.

Most notedly, this Hobokenhorror tale served as the inspi-ration for Edgar Allan Poe'sshort story. "The Mystery ofMarie Roget."

As a tractor trailor zoomedby the "cave," stirring up acloud of dirt, my eyes traced apjith from the cliff over to thewater's edge und I imagined Ihad been there when it hap-pened.

Who killed Mary Rogers?Was it her lover Daniel

Payne?Was it the naval officer she

once eloped with, who then jilt-ed her at the last minute?

Was it the wealthy tobaccostore owner who employedMary as a counter girl, a manwho used Mary's good looks toattract business?

Was it her mother, infuriat-ed to learn of Mary's abortion?

Or, could it conceivablyhave been Edgar Allan Poehimself, as some havetheorized?

Mary, the daughter of awidow who ran a Manhattanboarding house on NassauStreet, told her mother she wasgoing to visit an aunt oneSunday.

Her fiancee. Payne, wouldescort her back home safely,she assured her mom.

Because of a violent thun-,derstorm. Payne never kept hisappointment to pick Mary up.

Several days went by withno sign of the young woman . . .until the following Wednesday.

Several fishermen discov-ered a woman's body floatingoff Hoboken. her face battered.She had been choked by apiece of lace from her under-wear, her wrists revealed cor Jburns, her clothing was ripped,her dress tied about her waistlike a sling so that the bodycould be dragged. Evidencealso suggested she had beenraped.

Her mother made a hastyidentification of the body andquickly arranged for burial toavoid a scandal.

But a young and rumor-hungry press learned of themurder and triggered a mas-sive — though clumsy — policeinvestigation.

The immediate suspect wasPayne, but he provided severalverified alibis and was re-leased.

Strangely enough, howev-er, the dead girl's fiancee com-mitted suicide by taking poi-son. A note he left behinddeclared his love for Mary andhis unwillingness to go on with-out her.

An innkeeper from Hobo-ken told police she saw a dark-colored gentleman and a younglady at her place that night.They had some refreshments,left and entered the woods atElysian Fields

A short time later, accord-ing to the innkeeper, a group oftroublemakers came to the innfor drinks, then left withoutpaying their bill. She saw thementer the woods by the samepath.

A little later, she said sheheard a scream.

Several months after themurder, some children playingnear the fields found Mary'sparasol, her initialed handker-chief and white petticoat nearSybil's Cave.

Broken bushes and foot-prints suggested a struggle. Po-lice also found a trail in thedirt leading to the river, indi-cating the body probably wasdragged along that path fromthe cave.

Police concluded that ugroup of thugs abducted Rog-ers. But there was never anydefinitive proof in the case,and it has remained openended.

Poe, in his short story, coneluded that the naval officerMary once planned on marrying was the killer.

Raymond Paul, author ofthe book "Who Murdered MaryRogers?" concluded it wasPayne. His theory was thatPayne arranged for Mary tohave an abortion, and was thensummarily (lumped by his loverupon her return. The result: aheat-of-the-moment argumentthat led to murder.

Author Irving Wallace, inhis book "The Kabul us Origi-nals. " suspected Mary's moth-er He theorized that Mrs. R< g-ers employed Mary "for thepleasure of her guests" at theboarding house, and that sheinsisted on the fatal abortion.

Some have speculated thatthe corpse found floating downthe river wasn't even Mary atall . . .

So then who did it? Whokilled Mary Rogers?

The egg yoke was harden-ing on my windshield . . . an NJTransit bus beeped at me forstanding where there was nosidewalk . . . a traffic helicop-ter whirled its way toward theWest Side Highway . . . it was1987 . . i t was getting late . . .much too late to be looking forany clues.

REPORTER'SJOURNAL

Does the solution to the mysterious murder of MaryRogers lurk in the shadows of Sybil's Cave in Hoboken. . .

or does her restless spirit find shelter in its depths?

On a midnightdark and dreary

It was Halloween eve and I stood at the legendarymurder scene .. the wind howled through the trees atopthe Hoboken cliffs .. . the sky was a foreboding gray .. . eggyoke dripped down my windshield.

I scanned the awesome Palisades leading down toSybil's Cave, where it all happened one dismal night in1841. From a distance I heard sonic rustling, some jingling.a bit of haunting laughter Could it be the Ghost of MaryRogers?

A daring walk around the bend of Frank Sinatra Driverevealed no apparitions. Just four Steven's Tech co-edsgetting their pictures taken against the cliffs, their hairdyed purple and standing on end in punk rock tradition.Halloween costumes, I guess.

Then again, maybe not.The styles and sites have changed since pretty Mary

Rogers' beaten, blackened, disfigured corpse was druggedfrom this picturesque nook tucked away on the waterfrontbelow Castle Point.

In Mary's day, people would line up along the cliffside

See ON A MIDNK.HT — Page «.

Hightide in

HobokenWater gushes through th» streets

ond surges around a manholeafter a 30-tnch transmission mam

at (be bate of the 14th StreetViaduct in Hoboken erupted

yesterday morning. M&tofis ofgallons spewed on* of * e W- «0

100-year-old main beforeworkers located rhe shvtorf valvesome « * hours after t*»e 5:30 a.m.

break. Traffic M H disruptedthroughout the area and at

Lincoln Tunnel approaches ondhomes ond businesses, includingseveral major industries, did not

have water pressure restoreduntil e*»nina. {Story on Paae 14.)

Photo, by M»* W^iS.

Must the public be protectedfrom the public's protectors?Bayonne Hoboken Cops, firemen indicted Jersey Gfy Union City

Two Bayonne police offi-cers have been indicted oncharges they assaulted a 49-year-old man who preventedthem from picking up hisdaughter at a bar.

Officers Vincent Fego andCorrie Szatkiewicz have beencharged with conspiracy tocommit official misconduct.three counts of official misconduct, four counts of aggravatedassault and two counts of un-lawful possession and use of aweapon.

Neither officer, however,will be suspended from theforce, said Public Safety Direc-tor Joseph M Pelliccio

The incident occurred onAug. 16, according Jo HudsonCounty Prosecutor Paul DePas-cale, when the officers wereworking off-duty as bouncers atRobin's Heef Yacht Club inBayonne

The officers allegedly as-saulted Edward McGuinnessand his wife Florence, both olBrooklyn, with hard rubbersticks known as blackjacks

According to officials,McGuinness s daughter went

See BAYONNE — Page 22.

A Hoboken police officerand three firefighters were in-dicted on charges relating todrugs

Police Officer Michael Cop-pinger was charged with offi-cial misconduct charges for al-legedly passing alongconfidential police informa-tion in July to a person be-lieved to be connected to co-caine trafficking in Hoboken.

The officer allegedly pro-vided the license plate numberused by an undercover policevehicle conducting surveil-lance on the suspect, accordingto Hudson County ProsecutorPaul DePascale.

Coppinger, 30, faces a max-imum jail term of 10 years ifconvicted.

Acting Fire Captain RalphCorrado was charged with pos-session and distribution ofhashish; Firefighter MarkSheehan was charged with pos-session and distribution ofmarijuana; and Captain JohnLisa was charged with poses-sion and attempted possessionof cocaine Each charge carriesa five-year maximum sentence.

See HOBOKEN — Page 22.

Stories by John Petrick with J lUpcbains and Maureen Nolan

"The public confidence in the ability of law enforcement hasto be upheld."

With those words, Hudson County Prosecutor Paul M DePas-cale yesterday revealed the indictments of public safety officersin Bayonne, Hoboken. Jersey City and Union City on an assort-ment of charges including drug possession, aggravated assaultand official misconduct

The indictments, which DePascale said were all in unrelatedcases, were handed up by the Hudson County Grand Jury lastWednesday but sealed until yesterday.

• Two Bayonne police officers were indicted on charges theyassaulted a 49-year-old man who prevented them from picking uphis daughter at a bar

• A Hoboken police officer was indicted on official miscon-duct charges after he allegedly warned other individuals that thepolice were about to discover narcotics activity.

• Three Hoboken firemen were indicted on drug charges inan unrelated ease.

Hoboken and Jersey City officials react — Page 19.

• A Jersey City police officer was charged with possession ofcocaine and official misconduct stemming from his arrest onthose charges Aug 28

• Another Jersey City police officer was indicted after alleg-edly soliciting $100 from a motorist in return for not issuing him amoving violation summons.

• A Union City police officer was charged with aggravatedassault, possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes andofficial misconduct after he allegedly attacked a van driver whileoff-duty in Jersey City.

See 11 COPS AND FIREFIGHTERS — Page « .

A Jersey City police offi-cers was indicted on drug andofficial misconduct chargesand another was indicted onextortion and official miscon-duct charges

Officer Paul D Berman. 35.was charged with possession otcocaine and official miscon-duct stemming from his arreston those charges Aug 28

The grand jury charged theofficer with official misconductbecause he allegedly failed toreport or investigate violationsof narcotics laws.

In a separate indictment.Officer Nicholas AnthonyEsposito, 35, was charged withallegedly soliciting $100 from amotorist in return for not issu-ing him a moving violationsummons.

The officer allegedlypulled the motorist over nearthe Holland Tunnel on May 22,telling the driver he would notissue a summons if he werepaid.

The motorist, according toDePascale, then told the offi-cer he would think about it andget back to him.

See JERSEY CIT\ — Page 22.

Union City Police OfficerCharles Dumbrowski was in-dicted on charges of aggravat-ed assault, possession of aweapon for unlawful purposesand two counts of official mis-conduct after he allegedly at-tacked another driver in JerseyCity

The charges stem from amotor vehicle incident at Jour-nal Square in Jersey City onJune 14 Dumbrowski, whileoff-duty, was reportedly driv-ing a van when he was cut off bymotorist Khalad Bedaway

As Bedaway tried to park,the defendant allegedly got outof the van and attacked himand Adel Mahmoud. a passen-ger The officer also allegedlypulled his gun on the victims.

Jersey City police arrivedon the scene, and Dumbrowskifiled disorderly personscharges against the two men.

"He (Dumbrowski) wasclearly the aggressor," DePas-cale said.

If convicted, the officerfaces a maximum 10-year jailterm for aggravated assault,five years on the weaponscharge and 10 years for eachcount of official misconduct.

Vezzetti OKs police, fire staffing/By Bill Campbell

Hoboken Mayor ThomasVezzetti yesterday signed intolaw the City Council's amend-ments to the tables of organiza-tion for the Police and Firedepartments, ending nearly aweek of speculation that hewould veto the measures.

Upon signing the ordi-nances, Vezzetti announcedthe city will institute a freezeon all promotions within thedepartments until financial

Veto by mayor had been fearedand contractural uncertaintiesare resolved.

The controversial tables oforganization were approvedlast November as a means ofwarding off a budget shortfallin the 1986 fiscal year and re-ducing the ratio of officers tosuperiors in both departments.

The ordinances, which

were scheduled to take effectJan. 1, 1988. set limits on thenumber of personnel by rank inthe departments. The mea-sures were strongly opposed byPolice and Fire personnel whoclaimed the freeze on promo-tions would damage moral.

The amendments were pro-posed last month by the coun-

cil's subcommittee on publicsafety, which concluded that asufficient reduction has oc-cured this year throughattrition.

The council last Wednes-day approved amendments tothe ordinances which wouldpromote two fire captians tothe rank of deputy chief and

raise the ceiling on the mini-mum number of police cap-tains and sergeants.

As recently as Wednesday,Vezzetti said he was undecidedabout whether he would vetothe legislation which raises thenumber of ranking officers inthe departments. His top aid,Laurie Fabiano, said earlier

this week the odds were 50-50that the mayor would sign thelaw.

Administration officialswanted to hold off any amend-ments to the measures untilafter all police union negotia-tions have concluded.

"We wanted to see what thefinancial ramifications of thenew contracts will be beforemaking any changes," saidBusiness Administrator Edwin

See VKZZETTI — Page 20.

Hoboken water main break!dampens seven-Klock area •

Vezzetti approvescop, fire staffing

By Dominick Calicchio

P.J. Lopez of Hobokencouldn't believe his eyes yesterday as he stepped across sixrusty tire rims leading from themiddle of Willow Avenue to thesidewalk.

"It's like "The Bridge Overthe River Kwai'," he said,jumping to avoid the waterrushing below his feet.

Lopez was on his way tojoin some friends at AraujoTires & Brakes Inc., 1414 Wil-low Ave., who were left strand-ed when a water main eruptedat 5:30 a.m., less than half ablock away.

Roy Haack, the city's direc-tor of Public Works, said a 30-inch transmission main brokeat the base of the 14th StreetViaduct. Workers finally foundthe valve connected to themain at noon, he said, but bythen six hours had elapsed and"millions of gallons" hadflowed through the streets.

The break affected homesand businesses in a seven-block radius, Haack said, andforced shutdowns at the Max-well House coffee plant. StahlSoap Corp., United States Testing Co. and American CoffeeSystems Inc.

Traffic was also severelyaffected. The thousands of carsthat stream down the viaducteach day from Jersey CityHeights and Union City had al-ready been hindered since thesummer by viaduct construc-tion. The road was cut to onelane each way instead of two.

Yesterday cars headed forthe Lincoln Tunnel were de-toured by traffic cops stationedat Willow and Park avenuesHolland Tunnel police said itwas difficult to discern any no-ticeable difference in theamount of cars approachingthe tunnel this morning.

"The access roads throughHoboken may have been badbut once they got here it was anormal rush hour for us," saidan officer.

Many smaller businesses,like Araujo, however, wereforced to close.

"I feel I could cry." saidowner Iris Araujo. "I got about50 calls from customers today. Ilost a lot of money. The pit for

m A Public WorksDepartment employ—

Wt slowly closet the van*,w photo left, to reveal the

cracked and brokenpavement above theleak.Photos by Moft Wyvile

Continued from Page 1Chius, the city's chiefnegotiator.

A mayoral decision to vetothe ordinances would likelyhave created a major rift be-tween the council and Vezzetti.Several councilmen said theyhad the six votes necessary tooverride the veto.

After signing the measuresVezzetti said he had no com-ment about reports his deci-sion was based on intensivelobbying efforts by public safe-ty employees.

Vezzetti said he decided tosign the ordinances on the ad-vice of Chius and Law and Pub-lic Safety Director WilliamGraves.

"There is no necessity tomake any promotions." Vez-zetti said.

"These ordinances leavethe moves at the discretion ofBill Graves," he said.

Vezzetti, in a statement tothe City Council, said he had"reservations" about signingthe measures, but stressedthere was no mandate to actu-ally promote personnel. Hesaid no moves would be madeuntil the effects of contract ar-bitration and the "volatile cri-s is" on Wall Street a reanalyzed.

Chius said he favors reduc-tion in rank in the departmentsthrough attrition rather thandemotion.

He said the tables had ac-complished their goal of reduc-tion in rank in both depart-ments and believes demotingpolice officers would be "hu-miliating to the men.

Indictmentsstun officialsin 2 citiesBy Bill Campbell

Despite rumors of a wide-spread prosecutors investiga-tion of the Hoboken Police andFire departments, local offi-cals said they were surprisedwith the indictments of fourpublic safety officials.

In Jersey City, where twopolice officers were indictedon unrelated charges, one wassuspended and one remainedon duty

Hoboken Police Officer Mlchad Coppinger, Fire CaptainJohn Lisa, Acting Fire CaptainKulph Corrado and FirefighterMark Sheehan were indictedon drug and misconductcharges.

Jersey City Police OfficerPaul Berman was indicted onpossession of cocaine and offi-cial misconduct charges Po-lice Officer Nicholas Espositowas indicted on a charge ofsoliciting $100 from a motoristin return for not issuing him amoving violation. I

"Anytime a law enforce-ment officer is indicted it's asurprise," said Hoboken PublicSafety Director WilliamGraves. He said the men havebeen suspended without paypending the outcome

City officials becameaware of the investigation lastmonth after a source in theprosecutors office said a "ma-jor sweep " of the police andfire departments was under-way According to the source,as many as 15 indictments wereforthcoming as a result of anongoing investigation that alsoinvolved the FBI.

Graves said he did notknow if more indictments werepending or if they were relatedto the much rumored probe, idon't know anymore than any-one else. 1 just received aphone call but no formal notifi-cation," he said

Police Chief George Crim-mins said he could not com-ment on the indictments andreferred questions to the pros-ecutor's office. He said Cop-pinger was suspended at 12:40p.m. when the papers wereserved.

Fire Chiel'James Houn wasunavailable to comment, butlust month said he had 'suspi-cions" of drug use on the force.Another fire official said thedepartment would not com-ment on the indictments.

Jersey City Chief of PatrolRaymond Blasczak said, "Thiscomes as a shock, and wegrieve. It's bad news for anylaw enforcement agency."

11 cops and firefighters indictedBayonne

the wheel alignment is full ofwater."

Small signs in the dark-ened front and side windows ofthe Bloomfield Launderette at10th and Bloomfield streetssimply read, "No Water."

At the Harbor, a drug andalcohol rehabilitation centeron Clinton Avenue, HenriettaGrover. the director of nursing,was concerned there wouldn'tbe enough water to performmedical tests. Workers therespent much of the morning fill-

ing buckets with water to beused to flush toilets.

"These pipes here, everytime you turn around they'rebreaking," said Grover.

Haack said Hoboken's "an-cient' water system is to blamefor the break Most pipes in thesystem are from 80 to 100 yearsold, he said. City officials haveestimated it would cost tens ofmillions of dollars to make ade-quate repairs.

Water levels were restoredto full pressure last evening.

Continued from Page 1up to the bar for a drink whenthe off-duty officers made ad-vances toward her.

McGuinness then reported-ly instructed his daughter tokeep away from the defen-dants, at which time they alleg-edly assaulted him.

To cover up the incident,the officers are accused offalsely arresting McGuinnesson charges of simple assaultand resisting arrest, both disor-derly persons offenses adjudi-cated on a municipal level.

The defendants also allegedly filed a false report justify-ing their actions.

According to a high-rank-ing source, the officers claimedthat McGuinness was pimpingforthe young woman.

DePascale said theMcGuinness was "severelykicked and beaten." Officialscould not confirm the extent ofhis injuries.

The investigation waslaunched after the victimswent to the prosecutor's officewith their story.

Fego, 24, is a resident ofBayonne. Szatkiewicz, 22, livesin Branchville

If convicted, the two offi-cers face maximum jail termsof 10 years for each count ofofficial misconduct; five yearsfor each count of conspiracy;five years for each weapons

Continued from Page 1Though the incidents were unrelated, DePascale said the

drug charges all seemed "symptomatic of a larger problem."There is a real concern for public safety here," he said."When you have a man who is charged with saving lives and

has the right and obligation to carry firearms, and you combinethat with substance abuse, it's an extremely dangerous situtaionto the public," De Pascale said.

"Your judgment has to be sharp- You have to make split-second decisions. You obviously can't do that if your mind isblown on narcotics."

The indictments had been sealed, he said, so that news of thecharges would not interfere with the arrest of three Jersey Citynarcotics squad officers on Thursday.

"This is not an attempt to headhunt police officers," DePas-cale said. "We are not focusing on police as opposed to any otheraspect of the public trust."

charge; and 10 years for eachcount of aggravated assault.

Pellicrin «aid the officers,both of whom became membersof the department on Aug. 26,1985, will be relieved of patrolduty and placed in "non-sensi-tive posi t ions" at policeheadquarters.

William Dautrick, presi-dent of the Bayonne Police Be-nevolent Association, said themen must hire their own attor-neys because the union onlyprovides representation whendepartmental charges aremade against its members.

The city will have to footthe legal bill if the officers areacquitted; if they are foundguilty, however, Fego and Szat-kiewicz will have to pay theirlawyers, he said.

Police Chief James F. Sisk,said, "We have been aware oftheir (the Hudson County Pros-

ecutor's Office's) investigationand have conducted our owninternal affairs investigation,"he said. "We have cooperatedwith the the prosecutor's officeon this."

Sisk said it is important forthe public to be aware that theofficers "are presumed inno-cent at this point in time.

"These are allegations,charges in the indictment," hesaid. "They have not been con-victed of anything."

Jersey CifyContinued from Page 1

He then went to prosecu-tor's office and told investiga-tors what happened. The inves-tigators sent him back to theofficer with money to make thepayment while they observed itall from a distance. The motor-

ist reportedly made the pay-ment under police surveil-lance, according to DePascale.

"In a case like this, youhave to react quickly to what'shappening on the street. Thevictim simply came to us."

He noted that officers neednot issue summonses for motorvehicle violations on the spotbut can wait up to 48 hoursafter the incident.

The motorist was "an aver-age citizen" who had no con-nection with the prosecutor'soffice, DePascale said.

Esposito has been chargedwith official misconduct andtheft by extortion, and couldface a maximum 20-year prisonterm if convicted.

HobokenContinued from Page 1

Despite the suspicion thatsome of the drug activity wasconducted while on duty DePascale said official miscon-duct charges were not levelledagainst the firefighters be-,cause the amount of drugs wassmall and the defendants' official duties were not used toperpetrate the crime

^ e .K a 'nlr .r .U l c l not s*y toW1IU1II L1IV 111C.HJE

sold the drugs.All of the suspects will be

served summonses to appear incourt tomorrow r warraignment r

Vezzetti fumes at hiring ol attorneyTj '° '<*& V7 a d m i n i s t r a t . o n s c,l by the administration both opposed the Mayo Lyi

•uRiil Ca«l*«*» L a \ e t h e . a d I " ' " l S : r * _ J L Dnlike many other moves contract, which RaniBy Bill <

AOi, months of relatively-ood relations with the Hobo-S n O t v Council the admims-SSion of Mayor Thomas Vez/ett is bracing for anotherS U period wHh the city'stoD legislative body

P VeMi'tti. whose fragile co-alition controlled the councilfor nearly a year, said heoutraged and disgusted hatfee council hired a special at-torney to investigate mumcpacontracts prepared by hisadministration

The outburst, a reaction toThursday s council meeting isthe mayor's first public criti-cism of the council in manymonths The meeting alsoMarked the first time in nearlya vear the council has takendirect aim at theadministration

•By definition, fragilethings are intended to shatter,"Vezzetti's nemisis CouncilmanRobert Ranieri said of thecouncil coalition

At issue is the awading ofseveral professional servicecontracts for sludge removal atthe municipal sewage treat-ment plant and the council shiring of Frederick Woeckenerto investigate the pacts.

Woeckener is a former Vez-zetti administration law direc-tor who resigned, in part overpolicy differences with themayor and his staff He told thecouncil his new assigned wouldnot entail procecuting adminis-traton officials, but Vezzetti al-lies are skeptical

"Hiring a special attorneyis nothing but a witch hunt 'said Councilman Joe Delia

Fave, the administration smost vocal supporter on thecouncil 'This is nothing but afactional issue and it will turninto a kangaroo court"

The administration is up-set at the councils need to hirean attorney and the selection ofWoeckener Top administra-tion officials like mayoral as-sistant Laurie Fabiano see thehiring as politically motivated,while Vezzetti said he will re-fuse to sign paychecks.

Woeckener will be paid$125 an hour by the council toinvestigate contracts "our ownadministration showed inept-ness over by not looking into."Ranieri said

However, Law DirectorWilliam Graves said that despite some 'sloppy bookkeeping" on two contracts and antechincal error on another Hesaid he has conferred withstate officials on one contractand is baffled by Kanien salligations.

"These are all valid con-tracts and I assume that FredWoeckerner will come to theconclusion that 1 have It's justtoo bad it will cost the cityabout $5,000," he said

The contracts, awarded toA&B Trucking, Ozonics, Inc.Garden State Labratories andBoswell Engineering, are allrelated to sludge removal; frompretreatment to shipping thewaste byproduct to landfills

According to Ranieri. theadministration acted "improp-erly" for authorizing the workfor three of the contracts be-fore council authorization wasissued. Moreover, Raniericharged that the issue points toa "lackof respect" for the coun-

cil by the administrationUnlike many other moves

by the solidly anti administration Ranieri the council ma-jority . by a 5-to-2 vote, agreed tohire Woeckener The measurewas opposed by Delia Fave,and Councilman Thomas New-man, both administrat ionsupporters.

Councilwoman Helen Cun-ning and Councilman EdwinDuroy. both who have votedwith the Vezzetti coalition,were absent

Councilmembers Pat Pas-culli and Dave Roberts, keyswing votes in the coalition,voted with Ranieri to hireWoeckener

Roberts said his vote wasnot based on political manoevuring. but said he was not sat-isfied with the administration'shandling of the contracts "Ilistened to the debate and itsappears if there may be somewrongdoing and solid groundsfor hiring an attorney," he said

both opposed the Mayo Lynchcontract, which Ranierisupported

Mayo Lynch, which was thedesign engineer for the pro-posed secondary sewage treat-ment plant, was replaced byanother design firm aftermonths of litigation and mil-lions of dollars in law suits andenvironmental fines.

"Isn't it ironic that the contracts which are being lookedinto have to do with sewage,Delia Fave said And the peo-ple who are the targets, RoyHaack and Bill Graves, bothopposed Ranieri and MayoLynch "

He said he feared the coun-ciJ majority would "go on awitch hunt" and try to oust thetwo directors similianly to for-mer Environmental ServicesDirector Peter Alicandri whowas fired when he openly ob-jected to the Mayo Lynchcontract.

i object to the need to hire

Fire a tragedy for tenantsbut windfall for landlords

Latelast"year, after a state a special attorney <o resolveSuperior Court judge ruled a $2 this matter and their choice,million *_.. engineering contractawarded by the city to MayoLynch & Associates invalid ontechincal grounds, the city re-ratified numerious profession-al service pacts with similarerrors.

"There wasn't this scream-ing and yelling over the othercontracts," said Fabiano. "Thisis a total waste of money and Ihope the move em mates from(the council's) stupidity andnothing else."

She and Delia Fave saidthey feared the motive to hire aspecial attorney was to "getback" at Graves and PublicWorks Director Roy Haack who

Delia Fave said.He said he was not assured

that Woeckener would act ob-jectively since the attorneyonce was employed by MayoLynch to handle a Jersey Citysewage application

But Ranieri said the coun-cil discuss all grounds of anypossible conflicts during aclosed session and the "matterwas resolved to everyone's sat-isfaction ." He said Woeckenerwould function only as an advi-sor and defended the attorneyas "a much sought after indi-vidual who has demonstratedhe can work with both the ad-ministration and council."

B> Jim DeRogatisand Bill Campbell

A fire in two Hudson Streetbuildings seems to be pavingthe way for the legal displacement of 21 families

Fire damaged two buildings at 316 and 318 Hudson Sttwo weeks ago, claiming thelife of one woman. The firecould result in tragedy for theother families who live in thebuildings and a financial wind-fall for the buildings' owners,according to city officials andreal estate experts

Savitaben Amin. a 55-year-old woman died in the Oct. 20blaze, which damaged the common areas of 318 Hudson St.and caused smoke and waterdamage to 316 Hudson St.

Fire investigators blamedthe blaze on a faulty electricalsystem.

Local tenant advocatessaid the situation at 316 and 318Hujdson St. is a model of the

way a landlord can turn an ac-cidental fire to his advantageThe city is powerless to moni-tor the repair of fire-damagedbuildi ' fl Is can le-gally i i return-ing while ihey make repairs

Residents of the buildingsand some municipal officialscharged that the owners, Doro-thy Cappiello and Goya Mar-ciano, have been dragging theirfeet on repairs in an attempt todiscourage residents from re-turning Several realtors, whospoke on the condition theywould not be identified, saidthe buildings, if sold empty,could fetch as much us $2million

Councilman Steve Cap-piello, Dorothy s husband, andformer city attorney FrankMarciano. Goya's son, saidthere are no plans to sell tt)ebuildings Although DorothyCappiello and (Joya Marcianoown the buildings under thecorporation name of Mon-Tut,

the councilman and the attor-ney have t - spokes-men for th >n

Cappiello s the res-idents, of 318 St willnot be allowed back into thebuilding until major repairsare completed, which he saidmay take as lon^ us 18 monthsHe is also attempting to con-vince city officials to block theresidents of 316 from st.»\ ing inthe building, claiming that thesame electrical problem thatcaused the fire in 318 couldplague its sister tenement

During a meeting with thetenants at City Hall last Monday. Cappiello and Marcianosaid work in the buildingwould take us long as 18 monthsto complete Cappiello said hehas no idea how long the re-

pairs will take because "I'venever filed an insurance claimbefore '

But Laurie Fabiano. execu-

Se« * IRK — Pag* ••

28 murders by arson still unsolvedContinued from Page 1had one "Not bad for a Mile-Squurc City," said Deputy FireChief Richard Tremitiedi.

Many of the buildings dam-aged by fire were convertedinto condominiums or rehabili-tated into luxury housing short-ly alter the flames chased ten-ants out. The question remains:were the fires caused by gentri-fication and soaring real estatevalues, or were there other fac-tors at work'.'

Arson for Profit?Por La tiente (For the Peo-

ple), a Hoboken communitygroup that formed to combatthe wave of fires, released astudy in 1982 that concludedthat 'there is a high correla-tion between major fires whichdisplace and sometimes killtenants and conversion ofthose properties intocondominiums '

Hine. a former New Yorkarson investigator who becameinvolved with Por La Gente,said Hoboken property ownerswho were victims of fire had a"double payoff They collectedthe insurance money, and thenthey sold their buildings, emp-ty of tenants, at a profit."

Ironically, the state's strictcondominium conversion lawsmay have spurred the fires be-cause they made it extremelydifficult for landlords to evicttenants without buying themout, Hine said.

A 1982 report by the arsoninvestigation squad of the fed-eral Bureau of Alcohol, Tobac-co and Firearms stated. "In thepast couple of years propertyvalues as well as rents haveskyrocketed in Hoboken. Thischange in the housing marketappears to have been accom-plished through a ruxh of majorfires

The ATF. which is reputedto have the most thorough ar-son investigators in the coun-try, probed several of Hobo-ken's worst fires, including anOctober 1981 blaze that killed11 people at 1200 WashingtonSt. und an April 1982 fire thatkilled 13 people at Pinter's Ho-tel. 151 14th St.

The services of an ATFteam were offered on the nightof the Pinter Hotel fire anddeclined by city safety offi-cials, according to the ATF re-port. But a nine-man team fromthe bureau began an investiga-tion shortly afterwards, settingup shop on the third floor ofCity Hall in May. 1982.

The investigators neverturned up enough evidence fora grand .jury indictment, how-ever, and the probe was closed"at a standstill in January.1983. according to the report-

While ATF believed thefires were arson for profit butlacked proof. Hoboken safetyofficials were quick to discountthe profit motive.

They strongly downplayedspeculation that the fires werearson for profit, and criticizedtenant groups for spreading thetheory They attributed thecause to vendettas against thetenants who lived in the build-ings, most of whom were poorHispanus

Arson for Revenge?-I'd give my n-hi ,,rm ,,,

know who set those fires." saidHoboken Police Sgt. JamesBehrens. who investigatedmany of the fires with Lt. JohnHowe The officers said thePinter Hotel and 1200 Washing-ton St arsons are among thefires still listed as arson in Ho-boken police files

The vendetta theory mayhave developed because of a1973 fire at an 11th Street tene-ment that killed 11 people wassaid by authorities to ahvebeen started by an Fcuadoreanimmigrant involved in a lovetriangle Authorities did notuncover enough evidence tobring the man to trial. He waslater deported.

"The truth is that thosefires are still a mystery, and 1think a lot of things may havebeen covered up in thosedays," said Mayor Thomas Vez-/etti. who was elected in 1985with the support of many of thecity's poor.

Regardless of what the au-thorities said, poor residentsbelieved the fires were arsonfor profit, and they feared then-building could be next

"If the fires were not arsonfor profit, the result was thesame, Howe said Tenantsabandoned their legal rightsand "got out when they got ; weviction notice. They left be-cause they thought they'd getburned out."

And if property ownerswere not connected to the fires,they often moved quickly tocapitalize on them.

"With the Pinter Hotel,they knocked the buildingsdown there immediately afterthe fire." noted Vezzetti. Onecondition on the sale of theAmerican Hotel, finalizedshortly before a fire claimedtwo lives on Oct. 11. 1981. wasthat the building be empty oftenants -- a condition the firequickly fulfilled.

The Fires ReturnThe number of fires in Ho-

boken tapered off in late 1982,about the time the federal in-vestigation began.

There were no fatal firesuntil last October, when a newwave of fires began: an Oct. 9

arson destroyed 121 WillowAve. and claimed four lives; anOct. 15 suspicious blaze heavilydamaged 132 Jefferson St., and,most recently, an Oct. 20 acci-dental fire at 318 Hudson St.. abuilding partially owned by thewife of Councilman Steve Cap-piello. claimed the life of agrandmother and displaced tenfamilies.

Vezzetti vowed that the city-would thoroughly investigatethe current rash of fires "Peo-ple may not have had confi-dence in the previous adminis-tration, but they can trust us."he said.

Cappiello, Vezzetti s pre-decessor as mayor, always de-nied the fires were arson forprofit and is a strong advocateof the vendetta theory.

Whatever the answer to themystery of Hoboken's fires, res-idents and safety officials arehoping they won't have to grap-ple with them again

"These things run in cycles,they just cant be explained.'Tremitiedi said

"I had hoped I would neverhave to take a dead body out ofa building again." he said."Firemen are trained to savelives, not to be morticians."

9 fatal fires in 4 yearsBy Jim DeRogatis

There were nine fatal fires in Hoboken from 1978through 1982. as well as other blazes that displaced hun-dreds of tenants. Here is a chronology of the major fires:

• 560 Marshall Drive, Housing Authority Projects,March 10, 1978 Authorities believe the fire was startedafter a man committed suicide by opening his gas jets.

• 70 Washington St., May 6. 1978. A fire that started inthe basement of a building that is currently owned byApplied Housing claimed two lives and is still listed asarson.

• 131 Clinton St.. Jan. 20, 1979. Twenty-one people diedin a fire that officials said was started by children who setfire to garbage in the hallway, then went to bed. Thebuilding was converted to condominiums.

• 309-311 First St.. Oct. 25, 1979. Two people died in afire that was started by votive candles

• 224 Jefferson St.. Sept 28, 1980. A fire started by ablanket placed over a spaceheater claimed two lives. Thebuilding was converted to condominiums.

• 67 Park Ave . Oct. 12, 1981 A blaze that destroyed thebuilding claimed two lives. The cause of the fire is listed asarson. The building was razed and the site is now aplayground.

• 1200 Washington St.. Oct. 24. 1981. Eleven people diedin an arson lire that still remains a mystery The buildinghad been the target of one prior arson attempt, when policefound several bottles filled with gasoline. The building wasconverted to condominiums by Eldorado Associates, a firmthat includes Hoboken developer Murray Connell.

• 76 80 River St., the American Hotel. Oct. 11, 1981. Afire that killed two tenants is still listed as an unsolvedarson The building was purchased by Hawthorne develop-er Hay Lemme, who rehabilitated the hotel into commer-cial office space.

• 151 14th St., Pinter's Hotel. April 30. 1982 Thirteenpeople died in an arson blaze that still remains a mystery.The building was razed and the site is now an empty lot

— Jim DcRogatis

Vezzetti refusesto sign contract

for contact probeBy Bil l Campbell J - ' 7 3 ° f * '

Mayor Thomas Vezzetti said yesterday he will refuse to•*ign a contract awarded by the Hoboken City Council lastmonth to an attorney who is investigating municipalcontracts

Vezzetti said he will not sign the $5,000 contract award-ed to special counsel Frederick Woeckener "even if itmeans going to court." Woeckner's past involvement inmunicipal affairs disqualifies him as an objective investi-gator, he said.

Reports of Vezzetti's refusal prompted his chief critic.Councilman Robert Ranieri, to charge the administrationwith "perpetrating a cover-up."

Woeckener was hired by the council to investigateseveral professional service contracts prepared by theadministration Mayoral approval of the contract is neededbefore Woeckener can launch his investigation.

Three of the four disputed contracts — all involvingsludge removal at the sewage treatment plant — wereprepared by Law Director William Graves and ratified thisyear by the council. The other was approved by the councilin 1984.

Graves admitted to "sloppy bookkeeping" on two of thecontracts and a "technical error" on another, but said theyhave since been corrected.

Ranieri, though, said the administration acted "im-properly" by authorizing work on three contracts beforecouncil approval was granted

The hiring of Woeckener. a Vezzetti administration lawSec VEZi'.KTTI — Page 8,

MK*> by ft** Goto*.

"Condos Kill" is an ominous message left by an unknowngraffiti artist on a vacant building at First and Garden streets.

Fire: tragedy or windfall?

Vezzetti won't sign contractContinued from Page 1director who resigned last yearover policy differences, wasroundly criticized by the mayorand his aides.

Vezzetti said Woeckenersappointment was political,claiming that the council wasattempting to undermine theadministration.

•Fred Woeckener was myattorney and he worked for thecity. 1 simply was not satisfiedwith the things he did," Vez-zetti said.

He said he would considerapproving the council's re-quest to hire an independentcounsel if the attorney was notinvolved in local politics.

But Woeckener said yester-day he could conduct the inves-tigation without bias. "1 can dothe job but 1 don't want to getcaught in the middle of asquabble between the mayorand council," he said

"I'm just going to write myreport for the council and hand

it over to the council. They cando whatever they want with it,"Woeckener said.

He said he is willing tomeet with Vezzetti and thecouncil in closed session toiron out differences, but saidhe had no intention of steppingaway from the investigation.

Ranieri said the adminis-tration is trying to block theinvestigation by refusing to au-thorize Woeckeners contract.He said he is not satisfied withthe administration's explana-tions of the deficiencies.

"I feel that if Vezzetti doesrefuse to sign the contract, itwill be clear evidence of a cov-er-up," Ranieri said.

Continued from Page 1

tive assistant to Mayor ThomasVezzetti who has been assistingthe displaced tenants, said thelandlords cannot expect thetenants to live elsewhere for 18months. She said most of themwould effectively be forced tofind a new place to live.

Local rent control lawsprevent the owners from re-moving tenants for the purposeof sale or use conversion, andcondominium conversion lawsmake it difficult to evict ten-ants. City officials have no power to pressure Mon-Tut to makethe repai rs , said Nell ieMoyeno. the director of His-panic and Minority Affairs.

"We don't have the powerto make the owners do the workto the buildings" she said. "It'svery frustrating because wewant to get all the tenants in."

The victims have all movedin with relatives in Hoboken.although one family is planning to move temporarily to In-dianapolis, she said.

Cappiello said the resi-dents at 316 Hudson St. havebeen without heal, hot waterand hallway lights since thefire because the buildings areinterconnected, but tenants saythey do not see why the ownerscan't make prompt repairs.

"In this city they can put upa building in seven months.

Don't you think they can do asmall job like this in a month ortwo?" asked Dilip Patel. a resi-dent and architecture student."They can do it if they want todo it." A local real estate bro-ker, who asked not to be identi-fied, noted that. "Given theirposition, it wouldn't be smartfor the owners to fix up thebuilding and put rent con-trolled tenants back in."

Several realtors said thetwo 10-family buildings, locat-ed about four blocks from thePATH station, could be valutable properties if placed on themarket without tenants Mostagreed that they could be soldforasmuch as$2million, basedon current market values

Marciano said Mon-Tut"has no intention" of ignoringtenants' rights, but Fabianosaid the owners have not assist-ed the city at all in helping tofind housing for the displacedtenants Marciano called thepressure from City Hall to re-pair the building an attempt to"crucify" Steve Cappiello Cap-piello is a political opponent ofVezzetti often at odds with themayor.

Fabiano said the city isonly fighting for the tenants'best interests. She said she ishoping that Cappiello and Mar-ciano will realize the difficul-ties the tenants face and movequickly to make the repairs.

28 arson murders in Hoboken still unsolvedBy Jim f / y 7

Twenty-eight people weremurdered in Hoboken between1978 and 1982. They weren'tkilled by bullets or knives, butby a much more frighteningweapon — fire.

•'Twenty-eight people losttheir lives in arson fires in ashort time span in this city.That's 28 murders." said com-

munity activist Ron Hine. "Attho same time, there were aseries of murders in Atlanta.Only about half that numberdied there, but a whole city,and people throughout thecountry, mobilized to find thekiller."

Authorities have never ar-rested anyone in connectionwith the Hoboken arsons, andtheir cause remains one of the

biggest mysteries in the city'shistory.

Some people refer to thefour-year period as Hoboken's"renaissance." but others arehaunted by memories of whatthey call "the years of thefires."

Those memories hang overthe city like a dark cloud. Theyhave been stirred recently by anew rash of fires that claimed

Baffling StatisticsNine fires tore through the

city's aging tenements and sin-gle-room-occupancy hotels be-tween 1978 and 1932. claiming atotal of 56 lives. Five of thefires are still listed as arson.Hundreds of other fires, manyof them arson, displaced thou-

sands of tenants over the sametime period.

Fire experts are baffled bythe statistics. In the ten-yearperiod between 1973 and 1982,Hoboken lead the country forthe number of fires with morethan 10 fatalities: four. Los An-geles was next on the list withthree fires, and New York only

See 28 MURDERS — Page 6.

Eleven people lost their lives in a 1981 fire that tore throughthis building at 1200 Washington St. The cause of the fire islisted as arson, and it remains a mystery. The building was

converted to condominiums shortly after the fire.

sludge costsunder protest

0 school employees rehiredrefrwa ra«r

By Bill Campbell

Under the threat of a lawsuit, Hoboken has agreedto make back payments to the firm it hired to removesolid waste from the municipal sowaee plant.

The City Council also au-thorized the Law Departmentto prepare a counterclaimagainst the firm. Ozonies. Inc.of Freehold, to determine itsresponsibli t ies under thecontract.

The Ozonies contract is oneof four professional servicepacts under investigation bythe council for irregularites.Several council membersclaim the firm has not lived upto its 1985 contract with thecity.

The council investigationcenters on contracts approvedby the administration for vanous phases of sludge removal.It signals a major division be-tween the mayor and councilmajority.

Ozonies, which receives$40,000 a month from Hobokento treat and remove sludgefrom the sewage plant on 16thand Adams streets, has notbeen paid since September.

The firm, through its attor-ney, said it would file suit instate Superior Court for $80,000and remove its equipment fromthe plant if the council did notauthorize the payments duringits Wednesday session.

"That would have openedup a whole host of environmen-tal problems which could haveultimately threatened our fed-eral grant money to upgradethe plant," said City Council-man Joe Delia Fave, explain-ing the council's vote, underprotest, to approve thepayment.

Ozonies treats the sludge,the solid waste byproduct ofsewage, through a secret pro-cess which dries and processesthe material so that it is accept-able for landfill disposal.

Hoboken does not have theresources to treat the material,and the withdrawal of Ozoniescould leave the city vulnerableto state and federal environ-mental violations.

However, anti-administra-tion Councilman Robert Ran-ieri said Ozonies has shirkedits responsiblity under the con-tract to ship the material to thelandfill, thus justifying thecounterclaim and the councilinvestigation.

"The administration is notproviding answers and they arestonewalling us every step ofthe way," he said "This is aWatergate-style coverup "

The city contracted A & KTrucking to haul the treatedsludge^ to a Pennsylvania land-fill after state facilites wereordered closed last summerCity officials said A & B Truck-ing submitted a bid lower thanthe contractor hired byOzonies.

The council is also investi-gating the A & B contract,which was authorized by theadministration before councilapproval was granted.

City Law Director EdwardGraves denied all charges ofwrongdoing, but admitted thatseveral of the disputed con-tracts contained technical er-rors which have since been cor-rected.

The council will continueits discussion of the contractsand the hiring of a special at-torney on Tuesday at 6 p.m

By jTherehirmgof 10 V

Board of Education cand the restoration >tkems to two other l»pioyees will result in Ihe ex-pansion of remedial classes inthe system

The board has begun allo-cating the $175 million re-stored to its budget

The board voted Tuesdayto rehire 10 employees and to

aiae>three

.\t._:. _af feet two u-*u her

two security guards,maintenance workers

h r T

taregular'

d

.r-ld-

- Superintendentsaid the personnel

take effect Monday Ithasn't yet been decided just

three >ua,.,.vand three teachers Two teach-ers were also reinstated as ac-tivity coordinators. The job

took a leave of

Se* REH1RED - Pag* » .

The police barricades on gone but the windows are still boarded over and there are padlocks onthe doors of Hoboken's Brass Rail restaurant, which was damaged by fire in mid-August.

Brass Rail's future looks dim• ••-» <.. , n .uid former pat rons of th

ed, he saw.taneouslyabsence

One board member, howev-i t h

putt a

head oi studentVotes on reh nd pro-

motions went 7 1. with JosephRafter dissenting A politicalally of Mayor Thomas Vezzetti,he has been the most v<»cal op-ponent of the board majority.He was elected last year as aself proclaimed reform candi-date, backed by Citizens forQuality Education

Rafter said the votemarked a continuation of pa-tronage politics which, he said,has plagued the board loryears. , , 4

In the past decade, studentenrollment has declined byabout a third, and the CityCouncil has recommendedclosing two schools. Mean-while, the people on the boardpayroll have increased.

In the same period, studenttest scores have been amongthe worst in the state The fail-ure of the schools to achievestate certification for the lastthree years has resulted in Lev-el 3 monitoring — the moststringent supervision the stateplaces on a school district.

•The board functions as apolitical patronage machine.Rafter said, "so it's importantthat those jobs go to the peoplewho the board wants to put inthose jobs. These things go onlor years and years and theredoesn't seem to be a lot ot com-munity reaction It's depress-ing its tragic because thenet result is that it's devastat-ing for the school board."

Board President RichardEngland refused to comment.

Continued fromthat the restaurant would re-open in a month or two Hut thewindows on the first two floorsof the building are stillboarded up and the doors arepadlocked.

The restaurant s principleowner. Michael Peters, hasbeen unavailable to commenton the status of the restaurantThe phone in his residenceabove the restaurant has beendisconnected.

According to municipal taxrecords, the building is ownedby Mark Peters Realty, also lo-cated at 135 Washington StThere is no phone listing forthe firm.

Sources in the businessand real estate communitiessaid the building which housesthe restaurant is up for sale.

Several said the building isbeing listed secretly by a realestate firm outside HudsonCounty They say the owner isoffering the property for about$1 million

Others, however, say the

property has been sold to anunnamed Bergen County attor-ney for $700,000 They say thenew owner plans to open aMediterranean seafood res-taurant.

"As of last week, the build-ing was still on the market,'said a Hoboken realtor whoasked not to be identifed "Wewere asked if we wanted to listthe property, but as far as 1know' everything is being han-dled secretly."

Several other realtors con-firmed that the building was upfor sale, but could not providefurther information.

"I've heard the propertyhas been sold to a BergenCounty man for $700,000," saidDave Roberts, a local restaura-teur. "He wants to make it aseafood restaurant."

"It's going to be a Mediter-ranean seafood restaurant."said another restaurateur whoasked not to be identifed."Some big shot bought thejoint."

Most long-time residents

and former patrons of th«Brass Rail simply shrug theifrshoulders when asked aboutthe restaurant. "Who knowswhat's going to happen?" aske4.lerard Clauson. a stockbrokerfrom Hoboken ' it was one oj"my favorite restaurants ' *

The closing of the Bras}Rail will usher in the end of aftera in Hoboken. The1 two levelrestaurant with the bar andbrasserie downstairs and theFrench bistro upstairs -~ reivresented, to many, the begin;ning of the Hoboken revnaissance. •

"There are a lot of gooirestaurants in Hoboken. buithere was just one Brass Rail,"Clauson said.

Future looks dimfor the Brass RailBy Bill ( ampbell

A mid-summer fire whichdestroyed the ground floor ofthe Brass Rail restaurantseems to have spelled doom forthe landmark Hoboken bistro.

Rumors about the fate ofthe restaurant, which has beenranked by several statewidepublications as one of the 10best French restaurants inNew Jersey, have been swirlingsince the fire.

More than three months al-ter the blaze, local observersand devotees of the restaurantat 135 Washington St. havedrawn one dear conclusionabout the fate of one of thecity's most famous haunts — it's

unlikely the Brass Rail willreopen.

The status of the restauranthas been a mystery since athree-alarm fire damaged thethree-story brick building inthe early moring hours of Aug.16. The tin ceiling on theground floor contained theflames, but the fire damagedthe antique bar and an historicmural.

Fire officials blamed theblaze on carelessness: eithersmoldering cigarette butts oran overheated coffee pot prob-ably started the fire, they said.

Officials and employeeswho saw the damage predicted

See BRASS R.\ll Page 14.

|UDGET DEAL

Hobokenr'rehiresHO schoolworkers- HOBOKEN-The Board otEducation has rehired threeteachers and seven other empoyees in the wake of a settleqpent last month concerning thehoard's $26 million budget.; The employees — rehired at

Tuesday's board meeting — will$low some of the district's re-medial programs, cut during theSlimmer, to be reinstated Othertffects of the rehirings are un-iear , according to district of-ficials• The personnel and programs%ere cut after the city in May or-dered some $3 million trimmedtorn the budget. The board ap-Oealed, and the two sides nego-tiated last month before a stateAdministrative law judge inNewark. An agreement wast^ached providing for a $1.25million cut in the budget re(feiest, allowing the board tomake the reinstatements antiounced Tuesday.; The board rehired two teacheraides, two security guards andtjiree maintenance workersalong with the three teachers.'The reinstatements come asthe district is striving to followdirectives mandated in a LevelHI review of the district re-leased by the state during thesummer.. Neither Schools Super-

intendent Walter J. Fine norboard President Richard Eng-land were available for com-ment.I —CHRISTOPHER AVE

GRAVES, HAACK

Ranieri winssludge battle

vestigation launched_. iWltlSStaff Writer

AVE

Vezzetti putsfreeze on probeof 2 directors

Mayor Vezzettiis hospitalized

Vezzetti oilingContinued from Page 1from the hospital by tomorrow"He's fine." Delia Fave said••He's resting and talking awayas usual."

Vezzetti was hospitalizedfor a cardiac arrythmia or ir-regular heart beat just 15 daysalter his 1985 inauguration. Hewas subsequently put on medi-cation and a strict diet. ,

Vezzetti was again hospi- italized in 1986 for two days tocorrect his heart beat and tolower his blood pressure

Recently, Vezzetti haslooked pale and often com-plained of fatigue, according toobservers.

Sources said the ma>ornormally takes a nap for anhour or two after lunch in hisoffice

By Michele Drayton

Hoboken Mayor ThomasVezzetti is listed in stable con-dition in Christ Hospital, Jer-sey City, but there seems to besome question ast to what ailshim.

Vezzetti was hospitalizedFriday after complaining ofshortness of breath, accordingto city officials.

These same officials dis-puted a report from a ChristHospital spokeswoman whosaid that the mayor was admit-ted for chest pains.

Vezzetti, 59, who has aheart condition, experiencedlung congestion that doctorshave attributed to excess saltand fluid buildup, mayoralaide Laurie Fabiano saidyesterday.

The congestion problem.Fabiano said, is not related to

• the mayor's cardiac arrythmir.condition.

However, Christ Hospitalspokeswoman Eileen Videttisaid Vezzetti had experiencedchest pains and was in stablecondition in a telemetry unitfor patients whose heart ratesare monitored.

Vezzetti's doctor. Dr. How-ard Rubenstein, a Christ Hos-pital cardiologist, was notavailable for comment.

C*UinC<lman Joseph DeliaFave said yesterday that onFriday he received a telephonecall from the mayor, who has noimmediate family, about 11p.m.

Vezzetti said he was havingtrouble breathing and felt hishealth wasn't up to par, DeliaFave said.

When Delia Fave arrived atthe mayors home, he said. Vez-zetti appeared pale.

"He wasn't suffering fromchest pains at all," he said, "buthe was nervous about the short-ness of breath."

After being admitted toChrist Hospital. Vezzetti un-derwent heart tests but DeliaFave said doctors found noth-ing wrong with the mayor'sheart.

Vezzetti, who has a historyof eating too much junk food,had not been following his dietwhich forbids him from eatingsalt, Fabiano said

"More recently he has notbeen as strict as he should be.He's been eating too manyOreos." Delia Fave said.

Fabiano visited the mayorvesterday and said he was fineand that he was eager to returnto work. She said that the may-or is expected to be released

See VEZZETTI - Page 9

H O I i w v . . * — .

"HOBOKEN—The City Councillast night launched a formal in-vestigation of allegations byCouncilman Robert A. Ranierithat city sludge-removal con-tracts were awarded improper-

The council hired former cityattorney Frederick L. Woe-ckener to assist in the investiga-tion. The vote was 6-3.

In declaring a full council in-vestigation, the council majoritythumbed its nose at MayorThomas F. Vezzetti, who twoweeks ago refused to approve ofWoeckener's hiring as specialcounsel to the city. Vezzetti saidthen that Woeckener's past in-volvement in city affairs wouldprevent him from completing afair investigation.

Vezzetti has repeatedly calledRanieri's allegations politicallymotivated. Ranieri has deniedthe mayor's charge, saying thatthe city has the obligation to in-vestigate itself in cases like this.

Last night the council author-ized the investigation withoutmayoral approval, citing theFaulkner Act, a state statutewhich gives municipal govern-ing bodies full subpoena powerin investigations.

"We have found roadblocks,obstructionism, stone-walling,"Ranieri told the council. "Thatcontract has sat on the mayor'sdesk for two weeks. It's time we

J get it out in the open."*• The council rejected argu-

ments by pro-administration. council members Joseph Delia' Fave, Thomas Newman and. Helen Cunning that Ranieri's' charges were largely foundless,

and that Woeckener was taintedby a previous job representingJoe Lynch, who heads an engi-

neering firm currently en-meshed in a lawsuit against thecity.

At the heart of Ranieri'scharges are sludge-removal andsludge-testing contracts that ad-ministration officials have ex-ecuted with four companies:A&B Trucking of Sewall,Ozonies Inc. of Freehold,Garden State Laboratories Inc.of Irvington and Boswell Engi-neering Co. of Ridgefield Park.

Ranieri conceded that the con-tracts with Boswell involve mi-nor, technical errors. But he re-peated his insistence that the re-maining three contracts containmajor problems worthy of in-vestigation.

Ranieri charges that city LawDirector William Graves al-lowed the three companies towork for the city without con-tracts. The companies were car-rying loads of sludge for the city.

The total amount of all fourcontracts this year is approx-imately $100,000.

Earlier yesterday, adminis-tration officials linked Ranieri'sattack to his past support ofMayo Lynch & Associates, a lo-cal firm headed by Lynch thatonce had a contract to beginbuilding a planned secondarysewage treatment facility forthe city. Vezzetti, convinced thatthe company was stalling,balked when Ranieri and thecouncil agreed to award it a $2million contract.

Vezzetti's decision was upheldby Assignment Judge BurrellIves Humphreys of HudsonCounty Superior Court on Oct.24, 1986, and the firm lost thecontract.

"I think (Ranieri) is desper-ately afraid that a lot of the er-rors of the past are in the wind,"mayoral aide Laurie Fabianosaid.

• Y JOHN CURTISStaff Writer

said of the contract yesterday,"Maybe it is in limbo." And

improprieties by the city's lawand public works directors byrefusing to sign the in-vestigator's contract.

Attorney Frederick L. Woe-ckener, who had begun a reviewof four sludge removal con-tracts, said he will not continuehis work until his own status isresolved.

"I don't know what the (CityCouncil) wants to do," Woe-ckener said. "I suggested theytry and work something out withthe mayor. I would hate to seethe city waste its resources inlitigation over it."

Last month, the councilawarded Woeckener a $5,000contract to investigate allega-tions that Law Director WilliamGraves and Public Works Direc-tor Roy Haack acted improperlyin authorizing contracts forsludge removal without councilapproval.

Vezzetti, however, said Mon-day that he will not sign the con-tract. The mayor has chargedthat the investigation is politi-cally motivated and that Woe-ckener's appointment involves aconflict of interest. Woeckenerwas Vezzetti's first law directorand his personal attorney.

"It is obvious there was somewrongdoing in the way the con-tracts were let," CouncilmanDavid Roberts said yesterdayHe said an investigation coulddetermine if there were merelytechnical errors or "a seriousproblem."

Mayoral aide Laurie Fabianosaid the council will have to takethe mayor to court to if it seeksto enforce the contract. Roberts

i n v e s t i g a -

"The fcouncil has full, totalrights t# investigate city busi-ness, hajt fuH subpoena powers,Ranieri said. "It is incumbent inthose powers that there bestaff."

Ranieri, a Vezzetti foe who in-stigated the investigation, saidthe council will continue dis-cussion of the contract in aclosed session at its meeting to-night. He has accused the mayorof trying to cover up the allegedimproprieties in the sludge con-tracts.

Graves prepared three of thefour sludge removal contracts,and has admitted to errors onthem. He said the errors havebeen corrected.

In one case. Graves andHaack failed to declare an emer-gency in order to have sludgeshipped to a treatment facility.An emergency was declared af-ter the fact.

Ranieri said work orders andcontracts may have beenbackdated, and said the admin-istration acted improperly inawarding the contracts withoutcouncil authorization.

The contracts — with OzoniesCorp., Boswell Engineering,Garden State Trucking and A&BTrucking — total about $100,000this year. Graves approved thecontract with A&B, but subse-quently informed the state At-torney Generals Office that thefirm s bid seemed unrealistical-fcr°W 3 * A t t o r n ey General'sOffice then launched an in-vestigation of the trucking com-

FAMILY TX JBS£Y JOUtNAt WOAY. NOVEfttfEt 6, »87 21

A tale of two very different Hobokensnot dead yet/

boosts Vezzetti

That's Hoboken — Georgia.

HOBOKEN

New highway planwill be discussed

By Mary FitzgibN»ns

Condos. Maxwell's, yuppiesand no place to park are just afew of the things that come tomind when people think of Ho-boken — New Jersey, that is.

But the story is a bit differ-ent in another lloboken — theHoboken down south. Hobo-ken. (la

Numbers tell more of theMorv there.

A steady population of 525make up the five and one half-mile city's inhabitants That's abit less than Hudson County'slloboken with its 42.000 resi-dents in just over one squaremile And a polK'e force of 120strong in New Jersey is a bit outof line down Georgia way

. . . but one quit

"We have one police offi-cer." explains Rhonda Lee. oneof two workers in the combina-tion Hoboken City Hall PoliceDepartment in Georgia. "Weused to have two. but one quit."

In fact she says two mighthave come in handy when "wehad some trouble here lastsummer But luckily we calledin the county deputies from thesheriffs office."

She commends sole officerNelson Clark for his dedicationto the job

"He even cuts the grassnext door to the police stationwhen it gets too long." she says

Everyone

Despite the differences ingeography and population, thecities have some similarities.

"Everyone knows everyoneelse here" says Lee and itseems like everyone is "relatedto everyone else," a similaritynot lost in Hoboken on theHudson.

The housing situation issomewhat similar in bothHobokens

"There are no apartmentshere." Lee says. And she meansit. The only spots for rent arethree unsold homes. And

By Bill Campbell

Hoboken Mayor ThomasVezzetti, hospitalized sinceFriday for high blood pressure,said he expects to be behindhis desk at City Hall today fora full day of work."

Vezzetti, 59. was admittedto Christ Hospital in JerseyCity after complaining of short-ness of breath Friday night Hespent the past three days at thehospital for observation

Yesterday, the mayor spentthe day signing papers, makingphone calls, meeting with aidesand resting.

"I feel great and can't waitto get out of here, the mayor

said in a telephone interviewOnce again, the rumors of niv

death have been greatfvexaggerated"

The mayor's doctor. How-ard RubenMein, a cardiologistat Christ Hospital, was unavyilable to comment on the exactnature of the mayors illnc-svHospital spokeswoman Eilei nVidetti said the most likeivcause was high blood pressuri

Hospital officials and themayor's aides said they expected Vezzetti to be dischargedfrom the hospital this morningAnd, despite the advice offriends that he rest, the mayor

Se* VEZZKTTI - Page «.

No, it* not a Jersey Shore bungalow, but the Police Department/City Hall in Hoboken, Ga.

now "a new teacher in town isrenting one of them "

Curiosity

And despite the distancebetween the cities, each is curi-ous about the other

Store-owners become morefriendly when an out of townerwho they suspect is "from NewYork" shows a license with thecity's name on it or a copy of thehometown paper

Residents in the southernHoboken depend upon theWaycross Journal — published15 miles west of them — fortheir daily paper. They have aweekly which publishes eachThursday, the Brant ley Enter-prise. Sunday papers are fromFlorida, most popular of whichLee says is the JacksonvilleTinies-lJnion.

Lee's curiosity about thecity brought her thisclose toHoboken. N.J., in 1974 whenher high school class trip took

her to Manhattan for aweekend.

But. she explains, "I wasafraid of getting lost" andwasn't used to being alone, soshe was left just short ofHoboken.

Night lifeAs for night life in Georgia,

well. .

Hoboken. Ga . isn t filledwith restaurants and clubs asHoboken, N.J., is.

There are the two arcadesto go to or the local grammarschool baseball team to cheerto victory. ,

But there are parkingspaces — plenty of them.

But Lee doesn't need one."1 take the bus." she says.

Vezzetti better< onlinufd from Page Isaid he will go back to workVezzetti. who has been hospi-talized twice since 1985 lor acardiac condition, blamed hisblood pressure problems onthe salty soup served at hisfavorite deli

Before he entered (he hos-pital Friday night, Vezzettisaid he had trouble breathing,felt very weak and looked verypale.

"I didn't realize it a( thetime, but it was that soup thatdid it to me," Vez/.etti saidwhile munching on an apple ijust have to watch how muchsalt I eat "

Vezzetti vowed to adhere toa low sodium diet recommended by his doctor.

Test scores rise in Hudson schools

By CHRISTOPHER AVEStaff Wntei

HOBOKEN-The City Councilwill hear a presentation fromthe state Department of Trans-portation about a plan to build ahighway around the westernboundary of the city when itmeets in special session tomor-row night at 6p.m.

The special session was sched-uled because the council did notfinish its agenda during lastweek's meeting, which con-tinued until nearly 2:30 a.m. onThursday. At that meeting, thecouncil put off acting on a pro-posal by Hartz Mountain In-dustries to re-pave part of 17thStreet lo improve access to thedeveloper's Lincoln Harborproject in Weehawken.

Opponents of the plan want tohold off on approving it until the

state DOT makes a commitmentto the new highway, referred toas the Perimeter Highway.

Helen Manogue. an unsuc-cusful candidate for the 5thWard City Council seat held byE. Norman Wilson, said shewould attend the meeting andspeak against the Hartz plan.She said that the PerimeterHighway is necessary becauseof the increased traffic flowthrough the city that the LincolnHarbor project is expected tobring. She added that the Hartzplan would only bring more traf-fic through the city.

The City Clerk's office also an-nounced that the council meet-ing scheduled for Nov. 18 will bemoved up to Nov. 16 because ofthe League of Municipalitiesconvention in Atlantic City,which many city officials planon attending.

Continued from Page 1Rosemarie Viciconti, in chargeof curriculum, distributedHSPT handbooks among ele-mentary school teachers tohelp them orient the i rstudents.

Jersey City, which has anestimated dropout rate of be-tween 40 and 50 percent, needsto "fit a program oriented todropouts and disaffected stu-idents," Acocella said. "Theirdropout rate is of concern lome," he added.

Students' knowledge of ba-sic skills is all the more impor-tant today, Acocella said, be-cause of the commercialdevelopment taking place in

the county. "Developerstell methey have to go out of the coun-ty to get help," he said. "Wehave to have apprenticeshiptraining programs organizedthrough our local unions —programs that can link upschools with future jobs for ouryoung residents."

More than 90 percent ofKearny's third-graders andsixth-graders passed reading,math and language arts Theywere tops in Hudson County.

In Union City, where morethan 80 percent of the studentsspeak a language other thanEnglish at home, scores gener-ally improved, particularly atthe Roosevelt School where

smaller classes due to reducedenrollment seem to have bene-fited students, noted AssistantSuperintendent Ann Ipomeni.The Edison School, with thelargest population in the dis-trict and a highly transient cen-sus, slipped badly in sixth-grade math results, she said.

Bayonne Schools Superin-tendent James Murphy saidthat Bayonne teachers wentthrough in-service training atthe start of this school year toorient them to the demands of anewly revised CaliforniaAchievement Test, the instru-ment Bayonne used to measurethe knowledge of its third- andsixth-graders.

"We've been realigning ourcurriculum to reflect the thingsour students will eventuallyhave to know when they takethe (state-mandated) HighSchool Proficiency Test asninth-graders," he said. "We'repushing our kids more and itseems to be paying off."

North Bergen Schools Su-perintendent Leo Gattoni saidhis district is "working to re-align our curriculum to theHSPT.

"Teachers will be held ac-countable for making suretheir students learn the skillsthey need to know. We need towork harder in grade three, es-pecially in math."

Hoboken heads for gridlock<5"\ f-By Jim DeRugatis

and Kill Campbell

Hart/ Mountain Industries'Lincoln Harbor developmentin Weehawken is expected tomake Hobokens bad traffic sit-uation even worse.

Phase 1 of the project,which is nearly completed, isexpected to generate 1,800 carsduring peak weekday commut-er hours.

Forty-three percent ofthose cars are expected to useHoboken streets, according to areport by city traffic consul-tants Wilbur Smith Associates.

Intersections in the v rth-

ern end of the city are alreadyovercrowded and operating atcapacity, city planners said

As a result of increasedtraffic from Lincoln Harbor,congestion at key intersectionssuch as 14th Street and WillowAvenue is expected to get evenworse, reaching a level of"overcapacity to forced flow,"according to the Wilbur Smithreport.

The Hoboken City Councilis expected to vote tonight on aproposal to utilize 17th Streetas a southern entrance to theHartz project.

While Wilbur Smith recom-mends the plan, the fir"! calls

on Hartz and the city to worktogether to improve overcrowd-ed intersections and applypressure on the state to build aproposed bypass highwayaround the Palisades.

Located on the WeehawkenCove near the Hoboken border,the first phase of Lincoln Har-bor will contain more than 1.1million square feet of officespace and 5.000 parking spaces,

The project will draw ap-proximately 4.500 employees,many of whom will work forPaine Webber, which is relo-cating its back-office operation

See HOBOKEN — Page 13.

Hoboken pupilstest scores rise

Kids annoying merchante youth/la*By Bill Campbell

What's fun for some Hobo-ken youths is becoming no funat all for local merchants alonga midtown section of Washing-ton Street.

Hoboken police, spurredby the complaints of shop own-ers and residents, are steppingup efforts to prevent vandalismand public drinking by localyouths along WashingtonStreet between 5th and 7thstreets.

According to merchantsand at least one city council-man, teenagers have long usedthe two-block stretch of Wash-ington Street as an eveninghangout, creating a disruptiveatmosphere for local business-

es But Police Chief GeorgeCrimmins. who issued the or-der for beefed-up nightt ime pa-trols, said his overburdeneddepartment can do little to pre-vent the youths from gatheringon the street unless they breakmunicipal ordinances.

"Basically, the kids arerude and obnoxious," saidJohn Lawton of the Lawton-Turso Funeral Home at 631Washington St.

"They throw footballs upand down the street, harasspassers-by and occasionallybreak bottles. At times it hasreally gotten out of control." hesaid.

About a half dozen mer-chants and property owners issued a letter outlining prob-

lems with the y6uth/lastto Councilman Dave RobeiThe complaints range frompublic drinking to youths uri-nating on walls on Court Street.

"A lot of these people werereally outraged so 1 encour-aged them to write a letter ad-dressing their various prob-lems." said Roberts, who alsoowns East LA., a Mexican res-taurant at 508 Washington St.

Roberts said he will at-tempt to arrange a meetingwith police, store owners andyouth representatives in an at-tempt to curb complaints.

Long-time residents say themany fast-food restaurantsalong that section of Washing-

Sw KIDS — Pane 8

Hoboken headingtoward gridlock

Kids merchantsContinued from Past lton Street and the proximity'oWStevens Park contribute to theabundance of teenagers anddouble-parked cars. Many alsosay the problem is a result of alack of evening recreation programs throughout the city

"1 grew up here, but I don'tremember ever hanging out onWashington Street," said Law-ton "At times it's like a .name.The cops tell the kids to leaveand 20 minutes later they'reback again

Corrado Detrizo. owner ofHoboken Lock at 624 Washing-

'ton St. said the youths shift"from location to location toavoid police patrols.

"They argue that they rehere because they have noplace to hang out. but Washing-ton Street is where we do busi-ness and this is not good forus," he said.

Already police have begunposting officers along Washing-ton Street to "make every effortto eliminate this constant complaint," said Crimmins in aninternal memo.

However. Crimmins satdthe department lacks the man-

power to post a full-time officerin the section each night More-over, police can do little to pre-vent youths from gathering onstreet corners.

"You cant do that much ifthey just hang out." he said.•That's not against the law."

Continued from Page 1to the project. Under-utilizedand riddled with potholes, 17thStreet begins at Grand Street,snakes under the Willow andPark avenue viaducts and endsin Weehawken at the Hartzproperty.

The developers offered topave the street for the city sothat cars coming to the projectfrom the south and the HollandTunnel can travel ClintonStreet north, then turn east andenter the project through 17thStreet

The council tabled the pro-posal at its last meeting pend-ing the study by Wilbur Smith.

"The concept appears ben-eficial to the city," according tothe report, but "even the 17thStreet and Clinton Street im-provements would not reducesite traffic concentration atthis point."

Councilman Thomas New-man said the only solution toHobokens traffic problem is aproposed road around the backof the city at the Palisades,through the existing Conrailright of way.

But under the state Depart-ment of Transportation's cur-rent plan, the highway wouldnot be completed until 2002.

"We have to find out justhow serious the state is aboutthis bypass road." Newmansaid

The councilman opposesHartz's 17th Street plan unlessthe citv can obtain a firm com-

mitment from the state for con-structing the bypass road in thenear future.

"The council should voteagainst this. It might be neces-sary for Hartz to suffer a littlebit of pain so they join us inpressuring the state to get thisbypass road going."

City activist and environ-mentalist Helen Manogueagreed.

"We need more time andmore research before we sim-ply give 17th Street away," shesaid.

"I don't think the publicreally knows enough about thisresolution to get really excited.

' It's too bad because this couldwind up being a disaster."

But other council membersand city officials say that traf-fic as a result of Lincoln Har-bor will flood Hoboken streetswhether or not 17th Street be-comes the official southernentrance.

They contend that thecouncil should approve theplan as long as Hartz makessubstantial repairs to the roadand joins the city in coming upwith solutions for troubledintersections.

"It's time for Hoboken toput its foot down and ask forgivebacks and stop being ev-eryone's door mat." said KirstiJutila. assistant city planner.

"We need all the help wecan get to develop solutions tothe traffic problems that facethis city."

By Ronald Leir ,

Schools in Hudson Countygenerally followed the state-wide trend of higher scores inbasic skills tests administeredto third- and sixth-gradersaround New Jersey.

But Hudson CountySchools Superintendent LouisAcocella warned that whileHudson's overall results weregood, "we shouldn't be overlyexcited. Let's not take it to con-strue that everything is well.Districts should be cautious ininterpreting the data.

"In certain districts, theproblem is we have kids whoare dropping out or who aregraduating without an under-standing of the basic skills theywill need in society," he said.

In Hoboken, one of severaldistricts which have been de-certified by the state for vari-ous failings, third-graders didbetter than sixth-graders in allthree categories.

Jersey City, another dis-trict that has failed lo meetcertain state-mandated educa-tional and administrative stan-dards, showed overall improve-ment for the third straight yearbut still ended up below thestate averages in reading andmath. Most language artsscores were near the stateaverage.

Scores in reading and mathvaried widely from school toschool in Jersey City. Less thanhalf of the third-graders testedat School 29 and School 41passed in those categories.Less than half of the sixth-grad-ers tested at School 41 and.School 14 passed reading.

Scores indicate the per-centage of students who met orexceeded a state-set minimumpassing test grade.

On the plus side, more than90 percent of the third-graderstested at School 28 passedreading and math.

Jersey City schools, guidedby Assistant Superintendent

See TEST SCORES — Page 10.

Percentage of Students PassingBask Skills Tests for 1986-87

Reading Math Iwtguogt Aitt

Grade 3Grade 6

Grade 3Grade 6

Grade 3Grade 6

Grade 3Grade 6

Grade 3Grade 6

Grade 3Grade 6

Grade 3Grade 6

Grade 3Grade 6

Grade 3Grade 6

Grade 3Grade 6

Grade 3Grade 6

Bayonne941919

East Newark68.4100

Guttenberg10097.1

Hoboken8878

Jersey City6666

Kearny943

97

North Bergen92490.4

Secaucus89.396.1

Union City87.678.5

Weehawken93

91.5

West New York9787

848885

84293.8

eas85.5

8683

6680

93.296.7

79.389.2

83.7941

78983

83.393.3

8896

96.596.1

100 1100

951942

8975

%89

n99

95.592

98798.1

95,188.6

92990.3

9996

fw< very different HobokensTm not dead yet/

Vezzetti

That's Hoboken — Georgia.

HOBOKEN tf

New highway planwill be discussed

By Mar>

Condos. Maxwell's, yuppiesand no place to park are just afew of the things that come tomind when people think of Ho-boken - New Jersey, that is

Hut the story is a bit differ»nt m another Hoboken -- theHoboken down south. Hoboken <ia

Numbers tell more of the••tun there

A steady population of 525make up the five and one halfmile city s inhabitants That's abit less than Hudson County'sHoboken with its 42.000 residents in just over one squarenuliv And a police force of 120strong in New Jersey is a bit outof line down Georgia way.. . . but one quit

"We have one police offi-cer." explains Rhonda I^ee. oneof two workers in the combina1 ion Hohokcn City Hall PoliceDepartment in Georgia 'Weused to have two. hut one quit

In fact she says two mighthave come in handy when "wehad some trouble here lastsummer Hut luckily we calledin the county deputies from thesheriffs office. "

She commends sole officerNelson Clark for his dedicationto the job

"He even cuts the grassnext door to the police stationwhen it gets too long." she says

I'lvei y<Hie knew* Everyone

Despite the differences mgeography and population, thecities have some similarities.

"Everyone knows everyoneelse here" says Lee and itseems like everyone is "relatedto everyone else," a similaritynot lost in Hoboken on theHudson

The housing situation issomewhat similar in bothHobokens.

"There are no apartmentshere." Lee says. And she meansit The only spots for rent arethree unsold homes And right

By Bill Campbell

Hoboken Mayor ThomasVezzetti, hospitalized sinceFriday for high blood pressure,said he expects to be behindhis desk at City Hall today "fora full day of work."

Vezzetti, 59. was admittedto Christ Hospital in JerseyCity after complaining of short-ness of breath Friday night. Hespent the past three days at thehospital for observation

Yesterday, the mayor spentthe day signing papers, makingphone calls, meeting with aidesand resting.

"I feel great and cant waitto get out of here, the mayor

said in a telephone interview."Once again, the rumors of mydeath have been greatly-exaggerated"

The mayor's doctor How-ard RubensU-in. a car 'at Christ Hospital, wa>able to comment on the exactnature of the mayor's illness.Hospital spokeswoman Kile* nVidettt said the most likelycause was high blood pressure

Hospital officials and themayor's aides said they expect-ed Vezzetti to be dischargedfrom the hospital this morningAnd. despite the advice offriends that he rest, the mayor

v>e VK1ZKTTI - Page 6

No, its

now "a new teacher in town isrenting one of them."

Curiosity

And despite the distancebetween the cities, each is curi-ous about the other

Storeowners become morefriendly when an out of townerwho they suspect is "from NewYork shows a license with thecity's name on it or a copy of thehometown paper

Residents in the southernHoboken depend upon theWaycross Journal -— published15 miles west of them — fortheir daily paper They have aweekly which publishes eachThursday, the Brantley K'nter-prise. Sunday papers are fromFlorida, most popular of whichLee says is the JacksonvilleTimes-l'nion.

Lee's curiosity about thecity brought her thisclose toHoboken, N.J.. in 1«»74 whenher hiuh school class trip took

her to Manhattan for aweekend.

But. she explains, "I wasafraid of getting lost" andwasn't used to being alone, soshe was left just short ofIlohokcn.

Night lilt

wellAs for night life in Georgia.

llohoken. (>a . isn t filledwith restaurants and clubs asHoboken, N.J.. is.

There are the two arcadesto go to or the local grammarschool baseball team to cheerto victory.

Hut there are parkingspaces -- plenty of them

Hut Lee doesn't need one"I take the bus." she says.

Vezzetti better< untinued from fagc 1said he will go back to workVezzetti. who has been hospi-talized twice since 19155 for acardiac condition, blamed hisblood pressure problems onthe salty soup served at hisfavorite deli

Before he entered the hos-pital Friday night, Vc/zettisaid he had trouble breathing,felt very weak and looked verypale

"I didn't realize it at thetime, but it was that soup thatdid it to me," Vez/etti saidwhile munching on an apple "Ijust have to watch how muchsalt I eat "

Vezzetti vowed to adhere toa low sodium diet recommend-ed by his doctor.

Test scores rise in Hudson schools.. . J.._ »„ -^,.™ri "Wfi'vebeen reahgnini

By CHRISTOPHER AVE~Staff Writei

HOBOKEN-The City Councilwill hear a presentation fromthe state Department of Trans-portation about a plan to build ahighway around the westernboundary of the city when itmeets in special session tomor-row night at 6 p.m.

The special session was sched-uled because the council did notfinish its agenda during lastweek's meeting, which con-tinued until nearly 2:30 a.m. onThursday. At that meeting, thecouncil put off acting on a pro-posal by Hartz Mountain In-dustries to re-pave part of 17thStreet lo improve access to thedeveloper's Lincoln Harborproject in Weehawken.

Opponents of the plan want tohold off on approving it until the

state DOT makes a commitmentto the new highway, referred toas the Perimeter Highway.

Helen Manogue, an unsuc-cusful candidate for the DthWard City Council seat held byE. Norman Wilson, said shewould attend the meeting andspeak against the Hartz plan.She said that the PerimeterHighway is necessary becauseof the increased traffic flowthrough the city that the LincolnHarbor project is expected tobring. She added that the Hartzplan would only bring more traf-fic through the city.

The City Clerk's office also an-nounced that the council meet-ing scheduled for Nov 18 will bemoved up to Nov. 16 because ofthe League of Municipalitiesconvention in Atlantic City,which many city officials planon attending.

Continued from Page 1Kosemaric Viciconti, in chargeof curriculum, distributedHSPT handbooks among ele-mentary school teachers tohelp them orient the i rstudents.

Jersey City, which has anestimated dropout rate of be-tween 40 and 50 percent, needsto "fit a program oriented todropouts and disaffected stu-

lidents," Acocella said. "Theirdropout rate is of concern tome," he added

Students' knowledge of ba-sic skills is all the more impor-tant today, Acocella said, be-cause of the commercialdevelopment taking place in

tti • county. "Developers tell methey have to go out of the coun-ty to get help," he said. "Wehave to have apprenticeshiptraining programs organizedthrough our local unions —programs that can link upschools with future jobs for ouryoung residents."

More than 90 percent ofKearny's third-graders andsixth-graders passed reading,math and language arts Theywere tops in Hudson County.

In Union City, where morethan 80 percent of the studentsspeak a language other thanEnglish at home, scores gener-ally improved, particularly atthe Roosevelt School where

smaller classes due to reducedenrollment seem to have bene-fited students, noted AssistantSuperintendent Ann Ipomeni.The Edison School, with thelargest population in the dis-trict and a highly transient cen-sus, slipped badly in sixth-grade math results, she said.

Bayonne Schools Superin-tendent James Murphy saidthat Bayonne teachers wentthrough in-service training atthe start of this school year toorient them to the demands of anewly revised CaliforniaAchievement Test, the instru-ment Bayonne used to measurethe knowledge of its third- andsixth-graders

"We've been realigning ourcurriculum to reflect the thingsour students will eventuallyhave to know when they takethe (state mandated) HighSchool Proficiency Test asninth-graders," he said. "We'repushing our kids more and itseems to be paying off."

North Bergen Schools Su-perintendent Leo Gattoni saidhis district is "working to re-align our curriculum to theHSPT.

"Teachers will be held ac*countable for making suretheir students learn the skillsthey need to know We need towork harder in grade three, es-pecially in math."

Hoboken heads for gridlock••••-- .... .,..,,> .,i,..»:idv on Hartz and the city to worj .r-

By Jim I)«K.»«atis i /and Kill Campbell U J ij f<6~)

Hart/ Mountain Industries'Lincoln Harbor developmentin Weehawken is expected tomake Hoboken's bad traffic sit-uation even worse

Phase 1 of the project,which is nearly completed, isexpected to generate 1,800 carsduring peak weekday commut-er hours.

Forty-three percent ofthose cars are expected to useHoboken streets, according to areport by city traffic consul-tants Wilbur Smith Associates.

Intersections in the p rth-

ern end of the city are alreadyovercrowded and operating atcapacity, city planners said

As a result of increasedtraffic from Lincoln Harbor,congestion at key intersectionssuch as 14th Street and WillowAvenue is expected to get evenworse, reaching a level of"overcapacity to forced flow."according to the Wilbur Smithreport.

The lloboken City Councilis expected to vote tonight on aproposal to utilize 17th Streetas a southern entrance to theHartz project

While Wilbur Smith recom-mends the plan, the firm calls

on Hart/ and the city to worktogether to improve overcrowd-ed intersections and applypressure on the* state to build aproposed bypass highwayaround the Palisades.

Located on the WeehawkenCove near the Hoboken border,the first phase of Lincoln Har-bor will contain more than 11million square feet of officespace and 5.0OO parking spaces.

The project will draw ap-proximately 4.500 employees,many of whom will work forPaine Webber, which is relo-cating its back-office operation

SIT HOBOKEN — Page 13.

H puppO7T. if//,/<& #

test scores rise

Kids annoying merchant,„„. „... Chief George- lems with the yo\ith/lastn/ntj

By Bill Campbell

What's fun for some Hobokl>n youths is becoming no fun{[ all for local merchants alonga midtown section of Washing-ton Street.

Hoboken police, spurredhv the complaints of shop own-ers and residents, are steppingUp efforts to prevent vandalism"id public drinking by localSouths along WashingtonStreet between !ith and ,th

ootsAccording to merchants

,nd at least one city council-man, teenagers have long usedn,e two block stretch ul Wash-ington Street as an eveninghangout, creating a disruptive

osphere for local business-

es But Police- ChicCrimmins, who issued the order for beefed-up nighttime pa-trols said his overburdeneddepartment can do little Jo pre-vent the youths from gal henngon the street unless they breakmunicipal ordinances

•Basically, the kids anrude and obnoxious, saidJohn Lawton of the Lawton-Turso Funeral Home at bilWashington St.

•They throw lootballs upand down the street, harasspassers-by and occasionallybreak bottles. At times i hasreally gotten out of control, he

SaltlAbout a half dozen mer-chants and property owners is-sued a letter outlining prob

lo Councilman Dave KobeThe complaints range frompublic drinking to youths uri-nating on walls on Court Street.

"A lot of these people werereally outraged so I encour-aged them to write a letter ad-dressing their various prob-lems." said Roberts, who alsoowns Kast LA. a Mexican res-taurant at 508 Washington St.

Roberts said he will at-tempt to arrange a meetingwith police, store owners andyouth representatives in an attempt to curb complaints.

Long-time residents say themany last-food restaurants;ilonu that section of Washing-

Sc<- KIDS — Page 8

Hoboken headingtoward gridlock

Kids annoying merchantsl ^ i flfWh ' , „ J^.,,. .hin" oowertopostafullt.meofl.c

/ / f/ton St. said the you/,,/from lotion to

Continued from IMBr I. n street and the proximityS'evensVark contribute to the.bundance of teenagers ami; uble-parked cars Many also

vtbcin-ol.lemisaresultolai'f-k of evening recreation proJrams throughout the city

•I grew up here, but 1 don tr e member ever hanging out onWashington Street, "said Lavv-inn " \ t times it slike a i;ame.The cops tell the kids lo leaveiiid 20 minutes later they'rehick again

Corrado Detri/o owner olHoboken Lock at «24 Washing-

irom uavoid police

"Thev argue

youths shift"location to

,1s.that they're

d

not good forpolice have begun

along Washing-

power to post a full-t line officerin the section each night. More-over, police can do little to pre-vent youths from gathering onstreet corners.

You can't do that much itthey just hang out." he said."That's not against the law."

•»

lacks man.

Continued from I'agr Ito the project. Under-utilizedand riddled with potholes, 17thStreet begins at Grand Street,snakes under the Willow andPark avenue viaducts and endsin Weehawken at the Hartzproperty.

The developers offered topave the street for the city sothat cars coming to the projectfrom the south and the HollandTunnel can travel ClintonStreet north, then turn east andenter the project through 17thStreet.

The council tabled the pro-posal at its last meeting pend-ing the study by Wilbur Smith.

"The concept appears ben-eficial to the city," according tothe report, but "even the 17thStreet and Clinton Street im-provements would not reducesite traffic concentration atthis point."

Councilman Thomas New-man said the only solution toHoboken's traffic problem is aproposed road around the backof the city at the Palisades,through the existing Conrailright of way.

But under the state Depart-ment of Transportation's cur-rent plan, the highway wouldnot be completed until 2002.

"We have to find out justhow serious the state is aboutthis bypass road." Newmansaid

The councilman opposesHartz's 17th Street plan unlessthe city can obtain a firm com-

mitment from the state for con-structing the bypass road in thenear future.

"The council should voteagainst this. It might be neces-sary1 for Hartz to suffer a littlebit of pain so they join us inpressuring the state to get thisbypass road going."

City activist and environ-mentalist Helen Manogueagreed.

"We need more time andmore research before we sim-ply give 17th Street away," shesaid.

"1 don't think the publicreally knows enough about thisresolution to get really excited.

" It's too bad because this couldwind up being a disaster."

But other council membersand city officials say that traf-fic as a result of Lincoln Har-bor will flood Hoboken streetswhether or not 17th Street be-comes the official southernentrance.

They contend that thecouncil should approve theplan as long as Hartz makessubstantial repairs to the roadand joins the city in coming upwith solutions for troubledintersections.

"It's time for Hoboken toput its foot down and ask forgivebacks and stop being ev-eryone's door mat." said KirstiJutila. assistant city planner.

"We need all the help wecan get to develop solutions tothe traffic problems that facethis city."

By Ronald Leir

Schools in Hudson Countygenerally followed the state-wide trend of higher scores inbasic skills tests administeredto third- and sixth-gradersaround New Jersey.

But Hudson CountySchools Superintendent LouisAcocella warned that whileHudson's overall results weregood, "we shouldn't be overlyexcited. Let's not take it to con-strue that everything is well.Districts should be cautious ininterpreting the data.

"In certain districts, theproblem is we have kids whoare dropping out or who aregraduating without an under-standing of the basic skills theywill need in society," he said.

In Hoboken, one of severaldistricts which have been de-certified by the state for vari-ous failings, third-graders didbetter than sixth-graders in allthree categories.

Jersey City, another dis-trict that has failed to meetcertain state-mandated educa-tional and administrative stan-dards, showed overall improve-ment for the third straight yearbut still ended up below thestate averages in reading andmath. Most language artsscores were near the slateaverage.

Scores in reading and mathvaried widely from school toschool in Jersey City. Less thanhalf of the third-graders testedat School 29 and School 41passed in those categories.Less than half of the sixth-grad-ers tested at School 41 and.School 14 passed reading.

Scores indicate the per-i centage of students who met or| exceeded a state-set minimum

passing test grade.On the plus side, more than

90 percent of the third-graderstested at School 28 passedreading and math

Jersey City schools, guidedby Assistant Superintendent

See TEST SCORES — Page 10.

Percentage of Students PassingBasic Skills Tests for 1986-87

East Newark68.4100

North Bergen92490.4

Weehawken93

91.5

West New York9787

HobokenBy Jim Ko|Hhaint> / < " " / % 7

The Hoboken City Council hasput off decision for two weeks, onexpandm« 17th Street as the south-ern entrance tor the Lincoln Harborproject in Weehawken

The council had been expectedto approve the project, which hasbeen strongly advocated by the city snew traffic consultant However.Councilman Thomas Newman askeafor the postponement so that the mycan talk with state officials about the

delays decision on 'inevitable' gridlock^prospects for a new highway on thewestern boundary of the city

The Lincoln Harbor developer,Hartz Mountain Industries wants17th Street extended to ease trafficpressure heading to the project

Located on the Weehawken Covenear the Hoboken border, the firstphase of Lincoln Harbor will containmore than 11 million square feet ofspace and 5.000 parking spaces Theproject will draw approximately4 500 employees, many of whom willwork with Paine Webber

The city's traffic consultant Wilbur Smith Associates, recommendedthe widening to help the city copewith an expected increase of trafficthat will be caused when the LincolnHai1 iHt is constructed

< i urasm represent**! Wil-bur Smith Associates before thecouncil last night He told the members that the proposed street expan-sion would ease the flow of traffictravelling from Hoboken and JerseyCity to the project as well as cutdown on the congestion that already

exists at ihe intersections of 14thStreet at Willow and Park avenues

A . to Jurasin. expanding17th would create a thirdbridge connecting - with Wee-hawken and allow ; fie headedfor Lincoln Harbor to by i * *ocongested 14th Street ins<

Smith, vice-president of

.ns

of vour own traffichave read their traffic £project can only hi-lp but benboth the city of Hoboken. Smith

^ H o w e v e r . Michael t o |trector of thecity'sCominumty

opment Agency, said it "better if the city just let thesituation grow worse o"**Hiirbor>occurs, i 01

-?ou have heard the testimony

Hoboken postpones gridlock

reated by an intok-rablesu

the route ot I o n i a ntrucks running along the city'sboundary City officials havesought a highway there for over50 years as one way to alleviatecar and truck traffic on city-streets.

One of the speakers, l)rRobert King said the cit>

• • --....« on the street ex

de\ciopiiii-m.> wouldColcman said that if thealleviated the traffic situationby expanding the road. th»state would not feel any need tomake plans for-either the highway or a proposed light rartsystem along the waterfront.

Council President Pat llas-culli became angry at Cole-man's idea. "Do you mean totell me that in order to get thestate to do something youwould rather have Hobokenresidents put up with massivegridlock that will occur".' he

said.New man suggested that the

vote be tabled after severalresidents asked that it be de-

1 laved until more information isi\ known He said the extra weeks

would allow the council moreit time to consider the request as

well as grant the city adminis-i trators tune to contact the stateie and discover how the prospectsx- are for funding the highwaynt and light rail project.

Vezzetti putsfreeze on probeof 2 directors•T JOHN CURTISStaff Writer

ALBEE SEEING YOU — Elia Borelli, veteran of the vaudevillecircuits, remembers the old three-a-doy routines as she regardsa rather wooden youth, right, who has changed hardly at allsince those days. Between them are Mary Manhardt o i themuseum staff, and James Hans, museum curator and president,at the second annual Hoboken Museum Gala at Hoboken City

Hall.

HOBOKEN—Mayor ThomasF. Vezzetti has stalled an in-vestigation into allegations ofimproprieties by the city's lawand public works directors byrefusing to sign the in-vestigator's contract.

Attorney Frederick L. Woe-ckener, who had begun a reviewof four sludge removal con-tracts, said he will not continuehis work until his own status isresolved.

"I don't know what the (CityCouncil) wants to do," Woe-ckener said. "I suggested theytry and work something out withthe mayor. I would hate to seethe city waste its resources inlitigation over it."

Last month, the councilawarded Woeckener a $5,000contract to investigate allega-tions that Law Director WilliamGraves and Public Works Direc-tor Roy Haack acted improperlyin authorizing contracts forsludge removal without councUapproval.

Vezzetti, however, said Mon-day that he will not sign the con-tract. The mayor has chargedthat the investigation is politi-cally motivated and that Woe-ckener's appointment involves aconflict of interest. Woeckenerwas Vezzetti's first law directorand his personal attorney.

"It is obvious there was somewrongdoing in the way the con-tracts were let," CouncilmanDavid Roberts said yesterday.He said an investigation coulddetermine if there were merelytechnical errors or "a seriousproblem."

Mayoral aide Laurie Fabianosaid the council will have to takethe mayor to court to if it seeksto enforce the contract. Roberts

said of the contract yesterday,"Maybe it is in limbo." AndCouncilman Robert A. Ranierisaid the council has the legal au-thority to pursue the investiga-tion.

"The council has full, totalrights to investigate city busi-ness, has full subpoena powers,"Ranieri said. "It is incumbent inthose powers that there bestaff."

Ranieri, a Vezzetti foe who In-stigated the investigation, saidthe council will continue dis-cussion of the contract in aclosed session at its meeting to-night. He has accused the mayorof trying to cover up the allegedimproprieties in the sludge con-tracts.

Graves prepared three of thefour sludge removal contracts,and has admitted to errors onthem. He said the errors havebeen corrected.

In one case, Graves andHaack failed to declare an emer-gency in order to have sludgeshipped to a treatment facility.An emergency was declared af-ter the fact.

Ranieri said work orders andcontracts may have beenbackdated, and said the admin-istration acted improperly inawarding the contracts withoutcouncil authorization.

The contracts — with OzonicsCorp., Boswell Engineering,Garden State Trucking and A&BTrucking ~- total about $100,000this year. Graves approved thecontract with A&B, but subse-quently informed the state At-torney General's Office that thefirm's bid seemed unrealistical-ly low. The Attorney General'sOffice then launched an in-vestigation of the trucking com-pany.

Landlord fined $93G for warehousingBy James Efstathiou /

A Hoboken landlord wasfound guilty in municipal courtyesterday of warehousing liveapartments and was slappedwith a $93,750 fine for theviolation.

Aris Skarantonakis owneror a nine-unit building at 233Grand Street. Hoboken. re-quested a stay pending an ap-peal or the decision renderedby acting -ludge lgnasio Perez.Perez ruled that Skarantonakiswas in violation of the city santi-warehousing ordinance bynot renting five units in hisbuilding

The city's case assertedthat the apartments were va-cant for 187 days begining May2.

Under the ordinance, anowner has 60 days to rent avacant apartment unless awaiver is granted by the rentleveling board, according to as-sistant Hoboken attorney Mau-reen Schweitzer I'arrott whotried the case lor Hoboken.

Skarantonakis was lined$50 per apartment for the firstday and $100 subsequently foreach day the five units werevacant during the period, saidSchweitzer Parrolt.

Skarantonakis' troubles

began when he attempted topersuade tenants to relocate bysending each a letter in March.1986 The letter stated that hewished to renovate the building and would offer each $300for moving expenses, accordingto Maureen Fearon, a tenantfor 14 years who testifiedagainst her landlord.

"He told me that he wantedto renovate the building andthat 1 would be entitled to moveback at a rent of $700 permonth." said Fearon who hadpreviously paid $390 a monthfor her apartment.

Between March and July of1986, five tenants left their

apartments leaving Fearon andDianne Balesterri, another ten-ant, the sole occupants, exclud-ing Skarantonakis who alsolives in the building. Accordingto Fearon, Skarantanakis hassince gutted the emptyapartments.

"After they left, it was justthe two of us between him andbreaking down walls." saidFearon.

The landlord stepped uphis efforts to clear the building,eventually offering Fearon andBalesterri "several thousand"dollars to vacate their a

See LANDLORD — Page 14.

HOBOkKN — I*

Tuesday, November 10, 1987

Residentialqualifications

Jk

Hoooken city Officials are goingto consider a change in the permitparking ordinance that would letresidents with out-of-town driver li-censes and registrations obtain resi-dential parking permits. However,that doesn't seem to be a changevorth making.

The Hoboken parking permit or-dinance is directed primarilyagainst those people who drive in toHoboken, park on the streets andthen take public transportation in toManhattan. People who don't live orwork in the city are subject to penal-ties for staying too long on (he localstreets. Some Hoboken motoristsare enraged when they see cars without-of-state plates taking up pre-cious street parking spots. But acomplication, according to local of-ficials, is that some of those out-of-state plates are on cars driven bypeople who also live in Hoboken.

Apparently a considerable num-ber of people who have been insist-ing they do reside in the city haveout-of-city and often out-of-state li-censes and registrations.

Rather than changing the cityparking permit ordinance, though,Hoboken officials should tell thosemotorists who choose to live in thecity to get their car registered toreflect that fact.

That would seem to be totallyconsistent with state law. A spokes-man for the Motor Vehicles Depart-ment says anyone who makes a newprincipal residence in the state hasonly 60 days to change his or her carregistration and license plate.

The spokesman concedes thatproving what constitutes a principalresidence is often difficult, and thatthe department itself, which is not alaw enforcement agency, makes noeffort to get the law enforced. It alsomakes no attempt to check theclaims of people applying for a reg-istration to determine how much ofthe year they live at their claimedprincipal address.

However, it's difficult to think ofa Hoboken apartment being used asa secondary residence, such as avacation or weekend home.

Our guess is that some peoplemerely delay changing their regis-tration out of inertia or to gain aninsurance advantage.

No one should expect Hobokento launch its own drive to enforcethestate registration requirement.

But by the same token, there's noreason people evading or stretchingthe state's registration require-ments deserve special protection inHoboken's residential parkingordinance.

Landlord fined $93GContinued from Pagr 1partments "He always actedlike he had these big guns be-hind him." said Fearon. i tended up being us against thisbig system of his "

Skarantonakis system wasset back, however, when inFebruary, after a lenghty legalchallenge, the anti-warehouseordinance was finally clearedfor enforcement. The caseagainst Skarantonakis wasfiled in May and, after numer-ous postponements, was decid-ed yesterday.

FLUID IN HIS LUNGS

Vezzetti may leave hospital today. . ___*» : - . •* t u -

THOMAS F. VEZZETTISalt was the culprit

By CHRISTOPHER AVEStaH Writer

HOBOKEN-Proc la iminghimself fit and relaxed, MayorThomas F. Vezzetti said he ex-pected to be released this morn-ing from Christ Hospital in Jer-sey City after a weekend spentrecovering from an accumula-tion of fluid in his lungs.

The increase of fluid. Vezzettisaid in a telephone interviewfrom his hospital bed. apparent-ly was the result of severaltransgressions of his low-sodiumdiet.

Vezzetti was hospitalized Fri-

day evening after complainingof shortness of breath. He called-Councilman Joseph Delia Fave,who drove him to the hospital.

"I was white as a sheet — Icouldn't breathe at all," Vezzettisaid.

Vezzetti has had arrythmia, asometimes irregular heartbeat,for years, and the mayor wasplaced in a telemetry unit tomeasure his heartbeat. Admin-istration officials, however, saidhis hearbeat was completelynormal and that the fluidbuildup did not affect his heartcondition.

Vezzetti's doctor. HowardRubenstein, refused to commenton the mayor's case.

The mayor, who has beenknown to stray from his strictlow-sodium diet, said he thoughtthe culprits were two quadruple-servings of chicken soup he atelast week at Esposito's, a res-taurant and grocer on 12thStreet.

"It was so delicious — I can'ttell you." Vezzetti said. "I atefour or five soups on Thursday,and 1 had four the day before."

The mayor said he did not re-alize the soups could contain

salt.i think Esposito's has the

best soups in the United States- but I can't have it anymore,he said, a bit wistfully. He addedthat he would try to be more dis-ciplined in following his diet inthe future.

D r . N i c k H o m e r . acardiologist at Columbia-Pres-bvterian Hospital in Manhattan,said a fluid build-up could causeproblems for someone with ar-rythmia.

"Potentially, it could be a seri-ous problem. It depends on hisheart rate and the seriousness of

the arrythmia," Homer said."His heart rate was perfectly

normal, but his blood pressurewas a little high," she said. "Sowe're going to put up huge dietsigns everywhere around the of-fice."

Anthony Esposito, the ownerof the restaurant, said he puts nosalt in his homemade chickensoup, adding that Vezzetti easilycould have picked up the extrasodium elsewhere.

"He eats all over the place —you can't stay in one place whenyou're mayor," Esposito said.

BitterbattleragingRanieri's chargesdivide the council

9 A ABy CHRISTOPHER AVEStaff Wntet _ _ _ _ _

HOBOKEN-The City CouncUlast night debated the merits ofhiring a former city law directorto investigate Councilman Rob-ert A Ranieri's allegations thatsome city contracts wereawarded improperly.

The council argued behindclosed doors late into the night,discussing how it would respondto Mayor Thomas F. Vezzetti'*refusal earlier this week to ap-prove hiring attorney FrederickL Woeckener.

Vezzetti on Monday balked atsigning Woeckener's $5,000 con-t rac t , which the councilawarded last month The councilacted at the request of Ranieri,who is accusing the Vezzetti ad-ministration of hiring foursludge removal companieswithout first obtaining councilapproval.

No council decision had beenannounced as of press time lastnight. Officials had said earlierthat the council might wait aweek or more before decidingwhat to do.

After opening its regularmeeting, the council voted to gointo closed session Sources saidthe council would discusscharges by Councilman JosephDelia Fave that Woeckener hadbeen too involved in previoussewer-related matters as thecity's law director to be an im-partial attorney.

Woeckener disputed thosecharges in an interview beforelast night's meeting, but said hewas prepared to withdraw fromthe job if he thought he was a"roadblock" to the investiga-tion.

"If I'm the only roadblock, Iwould certainly be willing tostep aside," he said.

Administration officials saythat hiring Woeckener was a po-litically motivated move byRanieri, a frequent Vezzetti foewho is mentioned as a mayoralcandidate in 1989.

"He wants to be mayor,"Vezzetti said of Ranieri. "It's allpolitical horse—."

Ranieri has called Vezzetti'srefusal to sign Woeckener's con-tract a coverup and he contendsit is the city's responsibility toinvestigate itself.

The contracts at issue involvefour companies: A & B Truck-ing, Boswell Engineering Co. ofRidgefield Park, Garden StateLaboratories and Ozonics Corp.Three of the disputed contract!were prepared by city Law Di-rector \MftHapi Graves.

Graves has admitted techni-cal errors in Ifce initial st*ges ofpreparing the contracts, butmaintains that the errors werecorrected and that no problemsexist with the contracts.

The controversy is developingin the shadow of a complexseries of lawsuits brought by thelocal firm of Mayo Lynch & As-sociates against the city andOzonics. Assignment Judge Bur-rell Ives Humphreys of HudsonCounty Superior Court in JerseyCity on Oct. 24, 1986, ruled thatVezzetti was correct in refusingto approve payment on a $2 mil-lion contract with Mayo Lynchto design the city's secondarysewage treatment plant. In thesame decision, Humphreys in-validated the contract, andMayo Lynch responded with ahost of lawsuits.

Sources said Delia Fave hadplanned to attack Woeckener forhis part in approving city con-tracts with Mayo Lynch, and forformer clients Woeckener hadHe represented Joe Lynch, thetop executive of Mayo Lynch, inan unrelated case, and was theattorney for seven demoted po-lice officers in an action againstthe city. * * ^

Woeckener said he was not re-sponsible for previous city con-tracts with Mayo Lynch andsaid his previous jobs represent-ing Lynch and the police wouldnot affect his impartiality in thenew city post.

V lot ol ti icks were played at localresidents who attended Hoboken'sv-imuffin Parade on Halloween —

t was no treat1'articipants could haw easily for-

.yven the fact that the parade startedabout 40 minutes late, leaving parentsf« i-ilm alreadv restless childrenWh t T " l b l e l s t h e l a t k o f

concern ,• iwnsors showed forour children s welfare

The parade began at 14th andWashington Street, a two-way thor-oughfare Traffic on the avenue wasnever stopped in one lane during theparade This meant that marchers hadto remain huddled to one side of theyellow line, as cars, buses, and vanswhizzed just inches away

1 saw no police on duty to diverttraffic until the parade reachedFighth Street Cars crossed intersec-tions in front of the marchers and

. S.vided the parade several timesNeedless to say parents began to strap

: children into carriages, carry them intheir arms or grip their hands, fearing

. the little ones might stray into oncom'"R The traffic on the other side didoccasionally come to a halt Motoristsstopped then cars in the middle of hestreet to greet marchers. One guy lefthis van idling to jump out and say

h ° What appalled me most was thescene at the Hoboken fire house on

'I l"ith and Washington Street, where a•- Santa Claus atop a fire engine threwf candy to children Since the firehouset was on the same side as the moving

vehicles, the children had to dash; between the flowing traffic- to get the. treats What did the firemen to reme* dy this' They began throwing the can-

dy over the traffic to the crowd on the

. ° "he" .fudging at the little league

Hoboken parade was badly bungledl d t l l f field posed a w o o d hazard Thefield posed a second hazard The

e\ *rted nicely The Hoboken11, uol Band played as cheer-leaders, and - danced Cos-tume clad coi, waltzed passedjudges on the field Winners werepulled aside to collect their prizes.

In the end. only the strong survived to claim their rewards. Whilethe winners waited patiently in thecorner, an unruly mob began to stormthe prize area. Some of those chosennever collected their prizes They leftempty-handed, fearing their childrenwould be hurt in the tug of war thattook place.

This happened at last year's judging too Parade sponsors should tryissuing "collection tickets" to the win-ners as they are selected to insure thetickets can be traded for a prize rath-er than a push

And parade sponsors have to planahead to insure the safety of our chil-den during such outdoor events forchildren I don't remember theseproblems existing at any other pa-rades in our city

At the Memorial Day Parade,when our police and firemen and cityofficials march, you can bet advancetowing notices are posted, tickets is-sued, traffic supervised and reroutedand unruly behavior from the crowdquashed

But the Kagamuffin Parade.That's only kid stuff - IIOBOKKNMOTHKK

GRAVESCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

COUNCIL'S TARGET / /

Graves relaxedas storm swirls• y CHRISTOPERStaff Writer

HOBOKEN-Hands locked be-hind his head, leaning back inhis chair, peering over his clut-tered desk, city Law DirectorWilliam Graves is the picture otnonchalance.

if 1 can defend a woman whobeat to death her 3 year-oldson," the former public de-fender says calmly, i can cer-tainly defend the city ofHoboken" .

But Graves, who has in hisyear long tenure won millions otdollars for the city in favorablejudgments, is being forced byCity Councilman Robert A.Kanieri to do something else -defend himself

In the face of allegations fromRanieri that Graves improperlyexecuted four sludge removalcontracts, the City Council lastmonth hired former Law Direc-tor Frederick L Woeckener toinvestigate Mayor Thomas F.Vezzetti refused to sign Woe-ckener's contract last week, andthe council argued until nearly2-30 a.m. at last week's meeting

WILLIAM GRAVESHoboken is his client

over what to do about itThe council is expected to re-

new the discussion at tomorrownight's meeting Ranieri, an ar-dent Vezzetti foe, said it is pos-sible the council wUl declare aformal investigation and hire

Please see GRAVES Page 16

Woeckener on it's own, withoutVexzetti's approval

Graves, the center of themaelstrom, appears unruffledby ft all. The 4& year-old formerNewark assistant corporationcounsel has maintained thatonly technical mistakes —"glitches," he calls them —were made in preparing the con-tracts.

Ranieri's attack comes after astring of impressive victories byGraves on the city's behalf, in-cluding:

Winning a $9.3 millionjudgment against the Port Au-thority of New York and NewJersey in an insurance suit overa pier that was damaged by fire.

Coming to separate settle-ments with the state Depart-ment of Environmental Protec-tion and the federal Environ-mental Protection Agency overthe city's decrepit sewer systemthat saved the city from payingsome $40 million in fines

nObtaining a federal grant ofnearly $30 million for rejuvenat-ing that system

nComing to an agreementwith the Board of Education inwhich the board agreed to a cutof $2 25 million in its budget re-quest.

"Every case he has tried hasbeen successful," mayoral aideLaurie Fabiano says Thebespectacled, bearded law di-rector accumulated much of hiscourtroom acumen from his pre-vious jobs as an attorney for

Film cr«w ! * •»* •?* f o r

.hooting on WashingtonStreet in Hoboken

Hoboken seeks lawsuit over sludge"T"~ T~ -i fnr Vp7zetti and an advocate ol

Rv Bill Campbell I L~? City officials have not spec- vestigation by(the council lor ™ ^ i d t h e r e a re no piBy BUI lampoon , , / ' , / * ^ f i e d {he damages they are irregularities to the state Local prc. . ^ O z Q n i c s c o n t

By Bill Campbell

The Hoboken Law Depart-ment is asking the City Councilfor permission to file a lawsuitagainst a sewage contractor,charging that the firm hasfailed to live up to its munici-pal contract.

Hoboken is charging thatOzonics, Inc. of Freehold vio-lated its contract by failing totransport sludge from the mu-nicipal sewage treatment plantto landfill facilities.

The city, which subse-quently hired an independentsludge hauler to transport thesolid waste to a Pennsylvanialandfill, is asking for damagesdue to the alleged violation tothe $144 million Ozonicscontract.

City officials have not spec-ified the damages they areseeking from Ozonics.

Representatives of Ozonicswere not available to commenton Hoboken's charges. Lastweek, the firm threatened tosue the city for $80,000 and re-move sludge processing equip-ment at the sewage plant, ifback payments from Septem-ber and October were not ap-proved by the City Council.

The council last Wednes-day authorized the paymentsand Ozonics has withdrawn itslegal threat, said Hoboken LawDirector William Graves. Hesaid the city would have filedits suit yesterday if Ozonics hadnot withdrawn its complaint.

The Ozonics pact is one offour sewage contracts under in-

vestigation by the council forirregularities to the state LocalPublic Contracts Law.

The Ozonics contract, ap-proved by the City Council in1984, authorizes the firm to pro-cess city sludge and transportthe byproduct to landfill faci-lites for disposal.

However, after the stateDepartment of EnvironmentalProtection closed the Hacken-sack Meadow lands dumping fa-cility for sludge disposal, thecity contracted A&B Truckingto haul the material to a land-fill in Pennsylvania. Officialssaid Ozonics would no longertransport the material due tothe increased cost of shipping.

But City Councilman Rob-ert Ranieri, a critic of the ad-ministration of Mayor Thomas

Vezzetti and an advocate of theprobe, said there are no provi-sions in the Ozonics contractauthorizing the city to pay ad-ditional hauling costs.

Ranieri further contendsthe entire contract is invalidbecause the orginal recipients,James Federline, Inc. of Mary-land, subcontracted the projectto Ozonics without City Councilapproval.

The City Council is also in-vestigating the A&B contract,charging that the administra-tion authorized the pact beforecouncil consent was given.

The City Council is at-tempting to hire former Hobo-ken Law Director FrederickWoeckener to investigate thefour sewage pacts but Vezzettihas refused to sign his contract.

Washington Street in Hobo-ken apparently looks more likethe Upper West Side of Man-hattan than does the UpperWest Side of Manhattan.

Set designers for the film."Crossing Delaneey," starringAmy Irving, have transformed avacant storefront betweenFifth and Sixth streets into anold-fashioned Manhattan book-store. Producers said the Hobo-ken set, where filming beganMonday, looks more authenticthan anything they could findacross the Hudson.

"They all look like Steve'sIce Cream." said producer Mi-chael Nozik, referring to theManhattan locations consid-ered for the film.

Filmmakers said the build-ing at 518 Washington St. wasselected to be "New DayBooks," the fictional storewhere Irving's charac te rworks, because much of theshelving needed to store bookswas already in place Thebuilding had housed UnicornBooks until 1984 and has beenvacant ever since.

Ironically a real bookstore,Rogers & Cogswell Books, isonly two doors south of the

—» movie set. Co-owner MaureenKennedy said many long-timecustomers, seeing stacks ofbooks in the windows of 518.were concerned that a compet-ing store was moving in.

"Most people were. like,upset," said Kennedy. "Theysaid, How can they open anoth-er bookstore next door toyou?'"

The filming two doors awayhas instead been a minor boonto Rogers & Cogswell, she said,because members of the film'stechnical crew have stopped into browse while waiting for

shooting to begin.Kennedy said she was one

of the lucky observers to spotIrving's husband, director Ste-ven Spielberg, among thecrowd at Monday's session.

'He's ta l ler than Ithought," she said.

Bert Laiken, owner of theL. & G. Laiken Electrical Con-tractors at 526 Washington St.,said his is another business tohave benefitted from the filmcrew's presence. He said tech-nicians have purchased lightbulbs, electrical tape and othersupplies.

"They've been nice, polite,and 1 hope they make a goodmovie.' he said.

This week marks the sec-ond film-related assignmentfor Hoboken Police Sgt RonaldClark The officer said he wason duty a few years ago duringshooting for the gangster film"Once Upon a Time in America," and had coffee with thefilm's star, Robert DeNiro.

"He was aces." Clark said."Crossing Deianeey" is at

least the second Hudson Coun-ty experience for actress Ir-ving. Film fans will recall thatscenes for her film, "Voices."were shot in the Stanley The-ater in Jersey City.

Assistant director FrankSerrano said Irving portraysizzy." a young woman fromManhattan's Lower East Sidewho works in the bookstore.She falls for a famous authorwhile her mother tries to matchher with a local pickle dealer.

What results is "a littleLower East Side Jewish roman-tic comedy,' Serrano said.

The film also stars PeterRiegert, Jeroen Krabbe andRiezl Bozyk. The screenplaywas written by Susan Sandier,who wrote the off-Broadwayplay of the same name.

HOSOKEW

Newark, and at public defender.Out of four people he defendedagainst murder charges, threeescaped death row, and thefourth is confined there.

Graves' record here Is onethat even his opponents findhard to fault But for Ranieri,Graves has been too protectiveof the Vezzetti administrationfor the city's good.

"He is beholden to his em-ployer, Ms. Fabiano," Ranierisaid with thinly-masked disdain."His primary Interest is not iaprotecting the city government,but in protecting the city admin-istration, i would observe thathe is a good soldier in the de-fense of the administration, "Ranieri continued. "But 1 don'tbelieve that should be his primeconcern."

Ranieri concedes that two ofthe disputed contracts — withGarden State Laboratories Inc.of Irvington and Boswell Engi-neering Co. of Ridgefield Park— involve technical errors madein good faith that can easily berectified.

But in two other situations, in-volving A&B Trucking of Sew-all and Ozonics Inc of Freehold,Graves has left "heavy ques-tions," according to Ranieri.

The councilman charges thatGraves allowed both companiesto work for the city without con-tracts — A&B Trucking for sixmonths, and Garden State fortwo years. The companies weretreating or carrying loads ofsludge for the city.

"This is not a glitch. This is aI government within a govern-•ment," Ranieri charged.

Graves, for his part, admitteditechinical errors but said no'harm has been done.< "It was sloppy and it shouldn'thave been done," he said. "Butno real harm was done to any-one, because in all instances,services were rendered. That'swhy they put erasers on pen-cils."

$93Gfine isleviedLandlord penalizedfor apt. vacancies• f CHRISTOPHER AVEStaff Write*

HOBOKEN-In the biggestfint yet levied under the city'santi-warehousing ordinance, abuilding owner was ordered topay 198,750 by a municipal judgeyesterday.

The Tine was imposed on ArisSkarantonakis for keeping fiveapartments in his nine-unitstructure at 243 Grand St. un-rented for 187 days. Under theordinance, building ownersmust rent vacated apartmentswithin CO days of vacancy or ap-ply for a waiver.

Acting Municipal Judge Ig-aacio Perez, a former JerseyCity tenant lawyer, said Skaran-tonakis had done neither and isliable for the fines

Skarantonakis, who lives onthe ground floor, could not bereached for comment last night.His telephone number is un-listed

City tenant activist ThomasOlivieri said he expected thelandlord to appeal the decision.He added that he was delightedat the ruling.

"This is by far the largest fineever issued against an owner inthe history of Hoboken," Olivierisaid. "The next largest was$5,000."

Olivieri has spent the last cou-ple of months helping the re-maining three tenants in thebuilding fight a possible con-dominium conversion there.

Skarantonakis' case had beenpending for six months due todelays in the Municipal Court,and Olivieri had been pressuringthe court to move more quicklyon the case.

The ordinance, written by CityCouncilman Joseph Delia Fave14 years ago, has been the sub-ject of a lengthy and complex le-gal battle. The law first waschallenged in August 1986, by alocal developers' group, whichcalled it unconstitutional. But ajudge in U.S. District Court inNewark dismissed the case lastNovember, and the city beganenforcing the law in February.

However, cases are pendingagainst the city's law and a simi-lar Jersey City ordinance. Thecases are to be heard by Assign-ment Judge Burreli Ives Hum-phreys of Hudson County Superi-or Court in Jersey City.

Humphreys is expected to de-cide if the cases against thecities' laws can be heard togeth-er.

Warehousing is commonlyUMd by landlords to raise theralue of their property whenselling to developers, who con-vert the buildings into con-dominiums or cooperatives.Empty apartments save the de-veloper the time and expense ofevicting tenants before con-version.

P.A. gets deadlineon Hoboken piers

• 1. ,«nMiicnH f*("*

PA gets deadlineon Hoboken piers

*.-r/\ /tn/\ „„.<( .inniin

Woman says nun wants her money. . _ ' ^ n ^ d s h e w a s "The whole philosophy of the shelter isn't officially dc

shelter. Boyington said shealso asked to sign over a $1,355Veterans AdministrationChCCHunnewinkle said Boying-ton probably made the com-plaint to police out of anger orbeing removed from the shelterlast week. She said Boyingtonhad remained in the shelternast the 30-day limit and hadn tbeen saving her money in ac-cordance with shelter rules

The homeless woman. Es- Hunnewinkle said^she re-telle Boyington. 66. told police quests that each perwnaccepMonday that Sister Hunnewin- ed into the sh e» e r m a i n l a ^ v Jkle demanded that Boyington regular bank account or navesign over her $341 November the shelterSocial Security check to the them

By Dominick Calicchio

A homeless woman in Ho-boken says the operator of thecity's only shelter tried to con-fiscate her Social Securityfunds in exchange for food anda place to sleep

Sister Norberta Hunnewin-kle, operator of the BishopJohn Mahurter Shelter. 300Bloomfield St., denies thecharges

The homeless woman. Es-

"The whole philosophy ofthe shelter is that we can hopefully work with the people toget them back into the mainstream of society," saidHunnewinkle

All money collected in theshelter account is returned tothe homeless persons whenthey find places to live, shesaid, and the homeless are giv-en receipts for each deposit.

None of the money collected from the homeless is used tooperate the shelter, she said;expenses are paid solelythrough donations. .

A spokesman for the SocialSecurity office in Hoboken saia

the shelter isn't officially des-ignated as a legal payee formonthly checks.

The agency may authorizechecks to be turned over to afamily member or guardian of arecipient deemed to be mental-ly or physically incapable ofhandling the money properly,said the spokesman.

Designation of the payeecomes only after interviewswith the recipient and theguardian, and after an exami-nation by a, physician, thespokesman said.

Hoboken police are inves-tigating Boyington's chargesagainst Hunnewinkle.

Continued from I'age 1Humphreys questioned his

position, noting that it runscontrary to last month's an-nouncement and that it ap-pears the P.A. has not investedin the property since 1960. Hesaid he had 'difficulty with thePort Authority holding theproperty hostage" muchlonger.

The P.A. removed the agingwood structure that coveredPier A and currently uses thesite for parking. The other two

By John PetrickHudson County's top judge

yesterday gave the Port Au-thority 30 days to negotiateterms to end its lease of threeHoboken piers that were to bethe site of a $500 milliondevelopment

If no progress is made after30 days. Superior Court Assign-ment Judge Burreli Ives Hum-phreys will appoint a mediator.

Eleven Hoboken citizensfrom People Advocating Sane

piers have beenunusedmore than a decade ...

The attorney said the 1 A^might be willing to surrenderits lease on certain unspecified*;

" '"TheTit Authority is likely! Solutions" went before thet,, exnect compensation from judge yesterday to try to evicthe c v for Jiving up the re-" the Port Authority from themiii ng years of Us lease. piers, charging the agency

\epres-ntatives of PASS, broke its lease, which calledHoboken and the Port Author-; for a marine terminal that

re to contact Humphreys- would have generated revenue' the next month on the, for the city.

progress. The project never got offThe P.A. retains control of

the piers for the next 15 yearsunder the 1952 lease. Hoboken

receives $70,000 rent annuallyfrom the agency. Last month,the PA announced it wouldpull out of the site and scrap its$500 million Hudson Centerdevelopment.

The P.A. and the city begannegotiating a restated lease in1984 that would have allowed amassive, mixed use develop-ment that included severalhighrise office buildings, 1.600housing units, hotels, shopsand restaurants. Negotiationsbroke off last year in the midstof a controversy over $9.5 mil-lion in insurance funds,however.

Port Authority attorney Michael Jankoski suggested toHumphreys yesterday that theagency is reluctant to abandonits lease, having invested some$15 million in preliminaryplans for the property.

See PA - face 8

THE JOSEY JOUBNM, SATUtOAY, NCNfHta 14, 1967

00G sought from D'Amelio Romano resignsh hBy J«fcn Pelriek

Hoboken official* thailenged \esterday the proprietyof a real estate sale involvingformer city attorney SalvatoreD Amelia.

They asked Superior CourtJudge Burrell Ives Humphreysto give the city the profits l> A-melio made from that sale

DAmelio and two businesspartners bought property at201 203 Bloomfield St.. Hobo-ken. on May 30 last year tor$265 000.

They then contracted tosell the property the followingmonth According to the contract, the sale was contingenton the sellers' obtaining allzoning approvals and buildingpermits for the planned con

struction of a nine-unit resi-dential building

D Amelio. under the con-tract, received $100,000 fromthe sale

City Zoning Officer AlfredArvuo gave the buyers prelim-inary zoning and plan reviewand issued building permits

Mayor Thomas Vezzettifired l> Amelio on Oct. 7. 1986While the sale was not consum-mated until three weeks afterhis dismissal, the plaintiffs ar-gued that D'Ameho was stillcity attorney when he signedthe contract

City attorney Will iamGraves argued before Hum-phreys that I) Amelios signingsuch a contract while a public-attorney gave the appearanceof impropriety.

Graves said that a reason-ably informed citizen" readingabout the transaction in anewspaper would questionit " .

Graves c*ted a section otthe bar's Rules of Conduct,which were adopted by the Su-preme Court It states:

"In certain cases or situa-tions creating an appearanceof impropriety rather than anactual conflict, multiple repre-sentation is not permissible,that is. in those situations inwhich an ordinary knowledge-able citizen acquainted withthe facts would conclude thatthe multiple representationposes substantial nskof disser-vice to either the public inter-est or the interest of one of theclients "

No arguedno did not

divert any money from thecity's pocket into his own. pro-fessional conduct rules allowthe city to receive monetary-damages because of the defen-dant's "breach of duty" toHoboken.

William Shulman. attorneyfor D'Amelio. argued that preliminary zoning approvalswere actually obtained by JohnSaracco. one of the buyersD Ameho. he said, never represented the buyers in obtainingzoning approval Does thismean that anybody who is a cityattorney is not allowed to buyor sell property' . . Are we soaugust? So shrouded by su-preme cloaks'"

his housing post

Romano resignshis housing post

By Mil Campbell

Lonu time Hoboken politi-cian "<< yester-day i < >t on theseven member municipalHousing Authority.

Romano s departure, effec-tive immediately leaves theCity Council with two seats totil on the board Commission-* Clayton Anderson, who has

>cVved in a holdover capacity»irice May. will be replaced bythe council later this month.

City Council President I'atPasculli said he was surprisedby Romano's sudden resigna-tion and would not speculateon whom the council wouldnominate for either of thevacancies

The commissioners are the

policy-making arm of the Hous-ing Authority, which maintainsabout 1.500 federally subsi-dized apartments for low-in-come famil ies and seniorcitizens.

Five of the commissionersare appointed by the City Coun-cil, while the other two areappointed by the mayor andthe governor Commissionersserve a five-year term and donot receive a salary

Earlier this month. MayorThomas Vezzetti appointed Fe-lix Rivera, a Port Authority po-lice officer and unsuccessfulBoard of Education candidate,to a seat on the board Rivera'sseat, which does not need coun-cil approval, had been occu-

S«-<' ROMANO — Page 16.

Ho•& .

•y CHRISTOPHER AVEStaff Writer

delays 17th Street improvement•==-*- asw?«£ - S £ « E SHHSSSS SEES

HOBOKEN-The City Councillast night again delayed a de-cision on a proposal by HartzMountain Industries to improve17th Street

In tabling the ordinance,which would have eased trafficto and from a Harte office de-velopment planned in neighbor-ing Weehawken, council mem-bers said they would devise a set

of city improvements that thecompany would have to finance

The demands for improve-ments will be added to the or-dinance as amendments, councilmembers said The final draft ofthe ordinance will be voted onwithin 30 days.

The council agreed to the de-lay — the second in the last fivedays for the proposal — afterhearing a presentation by thestate Department cf Transpor-

tation about the state's trafficconstruction plans. A state plan-ner told the council that a long-awaited road around the city'swestern perimeter might not beconstructed for as long as 10years.

"In the best of circumstances,it's going to take a long time,"DOT planner Joe Martin told thecouncil. "You've been talkingabout this road for 30 years — 1can't deliver it in 30 days."

Council members said beforethe meeting that they hoped thestate could make a firm commit-ment to the road, which is ex-pected to ease traffic throughthe city.

Counci lmen Rober t A.Ranieri, Joseph Delia Fave andThomas Newman said thatneither Hartz nor the state waspromising enough in return fortheir approval of the street im-provements that are expected to

had devised separate sets of pos-sible amendments to the or-dinance.

Lincoln Harbor, the mixed-useHartz project planned for aJune, 1988 debut, would employabout 4.500 employees.

Opponents of the Hartz planpointed out that the figure as-sumes that between 30 and 50percent of those employees

; calledRanieri said he wanted Hart*

to promise to pay for city im»provements such as more traffi4fguards and better roads New-man said he wanted to hold offon the proposal until the statesigned an agreement with Con-rail, which owns rights to theland planned for the perimeterhighway.

( wulinut-d frompie<l by Matthew Pastore.whose terra had expired

Romano was unavailablefor comment on his resigna-tion His two-sentence letter ofi. Miuiation to Pasculli did not*|H'cify his reason for leaving

I'ntiJ last year, Romanowas considered by many to bean influential but highly con-troversial political figure Heserved three terms as the FirstWard city councilman, whilealso serving as secretary to theHoard of Education. He wasalso an unsuccessful mayoralcandidate in 1977 against thenincumbent Steve Cappiello.

Romano abruptly resignedfrom the council in January1986 amidst reports he hadmoved out of the ward, andresigned from the school boarda year later.

Last month, the councilstripped the Housing Authorityof redevelopment powers in aneffort to speed up a plan todevelop several parcels of city-owned land along ObserverHighway between GardenStreet and Willow Avenue.

The council members ac-corded themselves redevelop-ment powers and are currentlyseeking bids from developersto construct a 450-unit apart-ment project on ObserverHighway

cri

2!

a _ C-3 <-•noc

Draytpn's appointment may not be legalm . I v / / /— » . i .'"!/- ;i~i>i« 4« »nmment nn the ™iir>o nffie&r tr> the authority 0

a> — •

s 5 < . _. O t£

3 g . JO C 1x at — 2

a *>I3

31

3" r-Oft! 3

3.

-2 . Jai m

g< n'

By BUI Campbell

The Hoboken City Council's ap-pointment Monday of Eugene Draytonas a commissioner on the seven-mem-ber Housing Authority may not belegal, officials warned yesterday.

Drayton, a police officer andmember of the local school board, wasappointed to a five year term by a 6-to-2 vote. He replaces Clayton Anderson,whose term had expired.

The city's Law Department saidthat Drayton's appointment violates astate law which prohibits having morethan one municipal employee on theboard of commissioners.

Under the statute. NJSA 55:14-6,"not more than one officer or employ-

/ ee of the municipality" may serve onthe commission. Edwin Duroy, an ele-mentary school teacher and CityCouncil member, has two years re-maining on his term as acommissioner.

"The law in this instance seemsvery clear," said assistant city attor-ney Thomas Calligy. "Both Duroy andDrayton are employed by the city andthey can't serve on the Housing Au-thority unless one of them resigns hismunicipal job."

Plans to swear Drayton in yester-day as a commissioner were put onhold pending an official determina-tion of his status.

The appointment marks the sec-ond time in two years Housing Author-

ity commissioners have become em-broiled in a dispute over municipaljob holders. In 1985, a controversyerupted when two members of the CityCouncil served on the Housing Au-thority at the same time.

Commissioner Angelo Valentewas appointed to the vacant SixthWard council seat while First WardCouncilman Anthony Romano servedas the council's deligate on theauthority.

The dispute, however, becamemoot within weeks when Valente losta bid to retain the council seat, leav-ing Romano as the only city employeeon the authority.

Yesterday, neither Drayton norCity Council President Pat Pasculli

were available to comment on theappointment. Duroy was also notavailable for comment concerning re-ports that he would step down fromhis seat on the authority.

The appointment was supportedby Pasculli, Duroy and council mem-bers Robert Ranieri, Steve Cappiello,Dave Roberts and E. Norman Wilson

Councilmen Joe Delia Fave andThomas Newman opposed the ap-pointment. Councilwoman Helen Cun-ning, who unsuccessfully nominatedanother person for the post, left themeeting before the vote

Drayton is the second person thismonth to be appointed to a term on theauthority. Mayor Thomas Vezzetti ap-pointed Felix Rivera, a Port Authority

police officer, to the authority on No-vember 2 to fill the seat occupied byMathew Pastore.

The council is expected to fillRomano's vacant seat on the authoritynext month. Romano submitted hisresignation to Pasculli in a letter lastweek.

The commisioners are the policymaking arm of the Housing Authority,which maintains about 1,500 federallysubsidized apartments for low incomefamilies and senior citizens.

Five of the commissioners are ap-pointed by the City Council, while theother two are appointed by the mayorand governor. Commissioners serveda five year term and do not receive a,salary.

' sr ii

%tt.

• 5. - "> 2.tT3r t

s :ri?a 3 o

3£ Q

I COI <

ooa

§!i 2 a3 • •—

2 w

3- • 3 n M (

TO 3 3

i?33 8 a

TO

B3

a

a>

TO

a

a

ncz

U1

o

SHOW GOES ON ^ A f U ?//./>

Macy's parade boss gets setAll-night task toprepare 30 floatsBy CHRISTOPHER AVEStaff Writer

HOBOKEN-Manfred Bass,the architect of the legendaryMacy's Thanksgiving Day Pa-rade tomorrow in Manhattan,has a full itinerary.

He's got a telephone interviewin ten minutes, a reporter stand-ing in front of him now and — notthe least of his worries — some30 mammoth floats that have tobe packaged and driven toManhattan in the next 48 hours.

But Bass, who has built the pa-rade's floats in his studio onWillow Avenue and 15th St. sinceI960, wants everyone to knowthat the parades the thing.

"That's not important," hesays of his 27-year record. "Theparade has been going since1927. It's the longest-runningshow on Broadway."

Bass and his crew of 20 willspend today packing up thefloats for a midnight runthrough a closed-off tube of theLincoln Tunnel tonight.

The floats — including aPeanuts ice rink, an AmericanIndian, Spiderman, Snoopy andthe traditional Santa Claus —

Council may fundagency that statedeemed unworthy

A float for theManhattan.

will be driven to the AmericanMuseum of Natural History onCentral Park West, where Bassand company will work all nightto get them ready for tomorrowmorning's start.

The parade will stretch sometwo-and-a-half miles through

Manhattan, requiring a total of100,000 cubic feet of helium and2,500 Macy's employees to keepthe whole thing going. And, Basspoints out, his work will continuethrough the parade and after itis over.

"When the last unit, Santa

Claus, is assembled, the firstunit is already being dis-mantled," he says.

And does Bass ever get tiredof his job?

He cracks a smile and an-swers: "Why get tired?"

Fast move thwarts arson attemptIf: 5~ " J ^ I X Z ^urtion door" he said Burn marks on ings in the city where fires

By Dominick Calicchio ' •

A quick-thinking tenantsaved his Hoboken home Sun-day from becoming the latestentry in the city's grim historyof arson fires.

Before city firefighterscould arrive at 333 JeffersonSt.. fourth-floor resident FrankRossano raced down the stairsand stomped out a fire burningin the building's vestibule atmidnight.

Hoboken police and fire of-ficials said some newspapersand old books in the hallwaywere deliberately set ablaze.

tossano.29. a constructionworker said it was the first firehe could recall after living inthe building for seven years

•My daughter. Michele.smelled smoke in the hall and11started searching around,knocking on people's doors.Rossano said.

Moments later Rossano de-termined where the smoke wascoming from and ran down thestairs, he said.

"It was real cold out andthe wind came in and blew theashes in the hall.

"So 1 went over and startedkicking the books out the

door," he said Burn marks onthe vestibule floor and on thebottom of the building's insidefront door were still visibleyesterday.

Rossano said seven fam-ilies live in the building, withone apartment vacant sincelast month

The building was recentlypurchased by Ray Fiore. a Ho-boken realtor.

Fiore said yesterday thatpolice and fire officials did notnotify him about the fire.

The Jefferson Street build-ing is a rundown four-story ten-ement, similar to other build-

ings in the city where fires —both intentional and acciden-tal — have started.

On Oct. 9 four people diedin an arson fire at 121 WillowAve.

The Hudson County's Pros-ecutor's Office still has nosuspect

Between 1978 and 1982, 28people were killed in arsonfires in Hoboken. No suspectswere ever arrested.

In the period from 1973 to1982, mile-square Hoboken hadmore fires with 10 or moredeaths than New York or LosAngeles.

By Bill Campbell

The Hoboken City Council is expected to authorize the use oflocal taxpayer dollars to fund a controversial youth programwhich was previously denied state money for not providingproper services.

The council next month will appropriate $15,000 from re-serves in the 1987 municipal budget to fund the embattledCiudadanos Unidos pro Nueva Accion program until the end ofthe year, according to council members.

CUNA, which has offices at 918-920 Willow Avenue, has beenhit hard financially this year, and its executive director, JuanGarcia, has been under investigation by local and county lawenforcement agencies.

But Council President Pat Pasculli said he has authorizedcity Business Administrator Edwin Chius to identify reserveitems in the municipal budget which could then be transferred topay for CUNA activities. Councilman Robert Ranieri said he willsponsor the resolution to fund the group.

CUNA. which received a six-month $15,000 grant from theHoboken Community Development Agency in March, has notreceived funding since August, according to Garcia.

Garcia has been lobbying the council for more than a monthto fund his program, and last week he presented the council apetition with more than 2,700 signatures of residents who he saidsupport the program.

The organization became the center of controversy lastFebruary when the group was denied an $18,394 grant by the stateDepartment of Community Affairs and a $56,559 matching grantby the state Division of Youth and Family Services for "offering alow level of service," according to a DCA spokesman.

Garcia, who says he is an active Democrat, said the decisionto halt state funds was a political move by the Republicanadministration in Trenton.

This summer, after receiving the CDA grant, Garcia becamethe target of an investigation by local police for possible misuseof the funds when it was discovered that he lived in the CUNAheadquarters.

Garcia, who was convicted in the past on charges of rape andnarcotics possession, said he lives at the CUNA "to be available24 hours a day to the community." He denied his residing in theoffice violated the terms of the grant and said his past convictions"help me in talking to the kids and dealing with their problems."

Plans to fund CUNA drew sharp criticism from Mayor ThomasVezzetti who vowed to do "anything I can" to prevent theallocation of city funds for the program.

"1 think it's totally unfair to strip the city budget to pay for aprogram for Juan Garcia," Vezzetti said. "We alread have one ofthe highest tax rates in the state and I don't think it's fair for thecouncil to squander municipal funds to pay off political debts toGarcia.

Mayoral aide Laurie Fabiano said providing back paymentsto CUNA was "totally inappropriate" in light of Ranieri"s investi-gation of city contracts which he claimed the administrationimproperly back-dated.

"How many sides of his mouth can Ranieri talk out of?" she

See COUNCIL — Page 10.

OOG sought fromBy John Petrick

Hoboken officials chal-lenged yesterday the proprietyof a real estate sale involvingformer city attorney SalvatoreD Amelio.

They asked Superior CourtJudge Burrell Ives Humphreysto give the city the profits D'A-melio made from that sale.

D'Amelio and two businesspartners bought property at201-203 Bloomfield St., Hobo-ken, on May 30 last year for$265,000.

They then contracted tosell the property the followingmonth. According to the con-tract, the sale was contingenton the sellers' obtaining allzoning approvals and buildingpermits for the planned con-

struction of a nine-unit resi-dential building.

D Amelio, under the con-tract, received $100,000 fromthe sale.

City Zoning Officer AlfredArezjro gave the buyers prelim-inary zoning and plan reviewand issued building permits.

Mayor Thomas Vezzettifired D'Ameho on Oct. 7. 1986While the sale was not consum-mated until three weeks afterhis dismissal, the plaintiffs ar-gued that D'Amelio was stillcity attorney when he signedthe contract.

City at torney WilliamGraves argued before Hum-phreys that D'Amelio's signingsuch a contract while a publicattorney gave the appearanceof impropriety.

Graves said that a "reason-ably informed citizen' readingabout the transacation in anewspaper "would questionit."

Graves cited a section ofthe bar's Rules of Conduct,which were adopted by the Su-preme Court. It states:

"In certain cases or situa-tions creating an appearanceof impropriety rather than anactual conflict, multiple repre-sentation is not permissible:that is. in those situations inwhich an ordinary knowledge-able citizen acquainted withthe facts would conclude thatthe multiple representationposes substantial risk of disser-vice to either the public inter-est or the interest of one of theclients."

melioThe attorney also argued

that although D'Amelio did notdivert any money from thecity's pocket into his own. pro-fessional conduct rules allowthe city to receive monetarydamages because of the defen-dant's ' b reach of du ty ' toHoboken.

William Shulman. attorneyfor D'Amelio, argued that pre r

l iminary zoning approvalswere actually obtained by JohnSaracco. one of the buyers.D'Amelio. he said, never repre-sented the buyers in obtainingzoning approval. "Does thismean that anybody who is a cityattorney is not allowed to buyor sell property? . .. Are we soaugust? So shrouded by su-preme cloaks?'

his housing postBy Bill Campbell

Long-time Hoboken politi-cian Anthony Romano yester-day resigned his seat on theseven-member municipalHousing Authority.

Romano's departure, effec-tive immediately, leaves theCity Council with two seats to\\\ on the board. Commission-* Clayton Anderson, who has

*.Vved in a holdover capacitysince May. will be replaced bythe council later this month.

City Council President PatPasculli said he was surprisedby Romano's sudden resigna-tion and would not speculateon whom the council wouldnominate for either of thevacancies.

The commissioners are the

polity-making arm of the Hous-ing Authority, which maintainsabout 1.500 federally subsi-dized apartments for low-in-come families and seniorcitizens.

Five of the commissionersare appointed by the City Coun-cil, while the other two areappointed by the mayor andthe governor. Commissionersserve a five-year term and donot receive a salary'

Earlier this month. MayorThomas Vezzetti appointed Fe-lix Rivera, a Port Authority po-lice officer and unsuccessfulBoard of Education candidate,to a seat on the board. Rivera'sseat, which does not need coun-cil approval, had been occu-

S<H> ROMANO — Pag? 16.

Hoboken delays 17th Street improvementwm&s&^fa^*^ SMM&SS ^=M=3SS SHHSH3 SSKSS*By CHRISTOPHER AVEStaff Writer

HOBOKEN-The CityCouncillast night again delayed a de-cision on a proposal by HartzMountain Industries to improve17th Street.

In tabling the ordinance,which would have eased trafficto and from a Hartz office de-velopment planned in neighbor-ing Weehawken, council mem-bers said they would devise a set

of city improvements that thecompany would have to finance.

The demands for improve-ments will be added to the or-dinance as amendments, councilmembers said. The final draft ofthe ordinance will be voted onwithin 30 days.

The council agreed to the de-lay — the second in the last fivedays for the proposal — afterhearing a presentation by thestate Department of Transpor-

tation about the state's trafficconstruction plans. A state plan-ner told the council that a long-awaited road around the city'swestern perimeter might not beconstructed for as long as 10years.

"In the best of circumstances,it's going to take a long time,"DOT planner Joe Martin told thecouncil. "You've been talkingabout this road for 30 years — Ican't deliver it in 30 days."

•

Council members said beforethe meeting that they hoped thestate could make a firm commit-ment to the road, which is ex-pected to ease traffic throughthe city.

Counc i lmen Rober t A.Ranieri, Joseph Delia Fave andThomas Newman said thatneither Hartz nor the state waspromising enough in return fortheir approval of the street im-provements that are expected to

I|C. * I t VVUIIVUKivn wax*. _ j

had devised separate sets of pos-sible amendments to the or-dinance.

Lincoln Harbor, the mixed-useHartz project planned for aJune, 1988 debut, would employabout 4,500 employees.

Opponents of the Hartz planpointed out that the figure as-sumes that between 30 and SOpercent of those employees

i called iRanieri said he wanted Harts

to promise to nay for city immprovements such as more trafficguards and better roads New|man said he wanted to hold offon the proposal until the statesigned an agreement with Con-rail, which owns rights to theland planned for the perimeterhighway.

his housing post( ontinwd from I'aur 1pied by Matthew Pastor*whose term hud expired

Romano was unavailablefor comment on his resigna-tion. His two-sentence letter olresignation to Pasculli did notspecify his reason for leaving-

I'ntil last year. Romanowas considered by many to bean influential but highly con-troversial political figure Heserved three terms as the FirstWard city councilman, whilealso serving as secretary to theHoard of Education. He wasalso an unsuccessful mayoralcandidate in 1977 against thenincumbent Steve Cappiello

Romano abruptly resignedfrom the council in January1986 amidst reports he hadmoved out of the ward, andresigned from the school boarda year later.

Last month, the councilstripped the Housing Authorityof redevelopment powers in aneffort to speed up a plan todevelop several parcels of city-owned land along ObserverHighway between GardenStreet and Willow Avenue.

The council members ac-corded themselves redevelop-ment powers and are currentlyseeking bids from developersto construct a 450-unit apart-ment project on ObserverHighway.

D 9• / / <By Bill Campbell

The Hoboken City Council's ap-pointment Monday of Eugene Draytonas a commissioner on the seven-mem-ber Housing Authority may not belegal, officials warned yesterday.

Drayton, a police officer andmember of the local school board, wasappointed to a five year term by a 6-to-2 vote. He replaces Clayton Anderson,whose term had expired.

The city's Law Department saidthat Drayton's appointment violates astate law which prohibits having morethan one municipal employee on theboard of commissioners.

Under the statute, NJSA 55:14-6,"not more than one officer or employ-

SHOWQOESON

ee oi me mun n i !*<»•>. j ..—j — - - ~the commission. Edwin Duroy, an ele-mentary school teacher and CityCouncil member, has two years re-maining on his term as acommissioner.

"The law in this instance seemsvery clear," said assistant city attor-ney Thomas Calligy. "Both Duroy andDrayton are employed by the city andthey can't serve on the Housing Au-thority unless one of them resigns hismunicipal job."

Plans to swear Drayton in yester-day as a commissioner were put onhold pending an official determina-tion of his status.

The appointment marks the sec-ond time in two years Housing Author-

ity commissioners nave ucvuun. ^...broiled in a dispute over municipaljob holders. In 1985. a controversyerupted when two members of the CityCouncil served on the Housing Au-thority at the same time.

Commissioner Angelo Valentewas appointed to the vacant SixthWard council seat while First WardCouncilman Anthony Romano servedas the council's deligate on theauthority.

The dispute, however, becamemoot within weeks when Valente losta bid to retain the council seat, leav-ing Romano as the only city employeeon the authority.

Yesterday, neither Drayton norCity Council President Pat Pasculli

were HVWMUK V« ..„ __appointment. Duroy was also notavailable for comment concerning re-ports that he would step down fromhis seat on the authority.

The appointment was supportedby Pasculli. Duroy and council mem-bers Robert Ranieri, Steve Cappiello,Dave Roberts and E. Norman Wilson.

Councilmen Joe Delia Fave andThomas Newman opposed the ap-pointment. Councilwoman Helen Cun-ning, who unsuccessfully nominatedanother person for the post, left themeeting before the vote.

Drayton is the second person thismonth to be appointed to a term on theauthority. Mayor Thomas Vezzetti ap-pointed Felix Rivera, a Port Authority

Macy's parade boss gets setAll-night task toprepare 30 floatsBy CHRISTOPHER AVEStaff Writer

HOBOKEN-Manfred Bass,the architect of the legendaryMacy's Thanksgiving Day Pa-rade tomorrow in Manhattan,has a full itinerary.

He's got a telephone interviewin ten minutes, a reporter stand-ing in front of him now and — notthe least of his worries — some30 mammoth floats that have tobe packaged and driven toManhattan in the next 48 hours,

But Bass, who has built the pa-rade's floats in his studio onWillow Avenue and 15th St. since1960, wants everyone to knowthat the parade's the thing.

"That's not important," hesays of his 27-year record. "Theparade has been going since1927. It's the longest-runningshow on Broadway."

Bass and his crew of 20 willspend today packing up thefloats for a midnight runthrough a closed-off tube of theLincoln Tunnel tonight.

The floats — including aPeanuts ice rink, an AmericanIndian, Spiderman. Snoopy andthe traditional Santa Claus —

A float for th« M«cy'« Th«nks«hrt*t9 »«T * • 'Manhattan.

rite «wt of Hobokvn yesterday on th« way toLISA BAUSO SFECUU. TO TMC HUDSON DISPATCH

will be driven to the AmericanMuseum of Natural History onCentral Park West, where Bassand company will work all nightto get them ready for tomorrowmorning's start.

The parade will stretch sometwo-and-a-half miles through

Manhattan, requiring a total of100.000 cubic feet of helium and2,500 Macy's employees to keepthe whole thing going. And, Basspoints out. his work will continuethrough the parade and after itis over.

"When the last unit, Santa

Claus, is assembled, the firstunit is already being dis-mantled," he says.

And does Bass ever get tiredof his job?

He cracks a smile and an-swers: "Why get tired?"

Fast move thwarts arson attempt!f-5~- tlJ*- *£oS<! truction door " he said Burn marks on ings in the city where fires -29 truction poor "

By Dominick Calicchio

A quick-thinking tenantsaved his Hoboken home Sun-day from becoming the latestentry in the city's grim historyof arson fires.

Before city firefighterscould arrive at 333 JeffersonSt., fourth-floor resident FrankRossano raced down the stairsand stomped out a fire burningin the buildings vestibule atmidnight.

Hoboken police and fire of-ficials said some newspapersand old books in the hallway

Aossano.29. a constructionworker, said it was the first firehe could recall after living inthe building for seven years

"My daughter. Michele.smelled smoke in the hall and 1started searching around,knocking on people's doors.Rossano said.

Moments later Rossano de-termined where the smoke wascoming from and ran down thestairs, he said

"It was real cold out andthe wind came in and blew theashes in the hall.

"So 1 went over and startedbooks out the

door." he said. Burn marks onthe vestibule floor and on thebottom of the building's insidefront door were still visibleyesterday.

Rossano said seven fam-ilies live in the building, withone apartment vacant sincelast month

The building was recentlypurchased by Ray Fiore. a Ho-boken realtor

Fiore said yesterday thatpolice and fire officials did notnotify him about the fire

The Jefferson Street build-ing is a rundown four-story ten-ement, similar to other t - - i U

ings in the city where fires —both intentional and acciden-tal — have started.

On Oct. 9 four people diedin an arson fire at 121 WillowAve.

The Hudson County's Pros-ecutor's Office still has nosuspect

Between 1978 and 1982, 28people were killed in arsonfires in Hoboken. No suspectswere ever arrested.

In the period from 1973 to1982. mile-square Hoboken hadmore fires with 10 or moredeaths than New York or LosAngeles.

i ! Ill HB S B S ~ : X 3 = » _ ! . ftSO "I ' "

n^s;^oE|o2.o £sg.3;::— O B ! ,

f- 3 C ;O.3-

" S T 3

03

2.JC

03 B3

» -

a?

*Sb K © oo

«8?en

n z.3"N

K' ID

ir2

police officer, to the authority on No-vember 2 to fill the seat occupied byMathew Pastore.

The council is expected to fillRomano's vacant seat on the authoritynext month. Romano submitted hisresignation to Pasculli in a letter lastweek.

The commisioners are the policymaking arm of the Housing Authority,which maintains about 1.500 federallysubsidized apartments for low incomefamilies and senior citizens.

Five of the commissioners are ap-pointed by the City Council, while theother two are appointed by the mayorand governor. Commissioners serveda five year term and do not receive a.salary. ;

V) fi mrr ©

VB

— i _ Q. 3 n »

! Vjr a;

3Q

•<

B; 3 « • •

I I S: na

S-5r ^

cz

ca

3* 'B9

ii§£ T5 3 3°

5Z1 i ii

69XT

na

aO

Council may fundagency that statedeemed unworthyBy Bill Campbell

The Hoboken City Council is expected to authorize the use oflocal taxpayer dollars to fund a controversial youth programwhich was previously denied state money for not providingproper services.

The council next month will appropriate $15,000 from re-serves in the 1987 municipal budget to fund the embattledCiudadanos Unidos pro Nueva Accion program until the end ofthe year, according to council members.

CUNA, which has offices at 918-920 Willow Avenue, has beenhit hard financially this year, and its executive director. JuanGarcia, has been under investigation by local and county lawenforcement agencies.

But Council President Pat Pasculli said he has authorizedcity Business Administrator Edwin Chius to identify reserveitems in the municipal budget which could then be transferred topay for CUNA activities. Councilman Robert Ranieri said he willsponsor the resolution to fund the group.

CUNA, which received a six-month $15,000 grant from theHoboken Community Development Agency in March, has notreceived funding since August, according to Garcia

Garcia has been lobbying the council for more than a monthto fund his program, and last week he presented the council apetition with more than 2,700 signatures of residents who he saidsupport the program.

The organization became the center of controversy lastFebruary when the group was denied an $18,394 grant by the stateDepartment of Community Affairs and a $56,559 matching grantby the state Division of Youth and Family Services for "offering alow level of service," according to a DC A spokesman.

Garcia, who says he is an active Democrat, said the decisionto halt state funds was a political move by the Republicanadministration in Trenton.

This summer, after receiving the CDA grant. Garcia becamethe target of an investigation by local police for possible misuseof the funds when it was discovered that he lived in the CUNAheadquarters.

Garcia, who was convicted in the past on charges of rape andnarcotics possession, said he lives at the CUNA "to be available24 hours a day to the community." He denied his residing in theoffice violated the terms of the grant and said his past convictions"help me in talking to the kids and dealing with their problems "

Plans to fund CUNA drew sharp criticism from Mayor ThomasVezzetti who vowed to do "anything I can" to prevent theallocation of city funds for the program.

"I think it's totally unfair to strip the city budget to pay for aprogram for Juan Garcia." Vezzetti said "We alread have one ofthe highest tax rates in the state and I don't think it's fair for thecouncil to squander municipal funds to pay off political debts toGarcia.

Mayoral aide Laurie Fabiano said providing back paymentsto CUNA was "totally inappropriate' in light of Ranieri s investi-gation of city contracts which he claimed the administrationimproperly back-dated

"How many sides of his mouth can Ranieri talk out of?" she

See COUNCIL — Page 19.

Council

4

B* Andrea HaailtoaThe Associated Press

parade marvels begin in Hoboken' ._..,._. L. _..!!.„_, »noi«;i. so thev can be transported "T~*rf^ < / TS-.^SAJ*!, S ///.-£ t/s£*2)

presses probe SI'% Jim kopthain*

The lloboken City Councilh; i the city's mayor andpi. . ,nt>ad with an investi-gation into alleged irregular-ities involving four sludge re-moval contracts.

The council voted 6-to 3 toauthorize a lull investigationand to name controversial at-torney Fred Woeckener toserve as its special counsel

The members had votedlast month to hire Woeckeneras a special advisor on the le-gality of paying bills on the fourcontracts

The vote followed a stormydebate between CouncilmanRobert Kanien. support inn theprobe, and Council MembersThomas Newman..Joseph DeliaFave and Helen Cunning.

'opposedLast nights vote freezes

Mayor Thomas Vez/etti out ofthe investigation Last month,the council had directed themayor to approve a personalservices contract with Woeck-ener for up to $5,000 and allowhim to begin reviewing thecontracts

Instead. Vez/.etti balkedand refused to sign the contract, announcing that he feltWoeckener was a poor choiceto conduct any review becauseof his role in representingMayo Lynch Inc. in an illegalcity contract to design the city'ssecondary sewerage plant

The four contracts in ijueslion stretch over the past threeyears and relate to sewage lev-el testings and sludge removalat the city's sewer plant Thefirms involved are Ozonics Inc.,Boswell Kngineering. A.I'.Trucking Co.. and Garden StateLaboratories.

Kanieri said many of thecontracts appear to have beensigned but not dated, and thatsome of the work the firms per-formed appeared to have beendone by the firms prior to thecontracts' approval

Each side accused the oth-er of stretching reasons to fitpersonal political positions.

"We have more thanenough information to warranta full allegation The mayor hasrefused to accept this. Call this'stonewalling' if you like; I callit a cover-up," Ranieri said.

"What you (Uanieri) havedone is take a simple matter ofprocedures and inflate it toyour purposes to create aSludge-gate.' here," Newmansaid.

"In my mind there appears

to be a 'government within agovernment operating in thiscity." Ranieri said, explainingthat he believed individual di-rectors make deals and signcontracts without seekingcouncil approval

Both city attorney WilliamGraves and Director of PublicWorks Roy Haack. answeredquestions from council members. explaining that the workwas based on previous con-tracts and personal servicesagreements rather than thenew contracts.

After the vote, the councilvoted down a resolution, by 6-to-3, that would have directedGraves to investigate whetherWoeckener and his wife. DorisI'alumho. should be held responsible for fines of up to$10,000 for violating the city'sdisclosure laws regarding zoning variance applications

Newman, who sponsoredthe resolution, said he wasprompted by a decision by Su-perior Court Judge DorotheaO'C.Wefing that said Palumbowas not correctly identified bydevelopers Daniel Gans andGeorge Vallone as a 10 percentowner of a housing develop-ment proposed for 16th Street

In the decision, Wefingsaid the variance applicantscould be fined anywhere from$1,000 to $10,000 for the infrac-tion. Wefing did not call for anyaction against the developersbecause she said the omissionwas not meant for maliciouspurpose

Woeckener said he be-lieved the resolution was de-signed to place him in a possi-ble conflict-of-interestsituation with the council.Newman denied this, saying,i f the council wants to keepeverything proper, it should bewilling to investigate any no-tice of impropriety, includingthis decision."

Manfred G Bass works all1 children onjy — and then

home and collapses.

a>>- .'• """i> the giant heii-.11, . >n.s and floatswill leave Hoboken tomor-for Thursday s annuals Thanks 'ay PaBut to 11 . tar-old

ntainside resident, thelay is just an"0nr unrit

^ Btrt he describes vividly~"£fcstive atmosphere that de-

is on New York City asJreds of thousands of spec-

r_ , line the 2'/2-mile paradele to watch the extravagan

Special coatings make this holi-day snow scene sparkle like the

real thing.

za along with millions of televi-sion viewers nationwide

"Parades are for the youn*>at heart and there are a lot ofbig kids like me out there .saidBass, a sculptor and illustratorby training.

This year, the parade willfeature 10 huge balloons andmore than 30 floats, all de-signed and constructed atMacy's studio in an uptown Ho-boken warehouse by Bass and20 artists, carpenters andothers

Bass, who attended theNew York Phoenix School ofDesign, joined the studio inI960 after spending two yearssculpting monuments in theservice at the Infantry Museumin Fort Bonn ing, Ga.

He said he likes putting to-gether the Thanksgiving pa-rade because it allows him tocreate "special moments."

"A parade is a specialevent. It's done on a very spe-cial scale using all the ele-ments of fantasy that make up aparade.' he said last week asworkers put the finishingtouches on floats such as theMarvel Universe, featuringcharacters from the popularcomic book series.

As an example, he pointedto the Peanuts ice rink, a floatwith a Teflon rink with snow-laden trees, icicles and a snow-man for a backdrop.

"When you look out thewindow at the first snow of theyear, the snow sparkles, and aswe grow older we all have thoseprecious, special moments Wetry to capture them." Bass said"It's like looking through astained-glass window — thecolor is a little different for allof us."

Bass is excited about theice rink, which will make itsdebut Thursday with JillSchulz, daughter of Peanutscomic strip creator, CharlesSchulz, on skates

Like all the floats, it is con-structed of fiberglass and steeland painted in bright colors.The floats also are collapsible

so they can be transportedmore efficiently through theLincoln Tunnel to New YorkCity.

The balloons, up to 100 feetlong and 35 feet wide, start witha creative meeting to choose asubject, usually a storybook orcartoon character.

A blueprint and clay mod-els are used to guide workersas they lay out urethane-coatednylon on massive tables andcut pieces of material that aresealed together to create up to30 chambers in one balloon

Artists then hand-paint theballoons, the chambers ofwhich are filled with helium onparade day

Spider-Man and Snoopywill make their debuts in the61st annual parade, and an oldfavorite, Kermit the frog, willmake his 11th appearance.

"The only thing that can gowrong is the weather." Basssaid.

High winds make it diffi-cult for the 25 to 40 peopleassigned to maneuver eachballoon.

Other than the weather,the biggest challenge is gettingeverything assembled and thenputting it all away.' Bass said.

More than 2.500 Macy's em-ployees participate in the pa-rade, from handling balloons todriving floats. Fourteen march-ing bands from across the coun-try also will take part this year.

Bass and others will begintransporting the floats and bal-loons to New York City tomor-row, the night beforeThanksgiving.

"1 set up the whole pa-rade," said Bass, adding thatalter the Santa Claus float —always the last — begins to roll,he hurries to the end of theroute to dismantle the tradi-tional parade beginning, theturkey float.

"And after it's all over, I gohome and collapse. My wife isveryjjood about it. She doesn'tknow Thanksgiving as a holi-day," Bass said.

"The next day, the ham-

Pholos b» Mori Wyvfc

This Cabbage Patch couple will surely delight many young spectators at the annual Macy'sThanksgiving Day Parade.

MAXWELL MAY

mers begin again." *Bass said he already has a

float for next year on the draw-ing table.

OSE

MAXWELLCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Declining sales citedas 800 face job loss

By JUDY TfMftBusiness Writer EXCLUSIVE

T*. M«w. . . Hou.. Coll . . Plant. . f.xtur. on * • HoboK« - . ^ r o n t .inc. 1939. n,.y

HOBOKEN-Lagging coffeesales and high production costsare making the shut-down of theMaxwell House coffee plant herea possibility, the plant's man-ager declosed yesterday.

If the plant closes, more than800 people could lose their jobs.It also would represent a devas-tating blow to the local econo-my, which has come to dependon the blue-collar jobs here since1939.

The plant's management willdecide in the next month if acost-cutting strategy can helpkeep the operation going. If not.a phase-out will be announcedby Dec. 1, said plant managerFrank Meegan.

Talk of closing the MaxwellHouse plant is not new. Accord-ing to city Business Adminis-trator Edwin Chius, the rumorssurface periodically when theunion, which represents plant

employees, begins contract ne-gotiations.

A thr^e-year contract is due toexpire in April for members ofLocal 56 of the United Food andCommercial Workers.

But a union representativesaid yesterday that the shut-down option is being weighedmore seriously this time.

"The rumor of a shut-downhas been there for years," saidCharles Volk, a business agentfor Local 56. "But with the pres-ent situation, it's a serious con-sideration. Demand (for coffee)has fallen off steadily — that'snot new. But if it keeps falling, itwill be critical The need tochange is critical."

Early last month, the plantbegan a strategy to cut costs andimprove efficiency. Meegan

Please see MAXWELL Page 6

ONCE-PROUD PLANT FALLS INTO DECLINE

said he will know enough aboutthat strategy to make a decisionby Dec 1

Part of that strategy is toeliminate jobs without layoffs.About 30 jobs will be cut throughattrition, Meegan said. The un-ion is considering several earlyretirement packages that wouldgive older workers an incentiveto leave. Management also

filans to reduce processing fromour to three shifts, while in-

creasing the output per person.If the Hoboken plant can

streamline costs, there is achance it can draw work fromthree other Maxwell House fac-tories nationwide, Meegan said,improving its chances for long-term survival.

There are benefits to keepingthe p lant open, Meeganstressed. It is the only MaxwellHouse plant in the Northeast,

I where the company sells 60percent of its product. GeneralFoods Corp., which owns Max-well House, has also invested asubstantial amount of money innew machinery in Hoboken.

The company has plants inJacksonville, Fla., Houston andSan Leandro, Calif.

If the company were to shutand sell the plant, it would notrecoup nearly as much for itsreal estate value, as has been in-vested here, Meegan said. Henoted that the real estate value— probably up to $10 million — isnot a factor in the decision.

Coffee consumption has de-clined significantly in the UnitedStates, especially in the last few

PLANTCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

years, according to the NationalCoffee Association in New York.Twenty years ago, the averageperson consumed 2.84 cups ofcoffee each day. Now, that'sdown to 1.76. Consumptionpeaked in 1962, when it hoveredaround 3.12, according to the as-sociation.

The $5 billion industry re-mains healthy overall, said JohnAdinolfi of the association. Ag-gregate demand for coffee todayis about the same as 20 yearsago, he said, since the popu-lation is growing.

A spokesman for GeneralFoods in White Plains, N.Y.,said the shut-down is being con-sidered seriously, but added thatthe company's goal is to try tokeep the plant open.

"The caveat is that we mustincrease productivity," said thespokesman, Peter Acley."There is a good chance that wewill be able to keep it open."

Volk said the union is workingwith management to arrive at asolution that both sides can ac-cept. Although workers are will-ing to accept changes on theproduction line, wages and give-backs are not an issue thus far,he said.

"I am optimistic," Volk said."If we can come to a mutuallyagreeable solution, the plant cansurvive."

"There is a serious problemfacing us , " added GeorgeMurphv who heads safety andengineering for the plant. "Wehave to face it, and I think wecan face it."

By JUDY TEMESBusiness Writer

—HOBOKEN-It's been said that long-

time city residents can tell the weatherjust by sniffing the air. If you can smellthe coffee, be [ ^ P f ^ ^ " 1 " ^ M a xA constant, like tin; weather, the Maxwell House plant has been a stope 0 the w |>offee s a l e s l a g g i n g > a n d costscommunity here since it was built in 1939. executives are considering shutting

At its peak in the early 1960s, it employedmore than 2,000 people.

t i m e i the coffee cup that glowsf l h e huge plant represented a

VLustr ia l might in Hudsong j j 01^ instituUon on the water.front may now go the way of other manu-

' facilities here.w |>offee s a l e s l a g g i n g > a n d costs

i d i

down the plant, although labor and man-agement are working hard to cut costs toavoid that fate.

The plant was built in 1939 as part of amove from Brooklyn, said plant managerFrank Meegan. For many years, it wasconsidered the world's largest coffeeplant. Some oldtimers are still proud tocall it that, although the phrase probablyno longer applies, Meegan said.

Production peaked in the 1960s, whenthe plant produced more coffee than thethree Maxwell House plants in the coun-try combined. At that time, the plantmade mostly regular coffee. As tasteschanged, it concentrated more on decaf-finated coffee, then the freeze-dried vari-etv

It was the freeze in Brazil during thePlease see PLANT Page 6

By Bill Campbellv

n'tqII

The Hoboken 'Board ofEducation hopes to launch anasbestos-removal program atBrandt School by next spring,nearly two years after the car-cinogenic fiber was detectedthere, officials said yesterday.

And it is expected to touchoff a probe of a $100,000 con-tract awarded six years ago forremoval of asbestos from theschool.

The board is expected tobegin removing the asbestosfrom the grammar school atNinth and Garden streets dur-ing the Easter recess in April,said school board Business Ad-ministrator Anthony Curko.

stos w<Ed board still tryingto clean up Brandt

i 70s that killed the coffee market.As prices increased drastically,people cut back on consumption,hitting the plant here hard.Production volume has sincebeen on the down grades,Meegan said.

Changing tastes also are re-sponsible for the decline. Peopleare more careful about their eat-ing and drinking habits today,consuming only about half thecoffee they drank 20 years ago.

At the same time, the MaxwellHouse plant here is the most ex-pensive to maintain, Meegansaid. Three others — in Jack-sonville, Fla., Houston and San

Leandro, Calif., — all have low-er utility and labor costs, mak-ing them more efficient to oper-ate, he said.

A cost-cutting program now inplace is intended to make theplant competitive with its sisterplants elsewhere, Me°ganadded. If the program works,coffee production could be di-verted here. If not, the plant willbe phased out of operation.

As me of the largest tax-payers here, the plant paidalmost $1 million in taxes to thecity last year on property valuedat $4.4 million.

The state Department ofHealth is expected to release areport on its inspection of theBrandt School as well as thecity's seven other elementaryschools by the end of themonth. f

A state Department otHealth inspector unofficiallyconfirmed the presence of theliber at Brandt during the in-spection. Curko said^ He saidthere is no evidence that asbes-

tos exists in any of the otherschools.

Asbestos was discovered inseveral classrooms, hallwaysand the boiler room at Brandtin April of 1986 after the build-ing was inspected by a privateenvironmental consulting firm.

The substance was also lo-cated in air vents leading toclassrooms, the nurse's officeand the basement, school offi-cials said.

That discovery, confirmedby the Hoboken Health Depart-ment and the Hudson CountyRegional Health Commission,was made nearly two years af-ter the board declared thecity's grammar schools asbes-tos-free.

At least one member of theBoard of Education said he willa sk other trustees to investi-gate previous asbestos-remov-al contracts awarded by theboard, including a $100,000contract in 1981 to remove thematerial from Brandt.

School officials said theydelayed removing asbestosfrom Brandt this year to enable

Ed board tries to riJBrandt of asbestosL-Vi K^WV*l V* -encral hysteria

Se« ED BOARD — P»f?e 1*

Continued from Page 1state health officials to inspectall schools in the district. How-ever, the board decided theproblem did not warrant clos-ing the building.

Local and county health of-ficials required school admin-istrators to contain the areaswhere asbestos wa.s found, in-cluding the air ve*hts. Lastmonth, the board hired a con-tractor to wet mop and vacuumasbestos in several rooms atBrandt

Curko said U.S. Testing ofHoboken later tested air sam-

ples in the building and determined quality to meet mini-mum safety standards.

•We hope to go out to bid onasbestos removal at Brandt byMarch, depending on howquickly the state releases itsreport on the schools." Curkos-«id Officials from the stateDepartment of Health were notavailable to comment on theinspection.

Curko said two other pri-vate firms were surveying theschools in conjunction with thestate inspectors. The boardnriv receive matching funds

from the state to pay lor remov-al, he said.

The board will remove as-bestos from other grammarschools next summer if thestate inspection detects thepresence of the material.Curko said.

School officials and manyboard members have defendedthe policy of keeping Brantschool open by calling the as-bestos problem minor. "The as-bestos issue is only importantto those in the media andschool boarrj members." saidtrustee Perry Belfiore.

"The general hysteria ofthis past fall has passed as mostparents seem to realize there isno danger inside the school.Our job as trustees is to nowinsure that the asbestos is re-moved," he said.

Asbestos is a mineral thatwas used as insulation in manyolder buildings. When the ma-terial begins to decompose,small fibers can easily becomeairborne.

Health officials havelinked an accumulation of as-bestos in human lungs to lunjjcancer.

^ »

Affordable housing planJ^^» • • ^ ^ ^ - H i * the aDoroval of the mission to pay a fee in lieu of constructing af-

l ^ •22^2? J8ES K d t officiate_ . , : „ H ^ .nproval of the mission to pay a fee in lieu « con»rm.w«e «H ^ ^ ^ S S r ^ would fordable unite The fee, according to officiate,

would be about $10,000 a unit.The ordinance would be the first in the countyjo

require construction of affordablebe passed," New York has a law requiring

, if passed, would represent theHudson County and the fulfillment

major campaign promise of two years

• that we now have a strong, well-ordinance which will withstand any1 Vezzetti said in a prepared

added that he welcomes comments' ~ and said he antici-

. , unittry fund A stronger ordinance will be SUD-» a requirement for m i ^ t 0 J f r s e y C U y C o u n c i i m the next two

months, according to Councilman George AyUes.Hoboken Councilman David Roberts. * " ° *

seen as a firm supporter of development here,said he would support the ordinance if changes~*>uld be made in certain areas

Roberts took exception to an ordinance pro-

ready"That * nof'tne place to put

ing." he said. He added thatsents the city's most lucrative .the city should extract the highestrevenue frem it , . •,

Mayoral aide Laurie Fabiano saw »to speculate on the results ofordinance But she said the"absolutely" willing to •*8°J**ttt

waterfront provision negotiable.Roberts said he does not expect a partisan

over the ordinance.Councilman Joseph Detta Favej*

nent of "over-development ""tration supporter, agreed withordinance will gain passage

•The final version is the onlyleft, " Delia Fave said "I don t anticificult procedure at all."

on ike

Hoboken surveysindustry in 3 townson chemical waste

C

By Bill Campbell -J-Hoboken will soon implement the first phase of an

industrial pre-treatment program aimed at prevent-ing businesses from dumping hazardous chemicalsinto the city sewage sysetem.

Hoboken. whose plantserves Weehawken and VnionCity, is mandated by the stateDepartment of EnvironmentalProtection to develop an indus-trial pre-treatment programwithin two years.

The city has authorizedBoswell Engineers of New Jer-sey to require firms from Hobo-ken, Weehawken and UnionCity to supply lists of industrialchemicals discharged into thesewerage district.

By next summer, engineerswill attempt to verify the datato determine which industriesmust pre-treat their sewage be-fore flushing it into the system.

Currently, the city has nosafeguards to prevent indus-tries from discharging harmfulor hazardous chemicals intothe system, said Public WorksDirector Roy Haack.

The 35-year-old sewagetreatment plant on 16th andAdams streets has beenplagued with chronic opera-tional problems over the years,and a federal EnvironmentalProtection Agency inspectorlast December called the facili-ty "the worst case scenario I'veever seen."

The inspector criticizedthe city for the lack of an indus-trial pre-treatment program,saying that the sewage dis-charged into the Hudson Riverwas usually either black ordark brown.

"This is a situation which isparticularly bad in just aboutevery industrial city," saidHaack. "There has never beenenforcement of sewage dis-charge."

He said the statewide in-dustrial pre-treatment pro-gram must be implemented inall municipalities by the end ofthe decade, but Hoboken mustdevelop its plan before thetreatment plant is upgradedand fully operational in 1989.

"There are about 150 items,ranging from organic waste toheavy metals, which the statesays must be pre-treated by in-dustry before they are dis-charged into the system," saidNeil Sullivan, who operates thecity's treatment facility.

"Boswell will be putting to-gether a preliminary list ofbusiness we should talk to todetermine ways of preventingharmful chemicals from reach-ing the plant," he said.

Last summer, the CityCouncil passed an ordinanceauthorizing the development ofa pre-treatment program, andthe city has already met sever-al times with representativesfrom various industries, Haacksaid. He said the next meetingis scheduled for Dec. 3

Drayton sworn inas commissioner ofHousing Auth i tBy Bill Campbell "J.'T I*iJ^lJ^y

Controversial Hoboken activist Eugene Draytonwas sworn in as a commissioner of the municipalHousing Authority in private ceremonies earlier thisweek, despite warnings fromcity attorneys that the appoint-ment is illegal

Drayton, who was appoint-ed to the seven-member au-thority by the City Council lastweek, was sworn in to the postTuesday.

Plans to swear Drayton inlast week were put on hold af-ter legal questions surfacedover Drayton's standing on theauthority. State law prohibitsmore than one city employee orofficer from serving on theboard of commissioners.

City attorneys are contend-ing that Drayton. who is a Ho-boken police officer and mem-ber of the Board of Education,cannot sit on the commissionbecause Edwin Duroy. a citycouncilman, is also on theboard.

Their opinion is supportedby the authority's attorney who,in a letter to City Council Presi-dent Pat Pasculli, argued theappointment violates state law.

The law states that "notmore than one officer or em-ployee of the municipality"may serve on the commission.Duroy. who is also an elemen-tary school principal, has fouryears remaining on his term

According to Pasculli. thecouncil will ask the federal De-partment of Housing and Ur-ban Development to make adetermination of Drayton'sstanding.

•if the appointment is inviolation of the law, we'll rc :cind it," Pasculli said.

Drayton was not availablefor comment on the appoint-ment nor was Housing Author-ity Executive Director DominieGallo whose offices wereclosed for the Thanksgivingholiday.

However. Drayton's attor-ney, former Hoboken Law Di-rector Salvatore D'Amelio Jr ,issued a memo to the councillast week claiming the appoint-ment to be valid. D'Amelio saidthat Drayton's position as a po-lice officer makes him a publicofficer, not a municipal officer.

Nonetheless, both Hobo-ken Law Director WilliamGraves and Assistant City At-torney Thomas Calligy are ar-guing that state law clearly de-fines police officers and firefighters as municipal employ-ees. Graves further maintainsthat under the state's docterineof incompatability. Draytonmay have to leave the policedepartment if he insists onholding his seat on theauthority.

Creation of fantasyis a very serious job/e y

Mark Eldrenkamp weld* the framework of one of the floats

This pooch looks cuddly enough to take home after the parade.

xr.By Dominick Caiicchio

A visit to the Macy's Spe-cial Production Studio in Ho-boken is an education in theboundary between fantasy andreality.

The studio, a huge, graywarehouse at the corner of 15thStreet and Willow Ave., iswhere painters, carpenters,sculptors and other craftsmanwork year-round to prepare forMacy's annual ThanksgivingDay Parade in Manhattan.

A first-time visitor is at ini-tially awed watching massivefloats being constructed anddecorated.

But looking at the workers'faces, intent in their task, andlistening to the hammering, thesawing and the welding, bringshome this isn't all just fun andgames.

Reminders of the realworld of facts and rules areposted throughout thewarehouse:

"Danger. Do not watch archwelder at work. The light mayblind you."

"All guards must be kepton saws and machines."

"Do not use materials orliquids without understandingthem. Read labels. Ask ques-tions first. Think. "

"Nobody's irresponsible,"said chief designer ManfredBass of his 30-person crew."You can't be in this business."

"We're all careful, espe-cially with people walkingaround all day. You'd have anaccident just like that if youweren't."

Bass has been runningthings in Hoboken for theMacy's parade for almost 30years. He says the work usuallybegins the day alter Thanksgiv-ing, when planners are alreadypondering the next year'sparade.

Like every year, this year'sparade features participationfrom the students faculty andalumni of Stevens Institute ofTechnology in Hoboken.

Volunteers come primarilyfrom "GrAB," the Graduates'Activities Board at Stevens.

Former GrAB President,Dr. Michael Murphy, saidbuilding the floats and helpinglaunch the balloons is some-thing Stevens has been in-volved in for about 20 years.

it 's done for the fun of it,"he said. "When you actually get

Photos by Mati Wyvill*

Charlie Walsh adjusts the spectacles on Peter Rabbit.

in there and do some work onit, it's incredible. 1 think it's notoften the average person getsto join in on such an enormous,national event"

Murphy said Stevens origi-nally got its graduate studentsinvolved in the parade becausethey were the students mostlikely to be remaining on cam-pus during the holidays.

It was a way to help themavoid the holiday blahs, hesaid, because the parade orga-nizers "keep you working yourtail off."

According to Bass, floats,like this year's skating pondscene, often take three-to-fourmonths to build. But prior tothat there's agreeing on theidea, making thumbnail sketch-es, renderings, models andblueprints.

Macy's spokesman Robert

Metz said there's another im-portant consideration.

"All the floats have to col-lapse," he said. "They have tobe able to fit into the entranceofthe Lincoln Tunnel."

This Wednesday, Metz said,all the floats and all the bal-loons used in the parade willbe disassembled and trMM-ported through the tunnel, thenset up in Manhattan, near theAmerican Museum of NaturalHistory, where the parade be-gins each year.

Balloons featured this yearinclude Snoopy, Spidermanand Ronald McDonald, he said.

Live performers will in-clude the Oak Ridge Boys, theHockettes from Radio City MuMC Hall and Ben Vereen.

The parade will begin at 9a.m. Thursday at 77th Streetand Central Park West.

At left, workmen inspect Frosty the Snowman, whilein the center photo, the Macy's Ice Cream Cone

len, wonuiKii ...*r~^- • '~*<j me snowman, whilein the center photo, the Macy's Ice Cream Coneballoon hugs the ceiling. Above, Brian Cook andAmy Novelli put the finishing touches on the Cab-

bage Patch float.

Hotel Victor May Be Renovated As HotelOr Costs May MakeJHntp ^ O f f i c e Building

»y T«u Giovanetti

The Hotel Victor standsie in decrepit majesty, darki still Its barfront window

,11 bears the news oil two,.rs ago on a b ' ^ ^ ' f•ading GOODBM". HOThL1CTUK HAH SOLD

Built about !*2 years ago.the building located at the cor-ner of Hudson Street and Hudson Place was converted tromtenement housing to a hotel in1928 From then on it served asHoboken s answer to HarryHopes place in the play TheIceman Cometh ' The downand out men of the plavboarded in the hotel, ancheaply in the first floor restaurant and drank at the bar t.take the edge oil theirloneliness.

Kenneth Rivara was thtgruff man w ith the heart ol goldwho spent most of his life run-ning the hotel. Before him. hisfather, Victor, operated the ho-tel, which drew the sailors whodocked in the busy port duringthe heyday of the Roaring 20s_As years passed, nearly all ofthe dozen or so BarbaryCoast" hotels closed, except forthe Victor and the nearby Ho-tel Edwards The Edwards isthe only remaining single roomhotel leil in Hoboken

Time wore down the HotelVictor and Ilivara. He decidedto close the hotel, sell it andretire. He and his brother andtwo sisters, who jointly ownedthe hotel, struck a $15 milliondeal for the property. Yet evenalter the closing of the sale onFeb 7. 1986. he still thoughtabout the men who were forcedto leave the hotel Rivara, whowas granted use of the vacantbuilding, went there almost ev-ery day to talk to men whovould stop in to see him and•et their checks cashed.

This year the Iceman cameor Rivara. When he died at age

69 last August, the era of theHotel Victor was gone forever.A new one is about to begin,with a renovation of the build-ing for either hotel or oflieespace.

Ghosts Of The Past

verting the building will deter-mine his decision.

"People have been underthe mistaken impression thatwe were going to build condo-miniums on the Hotel Victorsite." says Reynolds, of PAReynolds & Associates. "Thathas never been the ease, simplybecause with the limitedamount of space it does notmake economic sense. The pre-sent space will work well for anewly renovated hotel or newoffice space. We are currentlyreviewing both options to seewhich makes for a more viableproject."

Reynolds plans to seek approval from the historic com-mission and city planningboard to add two to four morestories. Architect Dean Mar-c hctto is working on designs forthe building and the accounting firm Pannell, Kerr, Forsteris doing a marketing study onthe profitability of creating a"boutique" hotel.

If the building returns as ahotel, it first would be guttedForty to 50 posh hotel suitescontaining bathrooms in eachwould be created The buildingnow has only one bathroom toeach floor, once adequate acco-modations for the men whoroomed there.

If the hotel became an of-fice building, it would be reno-vated, except for the bar Reyn-olds says the ground floor barand grill will be refurbishedand opened in any case, with agreenhouse extended outwardfour to five feet along HudsonStreet and Hudson Place

Inside the Hotel Victor,light filters through the dustywindows in the late afternoon,casting an unkind glare on thechipped brown paint of thewalls. The room is musty, andfaded like a letter left in thesun too long. Window panelswith stained glass coats of armsadd shadows and color to the'oor.

The hand-lettered menuabove the grill is yellowed andsplotched with stains. It liststhe price of hot dogs at $1, ham-burgers at $l'25, along with theprices of other sandwiches.The counter and a few scat-tered metal tables are coveredwith pale green formica

The wear of the years iswritten throughout the room, inthe chipped away areas of theconcrete floor, the layers of oldpaint coated last by institution-al dark brown about 6 feet upthe walls and columns, a mus-tard yellow up to the ceiling.The ornate tin ceiling is alsobrown.

But the dark wood of thebar shows the most wear. Theboards of the footrest aresplintered and gray, the barlittered with gouges The origi-nal cabinetry and mirrors re-main, small three-tieredshelves in the corners for dis-play of liquor bottles.

If the building could re-member. . perhaps it wouldrecall the tales that '20s-eraseamen told in the bar. charac-ters like those in O'Neill's play

I "Anna Christie." O'Neill's sail-ors spun stories of how: theybattled the elements in theirships, told raunchy jokes andtalked longingly about theirdistant families More likely,the hoiel would conjure upghosts of the men in recentmemory', who eked out theirexistence within its walls, eat-ing greasy lunches at thecounter or playing pool gamesat the lone table

Despite its rundown state,local historian Jim Hans re-members that the bar and grillattracted people throughoutthe community up to the time itclosed, including intellectualswho liked to drink there andwatch the steady stream uf peo-ple passing in front of the pic-ture windows. Hans says turn-of-the-century playwrightChristopher Morley was fond <rf

the Victor as a drinking spot.Morley sometimes leased theLyric Theater next door torproductions of his plays. (Thetheater, also owned by VictorRivara, was sold for back taxesduring the Depression and torndown in the early '40s.)

"I remember there was afellow living there who trans-lated Russian at Stevens Insti-tute," Hans says He liked itbecause he didn't have to paymuch."

Many longtime Hobokenresidents remember when thehotel and bar were alive withrailroaders and soldiers re-turning from World War II whoneeded a place to stay whilethey searched for work. Duringthe '70s, nearly all who stayedthere were permanentresidents.

Mayor Thomas Vezzotti re-members the Hotel Victorthrough the years, especiallysince his uncle Fred ran thebar in the '20s until Victor Ri-vara bought the building

It was considered as beingfor people who were poor, butpeople outside of the hotelwould come there for lunch. Itwas good food and economical.1 had a couple of meals there Itwas an old-fashioned type ofwaterfront hotel and bar."

Vezzetti, like many in town,knew Kenneth Rivara well.

"He was a very generousperson. The way he took care ofpeople was symbolic of the old-style Hoboken."

Among the people in Ri-vara's care was Frank S>adak,who describes himself as a re-formed alcoholic who workedfor his keep in the hotel bycleaning up Siadak still worksin the hotel as one of the secu-rity guards. He describes Ri-vara as "our godfather." Rentat the hotel before it closed was$15 a night, $90 a week.

With its similarities to Har-ry Hope's Bur, some townspeo-ple began to believe playwrightEugene O'Neill based his dra-ma in the Hotel Victor. O'Neillscholar Barbara Gelb says not,but adds:

"He took a typical old divewhere derelict people wouldhang out and be as despairingas those in The Iceman Com-eth ' But I've never heard thathe's taken anything from loca-tions in New Jersey — he al-ways used New York locales."

A Haute Hotel?

Symbol Of An EraThe Hotel Victor apparent-

ly has no claim to literary im-mortality through the plays ofO'Neill, but the building hasbeen captured on canvas andsketchboards by local artists

Artist Kevin McCloskey se-lected a drawing of the hotel,with its sign showing prominently, for the cover of hisbook, "Walking Around Hoboken" The pitched roofs anddecorative arches of the Victorwere rendered by local artistJudith Watson, who had herpainting displayed in the win-dow space of the Hudson LegalCenter on Newark Street lastSeptember.

"As you come down Observ-er Highway, it's one of the firstthings you see when you comeout of the tunnel," Watson says.adding that she immediatelywas taken with the buildingwhen she moved to Hobokeneight years ago. "I love thearches and the detail work in it.There's something very almostlike Venice about them. And Ilike the strong horizontal lines.

Developer Patrick A Reyn-olds whobought the Victor,had grand visions of its rcnova-iion He says in two to threemonths hell know whether the

, hotel will be — -

The building also attractedthe interest of a major filmcompany that may be interest-ed in leasing it for use in a filmstarring Tom Bcrenger, Reyn-olds says. The film companyplans to inspect the site soon tosee if it would work as a movielocation.

The Queen Anne-stylebuilding is considered a land-mark by members of the Hobo-ken Historical Commission, be-cause of its architecturalbeauty and historical signifi-cance. The building stands outon a street lined with olderstructures, despite the crack-ing simulated stone facade, thegraffiti, the tattered green aw-nings and layers of grime.

"This is an extremely im-portant structure in the busi-ness district," says Helen Man-ogue, chairman of the HobokenHistorical Commission.

The eight-year-old commis-sion, which seeks to preservethe integrity of historicalbuildings, oversees requestsfor renovations or additions todowntown buildings. The com-mission turned down a prelimi-nary plan for a building to beconstructed in the parking lotnext to the Hotel Victor oneand Vi years ago because itclashed aesthetically with theother buildings in the area.The plan, presented by archi-tect Jim Lindemon, called for a24-story structure next to thehotel that would wrap aroundthe back of it.

Lindemon says he is pre-paring plans for a scaled-downversion of the buildjng thatshould come before 'he cityplanning board within imonth.One proposal would b> for aresidential building with park-ing, another would be lor an

A new era is about tobegin for the majestic Ho-tel Victor in Hoboken withthe renovation of thebuilding for either a hotel

or office space

Affordable housingformula proposedBy Jim DeRogatis

Hoboken Mayor ThomasVezzetti will propose an ordi-nance this week that would re-quire developers of new or rehabilitated housing to provideaffordable units or cash contri-butions to an affordable hous-ing trust fund.

The proposed rule is thefirst in Hudson County thatwould require uniform contributtons from all developers.Jersey City and other munici-palities have been negotiatingaffordable housing contribu-tions with each developer on aper-project basis.

"I believe that the limited

availability of affordable housing is the most critical issue inour city, and indeed our re-gion," Vezzetti said in a state-ment. "As mayor, 1 have beeninundated with request forhousing.

"Each day homeless peopleand families on the verge ofbeing displaced come to my of-fice desperate for assistance.Usually we are unable to help."

City housing advocateshave estimated that more than2,500 people are in need of af-fordable housing in Hoboken.Vezzetti pledged during the1985 mayoral campaign to re-

See AFFORDABLE — Page 8.

Affordable housing

office building with someground-level commercialspace and some parking.

Terry Castellano, also amember of the historical com-mission, says she was relievedthat the original building pro-posal was rejected.

"(The Hotel Victor) proba-bly, as an example of QueenAnne architecture, is regardedas a valuable monument andwe hope to keep it that way,"Castellano says. "It's one of ourproudest possessions in thedistrict."

Piece Of The FutureThe plot of land where the

Hotel Victor stands was sur-veyed and first owned by theHoboken Land and Improve-ment Company, registered in adeed dated May 20, 1870 inHudson County records A leinof mortagage was taken out onthe land by Nov. 1, 1890 andconstruction on what is now theVictor was completed no laterthan 1895. the historical com-mission estimates The landand "premises" w%re sold toJennie A Soulier on May 2,1898. Her widower Vransferedthe property to Rivara on Feb.15, 1926.

After converting \he tene-ment house to a hotel, ihe origi-nal Rivara added a flourish of

his own — an Art Deco stylesign on the corner of the build-ing that reads Hotel Victor Bar& Grill. The blue-black signwith white lettering, outlinedwith neon that has been turnedoff, gives the building a senseof'30s style that meshes with itsVictorian design.

Reynolds says he intends tomaintain the sign, particularlysince the bar will once again bein operation. He envisions thebar and grill transformed likemagic from squalor to a warm,inviting atmosphere.

"I'd like to do a 'Cheers'kind of bar where people cango without wearing a suit andtie," Reynolds says. He says healso intends to have the graypaint cleaned olT the buildingand have the brick repointed.The bar would be situated inthe center of the ground floorroom, tables and chairs aroundit. The wall next to where theold bar is may be strippeddown to the bare brick forambiance.

Reynolds is not alone inwanting to see the buildingpreserved, whether as an officebuilding or as a hotel.

"It's a nice bar with the wayit's layed out." says Joan Tori-no, owner of Red Heads Sa-loon, in the ground floor of theEdwards Hotel across thestreet. She said after openingher bar about four years ago.

she often visited the Victor forice because her bar's ice ma-chine broke down. "Oh, youcould do so much with theVictor."

Manogue of the historicalcommission says she would bedelighted to see the buildingreturn to serving the communi-ty as a hotel, particularly onecatering to overnight guests.

"Actually there's a greatneed in Hoboken for hotelspace." says Manogue "If youhave people here from out oftown it's very difficult to find aplace to stay. You usually haveto go as far out as...Jersey Citvor in North Bergen."

The hotels that lined thestreets of Hoboken disap-peared with the creepingspread of gentrification, exceptfor the tiny Edwards Hotel.Around the corner from theHotel Victor, what was oncethe American Hotel now con-tains restaurants and officespace. The old Meyers Hotel, atThird and Hudson streets, hasbeen renovated forcondominiums.

The Victor is one of the lastbuildings of its kind in transi-tion. To commuters passing byon their way to jobs in NewYork and home to condos inHoboken, the building is a bea-con of progress. To others, it isa solitary memory of a bygoneera. -j

Continued from Page 1quire all developers to provideaffordable units for longtimeHoboken residents.

"The reason we have wait-ed so long is because we want-ed to come up with somethingthat is legally sound. This isgoing to stand up in court," themayor said.

Vezzetti announced someof the requirements of the ordi-nance in a statement releasedFriday, but he did not revealspecifics. The full ordinancewill be presented to councilmembers, tenants groups, de-velopers and the public today.

The "inclusionary hous-ing" ordinance will give devel-opers the choice of contribut-ing 10 percent of the totalnumber of units of their projectfor low and moderate incomehousing on-site or 15 percent ofthe total number of units off-site.

The mayor did not define"affordable" in his statement,but the city's request for pro-posals for the Observer High-way development set afford-able rents at $695 a month forone-bedroom units to $975 forthree-bedroom units. Thestatement also avoided adress-ing how the law would be en-forced, or how long the afford-able units would have toremain affordable.

If developers do not wantto actually build the affordableunits, they can make a cashcontribution to the city. Thefunds would then be delegatedby the city for use on affordablehousing projects.

Cash contributions rangefrom $10,000 per unit city-wideto $15,000 per unit on the water-front, according to theordinance.

The high cash contributionis designed to encourage devo-lopers to donate rental units.

"Our goal is to get develop-ers to provide the actual units,"Vezzetti said.

The ordinance applies only

to developers of new or reha-bilitated housing projects.Commercial developers are ex-empt, although they will be ex-pected to contribute to an in-frastructure improvementfund. The city is currently de-veloping an ordinance to estab-lish that fund, according tomayoral assistant LaurieFabiano.

The mayor said the ordi-nance is the result of sixmonths' work by Peggy Thomasand Robert Armstrong of thecity Community DevelopmentAgency, city attorney MaureenSchweitzer and housing con-sultant Ira Karasick. He addedthat he will be introduce a sec-ond ordinance that will set up asimilar formula for donatingmiddle-income units.

"We wanted to introducethis now instead of waiting forthe other ordinance," said Fa-biano. "We believe that ordi-nance is also important be-cause the city is faced withhaving large numbers of luxuryunits and subsidized, low-in-come units with nothing in-between."

But Fabiano added that themiddle-income ordinance willbe more susceptible to legalchallenges from developers be-cause there's no precedent forit. She said the low-income in-clusionary ordinance has solidlegal precedents in the stateand "should stand up to anycourt challenge."

Vezzetti said the ordinancewill be simultaneously pre-sented to the City Council andthe Planning Board this weekThe ordinance would requireapproval from both bodies tobecome a part of the city's zon-ing law.

In an effort to gain supportfrom the anti-Vezzetti council,the mayor welcomed all mem-bers as co-sponsors.

"My door is open and 1 welcome and value the council-Jpeople's input," the mayor]said.

Polihits Hoboken

Merchants h

Shortagemay go onfor a yearty CHRISTOPHER AVEStaff Writer

HOBOKEN-The Police De-partment is down more than 30patrol officers, and it could be ayear before the positions arefilled, t'.ie police chief warnedconcerned merchants yesterday

Department guidelines pro-vide for 96 officers, but PoliceChief George Crimmins Sr. saidonly 60 are employed on activeduty. He told a group ofmerchants and officials yester-day that real help with safetyproblems could come only fromincreased appropriations fromth^ City Council,

*t could promise you anythingin the world, bu t^ just don'tnave the m*»." Crimmins toldabout a dapftt M£nest> •wriersand two cfeuncilften gatheredyesterday at Arthur's Steak-house on Washington Street.

The business leaders, mem-bers of Hoboken Advantage andthe Hoboken Retail Organiza-tion, had been invited by Coun-cilmen David Roberts and Patrick Pasculli to meet withCrimmins to discuss crime prob-

By Bill € ami

A shortage of city policeofficers is prompting some Ho-boken merchants and profes-sionals to hire off-duty cops topatrol the central shopping dis-trict during the holiday season

City officials and mer-chants .said the hiring is aimedat curbing increased juveniledelinquency in the WashingtonStreet business district duringthe holidays.

The move is planned as ashort term effort until the CityCouncil can adopt budget ap-propriations for next year tohire additional police officers.

Hoboken Advantage, a fed-

the holiday scM > Off-duty police will

patrol shopping areaerally subsidized retail assis-tance organization, and a localmerchants group will spendabout $4,000 beginning nextweek to hire off-duty officers topatrol the Washington Streetbusiness district and other ar-eas, according to Don Liloia.director of HobokenAdvantage.

Off-duty officers will alsopatrol sections of the First

Street retail district, he said.The move was announced

yesterday at a luncheon spon-sored by Hoboken Advantageon/4 Civlk U/arrl Cnnniilman

Yesterday's meeting was •result of nearly two months ofdiscussions among councilmembers, business leaders andlaw-enforcement officials

The private patrols werenecessitated by a widespreadreduction in police personneldue to retirements which havecut the number of street patrolofficers According to Crim-

eruay at a luncneon s»i#un- mint-is m-i-urumK iu ^i •»»-d by Hoboken Advantage nuns, the Police DepartmentSixth Ward Councilman employs 60 patrol officers al-

L> Roberts, whose ward en- though city hiring statutes al-and Sixth Ward Councilman employs W patrol officers ai-Dave Roberts, whose ward en- though city hiring statutes al-compassesthe midtown section low 96of Washington Street Also at-tending the forum were CityCouncn President Pat Pasculli,Police Chief George Crimminsand local merchants

If I had my way, therewould be a police officer onevery corner," Crimmins said.

See MERCHANTS — Page 18

M o b o k w ,ci tyCouncf ig h i . t*k with Police CW* 6«m»tin9 . . Arthur » 8t. .kho««.

lems, fflarncularly atmtA theChristmas season, when must k>cal retailers do the bulk of tneirbusiness. .

The business owners anacouncilmen said they were concerned with groups of youngpeople congregating on Washington Street and other businessareas, vandalizing the storesand sometimes accosting cus-

t, and David Rob«»t»,,at a luncheon

I TMt HWOSOIK DISPATCH

tomers.•These are people that are ar-

rested, and two days laterthey're out again, they're backout on that damn corner," Rob-erts said.

"I can't give you what 1 don'thave," Crimmins replied Hestressed that 75 percent of his

Please see POLICE Page •

Engineer pact is OK'd« ~ ? u i i c T n w j e £ ' * u t " ' ^ ^ TCpeatraly have ordered the city ous materials exist on the pStaff Wmer t 0 re0"*1*1 l t s dilapidated sewage site. _—_„ _ treatment plant, and agreed to The debate grew viciou:—-i-w»., ant**, oniv times, with Cappiello and fe

plant

siteThe debate grew vicious at

times, with Cappiello and fellowCouncilman Joseph Delia Favebreaking into a brief shoutingmatch. The council defeatedCappiello's proposal to table thecontract resolution, and ap-proved the contract by a 7-2vote.

Mayoral aide Laurie Fabianohailed the vote as a clear indica-tion that the city was movingforward in its fight to clean upits sewerage problems andabide by state and federal man-dates.

plant, scheduled for 1991. The building me putm. "It's a major step in comply-firm, which was selected from a The council approved the con- »°g with the state administrativelist of six applicants by a joint tract despite lengthy attacks by consent agreement," she said,committee of the council and the Councilmen Steve Cappiello and She added that the action helpedHudson County Utilities Author- Robert A. Ranieri. Both ques- guarantee that the city will keepity, is to be paid $3.9 million for tioned the process by which LMS a $30 million federal grant it wasthe work. was selected, and Ranieri said awarded this fall to help finance

State and federal authorities there is the chance that hazard- the new plant.

urfT Writer ___HOBOKEN-Under the threat

of millions of dollars in fines, theCity Council has approved a citycontract for a reside*! engineerto monitor construction of a sew-age treatment plant.

The council also deferred ac-tion on a monetary request byJuan Garcia, who runs a controversial youth program Thecouncil acted Wednesday night

'repeatedly navcuiu^v .to rebuild its dilapidated sewagetreatment plant, and agreed towithdraw weighty fines onlywhen the city accepted a stricttimetable for completion of theplant

HCUA Executive DirectorGeorge Crimmins Jr told thecouncil that the city risked re-instatement of those fines —which could reach $15,000 a day

if the contract was not ap-Juan Garcia, whotroversial youth program The _ i{ t h e contract w«B ••„, «Kcouncil acted Wednesday night proved. City Law Director Wil-at a meeting in City Hall. u a m Graves agreed, saying the

Lawlor Matusky and Skelly, c i t y already was behind sched-an engineering firm from Pearl u i e m preparing for the plant'sRiver, NY., was hired to over- construction, and that the LMSsee the completion of the sewage contract was a necessary step inplant, scheduled for 1991. The building the plant

• ~ i™t»H f r o m a — :> "••»•»

POLICECQNliNUtD FROM PAGE 1

department was on patrol duty, jand that he could not providemore unless he were given more 'men.

The council decides how muchmoney is available for policehiring. Two years ago, Crim-mins told the group, 31 officerswere hired. But more than 40 of-ficers have retired or resignedsince then, Crimmins said, leav-ing the department with only 64patrol officers. Four of those,Crimmins said, are on leave andunavailable for duty.

The problem is compoundedby the months of training re-quired of officers after they arehired. Crimmins said a group ofpotential police officers took aCivil Service test in October. Hesaid that when the council be-gins debating next year 'sbudget, he will ask that at least30 officers are hired from thatpool of applicants.

Pasculli and Roberts pledgedto push for more police money innext year's city budget. But thecouncilmen said that even ifmoney is appropriated, they donot expect more officers to beout on the street for anotheryear.

To help with immediate safetyconcerns, Hoboken AdvantageDirector Donald Liloia said hewould negotiate with police un-ions to hire off-duty officers topatrol business areas on Wash-ington Street. The group, headedby 15 business leaders and pro-fessionals, was launched by theCommunity Development Agen-cy last year to improve the busi-ness environment here. Thegroup must begin to fund itselfnext year, when city funds runout.

Liloia said his organizationhad about $3,500 to spend on off-duty police protection.

Merchants hire copsfor holiday season

\A nnt guarantee lContinued from Page 1•Unfortunately, 11 hf\e.nocon-trol over hiring but I'll do ev-erything possible to increasepolice visibility."^ According to Roberts, addi-tional patrols are essentialalong Washington Street to

could not guarantee post offi-cers every night, he said mem-bers of the department wouldbe assigned to work mandatoryovertime in the week beforeChristmas.

Hoboken Advantage willcontribute $3,500 to hire off-duty officers, Liloia said. A lo-

;"«'inrv has rnn-aiOHK "at.. . . . . , , _combat vandalism and public duty onicers, L.UU». O-._.drinking by local youths. Sever- cal retail organization has con-al business owners in the area tributed $500 for the effort, hecomplained that the youths arecreating a disruptive businessatmosphere on the street.

Business owners alongWashington Street maintain

said.Crimmins said state laws

prohibit the merchants fromhiring less costly night wateh-

Wasningiou on,_,_.. men to perform patrol duties inthat problems with disruptive the business districts. The lawyouths are centered between requires special police officers5th and 7th streets where more to undergo 240 hours of train-than a half-dozen fast-food res- ing at a certified police acade-taurants attract the teenagers, my, he said.

Last month, Crimmins Pasculli said he will pressstepped up police visibility by the council next year to appro-posting officers to patrol the priating funding for police hir-area bounded by 5th and 7th ing. The council last year ap-streets and Stevens Park to the proved a table of organizationeast and Church Square Park in the department and theto the west. number of patrol officers is

Although Crimmins said he two-thirds of capacity.

State and teaerai aumv*— u,»..~ ^••Mi—m~~~™

Council delays action on affordable housingSteve CaDPiellio trie*By Earl Morgan

Hoboken City Council last nightdelayed action on Mayor ThomasVezzetti's affordable housing plan,despite his plan for immediate con-sideration of the controversialproposal.

They placed the measure on itsagenda for a 30-day review.

It is designed to require develop-ers to provide affordable housing, orcontribute to a trust fund for suchhousing.

In other business, Councilman

the

io tried unsuccessful-

:I°SPnt?aI Cnmneerinfirmresidential . n R I"f""}f lir™hired to oversee the construction ot asecondary sewage treatment plant inthe city.

Cappiellio told his colleaguesthat he did not believe the city isgetting the best deal it can in hiringthe firm of Lawler, Malusky andSkelly as the resident engineeringfirm for the approximately $100 mil-lion treatment plant project.

He suggested a resolution to hirethe firm be tabled, but by a vote of 7-2

the council approved the contractwith Councilmen Robert Ranieriand Cappiellioo voting against it.

Ranieri and Cappiellio contend-ed the firm, that was acutally select-ed by the Hudson County UtilitiesAuthority that will actually havecharge of the treatment project, didnnt noontiatp the best orice.

the meeting, said Ranieri read thewrong regulations pertaining to theprofit the engineers are allowed tomake.

HCUAHCUA officials and the city'scorporation counsel Bill Graves, re-minded the council that the cityfaces stiff fines from the U.S. Depart-ment of Environmental Protection if

find decent, affordable housing andthis ordinance is an attempt to try toassist these people. My only regret isthat I could not get it to you sooner.Now that it is ready I hope thatcan apt nn it as pvnpHiiimislv

eady I hope that weas expeditiously ascan act on

possbile.charge of the treatment project, did faces still lines trom me u.s. uepan- Developers and real estate inter-not negotiate the best price. ment of Environmental Protection if ests in the city have expressed oppo-

Ranieri read a list of regulations it delays in initiating construction of sition to the measure and last nightthat said illustrated overpayments the treatment plant. former Hoboken Board of Realtors

president William J. Stack ad-dressed the board and --•---• -• -

Ranieri read a list of regulations ••. u u a ^ ... ....w~....Pthat said illustrated overpayments the treatment plant.L.M.S could receive under the In asking for the introduction ofcontract.

But officials of the Hudson Coun-ty Utilities Authority, who were at

the affordable housing ordinance dressed the board and asked thatVezzetti told the council "many peo- developers and real estate peoplepie in Hoboken are still struggling to have some input on the ordinance, j

Koufax team is off to Soviet Union in AugustBy Bill Campbell / £

Hoboken's celebrated Sandy Kou-fax baseball team is bound for theSoviet Union in August, city officials

ThusSR Federationsubmitted to the city a list of fourd a t S to conduct a baseball summitbetween the Koufax sluggers and aSoviet team, and local officials say

they are close to settling on Aug. 15-30"This is probably the biggest news

we've had all year," said mayoral aideLaurie Fabiano. The city receivedword from the federation in a Telexlate yesterday afternoon, she said.

"We're very excited because thisis something you only dream about,'said Joe Reinhardt, one of the teamsthree coaches.

The 17-member team, which had a

22-1 record last year en route to be-coming state and regional champs,was officially invited to the USSR inSeptember. The team of 13- and 14-year-old boys placed fourth in theKoufax World Series last August inPuerto Rico.

The invitation was a result of ahuman rights mission by Sen. FrankLautenberg, D-NJ. to the Soviet Unionand stemmed from the Soviets' earlier

claim that they invented baseballMost historians now recognize Ho-

boken as the birthplace of baseball onJune 19, 1846 at Elysian Fields.

Organizers of the summit willkickoff fund-raising efforts for the tripwith a cocktail party Friday spon-sored by the Hoboken Lions Club.According to Reinhardt, the teamneeds to raise about $60,000.

He said other fund-raising activi-

ties will be scheduled after the cityand Soviet authorities reach a firmcommitment on the dates.

Fabiano said the games will becoordinated by a U.S. businessmannamed Max Flaxman, who volunteersas a coach to several Soviet baseballteams. Contributions for the Koufaxteam can be made to: HobokenUSA/USSR Tournament, PO Box 5148,Hoboken, N.J. 07030.

County unit OKs Hoboken sewage pactB y Peter Weiss

A$3 9 million contract withthe engineering firm of Lawler,Matusky and Skelly to overseeconstruction of a sewage treat-ment plant in Hoboken hash£>n approved by the HudsonS t y Utilities Authority buttwo dissenting members of thenanel are threatening to go to?oTrt to have the voteoverturned

Hoboken, which will share' the cost of the $100 millionplant with the HCUA, approvedthe contract on Wednesdaynight.

The vote at last nightsHCUA meeting was 6-to-2. Op-posed to the contract wereCommissioners Lawrence Cuc-chiara of Union City and Mi-chael Schaffer of Hoboken,who said they will filea Superior Court appeal.

Cucchiara spent two hourslast night trying to convince theother commissioners membersthat it would be illegal toaward the contract to Lawler,Matusky and Skelly becausethe firm is involved in litiga-tion with the HCUA regardinganother project. He said a votefor the contract would be "ab-solutely immoral andimproper."

HCUA counsel John O'Don-

nell said he knows of no statuteor precedent which would pro-hibit the county agency fromentering into a contract withthe firm because of the pend-ing court case.

Other HCUA membersquestioned Cucchiara's legalexpertise and HCUA chairmanAnthony Russo of Hoboken in-dicated that the opposition tothe contract was politically-motivated. He linked Cuc-

chiara's action to those of Ho-boken council members whoalso opposed the contract.

Cucchiara also raised ob-jections to the engineeringfirm's past performance, con-tending that its record of costoverruns is "horrendous." Rep-resentatives of the firm deniedthat charge.

The litigation referred toby Cucchiara is Lawler, Ma-tusky and Skelly's suit against

Jersey City and the HCUA tocollect $111,000 in fees it con-tends it is still owed for designof a Jersey City project In itsresponse, the Jersey City Sew-erage Authority claimed thework was inferior.

O'Donnell denied that theHCUA had taken the same po-sition as the JCSA. O'Donnellsaid the claims of poor perfor-mance were stricly those of theJersey City agency.

T Mja. i . . .

Housingdebate

HOBOKEN-The City Councilis expected to begin consideringa complex affordable housingplan and refuse funding for acontroversial youth programtomorrow at a meeting at CityHall.

The affordable-housing planwas unveiled yesterday byMayor Thomas F Vezzetti, whois asking the council to requirethat developers of housing setaside a percentage of units as"affordable."

As it stands now, the proposalrequires developers to provide10 percent of their total numberof units as affordable housing.Developers may ask the Plan-ning Board for certain exemp-tions, such as off-site affordableunits or paying cash instead ofbuilding the units.

The proposal will be in-troduced tomorrow for a 30-dayreview period. Negotiations areexpected to begin today between

{ Vezzetti, administration of-ficials and council President Pa-trick Pasculli over specific com-ponents of the ordinance. Afterthe 30 days, a compromise pro-posal will be introduced for thecouncil's approval.

According to the proposal inits current incarnation, af-fordable units will be rented atno more than 30 percent of thetenant's gross income. If theunits are sold, the mortagepayments must not exceed 28percent of the owner's income.

Developers would not be al-lowed to build more than half ofthe affordable units of f-site if theproject is built on the water-front.

Also tomorrow night, thecouncil is expected to vote on aproposal to fund Citizens Unitedfor New Action, a controversialyouth program run by Juan Gar-cia. The measure is not on thefgenda, but City Hall officialslaid Councilman Edwin Duroywould introduce a resolution tofund the organization

Duroy could not be reachedfor comment yesterday.

However, the officials, whoasked not to be named, said theCUNA funding measure did nothave enough support in the coun-cil to pass.

UNITED SYNAGOGUE

RallTset onSoviet JewTfcLfrJc/?By a Staff Writer

HOBOKEN—Members of ajk*cal Jewish congregation plan toprotest Soviet pfiieies on theemigration of Jews from the Wviet Union in a ^demonstrationtomorrow mornilg.

Larry Silverm#in, a memberof the United Synagogue at 115Park Ave., said he expects be-tween 20 and 40 people to gatherthere at 11 am. tomorrow. Hesaid the protest Is timed to coin-cide with Soviet leader MikhailS. Gorbachev's visit to Washing-ton The Soviet leader is ex-pected to sign an arms agree-ment with President Reagan.

Silverman added that the pro-test will focus on the plight of So-viet Jewish children being heldagainst their will in the SovietUnion.

iKean wants to run on Jersey City's blood'.™*?-5 . « . . ^ H i s , f t i M «,,nnal destmv." Williams urban school syst

ShopRite to shut downHoboken supermarket to close on Dec. 31

tion) this year 1 think Kcan isming at Jersey City. He wants

_j run for vice president onJersey City's blood "

Michael Marino, JerseyCity School Board president,said he was expecting the vote_"I anticipated it being passedby the Assembly." he said

While Marino said lie doesnot know how the Senate willrespond to the measure, hehopes they do not vote beforethey receive the findings ol ablue-ribbon panel studying thestate funding of urban school

districts That report is goingto be very critical of the waythe state finances urban schooldistricts." Marino said

•Before giving Saul Cooperman the right to take overurban schools, the Senateshould have the report."

Jersey City Superintendentof Schools Franklin Williamssaid he also felt the measurewas going to pass the state As-sembly but said the takeoverlegislation is unconstitutional

•Local school systems wereset up to control their own edu

cational destiny."said.

"That should not be in-fringed upon by a foreign pow-er, in this case, Trenton."

Williams said the governorand state school officials haveno experience in running an

urban school system.Williams voiced arguments

similar to Marino's concerningstate fundingfor schools. "Any-one that v, ants to take over thisdistrict will have a monumen-tal job," the Jersey City schoolssuperintendent said.

• V JUDY TEMESBusiness Writer

ica's troops to Europe-would therefor be a sounct

boken waterfront museum

HOBGKEN-The closing ofthe ShopRite supermarket onWashington Street has been settentatively for the end of themonth, its owners say. while thesearch for a replacement con-tinues.

Some 20,000 people frequentthe lf-year-old market, which isto be replaced by a $57 millionmixed-use project containing288 condominium units. Con-struction on the developmentwill begin in about a year, ac-cording to developer GeorgeVallone of the West Bank Construction Co

City officials fear that theclosing of the ShopRite at thesouthern end of the city willleave a large portion of local res-idents without a nearby place toshop Three supermarkets cur-rently serve the city, according

Please see SHOPRITE Page 4

Cmtomwi v»tmr4myWr tt Siting »Ort wfat%4n•ch*dul«d to clo»« D«e. 31

ncized the Plant h i . plan seems well as other

This means additional moneyHoboken and its businesses.

Garbage crisis forces hard choicesBy Adriana Reyneri ' By spring, n/'mbers OPH»V- counties. The crisis extends to grounds have had even mor

ggsssssggssing. u is tin. «*.ken-New Jersey Waterfrontdedicated to Historic Hoboken and

Rarding the location and function oit he™USthT lnuseim (Preferably.nv'ctlnan^ty.e.bebuiltonaPieto save land space and to idtntnywith the waterfront i n f l u d o a

« That the museum inclua a

,Thc ealine

Sked for and the image of]WASMUTH, Jersey City

Hoboken workersT-f- n/s-A-?

may be burglars

People put their garbageout on the curb and it seems todisappear like magic.

They haven't realized yetthat Hudson County is caughtin a regional garbage crisis,said Leonard Greiner Jr , di-rector of research and develop-ment for the Jersey City Incin-erator Authority, but thereality is about to hit

Northeast New Jersey isgenerating more garbage thanthe area's dumps can handle.As the overloaded landfillsclose, counties desperatelyseek new dump sites and thecosts of disposing of garbagesoar.

Hudson County may nothave to ship its garbage out ofstate, as does neighboring Es-sex County. Nonetheless, coun-ty officials say, residents arelikely to see huge increases ingarbage rates, increases thatwill be reflected in higherproperty taxes.

If the rate hikes don't catchtheir attention, the state's man-datory recycling program will.

By spring, numbers ofev-ery household in the countywill be required to separatealuminum, glass and newspa-per from the rest of their garbage. They will have to place

counties. The crisis extends toMorris, Somerset, and Unioncounties.

These outlying countiesmust find a new glace to dumptheir garbage when the Edge-

House hearings in HobokenThe nation's garbage is in the spotlight today as the

House Hazardous Materials Subcommittee holds hearingsin Hoboken on waste-reduction technologies.

Scientists and other experts have been invited to testifyat Stevens Institute of Technology on methods of containingthe problem as one-by-one the nation's trash dumps fill tocapacity and are closed.

The day-long sessions are designed to acquaint law-makers and regulators with the alternatives of open dump-ing. Among the topics to be discussed are enhanced incin-eration systems and chemical reductions. Some newtechnologies already have been shunned as costly or be-cause nobody wants them as the next door neighbor

the sorted trash into separatecontainers and set it out onspecial days for collection.

The garbage crisis is just asbad, if not worse, in neighbor-ing Essex, Bergen, and Passaic

boro Landfill in East Bruns-wick closes on Jan. 1.

The four counties — Essex,Passaic, Bergen and Hudson —that have used the Meadow-lands as their dumping

grounds have had even morepressing deadlines

Essex and Passaic countieshave agreed in court-orderedsettlements to stop dumping inthe Meadowtands. Essex is nowshipping its waste to a Pennsyl-vania landfill

Passaic is scrambling tobuild transfer stations where itcan collect garbage and ship itto another state.

Bergen County was to stopdumping in the Meadowlandslast Monday, but the county haswon a two-month extension onthe deadline

Hudson County may contin-ue taking garbage to a baler inNorth Arlington until March 1.If ongoing negotiations withthe Hackensack MeadowlandsDevelopment Commission aresuccessful, said Frank Koser-owski, attorney for the HudsonCounty Improvement Author-ity, the county will be able tocontinue taking its garbagethere until 1991.

By then, the county willhave finished building its own

See GARBAGE — Page 7.

Garbage crisis forces hard choicesBy Dominick Calicchio

Hoboken city employeesare the prime suspects in aseries of burglaries at the mu-nicipal garage on ObserverHighway. police saidyesterday.

More than $1,000 in toolsand equipment has been re-moved from the garage since\pril, police said, with the lat-est incident over the Thanks-giving weekend.

Joseph Peluso, assistantsuperintendent of the city'sSignal and Traffic Division, re-ported a $125 water pump miss-ing, police said.

Peluso told police thepump theft was the most recentitem taken from the Signal andTraffic Division's supply roomon the second floor of the ga-rage complex at Observer

Highway and Willow Avenue.In many cases, Peluso told po-lice, it appeared that entry intothe supply room had beengained by using a key In otherinstances, he said, it appearedthe Suspects climbed into thesupply room through loosenedceiling panels.

Peluso said the lock on thesupply room door was changedseveral weeks prior to the theftof the water pump.

Other items removed sinceApril, Peluso told police, in-cluded a blow gun worth $250; a"Saw-All," $190; a drill-bit set,$100; an electric drill, $125:electric outlets, $20; four painof pliers, $60; assorted wrenches, $80, and assorted screwdrivers, $60.

Police said they'll questioiSee HOBOKEN — Page 10.

Judge may decideon Drayton s post

Continued from Page 1garbage disposal facility inKearny, said John Hayden, aBoston consultant advising theHCIA on the project.

The plant will include anincinerator, recycling centerand landfill. The agency plansto build the center on the Kop-pers Koke property and iswrapping up negotiations tobuy the site for $18.2 million.

Hayden said he's confidentthe plant will be finished intime because the county hasdevised a realistic construc-tion schedule. The schedule al-lows time for cleaning up thetoxins that contaminate theKoppers Koke property, as wellas time for the state Depart-ment of Environmental protec-tion to review the lengthy ap-plications for permits tooperate the landfill.

Even if the new garbagefacility is completed on sched-ule, county residents will seestiff hikes in garbage rates.

The threat of huge in-

creases in costs come, in part,from the HMDC. Last Tuesday,the commission adopted a reso-lution calling for a new systemfor setting fees for dumpinggarbage in the Meadowlands.

The commission would liketo set a rate based on the aver-age garbage-disposal costs inEssex, Passaic, Bergen andHudson counties. Since Hud-son County rates are the lowestof the four counties, its rateswould go up, while the rates inother counties would go down.

County officials are quickto call the proposal unfair andvow to fight it if it's taken be-fore the state Board of PublicUtilities.

"The tendency there is topenalize those counties whohave gotten their act together,"Hayden said.

"If that's the case. I feel theHudson County ImprovementAuthority will oppose the at-tempt with all the resourcesavailable to it."

Speaking in defense of the

rate structure is Bob Grant,spokesman for the HMDC. Ifeach county were to fix its owngarbage rates, he said, it wouldensure chaos.

Garbage, traveling throughillegal channels, tends to flowto the least expensive dumpinggrounds, he explained.

Equitable rates every-where in the region would pre-vent hundreds of thousands oftons of illicit wastes from flow-ing to the lower-cost dumps.

"Short-term, there's goingto be certain inequities andinconsistencies," Grant said."Long-term, it's the only way toreach a regional solution."

Even if the authority's at-tempt to restructure rates fails,county residents are still likelyto see "mt'^a-jumps" in gar-bage fees, Hayden said

"It's fairly safe to say, 'weain't seen nothing yet'."

As an example, Jersey Citycurrently spends about $25 tocollect and dispose of each tonof garbage collected from

homes and city property suchas parks and parking lots.

The county is now estimat-ing it will cost about threetimes that amount to dispose oftrash at the resource recoveryfacility proposed for Kearny,said Hayden

If the county were forced tohaul garbage to another state,as does Essex County, the costof disposing of each ton of resi-dential and municipal wastecollected in Jersey City couldincrease to $110 a ton, Greinersaid. That 440 percent increasein cost would more than doublethe entire budget for the Im-provement Authority, saidGreiner, and that increasewould undoubtedly be reflect-ed in higher property taxes.

In addition. Greiner esti-mates the city would pay $83 aton under the rate-averagingsystem proposed by the HMDC.

"We have a solid-waste dis-posal crisis, yes," Greiner said,"but it is more than that I seethis as a financial crisis."

Th« store isDON SMITH TMC HUOSOM DISFATCM

HOBOKEN RESIDENTS

By Rill Campbell

The state Superior Courtmay determine whether a con-troversial Hoboken City Coun-cil appointee can serve as acommissioner of the municipalHousing Authority.

Attorneys for the authorityand for Eugene- Drayton, whowas sworn last week to a four-year term as a commissioner,will ask Superior Court Assign-ment Judge Burrcll Ives Hum-phreys to rule on possible con-

flicts State law prohibits morethan one city employee or offi-cer from serving on the author-ity's board of commissioners^Attorneys for the authority andthe city argued that Drayton, acity police officer and memberof the Board of Education, can'tserve because City CouncilmanEdwin Duroy is already on theboard. . .

Ironically, Duroy nominat-ed Drayton for the authority

See JUDGE — Page 7.

Hoboken burglariesContinued from Page 1the Signal and Traffic Divisionand Public Works Departmentworkers employed at thegarage.

" Everything down there isbehind locked doors and onlythey themselves have thekeys," said Police Chief GeorgeCrimmins.

Roy Haack, Public Worksdirector, said he was unawareof the thefts.

Parking revisions eyed»—.:_.. <•„.. f»« vahtrio states like Connecticut or N«

HOBOKEN-The City Councilhas moved to ease restrictionson parking here under the city'sresidential-only parking law.

Under an ordinance sponsoredby Councilman Dave Roberts,the Parking Authority would re-quire proof of residency fromone of four sources before issu-ing stickers which allow parkingon city streets not covered bymeters. The four possible proofsare :

DA valid state driver'slicense.

DA valid motor vehicle regis-

tration for the vehicle.GA recent utility bill.•A lease or rent receipt with

a utility bill.The authority also would have

the power to give parking privi-leges based on other proofs ofresidence that the authoritydeems appropriate.

The present ordinance re-quires motor vehicle regis-tration as a proof of residence.

"We had been getting a lot ofcomplaints from yuppies whosecars are registered in other

states like Connecticut or NewYork," Roberts said.

The city is now posting all citystreets not covered by parkingmeters with signs making it il-legal for non-residents to parkfor more than four hours.

Roberts' proposed changeswere tabled by the council thisweek for a 30-day review period.The council is expected to voteon the changes, in the form of anordinance, during a Januarymeeting.

-CHRISTOPHER AVE

Judqe may decide if Drayton can serve& * . . „_„„., ,, „.,.„..,. ^i^ntnH law says that "not more than

SHOPRITECONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

to Jeanne Forest, economic de-velopment coordinator for theCommunity Development Agen-cy. And even that is way too few,she said. The two others are bothFoodtowns, located in midtown,she said.

"There is a desperate need forsupermarkets in Hoboken,"Forest said. "We've needed oneuptown for a long time. Nowwe'll need one uptown and down-town."

Singer ShopRite Super-markets of North Bergen hasbeen under contract to sell thesupermarket to West Bank forthe last two years A deal will beclosed this month, Vallwne said.yesterday Martin Singer, presi-wnt of the company, said theJnarket is scheduled to closef^ec. 31, but the closing may beExtended to February. Vallone*aid the owners have threetnonths after closing to vacateJhe premises. The purchase{if ice was not disclosed* The market here, just a blockirom the Hoboken Terminal, isJwofitable, Singer said, but mostj»nsumers today prefer largersupermarkets containing atleast 50,000 square feet of space.•The market here measures only|Jbout 30.000 square feet.•',"We're making a profit,"Sknger said. "But that store was«1iilt in 1969. Times havetwanged. People today like theirstores larger with more roomfor parking."

Space here is limited, he said,especially when it comes toparking

Singer, a city native whostarted his five-store ShopRitechain here, said he is searchingfor an alternative site in the cityHis real estate representative isspeaking with a number of de-velopers, he said.

Meanwhile, Vallone said WestBank's plans to replace the iShopRite here with an 1 GA. su- 1permarket have been dropped.The city forced West Bank toscale back its plans by 30percent, from 18 to 12 stories.Vallone said, a move ho saidmade the construction of a largesupermarket on the site im-possible.

West Bank's plans call for34,000 square feet of retailspace, but the shops will besmall and probably will featuremore expensive items than a su-permarket. Vallone said he ex-pects to see a dry cleaner, asmall grocery, a bank machineand a video store in Court StreetPlaza, the name of the new de-velopment .

The supermarket shortageworries Forest. She said morethan a thousand residents signedpetitions last year asking city of-ficials to encourage a new super-market to be built uptown onwhat is now a parking lot forproperty owned by city de-veloper Anthony Dell'Aquila

"Everyone has been con-cerned about it," she said.

Continued from Page Ipost during the councils Nov.16 session Plans to swear Drayton in the following day wereput on hold after the legalquestions surfaced

However, Drayton wassworn in as a commissioner onthe seven-member board onNov 24 in private City Hallceremonies. The Councilagreed to ask the federal De-partment of Housing and Ur-ban Development to rule on theappointment, but HUD. the

authority's parent agency,rc Drayton Friday said his at-tornev, Salvatore D'Amelio Jr .and Housing Authority attor-ney James Bosworth reachedan agreement to let the ap-pointment stand. "I have beensworn in as a commissioner.I'm on the authority so I canserve," he said.

However, others disputedDrayton's claim that an agree-ment has been struck. Bos-worth did not return telephonemessages at his office, but as-sistant city attorney Tom Cal-ligy said the authority's attor-ney denied the claim.

Calligy said the city, whichhas been brought into the dis-pute, and the authority will filepapers in Superior Court earlythis week asking for a ruling.

Opponents of the appoint-ment claim that state law NJSA55:14-6 prohibits Drayton fromsen ing as a commissioner. The

law says that "not more thanone officer or employee of themunicipality" can serve on theauthority.

D'Amelio, in a memo to the>city Council earlier this month,maintained that Drayton's po-sition in the Police Departmentmakes him a "public" officer,not a municipal officer.

HOBOKEN-City officialssaid an investigation is continu-ing into reports that city equip-ment has been stolen regularlyfrom the municipal garage formore than a year.

The city will install a cameraand an infrared alarm system toprevent further thefts, mayoralaide Laurie Fabiano said.

According to police reports.

some SWO ui tools has beentaken since April 1986. Severalofficials said the burglars used akey to gain access to the supplyrooms in the garage, leading theofficials to believe the crimeswere inside jobs.

Sources said police have sev-eral leads in the investigation,but would not be specify whowas involved.

-CHRISTOPHER AVE

Youropinion CUNA. has a long history of Welping

W t _ ^ ^ J . . . . i ^ ^ 1 ; i 1 i . . 4*fc&A ft I an • .V^W l i e k ^ k> l£ - But •-*«<* -a* s-k ^ • _ A a • • « *%f* i t v f ! = . i s. ) < I < |4 1 f* ( i t

When 1 was 16 yrs old (36 yearsa®0) and living in New York City. I hada white 15-year-old girlfriend whosemother was totally against me At thattime there was a law in effect entitled"The Statutory Rape Act '

It proscribed that no male 16 orover could be alone with any femaleunder 16 without the consent of herparents. Her mother had me arrested,and although it was determined at thetrial that she was a virgin. 1 was stillconvicted as a juvenile offender forviolating the letter of the law Thisthen is the most terrible and horriblerape the city administration has beensensat ional iz ing in some localnewspaper

In spite of these malicious attacksagainst ""CUN A" and me. and knowingI cannot speak for the Non-HispanicCommunity, there is no doubt we havewide support from the Hispanics,backs and Indians For the Nov.4council meeting I mailed out 200 let-ters and 55 persons attended themeeting. For the Nov. 16 meeting Imailed out 375 letters and 149 peopleattended, including48 Indians. At thislast meeting 1 also presented 2.847signatures to the Council (an addition-al 1,327 were destroyed in a recentfire). It makes one wonder what wouldhappen had we the financial re-sources to mail a couple of thousandHowever, a fund drive could makethat a possibility.

Since its inception. "CUNA" liashelped thousands upon thousands ofpeople with problems, and not justHispanics. without ever asking for anymoney or any other recompense forthe granting of that assistance Onemust keep in mind that we have al-ways been the only indigenous community based non-profit organizationin this city, performing the work thatwe do.

In the 17 years of our existence,those utilizing our services have doneso because of the community atmo-

sphere they encounter. For whateverreason, there exists an inoruinateamount of fear, mistrust and lack ofco' • • ,lly by the poor, ofaii.v , stitutkmal appear-ance In t T N A " they are made tofeel human by the treatment accordedthem and their problems, and not likea dehumanized statistic

Following are some of the presentand past endeavors accredi ted to-CUNA"

The first to give out free lunchesto the children of Hohoken: thelfrst tohave sprinklers placed on the fire-hydrants in the summer, we have runcountless block parties and events forthe purpose of seeking funds for vic-tims of local tragedies, we ran threesuccessful 24-hour musical marathonsfor the mudslide victims in PuertoRico, the volcano victims in Colombiaand the earthquake victims in Mexico;we conduct anti-drug block parties(ironically, the Mayor nor anyonefrom his administration, although in-vited, have never attended any of thefunctions, even if only to express theircondolences); State Troopers' writtenexams are conducted at least twice ayear, distribution of food commod-ities to over 1.000 families each year(starting in 1988 it will be 3 times ayear); organized the two massiveinarches (over 1,000 people each)which eventually put an end to thearson fires; we have conducted high-blood pressure tests and blood donordrives out of the locale; each year werun a hugh unity festival by the river

Also, the agency is used as a meet-ing place by various groups, such asan Indian t e n a n t s Association, a 95percent white group of young profes-sionals, members of a neighborhoodblock assoc . school groups, tenantsassoc and others; and etc

Besides the aforementioned fewexamples, we deliver individual ser-vices to over 250 people a year andoperate a daily youth program which

mandates that the children do theirhome work between 3 p.m. and 4:3Op.m. They also receive tutoring, coun-seling, arts and crafts, and are keptconstructively busy until 7 pm Themain emphasis being to keep themaway from the temptations encoun-tered on the streets

Don't be fooled by their attack*upon me. lam not the true issue. Theissue is the large Hispanic Com mumty which they wish to keep down anddiminish as a social and politicalforce.

They know very well they won thelast Mayoral election based on theunfulfilled promises made to the His-panics. and they are just as aware thatthe Hispanic people have completelyturned-off to them. Without going intofacts or details for the moment, thereis one question hanging around andbegging to be answered, and that isJust what has this administrationdone for us minorities, or for thatmatter, the poor? Not one solitarything And we do not wish to hear thatsame old time-worn excuse that theycould not get anything through theCouncil. That's a lot of bull. Howcould they, when they never presented anything with substance to theCouncil relating to minorities. Acouncil, which 1 am sure as it relatesto minorities, would have been verycareful and accommodating to any re-quest or resolution.

It took the election of the firstHispanic to the city council before wewere able to acquire the Office ofHispanic and Minority Affairs, a sim-ple attempt at the least, which had notrouble getting through the council.Then there is the matter of the threeadministration councilpersons beingthe only ones to vote against the ap-pointment of a black to the HousingAuthority commission These are justa couple of examples of the Anti-Hispanic/Black mentality and natureof this administration

The Mayorthe newassure , „ _>But. there is no

as he has reported to

• 1way on heaven or

care of it> 11...-1 poor deprived hardpressed people

The Democrats, now that they area majority in the House of Represen-tatives, will, as some have intimated.be raising taxes to the tune of $1-billion If the people follow l h e i rJj j j !-Jjjj!

earth that he can d o s e me or thepeople down who comprise the heartof the organization . .

We will still be around irregard- '**»at i lust what they will getless of the unfair, irresponsible and <i& •' 1'KSTA. Jersey Citymalicious attacks, and 1989 will tellthe story The people most in need ofresponsible and responsive government cannot continue to be governedby non-elected individuals who ap-peared on the scene from somewhereelse and were not even aware Hobo-ken was on the map when our organi-zation first began in 1970- Jl 'AN RGARCIA Hoboken

Jurors don't believe policeGarcia pleaded guilty in

1984 to selling marijuana in aschoolyard in Union City. Hewas paroled after 16 months ofa five-year prison sentence.

He currently faces unrelat-ed drug charges in Hoboken.

Maxwell plant will stay openBy JUDY TEME8Business Writer

HOBOKEN—Management decided yesterday to keep theMaxwell House coffee plant hereopen, after unions agreed to acost reduction plan under which125 positions will be eliminated

The move will save the ailingcoffee plant millions of dollars a

year, said plant manager FrankMeegan, significantly reducingthe cost of operations and mak-ing the plant competitive withits sister factories in other partsof the country.

About 95 jobs wil l beeliminated from the manufac-turing side, in addition to 30salaried positions, said PeterAcly, a spokesman for General

Foods Corp. in White Plains,NY., the parent company ofMaxwell House. The workerswill begin leaving immediately,with the last ones departing byDec. 31, he said.

"The plant is viable and welook forward to continued prod-uction in the long term," Acly

Please see MAXWE.U Hage 12

Burnedjup tenants to protest rulingBy Bill Campbell l<r/f

I AY'STenants who were ^burned

out of an apartment buildingplan to rally at 11 a.m. thismorning to protest a state Su-perior Court ruling Friday bar-ring an independent engineerfrom inspect ing the firedamage.

Tenants of 318 HudsonStreet and local politicians areto gather on the steps of thefive-story building in which anelderly woman died during athree alarm-fire October 20.

Instead, Judge DorotheaO'C Weffing, sitting in JerseyCity, ruled that Building In-spector Alfred Arezzo mustprepare the report on structur-

a l damage to the building.Ten families were burned

out of their apartments duringa blaze which fire investigatorsblamed on a faulty electricalsystem.

The tenants, most of whomare now living with relativesand friends in Hoboken, havebeen prohibited from return-ing to their homes.

"We arc totally outraged bythis ruling," said Cindy McKee,the attorney for the tenants.

"Arezzo was appointedduring the Cappiello adminis-tration and his selection is to-tally unacceptable."

The building is owned bythe Mon-Tut Corp.whose prin-ciples include Dorothy Cap-

piello, wife of former MayorSteve Cappiello.

Roger Lowenstein, the at-torney representing Mon-Tut,did not return phone messagesfor comment on the courtruling.

Steve Cappiello said hewas unaware of the rally orWeffing's ruling on Friday.

McKee said the tenants arecharging Mon-Tut with fraudand unlawful eviction. "It'sclear that the building's own-ers do not want to spend thou-sands of dollars to repair abuilding which has tenantswho pay about $300 a month,"she said.

She said Lowenstein ar-gued that neither the tenants

nor the engineer should enterthe building because it is indanger of collapse.

The Rev. Paul Hagedorn,head of the tenants rights orga-nization Campaign for HousingJustice and a rally organizer,said the primary purpose of thedemonstration is to get the ten-ants back in the building.

"This is not a politicial ven-detta, but simply a way of focus-ing attention on these peoplewho may lose their homes,"Hagedorn said.

Arezzo must has been or-dered to completed his reportby December 18. and represen-tatives for both sides return toare due back in court on Janu-ary 8.

Fire-struck tenement to be inspectedBy Bill Campbell

City and private inspec-tions of a fire-damaged Hobo-ken tenement are to begin thisjmorning, despite charges of ha-rassment by the attorney repre-senting families displaced bythe blaze.

City Buildings InspectorAlfred Arezzo, and inspectorshired by the tenants of 318 Hud-son Street are to examine the

jbuilding at 10 a.m. where a fireton October 20 killed a womanand left eight familieshomeless.

Cindy McKee. an attorneyfor the tenants, said in stateSuperior Court yesterday thatthe building's owners have un-reasonably attempted to pre-

independent inspectionsof the property.

The tenants, who havebeen unable to return to theirapartments, are protesting pro-jections by the landlord thatrepairs may take from six to 18months.

The tenants are suing theowners, Mon-Tut Corp. andDorothy Cappiello. wife ofCouncilman Steve Cappielloand a Mon-Tut partner, charg-ing fraud and unlawfuleviction.

McKee yesterday chargedthe owners with harassment,saying their request for com-plete indemnification in theevent the tenants' inspectorsare injured during the tour was"shocking and outrageous."

Super ior Court JudgeDorothea O'C Wefing denied arequest by the owners who saidthat structural damage couldlead to injury and possible law-suits by inspectors.

Roger Lowenstein, theowner's attorney, requested in-demnification, immunity fromall damages stemming frompossible injury during in theinspection, because the own-er's insurance carrier canceledall coverage after the fire.

Instead, Wefing orderedthe private inspectors, who arecovered by workmens compen-sation, to sign a release surren-dering their right to sue theowners in the event of injury.

Lowenstein said later thatthe court-ordered release does

not grant the same protectionas indemnification.

McKee said the plan wasunnecessary.

Arezzo said he is coveredby the city's insurance policyfor injury or death, and he has"no problems" with inspectingthe building. He said his in-spection will consentrate onbuilding code violations.

McKee said the tenant's in-spectors will attempt to assessdamages and determine a time-frame for repairs.

Lowenstein also repre-sents Michael Sciarra, who hasa contract to purchase thebuilding. Sciarra said he isbuying the building "as is" andestimates that repairs will costabout $250,000.

Hoboken and Stevens planning parking7 T .By Bill Campbell / /

/ 5-y J fffiil

yr subcommittee on transporta-y ° tion. said preliminary discus-

Hoboken city officials and sions have begun to study de-velopingrepresentatives of Stevens In

stitute of Technology will meetnext week to discuss a plan toconstruct a multi-million-dol-lar parking facility on propertyowned by the college on 8thand Hudson Street

Councilman David Rob-erts, chairman of the council's

a joint Stevens-Hoboken sub te r r aneanparking facility.

Many details of the plan,including the size of the facilityand the cost have yet to bedetermined. Roberts said. Theparking facility is not linked toa plan by Hartz Mountain In-

dustries to develop waterfrontproperty owned by Stevens, hesaid.

Representatives of Ste-vens, the City Council and thecity Parking Authority willmeet for the first time Wednes-day "to express a will ingness toexplore the project," Robertssaid.

"We will have to look intocosts and needs for the area.

but a project like this is neces-sary since the lack of parkingspaces has reached crisis pro-portions in that part of thecity," Roberts said.

A spokeswoman for RobertHand, vice president for devel-opment at Stevens, said themeeting will be "an explor-atory session to study the possi-

See HOBOKEN — Page 18.

Continued from Page Jfour hours to reach its verdictAt one point during delibera-tions, it appeared the panelwas divided when it wanted toknow if the verdict had to beunan tious.

Jurors don't believepolice in drug caseBy Joni Scanlon /^-//Jt / tf? claimed hi!

/ / time of theA Hoboken man who

claimed Union City police mayhave planted drugs on him wasacquitted yesterday of sellingl»CP-treated marijuana to anundercover cop last January.

Jurors would not commentabout whether they believedVictor Garcia's story of possi-ble police corruption, or mere-ly felt there was not enoughevidence to convict him.

Prosecutor Paul DePascalerefused comment on whetherhis office would investigate thedefense's counter-charge thatGarcia was falsely arrested.

Union City Public SafetyDirector Bruce Walter couldnot be reached for comment.

Testifying under oath onWednesday, Garcia, 23, said theofficers who arrested him inthe hallway of a Union Cityapartment building may haveplanted 39 packets of marijua-na tainted with PCP or "AngelDust." It was also possible, heconceded, that the drugs mayhave been lea behind in thehallway by someone else.

The defendant also testi-fied that police twice slappedhim in the face when he pro-

his innocence at thearrest

Union City attorney lgna-cio Saavedra, defending Gar-cia compared the case to re-cent episodes of policecorruption in New York

"It was a phony arrest case.Something is rotten in UnionCity," he said Saavedra be-came ill seconds after the ju-ry's verdict and had to be ex-cused from the courtroom Hecould not be reached later forcomment.

Assistant Prosecutor Jona-than Follender had no com-ment except, "The jury hasspoken."

In his closing statements,Follender argued that the de-tectives who arrested Garciawouldn't risk their careers byfaking an arrest.

"We're not talking aboutThe French Connection. '

We're talking about 39 bags ofmarijuana," he said

Arresting officers wereUnion City Detective WilliamClifford and Lt. Charles Evrett.Garcia said he has had deal-ings with Evrett in the past.

The jury deliberated over

See JURORS — Page 10.

Drayton can't siton authority tillstatus resolvedBy Bill Campbell /#//y/4>

A state Superior Court judge yesterday barredHoboken Housing Authority Commissioner EugeneDrayton from sitting on the authority until legalquestions about his appoint-ment are resolved.

Judge Ariel Rodriguez, sit-ting in Jersey City, approved arequest by the authority to re-strain Drayton from sitting onits board of commissioners un-til Jan. 8, when a hearing isexpected to settle a disputeover Drayton's legal status.

The Housing Authority isasking the City Council to re-scind its Nov. 16 appointmentof Drayton, a city police officer,to the board of commissionersbecause state laws prohibitmore than one municipal offi-cial or employee from servingas a commissioner.

Edwin Duroy, the city coun-cilman who nominated Draytonfor the post, already serves as aHousing Authoritycommissioner.

The Housing Authority, incourt papers filed by its attor-ney. James Bosworth, is argu-ing that if Drayton is permittedto sit on the seven-membercommission the authoritywould be a "illegally constitut-ed public body."

Neither Drayton nor his at-torney, Salvatore D'Amelio Jr.,was available for comment.

State statute says that "notmore than one officer or em-ployee" of the city can serve onthe Housing Authoritycommission.

Duroy has three years re-maining on his term. Draytonwas appointed to the authoritylast month to fill the unexpiredterm of Anthony Romano.

The commissioners are thepolicy-making arm of the Hous-ing Authority, which maintainsabout 1,500 federally subsi-dized apartments for low-in-comc families and seniorcitizens.

Five of the commissionersare appointed by the City Coun-cil while the other two areappointed by the mayor andcovernor. Commissioners seflrea five-year term and do notreceive a salarv.

MAXWELLCONTINUED fROM PAGE 1

said ' I t is possible tKaT more"production will be shifted to theHoboken plant as part of an ongoiag review of operations," headded

General Foods ruled earlierthis summer to shut theHoboken facility. But management here succeeded in convincing headquarters that theplant can be kept open with cut-backs in labor and savings in thecost ot supplies and electricity

"This shows the good thingsthat can happen when you hav«cooperation," Acly said. "Wewere all pulling in the samedirection."

Under the plan, workers willreceive substantial severanceand retirement packages, in-cluding money for schooling andsome training Charles Volk, abusiness agent for Local 56 ofthe United Food and Commercial Workers, said some em-ployees will walk away fromtheir jobs with as much as$50,000.

Meegan said the packages arecosting Maxwell House severalmillion dollars, but said theprice was worth it because iteliminates any bad feelingsamong the workforce.

So far, about 60 to 70 peoplehave taken up the company's of-fer, most of them people in their60s with more than 30 year* onthe job. Meegan said he expectsthat the full 125 will eventuallytake advantage of the incentiveto leave. "We'll get what we'relooking for," he said.

While the plant is saved.Meegan said there is much hardwork ahead to make the massive48-year-old facility viable. To re-place those who will leave, muchof the remaining workforce wil1be retrained, he said. "To getthe costs we need, we have torun the plant at the currentspeed using less people."

Meegan and Acly said man-agement's earlier annoucementabout an impending shutdownwas not an empty threat tocoerce the unions to agree to se-vere cost-cutting measures."We were going to shut theplant," Acly said. "Everyone re-alized that and understood ex-actly what was at stake. Withoutshaving millions from the prod-uction costs, we oottkl not havekept it going."

Volk said the retirement pack-ages are good, and the strategyallows junior workers to remainon the job without fearing fortheir livelihood.

"We are pleased with the co-operation of management," headded. "They have made a 180degree turn. Four months ago,the situation looked very bleak.''

Volk said the unions hope thatwith improved efficiency, morework can be transferred to theHoboken plant, and eventuallythose who have been laid off inthe past will be rehired. Headded that it was management'sdecision to work with unions thatallowed the plant to remain openand employ a remaining 700workers.

"Far too often, unions are thelast to know about a shutdown,"he said. "If they would havekept us out of this, who knowswhat could have happened."

Because of its high labor andutility costs, the Hoboken planthad been the least efficient offour Maxwell House plants inthe country. It was slated toshut, unless a cost-cutting plancould be put in place. Laggingdemand for coffee — especiallythe instant variety — had forcedexecutives to seriously considerthe shutdown option. Per capitacoffee consumption today isabout half of what it was in the1960s.

Hoboken, Stevens plan parkingContinued from Page 1ble construction of a parkingfacility."

Beth Callihan. the spokes-woman, said Hand could notcomment on details of the planuntil after he*has met with mu-nicipal officials.

Roberts has also discussedthe proposal with Peter Jurkat,a Parking Authority commis-sioner and Stevens employee,he said. Jurkat could not bereached for comment.The proposal is a revival of aplan developed by Stevensabout eight years ago. saidRoberts. The existing parkinglot on 8th Street would be ex-panded by constructing park-ing facilities under the base-ball field on the southern endof the campus, he said.

The field would be expand-ed to "cover the lots, thus creat-ing an addition recreation fa-cility," Roberts said. The

parking facilities and the play-ing field will be shared by Ho-boken residents and Stevensstudents and staff, he said.

Residents have long com-plained that development andincreased commuter traffic inHoboken have resulted in ashortage of parking spaces. InSeptember, the city imple-mented a residential permitparking program designed tocrack down on commuters driv-ing to Hoboken to utilize PATHor bus service into Manhattan

However, residents in themidtown section of the citywhich borders Stevens havecomplained that students andstaft contribute to residentialparking woes by using curbsidespaces.

Stevens abandoned itsoriginal plan to develop the 8lhStreet site because the costprojections were "extremelyhigh." Roberts said.

and do not

— • • I I I I i m i j p , n y ,.

Hoboken has school for renf GBy Bill C ampbell , £

giSTfceui. between board

ami potential WM»«;ini: the Hudson Counly VSnlll Technical School and

Hudson County CommunityCollege, officials said

The board tonighton a resolution ^ Jtrustee Perry Beliiore to »plore posing one ol t h t h r e ee!cme5ar> schools on oarden

board would retainof the building, he

TO I6T

said, but lease the facility inorder to generate yearlyrevenue.

The board, which meets at7 p m at 1115 Clinton St.. mustapprove the resolution beforeformally entering into negotia-tions with tenants, Belfioresaid

The City Council last sum-mer reached an agreementwith the board to close at leastone school to curtail increasedschool spending and respondto reduced enrollment

Board officials said theRue School on Third and Garden streets would likely be targeted for the plan The build-ing was recently rehabilitatedand is considered more "4tt»\r-able" than any of the six otherelementary schools.

GARAGECONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Both Belfiore and Bomt4 «fEducation President RietiardEngland said a proposal tolease the Rue School would be

acceptable" because thebuilding would not have to berenovated at a substantial costto the board

A school board committeehas already met with top offi-cials of the Hudson County Vo-cational Technical School inan effort to create a Vo-Techcampus in Hoboken, accordingto Belfiore.

A source close to the nego-tiations said the Vo-Tech is•more than interested" in leasing the Rue School for use as aperforming arts and computerfacility. V*-T«ch ham—mm***

Sec HOBOKEN - Page 18.

Workers suspectedin Hoboken crimes

By JOHN CURTISStaff Writer

The Hoboken Municipal O»r»0* on Observer Htghwey reportedly hes been the scene of several theftsof equipment. City officiate suspect the crimes were inside iobs.j

KATHUIN MUV t n c i u TO rm MUOSW.

HOBOKEN-City officialssaid they will launch an investigation today into theftsfrom the municipal garage thatthey said were inside jobs.

Police reports on the most re-cent crime, the theft of a $125w a t e r pump d u r i n g t h eThanksgiving weekend, said akey was used to gain entry to aground-tloor supply room. Toolsworth almost $900 have been sto-len from the garage on ObserverHighway since April, and of-ficiate said thefts of public andprivate property have been com-monplace for years.

"I would asume that all therobberies that took place weredone by people that work there,"said Public Works- Director RoyHaack. "It's nothing ne*

Haack said he uouid meet to-day with city Law Duet tor Wil-liam Graves and police Lt.Mario Mercado who supervisesth« city motor pool in the ga-rage, to discus* an investigationinto the thefts

Joseph Pelusn, assistant su-perintendent of the Signals andTraffic Division, reported thethefts to the police and alsomade reports to Mercado and alldirectors of city departments.

Please see GARAGE Page 4

( ontinurd fromin Jersey City, North Bergenand Kearny.

Belfiore confirmed thatthat the Vo-Tech is interestedin creating a computer and per-forming arts program in Hobo-ken, which he predicted wouldbe "a theatrical arts mecca."

England said he haslaunched "unofficial" talkswith representatives of HudsonCounty Community Collegeabout leasing space in a schoolbuilding. Specific uses for thebuilding were not mentioned,he said.

According to England, anexploratory committee will beappointed tonight, and recom-mendations on potential ten-ants will be due before June 15.

"There are several differ-ent approaches on how weshould implement this plan,but I think our main concernsshould be reducing the corefacilities, keeping ownershipof the school for future use andmaking as much money as pos-sible from the deal,' Englandsaid

Belfiore said the board willseek assistance for the HudsonCounty Executive and theBoard of Freeholders in devel-oping a needs assessment onthe amount of revenue generat-ed from the lease.

According to Belfiore, theboard would like to receive atleast $135,000 per year from theplan. He said, however, that theboard must still decide on aformula to base rents and thelength of tenancy.

"We are only now takingthe first steps of what will be along journey," Belfiore said."We are looking for all suitorsand only now, through prelimi-nary talks, hashing outdifferences '

School officials said EarlByrd, the Vo-Tech superinten-dent, and Walter Sheil, presi-dent of HCCC, have been noti-fied of the possibility ofavailable space in Hoboken.Neither was available to com-ment on the plan.

"We've probably gone asfar as we can go without theboard passing a formal resolu-tion to explore a school clos-ing, " Belfiore said.

Nonetheless , boardsources said the Vo-Tech is"more than interested" in theHoboken proposal. Informaltalks between both sides beganin late October and members ofthe board and representativesof Vo-Tech met for a lengthyluncheon in Hoboken on Nov.21 to discuss revenues

A school closing is expect-ed to be one of several cost-cutting measures enacted b>the school board as the bodjprepares its 1988-89 budget.

Last April, voters rejectedthe board's $26 million budgetby a 3-1 margin. The budgetwould have increased theamount to be raised throughtaxation from $9 to $12 million

Peluso said the missing waterpump was removed from a box,and an old pump was returned toits place on top of the box, togive the impression that nothinghad been disturbed or taken

Since April, thieves havetaken screwdrivers, pliers, elec-tric drills, and the pump fromthe Signals and Traffic Division.Some of the tools belonged toPeluso.

Peluso said he reported theftsof power tools to the police 112 totwo years ago, but not to city of-ficials. No arrests were made in

those crimes He said he be-lieves all the thefts have been in-side jobs

"It has got to be done with akey." he said The robberieshave continued, even thoughPeluso said he has changed hisoffice and supply room locks atleast three times

About 150 people from eightcity departments work in the fa-cility every day, according toHaack He said access to the ga-

partment inside the garage is re-sponsible for the keys to Us of-fices and supply rooms.

i think the garage should besecured 24 hours a day. eitherwith private guards or peoplethat Mercado screens, Haacksaid i t ' s an isolated area andan easy temptation for someoneto rob it." _

Haack would not comment ona police report that Water De-partment employees were theonly workers in the garage dur-Haack. itesaiu attrao w ^..^ o_

rage is through a gate, and that on |y w o rJJ e r s1 'n lIIC a » - » - —•

onlv people in Mercado's depart- in£ the Thanksgiving weekend,ment have Rate keys. Each de- w h e n t n e w a t e r P u mP w a s st0"

DUMPINGCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

End todumping urgedDEP chief:Ocean isin danger

Hoboken to finetrasn collectors

r

HOBOKEN- Responding to ahost of complaints about lategarbage pick-up service, thecity will fine its lame-duck gar-bage collection company, of-ficials said yesterday.

The amount of the fines, to belevied on Browning-Ferris In-dustries of Fairlield, will be de-termined today. Public WorksDirector Roy Haack said. Headded that the fine, to be de-termined by agreements inBFI's contract with the city,would be less than $1,000.

Haack said the city receivedup to 40 complaints a day aboutthe company, which lost its con-tract when the city awarded oneto rival LaFera Contracting Co.of Newark on Dec. 2 BFI's con-tract, which was signed in 1982.expires on Dec. 15.

"You do have complaints in

this business," Haack said, "butwhen you're talking 30 or 40complaints a day, there is defi-nitely something wrong '

The fines stem from contractviolations that BF1 allegedlycommitted Monday. Haack saidthe company picked up no gar-bage that day until 11 a.m., andthat the company only used onetruck for most of the day.

Officials of the company metwith the City Council this fallover similar alleged violationsin the company's contract. Thecompany agreed to meet regu-larly with city officials about thecomplaints, but the council wasnot satisfied with the results andhired LaFera, the city's gar-bage-collection company beforeBFI was hired in 1982.

—CHRISTOPHER AVE

ShopRite closing Bec.13Continued from Page 1ShopRito wasn't as resolute.

In July, 1985, amid rumorsof the sale of its property, thechain assured Hoboken resi-dents the supermarket wasstaying put.

"ShopRite is absolutelystaying," chain co-owner SidSinger said then. "We haven'tseriously entertained any spe-cific offers at the moment."

Only a few months laterSinger ShopRite accepted anoffer from Hoboken developersGeorge T. Vallone and DanielJ. (Jans.

The deal was reportedly inthe works for several monthsprior to the agreement.

At about the same time, aplan to build a new Puthmarkstore uptown fell through whenit didn't attract the requirednumber of votes from the CityCouncil.

Hobokens ShopRite willbe the fourth in Hudson Countyto close in the last severalyears. Singer ShopRite previ-ously closed stores at 885 Ber-

gen Ave. and 320 Grove St. inJersey City, and at 714 SummitAvc. in Union City.

ShopRite retains locationsat 31st Street and KennedyBoulevard in North Bergen,near Schuetzen Park: on Route440 in Jersey City near the Hud-son Mall ami at Avenue C and26th Street in Bayonne.

The largest store, volume-wise, in the entire ShopRiteinterstate network is reported-ly. Tully's ShopRite on PassaicAvenue in Kearny.

Management of Hoboken stwo other supermarkets, bothFoodtown stores at 619 and 811Clinton St., declined commenton whether they expect busi-ness to improve when ShopRitecloses.

About 45 people, mostlyfrom Hoboken. work in the Ho-boken ShopRite, Dolan said.All lutve been offered jobs withother ShopRite stores, shesaid.

Singer ShopRite manage-ment in North Bergen couldn'tbe reached for comment.

regulation.Subcommittee member Rep.

James J. Fiorio, D-Pine Hill,and Sen. Frank R Lautenberg,D-Mootclair, Joined Dewlmg incalling for the end of oceandumping. Fiorio said the EPAshould be more forceful in en-forcing its regulations, andLautenberg said new technolo-gies — many discussed by com-pany heads who also addressedthe committee — would help infinding alternatives to oceandumping.

Federal guidelines call for theend of ocean dumping in 1991,but Dewling said that withoutnew laws, the dumping would go

' on, polluting beaches and en-dangering the quality of oceanwater near coastlines.

Dewling also said refuse fromsewer-«verflow problems —which occur in Hudson Countyevery time it rains — accountfor an average of 300 milliongallons of sewage from the NewYork metropolitan area beingdumped into the Atlantic Ocean.He said local municipalitiesshould tighten laws regulatingsewer systems and examineways to stop the overflow.

"The big problem on thebeaches — the crack tubes andneedles — they came from thestreet corner, where someonethrew them," Dewling said.

The problem is particularlyevident here, where the primary

: sewage-treatment plant is prac-tically non-functional, dumpingalmost pure sewage into theHudson River every day. Thecity is preparing to bid for thebuilder of a new, secondary sewage-treatment plant, scheduledto be completed by 1991.

The subcommittee also heardfrom a dozen companies fromacross the nation, whose repre-sentatives testified about in-novative technology for dealingwith sludge and refuse treat-ment and removal. After thebearing, Fiorio said there wasno doubt that the new technolo-gies would enable the govern-ment to halt ocean dumping.

"It's fairly clear to me that al-ternative technologies are avail-able to stop the dumping of toxicwaste into the ocean," he saidafter the hearing. "The ration-ale has always been there is noother way, but there was clearand unequivocable evidence tothe contrary."

Fiorio said the companies thatmade presentations discussedtechnology and products thatcan neutralize toxic componentsin waste.

By CHRISTOPHER AVEStaff Writer

HOBOKEN-The head of thestate Department of Environ-mental Protection said at aHouse subcommittee meetinghere yesterday that Congressmust make ocean dumping com-pletely illegal or risk a sharp in-crease in the amount of sludgedumped into the Atlantic Ocean.

PEP Commissioner RichardT. Dewling also told the subcom-mittee that a major source ofwater pollution was the overflowof local street sewage systems.He called for more "common-sense" local programs like in-creased street cleaning, main-tanance of sewer basins and tidegates, and "pooper-scooper"laws, which help prevent petdefecation in public sewers.

The hearing of the Subcom-mittee on Transportation, Tour-ism and Hazardous Materialswas held at Stevens Tech here tohighlight sewage and wasteproblems common to the area.

New garbage disposal techno?*ogies were supposed to domi-nate the hearing, but Dewlingtold the subcommittee that

Richard T Dewrlina. commissioner of the state Department of ininronment.1 Protection. isf l.nked bySL "iVo. toft, .nd Frank J . Q««inl •« • i««t»«9 y .« . rd . y • * Steven. Tech in Hoboken

"Courage, not new technology,is needed" to end ocean dumping.

Dewling said technologies cur-rently available could be used toend all ocean dumping but thatlocal governments and corpo-rations find loopholes in laws al-

lowing them to continue thedumping.

He said laws currently dis-allow dumping of "harmful"sludge

"What does 'harmful' mean?"Dewling asked. "The Congresshas to say, 'Ocean dumping to

ended.' That will forceback on land."

Dewling said studies prthat sludge dumping willcrease up to 25 percent innext five years without further

Please see DUMPING Page 6

ARSONCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Chambers would say only, "It'snot good. I'll tell you that."

Prior to Tuesday, when thegroup won the right in HudsonCounty Superior Court in JerseyCity to send its own inspectioncrew into the building, the tene-ment's front door had beenpadlocked and Montut had pro-hibited the group and its at-torney from entering.

The official report on the fire'scause, which was filed by a jointcommittee — including officialsfrom the city Fire and Police de-partments, the Hudson CountyProsecutor's Office Arson TaskForce and the U.S. Treasury De-partment's Bureau of Alcohol,Tobacco and Firearms —blames faulty wiring in a sec-ond-floor fuse box as the causeof the blaze.

Chief Inspector RichardTrimiditi of the Fire Depart-ment said he stands by the ori-ginal report, but added that hewould reopen the investigation ifhe "got something in writing todispute it from an engineer orelectrician."

The group's engineer, LynnLevine of Rand Engineering inManhat tan , could not bereached for comment.

Tm

mis arson

ShopRite dosing New Yeart,. „ ,. ,,=„ For residents of Hobokens do about/f Y t ]

By Dominick Caliccnio M,.unrn onH the move will close, what can wThe ShopRite supermarket

in Hoboken will close for goodon New Year's Eve. but long-time customers arcnt exactlysinging "Auld Lang Syne.

Shoppers yesterday sound-ed more like jilted lovers thanfriends standing at a fork in theroad

The supermarket chainsparent company. Singer Sho-pRite of North Bergen, sold usHoboken property, at Newarsand Washington streets nearCity Hall, last year to develop-ers who plan to build a $wmillion residential and rnini-mall complex to be calledCourt Street Plaza.

southern end. the move willmean a longer trip to either oftwo midtown supermarkets, ordriving to stores outside thecity.

"It'll be a little rough forthe old people." said shopperFrank Cebollero of Hoboken.

"It's easy for me. I live up-town." he said, "but it'll behard for people downtown. 1guess."

According to downtownresident Aracelia Rosario. aloyal ShopRite customer for 13years. Cebollero guessed right.

"I don't have a car." shesaid. "I have to wait for some-body to take mo (to anotherstore). There's nothing we can

rf7they'd

close, what can we do'iThough the inevitable is

only two weeks away, clerkscontinue to stock ShopRite'sshelves.

Store manager Carol Dolansaid the supermaket will oper-ate normally in its final twoweeks, then transfer inventoryto other ShopRite stores later.

Dolan said customers, too,are acting as though the endisn't near.

"People don't really knowwhere else to go," she said, "sothey're going to stick it out tothe end."

But apparent ly SingerSee SHOPRITE — 1'aK*1 10

Electricianchecks siteBy MATTHEW DIETRICHStaff Writer

HOBOKEN-A fatal fire ruledaccidental by city, county andstate agencies may have beenthe work of an arsonist, accord-ing to a group of displaced ten-ants who sent a private electri-cian and engineer yesterday toinspect the building.

The group, which lost its homeat 318 Hudson St. to a fatal fireOct. 20, conducted its own in-spection of the damaged build-ing to check its structural andelectrical soundness as cityBuilding Inspector AlfredArezzo made his official inspec-tion.

The tenants are suing thebuilding's owner, Montut Corp.,saying it has been lax in makingminor repairs that they claimcould make their apartmentshabitable again. The group's at-torney. Cindy McKee, said thatalthough the purpose of yester-day's inspection was not toprove arson, such a findingwould give her clients "moreright than ever to get back intothe building."

Although McKee did notdirectly accuse the building'sowner of arson, she said herelectrician's inspection in-dicated a possibility that thecause of the blaze may not havebeen accidental.

"We're suspicious about someelectrical protective systems in

Hobofcen Building Inspector ; . ; j *Alfred Arezzo makes noMCLZZ;outside 318 Hudson St. "~t-

the basement that were heayJbrdamaged to the point that it isunusual," the group's attorney,Cindy McKee, said in front of thebuilding after conferring withelectrician Novis Chambers ofMarty Allen Electrical Co. i«Manhattan.

McKee would not be more spe-cific about exactly what wasdamaged in the basement.

Asked to comment on what hehad seen during his inspection,

Ptease see ARSON Page 11*

P f q n s ' reo/!!>L Grandiose plans,In uptown Hoboken. the

DelF Aquila family plans to de-velop a multimillion-dollar

< r" with luxur\ -.-•„. „...,. v towers and amarina at the former Hoboken•Shipyards.

But m downtown Hoboken•i building owned by the Dell Aquila family near Fourth andJefferson streets stands in>harp contrast to their ambi-tious waterfront visions

Leaking pipes at 504Kourth St. have gone unre-paired for as long as four years,causing water damage that hasresulted in summonses fromthe city's housing department

Hoboken's auti warchousmn officer says Dell Aquila isholding two apartments vacantin violation of the ordinance

And the tenants have beenwithout heat for almost twoweeks.

Landlord Patrick Dell Aquila, son of developer Anthony Dell'Aquila and a partner inthe family development firm,

Ser GRANDIOSE — Page 18.

we* f«» Pa** »the building is structural-

Frank Mannino, a member of a social club that meets at 504 4th St., Hoboken, points outcrumbling ceiling caused by leaking water pipes.

l l l r HtDSON I I N ' V M I I . * I D M > n \ > I»W MIHI-K H.. I'M.:

HOBOKEN COUNCIL

Election fightin court again

TowersDlanis

By JEFFREY MOFFStafi Writer

Helen Manogue took her fightto overturn her one-vote defeatin the June Hoboken City Coun-cil runoff election before a stateappellate court in Hackensackyesterday.

Manogue and Councilman E.Norman Wilson appeared beforejudges of the Appellate Divisionof state Superior Court inHackensack with their attorneysfor a one-hour hearing to reviewthe election, which Manoguesays should be declared invalid

Gerald Krovatin. the Roseland attorney representing Man-ogue. argued that five absenteeballots not accepted by theHudson County superintendentof elections, Harvey Birne.should be accepted.

The checks on the paperballots are not squarely withinthe box next to each candidatesname, and the ballots were dis-regarded.

"If they are accepted than theelection is a tie because threeare for me and two are forWilson," Manogue said yester-day.

Cop admits

A tie, which would force avote, is what the environmentalactivist and banker is hopingfor

Wilson, who was the incum-bent , lost his council presidencybecause the recount of the June9 election delayed his election tothe post

"I would like to have this allbehind me. It does interfere withyour ability to function. Itdoesn't give you the same kindof authority to have the vote indispute." said Wilson, who wasrepresented yesterday by at-torney James E. Flynn of JerseyCity

Wilson won with 731 votes to782 for Manogue in the 5th Wardrace. Without any of theabsentee ballots. Manogue won,706 to 698.

Continued from Page 1 /grand jury that charged Ooppinger also indicted three Ho-boken firefighters on druKcharges in separate incidents.DePascale refused to saywhether more pleas wereexpected.

In the same session, thegrand jury also indicted aUnion City police officer, twoJersey City officers and twoBayonne officers. The charges,stemming from unrelated inci-dents, range from aggravatedassault to extortion

Police Chief George Crim-

Toppingeren a departmental hearing,when the department will offi-cially dismiss him.

"He is still entitled to hisrights, and his rights are thathe must be afforded a hearing,"he said.

Crimmins reserved anyother comment until after Cop-pinger is sentenced. Officialscould not confirm the sentenc-ing date.

Coppinger, 30, has been onthe force less than five years,according to DePascale.

•y CHftltTOFHEft AVEStaff Writer

HOBOKEN—The city's planto transform a gritty strip of Ob-server Highway into a set ofgleaming spires has beenChallenged by community acttvltt Ronald Hine, who fears thepbM will condemn the area rath-er than redeem it.

Hine, representing a groupcalled Downtown Resident* forSane Development, filed an ap-peal ef the city's Oct. 21 decisionto accept a plan for a 490-unit de-velopment. The appeal was filedTuesday before AssignmentJudge Burrell Ives HumphreysOf Hudson County SuperiorCourt in Jersey City.

Hines is challenging the plan,which includes provisions for"affordable housing," on fiveeauntt. He charges that thebttgfeted area declaration thatallowed the city to move the planforward is no longer valid, thatthe city failed to complete in-depth traffic and parking im-pact studies, that the vote ofCouncilman Steve Cappiello is*oW because he owns propertywithin 200 feet of the property,that the City Council violated theslate Open Public Meetings Actby gathering at a party hostedby devetoper Joseph Barry andthat only 5 percent of the unitsactually qualify under federalgukfeltnes defining affordablenoosing.

The plan, for which he city isaccepting proposals, was de-flgaed by the city CommunityDevelopment Agency. It in-cludes minimum requirementsfor middle- and low-incomehousing units. According to theplan, at least 115 of the unitsmust be rented at between $695and H75 a month. At least 23 ofthose, the plan stipulates, mustbe rented at between between$186 and $295 a month.

Hine, who lives within a fewMocks of the planned develop-ment, has been a constant criticof the plan.

Sewerbond *on tapParking ordinance

^ -By CHRISTStaff Writer

lCop admits aiding susaectBy John Petrick

A Hoboken police officer,one of eight public safety offi-cials from throughout the coun-ty indicted by a grand jury inSeptember, pleaded guilty yes-terday to official misconduct.

He admitted helping a sus-pected narcotics dealer evadeundercover investigators.

» Patrolman Michael Cop-pinger was accused of passing

along confidential police infor- I In^retimation in July to a person sus- 'pected of trafficking cocaineinto Hoboken.

According to officials, Cop-pinger helped the unidentifieddealer by providing the licenseplate number of a vehicle be-ing used by undercover detec-tives. The alleged dealer wmthen able to avoid the car. ac-cording to Hudson CountyProsecutor Paul DePascale.

t eturn.Acctfrding to theprosecutor. 'Coppinger re-ceived half a gram of cocaine.

Coppinger could face amaximum five-year jail termand a $7,500 fine.

"Our investigators rootedout a very deep-seated problemin Hoboken," DePascale said.^*Hi» involvement in .cocainecost him his career." The same

See COP — Page «.

HOBOKEN-The City Councilis expected to vote on a plan tofloat a $31 million bond for asewage plant and will consider agroup of amendments to thecity's residents-only parking or-dinance when it meets tommor-row at City Hall

The bond will pay for slightlymore than half of the projected$60 million cost for a secondarysewage treatment plant. Thecity is under separate mandatesfrom state and federal author-ities to update its dilapidatedprimary treatment plant and toconstruct a secondary treat-ment facility.

The present plant, which issupposed to treat sewage fromUnion City, Weehawken andHoboken, dumps virtually un-treated sewage into the Hudson

I River.The rest of the plant's cost will

be paid by a grant from the fed-eral Environmental ProtectionAgency. The agency agreed tothe grant and to suspendingfines the city had accumulatedfor years — after gaining as-surances from the city that theplant would be built quickly, andthat the city would comply withfederal clean water standards.

The city earlier this monthawarded a contract for a resi-dent design engineer of the newplant to Lawlor, Matusky andSkelly, a Pearl River, NY.,firm. Bids for the constructionitself are scheduled to be ac-cepted early next year, and theplant is scheduled for comple-tion in 1990.

The amendments to the no-parking ordinance, which pro-hibits non-residents from park-ing on city streets for more thanfour hours at a time, wouldmake it easier for people to get aproof-of-residency sticker. Theamendments would allow resi-dents whose cars are registeredout of town to receive thesticker.

Under the amendments, theParking Authority would re-quire only one of four proofs ofresidency: a valid driver'slicense, an auto registration, autility bill or a lease or rent re-ceipt with a utility bill.

sponsible for what happens inthe ground beneath Hoboken

Leanza said problems withthe building are the result ofthe swampy ground beneath itshifting

But tenants say problemsat the building are the result oiDeil'Aquila ignoring repairs.

Patrick DellAquila is thesource of his own problems,said tenant Theresa Arm-strong If he had repaired theleaks a long time ago, hewouldn't have theseproblems. "

Damage in Armstrongsapartment includes a caved inceiling over the shower andheavy water damage in thehallway. She is afraid the waterdamage will cause dec imalproblems

Leanza said problems inthe building were discoveredwhen DellAquila hired aplumber to repair the leakyDiDes The plumber was con-S e d because the buildingwas tilting and there-was move-ment in the foundation, heSa 'dErico Consulting of Cran-ford an engineering firm hiredbv Dell Aquila, issued a reportSvVng the\u.ld,ng is ' in a rap-id state o» deterioration due oinadequate foundation sup

Erico determined that

nK- doesn't care about us,and he doesn't care about CityHall she said "He owns a lotof property and he thinks hecan do whatever he wants

City Housing InspectorFitzfiibbons issued a sum-

DellAquila for lgnor-, He was fined $75 bypal court, but he has

SuiTot'compleled the neces-work.•f he's only going to be

$75 that's cheaper thanthe building," Fit/gib-

n s said. "I think the landlord• « trving to harass the tenants« S them out of that buildingso he can develop it

Armstrong and Linker alsobelieve DellAquila wants thebuilding empty so he can devel-op the site According to crt>tax records, he owns seven oth-er pieces of property in the,rea including several vacant

neeranti-Shah

K 't" n

is » n v

building t h a t pell A-a r t .

^ «*•' 'la-he

and Linker. the

denied that DellAquila is attempting to empty504 Fourth St. for development

and he doesn't want to kickffem out in street." Lean/aSUldCity attorneys and Buildinginspector Alfred Arez/o arewaiting for their consulting en-

neer's report before ruling.whether the building should

be condemned. If it must be

they

XEST.^-MS s™-sristxr,K s » « —" l ih io" .. °L «,ill see that DellAquila heat landlords aj*feasible.

"We can't say the buildingwill fall apart today or nextweekend, but if we get a rain-storm or heavy blasting, whoknows?" Leanza said. "We areonly concerned about thetenants."

Dell'Aquila did not returnrepeated requests for com-ment. His father, Anthony, is anenigmatic figure who rarely ap- CMIKV **...pears in public and refuses to and their new rent for up tospeak with the press about his $4,000 a year for four years,development plans. Tenants said the landlord has

Tenant Emma Linker does not taken any of these steps yet.not believe Patrick DellAquila While the city attorneysis worried about the tenants.

t.Mitten said landlords

torn uown,........^city will see that DellAquilarespects tenants' rights. MHU-H O«.V. —

According to the anti-cvic- responsible for providing tejition law, landlords who must norary heating such as spa#eevict tenants because of unsafe '* *""building conditions are re-quired to give tenants threemonths' notice, relocate themin new apartments, pay moving

poraryheaters, but Lwas concerned that

nts, p yexpenses and pay the difler-enese between their old rent

t f r

wait for their consulting engi-

said B(«.was coiiivi in» portableheaters would not be safe. ',

Leanza said the boiler willbe repaired in the next day ortwo,

DellAquila "is willing tospend the money because Hedoesn't want people cold andhe doesn't want bad newspaperpublicity." Leanza claimed"He's a nice guy. and he's concerned about his tenants

Burned-out tenantsto rally vs. landlordsBy CHRISTOPHER AVEStaff Writer

HOBOKEN-A group of ten-ants displaced by a fatal tene-ment fire on Hudson Street inOctober are set to protest whatthey call foot-dragging tacticsby the building's owners, whohave not repaired the structure.

The tenants will gather out-side the building at 318 HudsonSt. at 11 a.m., according to Cyn-thia McGee, an attorney for thetenants.

McGee brought suit on behalfof the tenants last month, charg-ing that the landlords — includ-ing Dorothy" Cappiello, wife ofCouncilman Steve Cappiello anda partner in the landlord com-pany — are trying to freeze thetenants out.

"Fire should not be an excusefor evictions from a building,"

said McGee, who representseight of the 10 families who livedin the five-story structure. "It'sperfectly clear what they'retrying to do."

Roger A. Lowenstein, the at-torney representing the land-lords' group, Montut Corp., saidhe could not talk about the caselate yesterday. He and McGeewere scheduled to attend aprivate conference last nightwith Judge Dorothea O'C. Wef-ing of Hudson County SuperiorCourt in Jersey City.

According to McGee, the at-torneys will discuss whether thetenants can hire their own engi-neer to help assess the damageto the building. She said she didnot trust Alfred Arezzo, the cityconstruction code official whowas appointed by Steve Cap-

piello when he was mayor.Dorothy Cappiello was not

available for comment, butSteve Cappiello said she was"perturbed" by the allegationsand that she was not trying tokeep the tenants out of the apart-ments

"Mrs. Cappiello has no inten-tions of becoming a con-dominium developer," Cap-piello said. "I think my wife hasbeen a very fair landlord. Un-fortunately, some circum-stances have occured whichmay be beyond their control."

The fire killed SavitabanAmin when it burned throughthe structure in the late hours ofOct. 20. Fire officials said theblaze was caused accidentally,by a short circuit in an electricalwire.

CHEESECONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

ister for free butter, cheese andother foods. But when the needystudents arrived at CUNA's of-fices this week to register, cityofficials say, they received an-other flier telling them to go toCity Hall tonight and help Gar-cia ask the council for morecash.

The second flier reads, inpart: "On Dec. 16, the city willdecide whether to close us downor not. That is why we are ask-ing you tho come to City Hall foronly a little while. Those who gowill sign their names, address,apt. H and telephone and onlythey will be notified in the futurewhenever CUNA is giving out ordoing anything which is benefi-cial to them."

"I think he's using the peoplewho need the help the most,"Carol McLaughlin, director ofcommunity services for the cityCommunity Development Agen-cy. "What he's saying there isthat there will be no more regis-tration, after the 16th, and that'swrong."

McLaughlin stressed that reg-

istration for the free federal foodis being conducted at the Multi-Service Center at 124 Grand St.and the HOPES Head Start of-fice at 918 Garden St. — a factGarcia overlooked in his flier.

Councilwoman Helen Cun-ning, who heard rumors aboutGarcia's fliers Friday, said shehad notified the state AttorneyGeneral's Office and HudsonCounty Prosecutor Paul M. DePascale about the situation.

In an interview in his WillowAvenue office, Garcia admitteddistributing both fliers but saidhe did not see anything wrongwith using the registration forfree federal food as an entice-ment to help support his effort togain funding.

"I'm not telling them, I'm ask-ing them," Garcia said of theflier. "If they don't give a damnwhether the program staysopen, I don't feel I should helpthem."

Garcia's program was deniedstate funding in February for of-fering a low level of service, ac-cording to state official"5 Tr 4 |i-

gust, the CD A stopped fundingthe program after Garcia re-jected a city offer of $15,000 anduse of the Multi-Service Center.Yesterday. Garcia — who livesin his office — said the money of-fered was not sufficient, andsaid the Multi-Service Centercould not "meet the communi-ty's needs" because of its loca-tion.

Garcia's criminal record in-cluded convictions for rape andheroin dealing. He said his ex-periences make it easier for himto relate to the troubled youthswith whom he deals.

Garcia said he plans to attendtonight's council meeting with agroup of supporters. But a ma-jority of the council has said itwill not support funding Gar-cia's program. Council Presi-dent Patrick Pasculli, seen ascrucial to Garcia's chances, re-iterated his opposition to the fun-ding proposal yes te rday .Pasculli said no special servicesprogram should receive fundingfrom the council.

Free cheese used as baitDirector used government surplus food to draw backers

CT/^mrCn [fly-/ 6 ^7 „, stopped paying in August.

JUAN GARCIARapist wants community support

By CHRISTOPHER AVEStaff Writer

HOBOKEN—In an effort to drum upsupport for his failing, controversialyouth program, Juan Garcia told peoplewho wanted to register for free govern-

ment food that they first had to show upat City Hall to support him.

Garcia plans to ask the City Council to-night for $15,000 of the city's money tokeep his program. Citizens United forNew Action, running. In a hastily con-

vened news conference in City Hall yes-terday, city officials charged that Garciaimproperly used his status as a dis-tributor of the federally furnished food togather support for the program, whichhas received no funding after a city agen-

Garcia, a convicted rapist and drugdealer who says he has mended his ways,gave Schools Superintendent Walter J.Fine fliers that directed students to reg-

Please see CHEESE Page 28

Burned-out tenants plan suit Sale of buildingDelav in repairs is j fH ' Miil • ^MIIWW^ - Z1 /JlA/f?Delay in repairs iscalled 'excessive'

• y MATT tHf TRICHWaft Write

HOBOKEN-Angered bythey call excessive delays in re-pairs to their fire-damagedapartment building, a group ofdtaplaced tenants said yester-day tfcey pUn to sue their landlord ,

Fair-housing activists joinedthe tenants in a protest in frontof the building at 318 Hudson St.and the group's lawyer CindyMoMe, announced that thegroup ted won "a major vic-tory* earlier in Hudson CountySuperior Court in Jersey City

McKee said she had not beenable to develop a case againstthe owners because they hadpadlocked the buildings doorand would not allow a privateengineer to assess Hit damageYesterday's ruling n\ JudgeDorothea O'C, Wefinp orderedthat the group be allowed to sendits own inspector when Hobokenconstruction code offindl AlfredAretzo inspects the building Fri-day

The tenants, who have beenliving with friends and relativessince the Oct. 20 fire, claim thatOt4y minor repairs are needed tomake four of the building's fivestories habitable They say theowner of the building, MontutCorp., has been evasive aboutwhen the repairs fill get done.

b

Iailura to fix up tli* buHtfng «H«r «n ^ OMUOM

"They said it could take threemonths or it could be two years.They were very vague." saidNilesh Patel who has been livingwith a friend in Jersey City sincethe blaze.

Problems for the group werecompounded when they foundout at the court session thatMontut, which is owned in partby Dorothy Cappiello, wife of

city Councilman Steve Cap-piello, had sold the building toMichael J. Sciarra, a local land-owner, who says it will take atleast six months to make thebuilding habitable.

"Anyone who walks in thefront door of that building cansee that it's not fit to live in,"Sciarra said in response to thetenants' claims.

Sciarra dismissed accusationsthat he was involved in a con-spiracy with the building'sowners and said he had boughtthe tenement from Montut be-cause the previous owners couldnot handle the extensive renova-tion he says the building will re-quire. Sciarra estimates it willcost $256,000 to make the build-ing habitable.

Authority, freeholdersclash on Hoboken plantJ^^l<rJ2-jAsJjClS2- IJMt - Hoboken removed I

ByDOUOLAS LAVINStaff Writer

The Hudson County Utilities Authorityboiled over last night at a joint meetingwith the county Board of Freeholdersconcerning plans for a proposed sewagetreatment plant in Hoboken.

Four of the nine authority com-missioners requested the meeting in anunsuccessful attempt to oust ChairmanAnthony Russo

The minority group, led by Com-missioner Lawrence Cucchiara, chargedRusso with committing the authority tothe use of questionable technology in theproposed multimillion-dollar plant.

Russo, backed by Hoboken MayorThomas F. Vezzetti, accused Cucchiaraof acting in the interests of an engineer-ing firm that was removed from the con-tract.

HOUSING AUTHORITY

Last year, Hoboken removed MayoLynch and Associates of Hoboken fromthe project and awarded a $3.9 million en-gineering contract to Lawler, Matuskyand Skelly of Pearl River, NY., to build a$61 million treatment plant for the city.An attorney for Lawler, Matuskycharged that last night's fight over Russowas really a battle over which engineer-ing firm would get the contract. Cuc-chiara denied that he represented MayoLynch.

The City of Hoboken charged suc-cessfully in court that Mayo Lynch wasnot proceeding properly with plans forthe plant. A new sewage treatment plantis crucial to Hoboken, which is under aDepartment of Environmental Protec-tion ban on residential development be-cause its current plant dumps untreatedsewage into the Hudson River.

By Bill Campbell

A fire-damaged Hobokentenement owned by the wife ofCouncilman Steve Cappiello isbeing sold to a landlord con-victed of violating the city's"anti-warehousing" law.

Michael Sciarra, who wasfined $3,200 in municipal courtlast spring for deliberatelykeeping vacant five apartmentunits on First Street, has a con-tract to purchase 318 Hudson,St., an attorney representingthe building's tenants an-nounced yesterday

The announcement, whichcontradicted earlier state-ments from the building's own-ers, stunned and puzzled resi-dents of the building who havebeen fighting for nearly twomonths to re-enter theirapartments.

About a dozen people —mostly tenant activists and res-idents who were burned out ofthe five-story brick buildinglast October — rallied on thesteps of 318 Hudson St. in aneffort to win public support intheir fight to return to theirapartments.

Tenant representatives ap-pealed to the building's cur-

1 rent owners, Mon-Tut Corpora-tion of Hoboken, to makerepairs to the damaged hallsand stairways.

The tenants have chargedthe building's owners withdragging their feet on repairsin an attempt to discourage res-idents from returning Mon-Tutis owned by Dorothy Cappiello,the wife of former Mayor SteveCappiello and Goya Marciano,the mother of former assistant

city attorney Prank Marciano.Cindy McKee, the tenants' at-torney, said efforts lo re-enterthe building may be hamperedby the possible sale to Sciarra.Sciarra could not be reachedfor comment and McKee saidshe did not know the purchaseprice or the date the contractwas signed.

The tenants said they hadlong feared that Mon-Tut was

attempting to discourage resi-dents from returning to theirapartments because emptymulti-family buildings can gen-erate high prices from develop-ers seeking to convert tocondominiums

Superior Court AssignmentJudge Burreii Ives Humphreyslast month upheld the citys

Sw

Jyotish Amin examines tf»« lock on the door of the hows*where hit mother died in a tire.

Observer Highway plan„.. . . . . , «mmi~ii onment plan in November, and our neighborhood.

Hoboken is suedojBy JEFFREY HOFFStaff Writer

The Hoboken Housing Author-ity has filed suit against the cityand Eugene Drayton to preventhim from being named a com-missioner of that board

Drayton was appointed an au-thority commissioner by theCity Council last month but CityAttorney Thomas Calhgy saidhe cautioned council membersin a memo the next day that theappointment may be invalid.

The appointment of Drayton,who is a city police officer, amember of the Board of Educa-tion and active in politics here,drew criticism from the admin-istration and its supporters.

The legal suit filed by the au-thority charges that city lawprohibits more than one munici-pal employee or officer to sit onthe authority board.

Drayton s attorney, SalvatoreD'Amelio Jr., a former directorof the city Law Department,said yesterday that police of-ficers are different from othermunicipal employees and thatDrayton can sit on the authority

By Bill Campbell

A downtown citizens orga-nization in Hoboken has filedan appeal in state Superi rCourt challenging the legalityof the City Council's ObserverHighway redevelopment plan.

Downtown Residents forSane Development, in papersfiled yesterday with SuperiorCourt Judge Burrell Ives Hum-phreys, is asking the court toblock the city from solicitingbids on the multi-milli n dol-lar residential developmentplan.

The council approved leg-islation creating the redevel-

opment plan in November, andis soliciting bids from develop-ers to construct a 450-unit high-rise project along ObserverHighway from BloomfieldStreet to Willow Avenue.

More than 60 developershave requested project specifi-cations for the plan, althoughofficials expect less than halfthat amount to bid on theproject.

Community activist RonHine, spokesman for the down-town residents and a 1 ngtimecritic of the redevelopmentplan, said the City Council ispromoting "the interests of thedevelopers to the detriment of

our neighborhood." / / (jIn a statement issued late

yesterday, he said "since thecouncil has chosen to ignoreour protests of excessive heightand density, we are forced toresort to litigation."

Hine, who earlier this yearsuccessfully appealed the Zon-ing Board of Adjustment'sgranting of a variance to thedevelopers of the PresidentialTowers condominium projecton Newark Street, is head ofthe six-member plaintiff steer-ing committee.

The group charges that thecity's 1972 blight designation ofthe site does not reflect the

llengedCurrent conditions of the rede-velopment area; that the votecast by Councilman Steve Cap-piello to create the redevelop-ment plan is void because heowns property within 200 feetof the proposed project; andthat the council violated theOpen Public Meetings Act byattending a party organized byreal estate magnate JosephBarry, a project bidder.

Neither Cappiello nor Bar-ry could be reached forcomment.

Hine further charged thatthe "affordable" housing com-

See OBSERVER — Page 14.

»rd.The authority has reached an

agreement with the city andD'Amelio under which neitherDrayton nor anyone else will fillthe commissioner's seat untilthe suit is decided in court.

Councilman Joseph DeliaFave, who voted againstDrayton's appointment, said thecouncil was aware of the legalproblem before it gave Draytonthe nod.

"The appointment was clearlygoing to go through whetherthere was a legal problem ornot," said Delia Fave.

Addressing his political con-cerns surrounding Drayton,Delia Fave said, "His actions onthe Board of Education havebeen insensitive to parents. Nowyou are putting him in a positionto deal with the other mostcritical problem in the city,housing. He has showed himselfto be politically motivated. Howdo you expect him to be sensitiveto the housing problem?"

The case is set to be heard byJudge Ariel A. Rodriguez ofHudson County Superior Courtin Jersey City on Jan. 8.

Two suspects arrestedin Hoboken

ObseBy Dominick Calicchio J.

1

A Hoboken city employeeand an ex-city employee werearrested Wednesday alter adrug transaction in the munici-pal garage on Observer High-way, Hoboken police saidyesterday.

Police identified the sus-pects as Marcelino Morales ofKeansburg, a Public Worksequipment manager and me-chanic, and Daniel J. Mincica,a Public Safety mechanic whoresigned in August.

Mincica sold "a sizeableamount" of cocaine to Moraleswhile on city property at Ob-server Highway and Willow Av-enue, said Police Chief GeorgeCrimmins.

Crimmins said Mincicaquit his job in August ratherthan serve a six-month suspen-sion for absenteeism.

City Public Works DirectorRoy Haack said Morales hasbeen a Public Works employee

for the rast 10'years withoutincident

Haack called for manda-tory drug-testing for all city em-ployees. He said he and cityLaw Director William Graveswill meet today to determine ifMorales will be suspended

The arrests came in themidst of a police investigationinto goings-on at the 7-year-oldgarage where, police said, bur-glaries of city-owned equip-ment have been occurringregularly.

Since April, according toone department supervisor,more than $1,000 in equipmentis missing from the Signal andTraffic Division alone.

Police Lt. Mario Mercado,head of security at the garage,said police had reason to bevlieve some of the burglariesmay have been drug related.

Crimmins said yesterdayneither Morales nor Mincicawas charged in connection withthe burglaries.

rvf/;Ji!9f lwayContinued from Page I / / pmWefly. which officials estiponent of the redevelopnrent mate at $4.7 million,plan is not consistent with fed- The council has asked thateral guidelines and that the all bids be received by Febru-land value of the project is •>«. *~ ; -•

„ of theunderappraised...uvincpllIIKU.

The redevelopment plancalls for construction of 115units for low- and moderate-income families. The plan alsocalls for prospective develop-ers to pay the city the ap-praised value of the city-owned

>UUiiin uu.i asKea mat„ be received by Febru-

ary to insure that a portion ofthe revenue generated fromthe land sale can be earmarkedfor the 1988 municipal budget.

The downtown residentsalso want the city to prepareparking, traffic and infrastruc-ture studies before bids areaccepted.

COUNCILCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Garcia sees woe for nay-sayersX,y- --• - ' - ; - • »» ""»l W i l s o n because they had ferven

By Dominick Calicchioand 1 ai I Morgan

Embattled Hoboken y\>uth pro-gram director Juan Garcia hinted thathe may seek retaliation against CityCouncil members who voted to denyhis group $15,000.

There may be recalls in thewind," Garcia said, adding that he wasreferring to council members ThomasNewman and E Norman Wilson, twoof the six who voted against fundingthe bankrupt croup. .

Councilmen Steve Cappiello,Robert Ranieri and Ed Duroy sup-ported aid for Ciudadanos Unidos proNueva Accion (CUNA)

Garcia and

building afloraaoiu « « « » » « « • - ™support Garcias request." Newman

- u s e d o f mismanagement by local WUson ^ ^ m ^ £ £ ^ r3n(iEarlier" thJ^week. Councilwoman campaigns. o n . g s u c s

Helen Cunning charged Garc.a with Newman saw communitplotting to use a federal food program " " P ^ a n t «n t h c ^ s p ^ . ^ ^ ^for his own political advantage. ' j , 1 " w n 0 are often against

She said she sent a copy of a councUmenwno ^ ^ letter, distributed by Garcia and out- building a»oraf01r__.._, „%,„„,„,„„lining his plan, to the Hudson CountyProsecutor's Office for investigation.

In March. CUNA was denied$70,000 by the state Department ofCommunity Affairs because it wasproviding "a low grade of services,' agency^ ^ should give rnon-for Hoboken residents. Jrnmmunity grups from the city

Garcia has also been scrutinized ey to m ^ n u n 1 ^ s | i dP

by officials for a series of convictions, budget wuso ^ ^ ^ ^ ^over a 30-year period, on charges It we w ^ o r g a n i z a t ion will

Lng the council to bail tU"~out."

E Norman Wilson said he feltrarria's request should have beentaken to the community development

u d i i . a ana t i 'Wf t ••"• """r" uarcia suiu uc pv«i« H<»" '

stormed out of City Hall Wednesday. b v t h c y o f N e W m a n andafter the latest setback for a program a'» lu

contracts, charging that admin-istration officials improperly ex-ecuted them.

Administration supporters -Delia Fave among them -charged that Ranieri was tryingto cover up for past blundersthat Ranieri and other city otficials made in supporting MayoLynch, which was hired to design a new secondary sewagetreatment plant. AssignmentJudge Burrell Ives Humphreysof Hudson County SuperiorCourt in Jersey City invalidatedthe contract in 1986 after Vezzet-ti refused to approve it.

Delia Fave repeated hischarges that Ranieri is linked toMayo Lynch and thus is puttingthe engineering firm before theinterests of the city.

"Bob Ranieri is - and con-tinues to be - the spokesman lorMayo Lynch on the council.Delia Fave said.

But Ranieri and RichardSeltzer, Woeckener's assistant,yesterdav denied that their con-tact with CH2M Hill would hurtthe city's case against MayoLynch. Both men said DeliaFave is trying to divert attention

from their investigation."It is a standard red herring,"

Ranieri said. "Why he's makingthis charge, I can't under-stand." Ranieri said his in-vestigation, which is scheduledfor completion in mid-January,would reveal "gross violations"by administration officials

Seltzer said there was nothingwrong with contacting the Hillfirm, a "court-acknowledged ex-pert" in sludge matters. "Anystatement by anybody that thereis something wrong with it is notan accurate statement, andtherefore vicious libel," he said.

Late last month, Woeckenerasked CH2M Hill to considerhelping his sludge investigationby becoming a consultant to thecity Delia Fave and KennethLaptook, an attorney represent-ing the city in its Mayo Lynchsuit, wrote to Council PresidentPatrick Pasculli asking him toorder all contact with CH2M HiUstopped When Delia Favelearned on Dec. 9 that Woe-ckener and the firm still werecorresponding with one another,he wrote another letter demand-ing that all communicationcease.

Building saleis protested( «nnnu»-d from Fa Re Iwarehousing conviction ofSciarra, who is an attorney, andlast week the City Council ap-proved the $3,200 judgment.

The warehousing lawswere enacted by the City Coun-cil last year to discourafie land-lords from keeping apartments !empty for the purpose of con-dominium conversion

Frank Marciano, who hasacted as a spokesman and at-torney for the corporation saidhe could not comment on theconditions ot the sale or thestatus of the building

During a meeting with ten-ants in City Hall in early No-vember, Steve Cappiello andMarciano said they had noplans to sell the buildings.

Ten families were burnedout of their homes when athree alarm fire swept throughMon Tuts properties at 316 and318 Hudson St., claiming thelife of a 55-year-old woman.Fire inspectors traced thecause of the blaze to a faultyelectrical system

Residents of 316 Hudson St.were allowed to return to theirhomes about a week later, butfire, smoke and water damageto the common areas of 318Hudson Street prevented thosetenants from returning.

The owners have projectedthat repairs may take betweensix to 18 months to complete, atime frame tenants and activ-ists believe is too long.

On Friday, Hoboken Build-ing Inspector Alfred Arezzoand an engineer hired by thetenants will conduct the firststructural inspection of thebuilding since the Oct. 20 fire.

Rally organizers said theyhad hoped to attract a largercrowd and blamed the lowturnout on the cold weatherand the fact that most peoplewere at work.

Nonetheless, organizerssaid they will continue to focusattention on the condition ofthe building.

"I would very much like toget back into my apartment, butthe landlord doesn't want usin," said a former resident of318 Hudson St who identifiedhimself as Mr. Patel.

The Rev. Paul Hagedorn ofthe Campaign for Housing Jus-tice, a tenants" rights organiza-tion, issued a plea to the own-ers to repair the building assoon as possible.

Deceitin probechargedMayo Lynch tilthit byjDella Fave^CHRISTOPHER AVESt8ftWnter________

HOBOKEN—A member of theCity Council has charged that ateam of investigators tried tosabotage the city's ongoingcourt struggle against MayoLynch & Associates, a local en-gineering firm.

But a member of the in-vestigating team charged thatthe councilman was trying to di-vert attention from the poten-tially damaging investigation.

Joseph Delia Fave. a sup-porter of Mayor Thomas Y.Vezzetti, asserted that investigator Frederick L. Woe-ckener repeatedly contactedCH2M Hill <CQ>. an engineeringfirm that is an impartial witnessin the Mayo Lynch lawsuit. Be-cause CH2M Hill already hasRiven testimony favorable to thecity in that court case. DeliaFave argued, then any city con-tact with the firm could taint itstestimony when the Mayo Lynchcase comes to trial.

"JBe ran around like a cowboy,without approval from anybody,contacting CH2M HiU," DeltaFave said of Woeckener.question the motivatiton for allof this."

Woeckener agreed at lastweek's council meeting to stopcommunicating with the firm.But Delia Fave said yesterdaythat damage to the city's multi-million-dollar Mayo Lynch case"might have already beendone."

The allegation is the latest in aseries of charges and counter-charges between supporters andopponents of Vezzetti over sewage and sludge matters Coun-cilman Robert A Ranieri. a con-stant administration critic,launched an investigation lasimonth into city sludge removal

Please see r 5 ~

Hoboken ferry revival clears an ObstacleTerene* J.

WASHINGTON — «-*,>,„"on passed by the Senanwould dear the way for thorevival of the Hoboken ferry byopening a channel inthe Hudson River and cuttinuseveral years off I S . ArtmCorps of Engineers red ta|>valong with it

Port Authority officialssaid it would take them up tothree years, to secure from tinCorps the "encroachmentrights" necessary to use thefederal channel area — a 200 by800-foot location off Battery

Park City in lower Manhattan— as the site of the New Yorkterminal for the ferry* line

The officials said the possibility of such a delay in con-structing the facility wouldprobably be sufficient to killthe entire ferry restorationproject

The legislation de-federal-izing the channel area was at-tached as an amendment to theomnibus budget bill passed bythe Senate over the weekend Itwas sponsored by DemocraticSens Bill Bradley and FrankI^autenberg It also had thesupport of the two New York

senators. Republican AlfonseI> ' M> >crat Danie lIV

11 nt now h a s tobe aiH . , • •• House

Membersbers began ni<ence yesterday to negotiate afinal version of the omnibusbill. It has to be enacted beforeCongress adjourns for the year

Aide-- to Democratic RepFrank J. Guarini of Jersey City,who was not a member of theinter-house conference, saidhe did not expect House to ob-ject to the ferry amendment.

The Port Authority offi-

cials said the Cor; t ob-ject to the measuf u>e itwould rather not be put in aposition of having to grant anencroachment right.

The Authority committed$5.8 million to revive ferry ser-vice between Hoboken andlower Manhattan as a part of anoverall capital improvementsprogram announced in thespring

The plan calls for the Manhattan terminal to be built justabove the Battery Park City sNorth Cove On the Hobokenside, the old ferry terminal —in front of the Eire Lakawana

Railroad station — would berestored and put back intooperation.

The ferry service would( .'00 commuters a day,ii . some of the conges-tion HI the trans-Hudsonbridges and tunnels, and alsoon the overcrowded PATH sub-way system connecting NewJersey and Manhattan.

Construction on the ferryoperation would begin nextyear and be completed in 1990The Port Authority would stillhave to secure all the neces-sary dredging permits from theCorps of Engineers and the en-

vironmental protection agen-cies of New York and NewJersey.

Lautenberg a former PortAuthority Commissioner, saidthe ferry service would 'makelife a lot easier for thousands ofcommuters Bradley said it"would help get people out oftheir cars by providing anothermuch needed vehicle for cross-ing the Hudson

Moymhan said the new Ho-boken ferry would "add a vitallink" to the transportation net-work between New York andNew Jersey.

THE JERSEY JOURNAL, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16,1987 21D

Garcia charged with exploiting food program:By Bill Campbell

A youth program directoris trying to manipulate a feder-al food distribution programfor political gain, Hoboken offi-cials charged yesterday.

J uan Garcia, director of thebankrupt Cuidadanos Unidospro Nueva Accion, is attempt-ing to win public support in hisplea for municipal programgrants by offering a "specialregistration" for a federal andstate funded food program tominority groups.

Garcia has urged minorityand community leaders to lob-by the City Council to fundCUNA in exchange for "firstdibs" at a free cheese and but-ter program, said Councilwom-an Helen Cunning.

She and Carole McLaugh-lin, director of community ser-

HOBOKEN KILLING

vices for the Community Devel-opment Agency, made thecharges against Garcia yester-day at a hastily called newsconference in City Hall.

They based their chargeson letters obtained from com-munity leaders in which Garciadescribed his lobbying tactics,

Garcia said he will attendtonight's council meeting withmembers of his organization inwhat Cunning called "a lastditch effort" to obtain funding.

Garcia said he would notcomment, but denied violatingany laws by offering his sup-porters preference in the dis-tribution of free food.

Cunning said she has for-warded copies of the docu-ments to Hudson County Prose-cutor Paul DePascale and thestate Attorney General's office.Officials who monitor the pro-

gram for the County Food Dis-tribution center in Bayonnewere not available forcomment.

The City Council earlierthis month delayed a vote on aplan sponsored by CouncilmanEdwin Duroy to appropriate$15,000 from the municipalbudget to fund CUNA until De-cember 31. The measure, whichneeded support from six of thenine council members, was ta-bled after Council PresidentPat Pasculli and CouncilmanDavid Roberts said they wouldnot support it.

Garcia, in a letter to anunidentifed Indian leader, said"a tactic 1 will be using (to winfunding support) is gettingsome children to write one let-ter to both Mr. Pasculli and Mr.Roberts expressing what theyfeel over the closing of CUNA."

Juan GarciaUnder fire

Roberts said yesterday heis "firmly against" using citymoney to fund CUNA. He saidhe has turned over about a doz-en letters he received support-ing CUNA to Cunning.

CUNA, which has offices at91^920 Willow Avenue, has op-erated without program grantssince August. Garcia, who inMarch was denied nearly$70,000 in grants from the stateDepartment of Community Af-fairs for "offering a low gradeof services," rejected a plan bythe CDA to fund CUNA if theoffices were moved to the city-owned Multi-Service Center onGrand Street

McGLaughlin, who super-vises federal and state assis-tance programs throughout thecity, said Garcia "oversteppedhis bounds."

Cunning said he was "ex-

ploiting" children and uthe CUNA program for hispersonal and political gain.* *

In the letter to the Indianleader. Garcia referred to Cun-ning as a racist for opposingCUNA funding and called May-or Thomas Vezzetti, who is alsoopposed, "our anti-minoritymayor " ,,;

In a letter to the public,.Garcia said residents who signup to speak in support of CUN>at tonights council meetini jcan register for the free foo<and "only they will be notife< !in the future whenever CUNJ*is giving out or doing anythiniwhich is beneficial to them",

McLaughlin said anyon<^can register for the free food a|the HOPES office at 124 GrandStreet or at the HOPES/HeadStart office at 916 GardcQStreet.

Dad fights for murdered sonPlans rally and lawsuits to protest local anti-Indian violenc

By JEFFREY RUBINStaff Writer

Although Jamshid Mody's son Navrozehas been dead for more than two months,the feelings of grief have not diminished.

Neither has Mody's hunger for justice.On Sept. 27, Navroze Mody was beaten

to an unconscious pulp by a band ofyouths at Ninth Street and Willow Ave-nue in Hoboken, becoming one of the ear-ly victims of a spate of vicious attacksagainst Indians.

In later weeks, repeated assaultsagainst members of the Indian communi-ty, particularly those who live in the Jer-

sey City Heights, were perpetrated by in-dividuals who claimed to be members ofa group that calls itself the "Dot-busters." By mid-October, the situationhad escalated to the point where theGuardian Angels, a self-appointedcitizens' defense group born to guardNew York City's subways, arrived in Jer-sey City to keep the Indians safe.

But none of this mattered much toNavroze Mody, whom witnesses and of-ficials said had been struck so manytimes with bricks, fists and feet that hisskull was shattered. The Citicorp em-ployee sank into a coma at St. Mary Hos-pital in Hoboken, and died on Oct. 1, four

days shy of his 31st birthday."We did not celebrate his birthday,"

Jamshid Mody said yesterday. "We havenot celebrated the holidays. We are inmourning, and we will remain in mourn-ing for a long time."

Mody and his wife lived with their sonin Jersey City, and were supported byhim until his violent death. They are con-fronted almost daily by their loss.

"Every minute you see something ofhis in the home, and you feel tears,"Mody said. "Why this senseless act? Whymy son? We keep asking these questionsagain and again, but there are no an-swers."

Perhaps the most perplexing questionfor Mody is the question of what will hap-pen to the four youths accused of killinghis son.

This Tuesday, the Hoboken teenagers,ranging in age from 15 to 17, are sched-uled to appear in Hudson County Superi-or Court in Jersey City for a hearing todetermine whether they should be triedas juveniles or adults.

As juveniles, they would face a max-imum sentence of 10 years in prison ifconvicted of killing Jamshid Mody's sonAs adults, they would face a sentencethree times as long.

Please see VIOLENCE Page 10

VIOLENCE;ONTINU€D FROM PAGE 1

Mody's preference is obvious."We want them to be tried as

adults, not as juveniles," Modysaid "They are very cruelmurderers "

Mody is attempting to or-ganize a rally outside the countyAdministrative Building at 595Newark Ave. on the morning ofthe juveniles' hearing Thepurpose of the rally is to showthat the Indian communitywants the teens tried as adults,he said.

The rally is expected to besupported and attended by rep-resentatives of Indian groupsthroughout New Jersey.

"H was a vicious murder,"said Dr. Lalitha Nasson of Jer-sey City, chairwoman of a coali-tion of five Indian groups withapproximately 2,000 members."They have to be duly punishedfor that." She said the rallywould be attended by manymembers of the coalition, whichwas formed in the wake of theDotbuster attacks.

Additionally, Mody said heplans to announce suits againstseveral parties whom he feelscontributed to the slaying of hisson. According to his New YorkCity attorney, Marc A. Berns-tein, the suits are likely to in-clude more than the alleged at-tackers and their families. Modymay sue the county, Hoboken,and county and local police forfailure to protect his son duing aperiod of violence against Indi-ans. And he also may try to in-voke federal civil rights laws,which would carry a life sen-tence for racially motivatedkillers regardless of their age.

Notice of impending suitscould coincide with Tuesday'srally. However, Bernstein em-phas ized t h a t even ex-traordinary legal action is un-likely to ease the Mody family'sgrief over Navroze Mody'sdeath.

JAM8HIOIn mourning

MODYfor "a long tirrw'

FORMER HOBOKEN AIDE

faThe Waterfront Advisory Com-

mittee recommends that the Hoboken City Council reject the proposed17th Street improvement. The rea-son is that before the city can pro-reed intelligently it must have an-swers to the following questions, allrelating to traffic in Hoboken:

1: The Port Authority and De-partment of Transportation have ap-peared before the council statingthat a busway (restricted to buses)will be built from the turnpike ex-tension to the Lincoln Tunnel. Whatis the status of this proposal? Does iteliminate any hope for a Westernbypass?

2: A large deadhead bus depot isplanned for a site adjacent to theLincoln Harbor development Whatis the traffic pattern planned torthese buses' Will they use 17thStreet?

3: How does the 17th Street ex-tension connect to the current andfuture Hart/. Mountain and Impera-tore developments in Weehawken?What is the traffic pattern for thesedevelopments?

4: What is the status of a pro-posed bus terminal in Hoboken?What capacity or size and what traf-fic patterns are proposed? New Jer-sey Transit and DOT have appearedbefore the Hoboken Parking Author-ity and proposed that two lanes ofObserver Highway be used as a bus-way. What is the status of thisproposal?

5: The most recent federal tests,in 1982, confirmed that Hoboken'sair quality is in violation of EPAsanctions against development inHoboken because of poor air quali-ty? What changes might be imple-mented by a new federal administra-

.CO Inafiucetfaff/to

D'Amelio profitsruled 'improper'

tion? Do we need to reduceencourage development';

(5:How would the proposed roadimprovements impact on the indus-trial park proposed for the northwest sector of the city? This needsplanning board coordination.

7. What will be the cumulativeimpact of any and all plans for bus,car, light rail, train, and ferry trafficin and through Hoboken?

Before approving any rehabili-tation or road openings. Hobokenneeds to have these questions an-swered to ensure against a destruc-tive impact on our quality of life. —LKW1S FHKTZ. chairman. Water-front Advisory Committee. Hoboken

School custodianfaces drug countBy Dominick Calicchio

A 39-year-old school custo-dian became the second Hobo-ken employee arrested on drugcharges in two days, Hobokenpolice said yesterday.

Frederick Joseph Hodle,employed at Hoboken HighSchool for the last four years,was arrested Thursday and wascharged with possession of afoil packet of cocaine, policesaid.

The arrest occurred at 6.14p.m in an apartment buildingon Monroe Street, away fromschool grounds, police said. Of-

ficers saw Hodle and an un-identified man make a drugtransaction outside, then fol-lowed Hodle into the buildingto make the arrest, police said.

The custodian's arrestcame one day alter police ar-rested a public works mechan-ic, Marcelino Morales ofKeansburg, on charges that hepurchased cocaine Wednesdayfrom an ex-public safety me-chanic, Daniel J. Mincica, inthe city garage on ObserverHighway.

School business adminis-

See SCHOOL — Page 8.

By JEFFREY HOFFStaff Writer ,

Former Hoboken Law Direc-tor Salvatore D'Amelio mustpay the cityprof i t s heearned im-p r o p e r 1 yfrom the saleof a buildinghe partiallyowned whilehe was thecity attorney,the county'stop j u d g eruled yesterday

D'AMELIO

ployees and the former girl-friend of Construction Code Of-ficial Alfred Arezzo were the co-owners of property at 201-203Btoomfield St. and earned a$100,000 profit when they soldthe lot on Oct. 30,1986.

IVAmelio's share in the earn-ings is not known and will be de-termined by the city in an in-vestigation conducted by thecurrent law director, WilliamGraves.

Assignment Judge BurrellIves Humphreys of HudsonCounty Superior Court in JerseyCitv found that D'Amelio com-

D'Amelio, two other city em- Please see PROFITS Page 14

School custodianfaces drug countContinued from Page I

trator Anthony Curko said yes-terday he was unaware of Hod i e s arrest because thecustodian, released pending acourt appearance, arrived forwork as usual

Curko said the city law de-partment would be asked todetermine if Hodle should besuspended from work

The Hodle case is at leastthe sixth this year linking Ho-

boken employees with illegaldrugs.

In September three Hobo--ken firefighters and a policeofficer were indicted by agrand jury on separate drugcharges

On Wednesday the policeofficer. Michael Coppinger. 30,pleaded guilty to official mis-conduct He had been chargedwith accepting cocaine as pay-ment for tipping off a drugdealer about the presence ofundercover officers.

PROFITSCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

_ _ _ _ _ _ — — •

mitted a conflict of interest bynegotiating a contract of sale forthe owners which was dependenton winning a building permitfrom the city.

"The. . .facts cast a deepshadow upon this affair," Hum-phreys said in his ruling. "Thisshadow is lengthened, notdiminshed, by the fact that thedefendant was not merely actingas an attorney for a client butalso had a personal financial in-terest in the venture."

D'Amelio has not beencharged with any criminal of-fense The decision stems from asuit brought by the city againstthe former law director.

D'Amelio and his partners,city Tax Collector MatthewPicardi, city Comptroller Mat-thew Cannarozzi. and MaryCipriani, a former girlfriend ofArezzo, bought the site on May30,1986. for $265,000 and entereda contract to sell it the nextmonth for $365,000.

The contract lor sale to DavidSeltgman and John Sarraco wasdependent on winning a buildingpermit to construct a nine-unitresidential building there.

Arezzo granted that permitOct. 30, 1986, the date the bidd-ing was sold. D'Amelio had beeniired on Oct. 7, but Gravesargued that D'Amelio was stilllaw director when the contractfor sale was signed.

Last June, the city ZoningBoard of Adjustment foundArezzo's approval was er-roneous and thai the proposedbuilding required use and bulkvariances.

Councilman Thomas New-man, whose appeal of Arezzo'sapproval led to the board's de-cision to revoke the permit, alsohas questioned Arezzo's role inthe sale.

Humphreys's decison againstD'Amelio and the board's rejec-tion of Arezzo's permit "makesthe whole thing look kind offishy," Newman said.

REGIONAL AUTHORITY

S?ewW 7

agencygets OK

HOBOKEN-The City Councilapproved plans for a regionas£wer authority in a specialmeeting yesterday at City Hall.

1 The new authority is being or-I e a n i z e d for H o b o k e n .i Weehawken and Union City,

which s h a r e Hoboken sdilapidated sewage treatmentplant A new, $60 million facilitys planned for completion in1991 and the three-municipalityauthority will oversee its con-struction and operation.

The new authority will havebonding power to help raise themunicipalities' share of the cost.Earlier this year, Hoboken received promise of a federalgrant covering 55 percent of theconstruction costs.

The city is under state and federal mandates to improve thesewage system, and just recentlv reached seperate agreementswith the state Department otEnvironmental Protection andthe federal Environmental Pro-tection Agency setting deadlinesfor complience with clean waterstandards.

The legislation, together withsimilar Taws being consideredby Weehawken and Union City.will create a seven-memberboard of commissioners.

—CHRISTOPHER

Hoboken ferry revival clearsTarrbbstacleJ Kivlaa

WASHINGTON - LegiM*"on passed by the SenuUwould clear the way for therevival of the Hoboken fern bvopening a channel inthe Hudson Hiver and cuttiii-several years off I S AnmCorps of Engineers red tu$-«along with it

1'ort Authority officialsaid it would take them up tothree years to secure from tinCorps the encroachmentrights" necessary to use tin'federal channel area — a 200 by800-foot location off Batterv

Park City in lower Manhattan— as the site of the New Yorkhrminal for the ferry line

The officials said the possibility of such a delay in construtting the facility wouldprobably be sufficient to killthe entire ferry restorationproject.

The legislation de-federal-i/mg the channel area uus at-tached as an amendment to theomnibus budget bill passed bythe Senate over the weekend Itwas sponsored by DemocraticSens Bill Bradley and FrankLautonberg It also had thesupport of the two New York

senators. Republican AlfonseI) Amato and Democrat DanielPatrick Moynihan

The amendment now has toIK- accepted by the House

Members of the two cham-bers began meeting in confer-ence yesterday to negotiate afinal version of the omnibusbill. It has to be enacted beforeCongress adjourns for the year

Aides to Democratic Hep.Frank J. Guarini of Jersey City,who was not a member of theinter-house conference, saidhe did not expect House to ob-ject to the ferry amendment

The Port Authority offi-

cials said the Corps doesn't ob-ject to the measure because itwould rather not be put in aposition of having to grant anencroachment right.

The Authority committed$58 million to re\i\e ferry ser-vice between Hoboken andlower Manhattan a> a part of anoverall capital improvementsprogram announced in thespring

The plan calls for the Manhattan terminal to be built justabove the Battery Park City'sNorth Cove On the Hobokenside, the old ferry terminal —in front of the Eire Lakawana

Railroad station — would berestored and put back intooperation.

The ferry service wouldcarry 5.200 commuters a day.relieving some of the conges-tion in the trans-Hudsonbridges and tunnels, and alsoon the overcrowded PATH subway system connecting NewJersey and Manhattan

Construction on the ferryoperation would begin nextyear and be completed in 1990The Port Authority would stillhave to secure all the neces-sary dredging permits from theCorps of Engineers and the en-

vironmental protection agen-cies of New York and NewJersey.

Lautenberg. a former PortAuthority Commissioner, saidthe ferry service would "makelife a lot easier for thousands ofcommuters Bradley said it"would help get people out of

their cars by providing anothermuch needed vehicle for cross-ing the Hudson '

Moynihan said the new Ho-boken ferry would add a vitallink to the transportation net-work between New York andNew Jersey.

THE JERSEY JOURNAL, WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 16,1987 21Q

Garcia charged with exploiting food programBy Bill Campbell

A youth program directoris trying to manipulate a feder-al food distribution programfor political gam, Hoboken offi-cials charged yesterday.

J uan Garcia, director of thebankrupt Cuidadanos Unidospro Nueva Accion, is attempt-ing to win public support in hisplea for municipal programgrants by offering a "specialregistration" for a federal andstate funded food program tominority groups.

Garcia has urged minorityand community leaders to lob-by the City Council to fundCUNA in exchange for "firstdibs" at a free cheese and but-ter program, said Councilwom-an Helen Cunning.

She and Carole McLaugh-lin, director of community ser-

HOBOKEN KILLING

vices for the Community Devel-opment Agency, made thecharges against Garcia yester-day at a hastily called newsconference in City Hall.

They based their chargeson letters obtained from com-munity leaders in which Garciadescribed his lobbying tactics.

Garcia said he will attendtonight's council meeting withmembers of his organization inwhat Cunning called "a lastditch effort" to obtain funding.

Garcia said he would notcomment, but denied violatingany laws by offering his sup-porters preference in the dis-tribution of free food.

Cunning said she has for-warded copies of the docu-ments to Hudson County Prose-cutor Paul DePascale and thestate Attorney General's office.Officials who monitor the pro-

gram for the County Food Dis-tribution center in Bayonnewere not available forcomment.

The City Council earlierthis month delayed a vote on aplan sponsored by CouncilmanEdwin Duroy to appropriate$15,000 from the municipalbudget to fund CUNA until De-cember 31. The measure, whichneeded support from six of thenine council members, was ta-bled after Council PresidentPat Pasculli and CouncilmanDavid Roberts said they wouldnot support it.

Garcia, in a letter to anunidentifed Indian leader, said"a tactic I will be using (to winfunding support) is gettingsome children to write one let-ter to both Mr. Pasculli and Mr.Roberts expressing what theyfeel over the closing of CUNA."

Juan GarciaUnder fire

Roberts said yesterday heis "firmly against" using citymoney to fund CUNA. He saidhe has turned over about a doz-en letters he received support-ing CUNA to Cunning.

CUNA, which has offices at918-920 Willow Avenue, has op-erated without program grantssince August. Garcia, who inMarch was denied nearly$70,000 in grants from the stateDepartment of Community Af-fairs for "offering a low gradeof services," rejected a plan bythe CDA to fund CUNA if theoffices were moved to the city-owned Multi-Service Center onGrand Street

McGLaughlin. who super-vises federal and state assis-tance programs throughout thecity, said Garcia "oversteppedhis bounds '

Cunning said he was "ex-

ploiting" children and u«ithe CUNA program for hispersonal and political gain. •

In the letter to the Indianleader, Garcia referred to Cun-ning as a racist for opposingCUNA funding and called May-or Thomas Vezzetti, who is alsoopposed, "our anti-minoritymayor '

In a letter to the public,Garcia said residents who signup to speak in support of CUNi^at tonight's council meetingcan register for the free food*and "only they will be notife<£in the future whenever CUN^;is giving out or doing anythinfwhich is beneficial to them."

McLaughlin said anyonecan register for the free food atthe HOPES office at 124 Gran$Street or at the HOPES HeadStart office at 916 GardeflStreet.

Dad fights for murdered sonPlansrafay*ahd lawsuits to protest local anti-Indian violence

By JEFFBEY RUBINStafi Writer

Although Jamshid Mody's son Navrozehas been dead lor more than two months,the feelings of grief have not diminished.

Neither has Mody's hunger for justice.On Sept. 27, Navroze Mody was beaten

to an unconscious pulp by a band ofyouths at Ninth Street and Willow Avenue in Hoboken, becoming one of the ear-ly victims of a spate of vicious attacksagainst Indians.

In later weeks, repeated assaultsagainst members of the Indian communi-ty, particularly those who live in the Jer-

sey City Heights, were perpetrated by in-dividuals who claimed to be members ofa group that calls itself the "Dot-busters." By mid-October, the situationhad escalated to the point where theGuardian Angels, a self-appointedcitizens' defense group born to guardNew York City's subways, arrived in Jer-sey City to keep the Indians safe.

But none of this mattered much toNavroze Mody, whom witnesses and of-ficials said had been struck so manytimes with bricks, fists and feet that hisskull was shattered. The Citicorp em-ployee sank into a coma at St. Mary Hos-pital in Hoboken, and died on Oct. 1, four

days shy of his 31st birthday."We did not celebrate his birthday,"

Jamshid Mody said yesterday. "We havenot celebrated the holidays. We are inmourning, and we will remain in mourn-ing for a long time."

Mody and his wife lived with their sonin Jersey City, and were supported byhim until his violent death. They are con-fronted almost daily by their loss.

"Every minute you see something ofhis in the home, and you feel tears,"Mody said. "Why this senseless act? Whymy son? We keep asking these questionsagain and again, but there are no an-swers."

Perhaps the most perplexing questionfor Mody is the question of what will hap-pen to the four youths accused of killinghis son.

This Tuesday, the Hoboken teenagers,ranging in age from 15 to 17, are sched-uled to appear in Hudson County Superi-or Court in Jersey City for a hearing todetermine whether they should be triedas juveniles or adults.

As juveniles, they would face a max-imum sentence of 10 years in prison ifconvicted of killing Jamshid Mody's sonAs adults, they would face a sentencethree times as long.

Please see VIOLENCE Page 10

VIOLENCE;ONTINU€D FROM PAGt \

Mody's preference is obvious."We want them to be tried as

adults, not as juveniles," Modysaid "They are very cruelmurderers "

Mody is attempting to or-ganize a rally outside the countyAdministrative Building at 595Newark Ave. on the morning ofthe juveniles' hearing. Thepurpose of the rally is to showthat the Indian communitywants the teens tried as adults,he said.

The rally is expected to besupported and attended by rep-resentatives of Indian groupsthroughout New Jersey.

"It was a vicious murder,"said Dr. Lalitha Nasson of Jer-sey City, chairwoman of a coali-tion of five Indian groups withapproximately 2.000 members."They have to be duly punishedfor that." She said the rallywould be attended by manymembers of the coalition, whichwas formed in the wake of the

; Dotbuster attacks.Additionally. Mody said he

plans to announce suits againstseveral parties whom he feels

( contributed to the slaying of hisson. According to his New YorkCity attorney, Marc A. Berns-tein, the suits are likely to in-clude more than the alleged at-tackers and their families. Modymay sue the county, Hoboken,and county and local police forfailure to protect his son duing aperiod of violence against Indi-ans. And he also may try to in-voke federal civil rights laws,which would carry a life sen-tence for racially motivatedkillers regardless of their age.

Notice of impending suitscould coincide with Tuesday'srally. However, Bernstein em-phas ized t h a t even ex-traordinary legal action is un-likely to ease the Mody family'sgrief over Navroze Mody'sdeath.

JAMSHIDIn mooming

MODYtor 'a long time'

FORMKR HOBOKEN AIDE

Youropinion Hoboken faces key traffic questions

Df Amelio profitsruled 'improper' REOIONALAUTHORITY

The Waterfront Advisory Com-mittee recommends that the Hoboken City Council reject the proposed17th Street improvement. The rea-son is that before the city can pro-ceed intelligently it must have an-swers to the following questions, allrelating to traffic in Hoboken:

1. The Port Authority and De-partment of Transportation have ap-peared before the council statingthat a busway (restricted to buses)will be built from the turnpike evtension to the Lincoln Tunnel Whatis the status of this proposal? Does iteliminate any hope for a Westernbypass?

2. A large deadhead bus depot isplanned for a site adjacent to theLincoln Harbor development Whatis the traffic pattern planned forthese buses.' Will they use 17thStreet?

3- How does the 17th Street ex-tension connect to the current andfuture Hart/. Mountain and lmpera-tore developments in Weehawken?What is the truffle pattern for thosedevelopments.'

4: What is the status of a pro-posed bus terminal in Hoboken?What capacity or size and what traf-fic patterns are proposed? New Jer-sey Transit and DOT have appeared'before the Hoboken Parking Author-itv and proposed that two lanes ofObserver Highway be used as a bus-way What is the status of thisproposal?

5: The most recent federal tests.0 in 1982. confirmed that Hoboken'so air quality is in violation of KPA0 Sanctions against development in

Hoboken because of poor air quali-ty' What changes might be imple-

0 mented by a new federal administra-

tion' Do we need to reduce If aff#- toencourage development?

(i How would the proposed roadimprovements impact on the indus-trial park proposed for the northwest sector of the city? This needsplanning board coordination.

7 What will be the cumulativeimpact of any and all plans for bus.car, light rail, train, and ferry trafficin and through Hoboken'

Before approving any rehabili-tation or road openings. Hobokenneeds to have these questions an-swered to ensure against a destruc-tive impact on our quality of life. --LKW1S FHETZ, chairman. Water-front Advisorv Committee. Hoboken

By JEFFREY HOFF

School cfaces drug countBy Dominick Calicchio

A 39-year-old school custo-dian became the second Hobo-ken employee arrested on drugcharges in two days, Hobokenpolice said yesterday.

Frederick Joseph Hodle,employed at Hoboken HighSchool for the last four years,was arrested Thursday and wascharged with possession of afoil packet of cocaine, policesaid.

The arrest occurred at 6.14p.m. in an apartment buildingon Monroe Street, away fromschool grounds, police said. Of-

ficers saw Hodle and an un-identified man make a drugtransaction outside, then fol-lowed Hodle into the buildingto make the arrest, police said.

The custodian's arrestcame one day alter police ar-rested a public works mechan-ic, Marcelino Morales ofKeansburg. on charges that hepurchased cocaine Wednesdayfrom an ex-public safety me-chanic, Daniel J. Mincica, inthe city garage on ObserverHighway.

School business adminis-

Se* SCHOOL — Page 8.

^yFormer Hoboken Law Direc-

tor Salvatore D'Amelio mustpay the cityprofits heearned im-p r o p e r 1 yfrom the saleof a buildinghe partiallyowned whilehe was thecity attorney,the county'stop judge IVAMELIOruled yesterday.

DAmelio, two other city em-

ployees and the former girl-friend of Construction Code Of-ficial Alfred Arezzo were the co-owners of property at 201-203Bloomfield St. and earned a$100,000 profit when they soldthe lot on Oct. 30,1986.

D'Amelio's share in the earn-ings is not known and will be de-termined by the city in an in-vestigation conducted by thecurrent law director, WilliamGraves.

Assignment Judge Burrelllves Humphreys of HudsonCounty Superior Court in JerseyCitv found that D'Amelio com-

Please see PROFITS Page 14

School custodianfaces drug count( untiniu'd from I'aRr 1

trator Anthony Curko *uid yesterduy he was unaware of Ho-d l e s arrest because thecustodian, released pending acourt appearance, arrived forwork as usual

Curko said the city law departmc-nt would be asked todetermine if Hodle should besuspended from work

The Hodle case is at leastthe sixth this year linking Ho

boken employees with illegaldrugs.

In September three Hobo-•ken firefighters and a policeofficer were indicted by agrand jury on separate drugcharges

On Wednesday the policeofficer. Michael Coppinger. 30.pleaded guilty to official mis-conduct He had been chargedwith accepting cocaine as pay-ment for tipping off a drugdealer about the presence ofundercover officers.

PROFITSCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

—mitted a conflict of interest bynegotiating a contract of sale forthe owners which was dependenton winning a building permitfrom the city.

"The. . facts cast a deepshadow upon this affair,' Hum-phreys said in his ruling "Thisshad'ow is lengthened, notdiminshed, by the fact that thedefendant was not merely actingas an attorney for a client butalso had a personal financial in-terest in the venture."

D'Amelio has not beencharged with any criminal of-fense The decision stems from asuit brought by the city againstthe former law director.

D'Amelio and his partners,city Tax Collector MatthewPicardi, city Comptroller Mat-thew Cannarozzi. and MaryCipriani, a former girlfriend ofArezzo, bought the site on May30 1986, for $265,000 and entereda contract to sell it the nextmonth for $365,000.

The contract lor sale to DavidSeligman and John Sarraco wasdependent on winning a buildingpermit to construct a nine-unitresidential building there.

Arezzo granted that permitOct. 30, 1986, the date the buld-tng was sold. D'Amelio had beentired on Oct. 7, but Gravesargued that D'Amelio was stilllaw director when the contractfor sale was signed.

Last June, the city ZoningBoard of Adjustment foundArezzo's approval was er-roneous and thai the proposedbuilding required use and bulkvariances.

Councilman Thomas New-man, whose appeal of Arezzo'sapproval led to the board's de-cision to revoke the permit, alsohas questioned Arezzo's role inthe sale.

Humphreys's decison againstD'Amelio and the board's rejec-tion of Arezzo's permit "makesthe whole thing look kind offishy," Newman said.

Seweragencygets OK

HOBOKEN-The City Councilapproved plans for a regionas£wer authority in a specialmeeting yesterday at City Hall.

The new authority is being or-c a n i z e d for H o b o k e n .

I Weehawken and Union City.1 which s h a r e Hoboken s

dilapidated sewage treatmentplant. A new, $60 million facility\s planned for completion in1991, and the three-municipality

I authority will oversee its con-! struction and operation.

The new authority will havebonding power to help raise themunicipalities' share of the cost.Earlier this year, Hoboken received promise of a federalgrant covering 55 percent of theconstruction costs.

The city is under state and federal mandates to improve thesewage system, and just recentW reached seperate agreementswith the state Department otEnvironmental Protection andthe federal Environmental Pro-tection Agency setting deadlinesfor complience with clean waterstandards.

The legislation, together withsimilar laws being consideredby Weehawken and Union City,will create a seven-memberboard of commissioners.

-CHRISTOPHER *