Four Days Later: Mob Protests at Hoboken City Hall

UPDATE TO ORIGINAL POST (July 31, 2009) – As the New York Times reports, Peter Cammarano III has resigned his post as Mayor of the City of Hoboken.   City Council President, Dawn Zimmer, takes his place as Acting Mayor until a special election is held this November.  Original post follows:

I’ve spent so much time over the years writing about all things good in Hoboken, it wouldn’t be fair to not comment on the latest political hoopla that has graced our city.

Four days after the FBI’s largest single-day public corruption takedown, which left many New Jersey public officials in handcuffs, a mob gathered outside of Hoboken City Hall calling for the resignation of the city’s mayor, Peter Cammarano.

Who doesn’t like a good protest from time to time?  Certainly not me.

So I figured I’d take some time to snap a few photos of the whole scene.  I wish I could say that this type of thing was unusual in Hoboken, but corruption is old news in this town.  A local website replaced its homepage with the amusing declaration:

“Welcome to Hoboken:  Where 33% of our Last 3 Mayors Have NOT been Arrested by the FBI”

Sad, but true.

Two days earlier, the head of the City’s housing authority was also indicted on (unrelated) public corruption charges and, in an unfortunately-timed press conference, Mayor Cammarano declared:

These are serious allegations which are currently proceeding through the judicial system. This Administration has a clear-cut, zero tolerance policy against any violation of the public trust and I am calling for Housing Authority Commissioner Claveria to resign his position with the Hoboken Housing Authority immediately.

Five days later, however, after being arrested himself, Cammarano has refused to resign from his own post – despite the recommendation of his entire election transition team, the county Democratic Party and the Governor of New Jersey, among others.

The investigation and arrests have made national print and television headlines, yet again, embarrassing the town on a national-level for the second time in two years.   Some of you may recall the the debacle last year when it was leaked that the police department unnecessarily started its own SWAT team, traveled to Lousiana and allowed Hooters girls to pose with their machine guns.  Classy:

Here’s a short video of the crowd in front of City Hall today, which was quite large, despite the rain:

I really found some of the signs at today’s protest quite amusing:

And here are some additional pictures of the crowd:

I have written many times about how great it is to live in Hoboken.  Corruption and skyrocketing taxes aside, I still think it is the best place to live in the New York City area if you don’t want to be in the suburbs.  But the public corruption, back room deals and years of mismanagement by the city’s public officials has made Hoboken the “richest poor town in America” – a city where $12,000 per year taxes on a two-bedroom condominium isn’t enough to keep the city solvent, causing its finances to be taken over by the State. One can only hope that incidents like this will continue to weed out old-school politics and bring some real change to the city’s government.

But I’m certainly not holding my breath…

Presentation: Understanding the Credit Card Fraud Lifecycle: A Guide For Private Label Issuers

As part of a project to share many of the presentation from my speaking engagements, I will be slowly releasing the PowerPoint slides from all my public speaking events.

Presentation Title: Understanding the Card Fraud Lifecycle :  A Guide For Private Label Issuers

Date/Location Presented: Edgar Dunn & Company Private Label Roundtable, Philadelphia, PA;  May 1, 2009

Audience: The presentation was given to a group of Chief Risk/Compliance Officers from the nation’s largest banks and retailers who issuer private label credit cards

Overview: With credit card fraud dramatically on the rise, particularly in the form of card-not-present (CNP) fraud across Internet and Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO) channels, it is important for private label issuers to understand the depth of this problem and how it affects their merchant portfolio and their ability to accept private label cards.  Private label cards were often considered to be “low risk”, relative to traditional bank cards, but our current analysis has shown the contrary:  fraudsters are increasingly using private label cards as the payment instrument in CNP channels and merchants are at great risk if specific strategies are not put in place to stop it.

NOTE:  Contents of this presentation are (c) 2009 Christopher Uriarte and Retail Decisions, and may not be used or distributed without explicit permission.

Quick Note: Upcoming Speaking Engagement

Just a quick note about another upcoming speaking engagement next week.

I will be speaking at the Giftex Prepay Conference at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Toronto this Monday, July 13th.    For the handful of clients, colleagues and friends I have in the area, please feel free to stop by.

I’ll be giving a talk about how increasing Internet credit card fraud rates are causing major problems for retailers who sell plastic and virtual gift cards online.

Cool Hotels, Volume 3: The Salon Suites at the Tower Suites, Wynn Las Vegas

One of the most common questions I get asked about my travels is “Where do you stay when you visit [insert city here]?”   As a result, I figured that I’d start documenting some of the more interesting hotels that I stay at.  This is installment Number 3.  Note:  Some of you may recall a previous post I made about the Wynn Las Vegas, also covering the Salon Suites, the electronic mini-bar system and the baggie of drugs discovered in my room.

Tower Suites at The Wynn Las Vegas

3131 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 770-7000

Web: http://www.wynnlasvegas.com

[Above, left to right:  A photo of Wynn Las Vegas and the sun shining off of its sister tower, Encore.]

For the past couple of years, I have rented a one bedroom suite in the Tower Suites at the Wynn Las Vegas, only to be to be upgraded to their amazing Salon Suite.  The Tower Suites at the Wynn Las Vegas are the only rooms in Las Vegas to have earned, both, Mobile Five Star and AAA Five Diamond Awards and they are integrated into the resort using a “hotel within a hotel” concept:   separate entrance, small and intimate lobby, private check-in, dedicated concierge and private pool.   Your room key also gives you line jump privileges at certain venues, such as the Wynn Buffet.

The Salon Suite is the largest of the hotel suites that can be rented by hotel guests (anything larger is by casino invite only).  The size and amenities of the suite are opulant, to say the least.   Measuring in at almost 2,300 square feet (larger than my apartment at home!), it includes a massive living and dining room, full-size bar, private massage room, powder room, master bedroom and a master bathroom which measure nearly 400 square feet in itself.  There are three flat screen televisions and a fully-stocked vanity of bathroom amenities, including hair products by Bumble & Bumble.   One entire side of the suite is composed of floor-to-ceiling windows, which overlook the Vegas Strip.   You could probably easily sleep 6 in the room without stepping over each other, although there is only one king bed in the suite.

One reason why I rent a suite each year is to have a private meeting space where I can spend time with clients.   The price of the suite is nearly half of Wynn would charge for a meeting room one-third of its size.   I must say, however, that it is almost embarrassing bring people into a room like this.  I am waiting for a client so say something like, “you’re charing me too much money if you’re staying in a room like this!”.

(click for larger view)

(click for larger view)

Omelette of the Bizarre: Okonomiyaki in London

I rarely write about food, which is quite surprising, given that I am a huge foodie and that stuffing my face is usually an integral part of my worldly travels.   The truth is, that I don’t have the time to start YAFB (yet another food blog), particularly since I have the opportunity to eat so many wonderful things in my every day life and could never find the time or patience to capture all of the good bits.   But my friends and colleagues will often tell you that I am the the go-to guy when it comes to finding new and interesting cuisine, which is probably fueled by my unofficial part time job researching good restaurants, a large collection of food and travel-related books and my personal addiction to FoodTV.   So imagine my wonder (and shame!) when I was encountered with an Okonomiyaki restaurant in London – a type of Japanese cuisine that I never even knew existed.

My friend had walked by the small outpost of Abeno, hidden just off of Leicester Square on Great Newport Street in London, and suggested we give it a try.

Sitting at the Okonomiyaki at Abeno in London.  It is usually a good sign when you are the only white person sitting in an Asian restaurant…

Wikipedia describes Okonomiyaki like this:

Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き^?) is a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning “what you like” or “what you want”, and yaki meaning “grilled” or “cooked” (cf. yakitori and yakisoba). Okonomiyaki is mainly associated with Kansai or Hiroshima areas of Japan, but is widely available throughout the country. Toppings and batters tend to vary according to region.Kansai (Osaka)-style okonomiyaki is the predominant style of the dish, found throughout most of Japan. The batter is made of flour, grated yam, water or dashi, eggs and shredded cabbage, and usually contains other ingredients such as green onion, meat (generally pork or bacon), octopus, squid, shrimp, vegetables, kimchi, mochi or cheese. Okonomiyaki is sometimes compared to an omelette or a pancake and may be referred to as “a Japanese pancake”, or even “Osaka soul food”^[1].

Most okonomiyaki restaurants are set up as grill-it-yourself establishments, where the server produces a bowl of raw ingredients that the customer mixes and grills at tables fitted with teppan, or special hotplates. They may also have a diner style counter where the cook will prepare the dish right in front of the customers.

In Osaka (the largest city in the Kansai region), where this dish is said to have originated, okonomiyaki is prepared much like a pancake. The batter and other ingredients are fried on both sides on either a hot plate (teppan) or a pan using metal spatulas that are later used to slice the dish when it has finished cooking. Cooked okonomiyaki is topped with ingredients that include okonomiyaki sauce (similar to Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter), aonori (seaweed flakes), katsuobushi (fish flakes), Japanese mayonnaise and pickled ginger (beni shoga).

The entire experience is interesting, to say the least.   You are presented with a number of choices for your Okonomiyaki, which looks like an omelette and does, actually, include some egg, but not as the base ingredient – I suppose the single egg is used only to bind the other ingredients together.  The main base this concoction is, surprisingly, finely shredded Chinese cabbage.  The ingredients are brought to your place at the bar and mixed in front of you, creating an unappetizing glob that is cooked right there:

The blob is shaped into form and topped with whatever it is you’ve asked for (in this case, sliced pork):

It then sits there for a good ten minutes, cooking away as you munch on some starters, such as these rice balls with a tart plum filling:

The resulting product looks like this:

This is a photo of my cabbage-based combination of kimchee, chiles, pork and a bunch of other stuff.

You are then presented with a variety of toppings, including something I would consider a “Japanese bar-b-que sauce” and shavings of smoked tuna, which tastes more like bacon than anything that could have come from the sea.

All in all, quite tasty, if I do say so myself!

And while Abeno claims to be the only Okonomiyaki place in London, I did discover that there are more than a few joints serving it up in New York City…right under my nose all this time and I’ve never discovered it!