Homecoming

The shock of homecoming hit like a brick when i got out of the cab in front of home.. Back from the sun of 70 degrees. Back from the land of the beats, the yippies and hippies. The place that Kerauoc, Ginsberg, Kesey, Garcia, Joplin, Hendrix, Thompson, Miller and Steinbeck have all called home. The beautiful sunsets and blue skies of the big sur coast, the power, strength and majesty of the Pacific and the Redwoods. The dread locked, hippied, punked, skaters and surfers homelessed and housed from Haight St to Santa Crauz. The upscale uptown dining in bayside sausalito and the 4.95 mission burrito on mission and 23rd. Elephant seals, sea otters, a heron and a whale. California was very cool!

A nice way to get away.

On my first day back to work (3/22/05) most of my co-workers and I were placed on Unpaid "hiatus" until further notice. The city council minority had voted against an Emergency Appropriations resolution the night before that would have allowed the city funding for the salaries of all, including us "non-essential", city employees with additional funding for operating expenses. The resolution, at least the salary portion, has been passing monthly since September. These votes are necessary because an agreement can not be reached on the municipal budget. The mayor's plan is to fill the $7-$9 million budget deficit with the sale (and lease) of the municipal garage. Councilwomen Marsh and Castellano, and councilmen Russo and Soares say "No More One Shot" budget fixes. That is where the "debate" has stagnated since September. Neither side has budged. The mayor doesn't seem to want to change his policies or his decision to sell another piece of public land to fix a budget "gap" and the councilpeople have not offered a suggestion on how to do fix it, except for whispers of layoffs. Unless, of course, your Councilwoman Marsh's most disliked employee. I won't type his name here for fear of being sued. There is no real easy solution here. Something's gonna have to give. My guess is they'll sell the garage when the crisis Actually hits and the city is Actually running out of money, after the election. I don't much like being a pawn in some amateur game of risk. I don't think anyone thought the city would Actually Shut Down. Michael Russo was on the corner doing "Collateral Damage" control as we were being notified of our hiatus. Carol Marsh was seen a few hours later frantically cell phoning in the street with Michael Lenz. There is a real face to this. Real people who depend on their salaries caught in the middle of the political challenges of fixing a budget with a $7-9 million dollar deficit. It is kinda nice to be forced to play hookie, though, at least for now.

Arms folded
to the moon,
Among the cows.
- Jack Kerouac


On Thursday, March 24, 2005 the city council of Hoboken voted unanimously to put the City back to work and pay all employees for the time they missed.