NY Times story Thursday on Hoboken's budget standoff

Peter Applebome writes about the Council's unwillingness to pass the mayor's budget. The piece quotes David Roberts, Perry Belfiore, and Beth Mason, and invokes The Soprano State (a book we've been quoting at length lately).

From Beth Mason, this more or less sums up the feelings of many:

“It’s an embarrassment to the city and an indictment of the Robert’s administration that it cannot, or will not work with the city council to solve the city’s fiscal problems. With this drastic step of agreeing to a state takeover, Mayor Roberts now has succeeded in lumping Hoboken in the unfortunate group of deteriorating cities such as Paterson and Camden. This matter should have been discussed with the city council before the mayor agreed to any terms with the state. I have no more faith in the state’s ability to solve the city’s financial problems than I have in Mayor Robert’s financial acumen.”

Having the State of New Jersey clean up your accounting practices is like having Charles Manson teach your anger management class. And putting Joe Doria in charge is like throwing in a subscription to Guns and Ammo.