Full Notification

Update from Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla on COVID-19 and water mains:

Tonight, I wish to recognize the incredible work of Hoboken resident and local business owner, Kim Gerlach, owner of Kim Lorraine Photography. Kim and her team - Alex Kramer and Kris Knesel - launched the Front Steps Project of Hoboken to both document this moment in time for families while raising money for the Hoboken Food Pantry. To date, this project has raised over $13k to support residents in need during this crisis. For more information about the Front Steps Project, please visit https://www.thefrontstepsprojecthoboken.com/ and to learn more about how to support the Hoboken Food Pantry (part of the Hoboken Community Center) visit https://www.hobokencc.org/. 
 
Impact of COVID-19 in Hoboken
 
The Hoboken Health Department reported two additional cases of COVID-19 in Hoboken yesterday, for a total of 475 known, confirmed cases. Hoboken has a total of 23 fatalities due to COVID-19, with none reported yesterday.
 
Testing asymptomatic individuals and seniors
 
Across the country, governors and mayors are calling upon more testing.  Here in Hoboken, I’m happy to say we are doing it. As we announced yesterday, Riverside Medical will now begin testing residents with or without COVID-19 systems. We expect this to substantially increase the number of residents tested, which is our ultimate goal to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Hoboken and make educated decisions as we begin the process of re-opening Hoboken.
 
To that end, I’m also pleased to share that we proactively tested 115 seniors today going door to door in one of the senior buildings thanks to a partnership with Prompt MD and Dr. Javedul Islam. Hoboken is committed to doing everything possible to protect our most vulnerable residents.
 
Two common questions and clarifications
 
I’ve heard two frequent questions from residents recently – can multiple people from the same household get tested, and are we accounting for residents who may have left Hoboken during the pandemic. To address the first question – multiple people in the same household can indeed get tested at our Riverside testing center. Initially when Riverside opened up the facility to symptomatic Hoboken residents, it was getting a very high volume of requests for testing. To test as many different families as possible in an efficient amount of time, Riverside followed specific guidelines issued by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, that called for only one family member to be tested. However, since Riverside has acquired additional tests, multiple family members can in fact receive a test.
 
To address the second question, while there has been a certain percentage of the population which has left Hoboken, if a Hoboken resident tests positive in another part of the state or outside of the state, that person’s positive test gets reported for their home address in Hoboken.
 
Hoboken to extend grace period for property tax payments
 
As a reminder, Hoboken has extended the grace period for property tax payments due on May 1^st, to June 1^st. This extension will help provide some measure of relief to taxpayers who may be struggling during this difficult time.
 
Collaboration with six municipalities on parks
 
As mentioned yesterday, I joined a coalition with five other neighboring municipalities including Union City, Weehawken, North Bergen, Guttenberg and West New York in order to have a collaborative, regional approach to a gradual re-opening of parks. The other Mayors expressed the same reservations I had given our dense environment and high number of regional infections and fatalities. Without neighboring municipalities on board to re-open their municipal parks, residents from other cities will travel to our parks and contribute to overcrowding and additional social distancing challenges. This is especially true in Hoboken, as none of our parks allow for as higher of a volume of residents like other larger parks in Hudson County such as Liberty State Park, Braddock Park, and others. Below is a joint statement our coalition of six Mayors provided earlier today:
 
“As Mayors in the most densely populated county in the country with over 14,000 COVID-19 infections, we strongly believe that leaving all municipal parks closed in our respective cities is in the best interest of public health. While we are planning for the eventual re-opening of our parks and know how important they are to our residents, we remain concerned about the potential overcrowding and enforcement of social distancing. Out of an abundance of caution, we made the collective decision to keep our municipal parks closed until further notice. We thank Governor Murphy for working with us to allow each city to make these respective decisions and look forward to collaborating with County Executive Tom DeGise and our Freeholders to make final decisions on County parks by the end of the week.”
 
Thank you to County Executive Tom DeGise and Freeholder Anthony Romano for pledging to work with our coalition regarding the gradual re-opening of Hudson County parks.
 
Blood Drive tomorrow
 
The next city-sponsored Blood Drive with Vitalant New Jersey will take place tomorrow - Thursday, April 30th at the Multi Service Center (124 Grand Street). You must have an appointment to donate; if you signed up, please remember to honor this appointment and come wearing a face mask. If you are symptomatic or have been exposed to a confirmed case of COVID, you will not be able to donate. To check for available appointments, please go to: https://donor.cbsblood.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/52446 
 
Update on water main break
 
As you’ve likely seen, we unfortunately had a second water main break in the area in the past 24 hours, this time at 11^th and Madison Streets. Our Office of Emergency Management and crews from SUEZ are on scene conducting repairs that will likely last throughout the night. A boil water advisory remains in effect due to yesterday’s water main break in Jersey City.
 
Needless to say, this is a major inconvenience that is impacting many residents during the middle of a crisis. Based on observations of previous water main breaks in neighboring Jersey City, our Office of Emergency Management believes that yesterday’s Jersey City water main break likely was a contributing factor to today’s break in Hoboken, which caused lower water pressure throughout the Hoboken system.
 
I’ve included below some frequently asked questions about our water mains, and the major investments we’ve begun into the system. While we won’t be able to solve all water main breaks overnight, we’re well on our way to making unprecedented upgrades to our water infrastructure.
 
What is the City of Hoboken doing to upgrade water main infrastructure?
 
New contract with SUEZ: In May of 2019, the City of Hoboken and SUEZ entered into a new water service contract investing at least $33 million in water infrastructure upgrades through 2034. The amended agreement established a new public water utility on July 1, 2019. It includes an average of $2.2 million in water investments per year, over six times the amount of the former contract. Additionally, the contract calls for $2 million in smart technology to monitor water consumption, which will save Hoboken ratepayers from paying for costly leaks.
 
Water main replacement project: The City began the first phase of its water main replacement project in 2019, which is scheduled to continue this year. Over 4,500 feet of Hoboken’s oldest water mains have already been replaced since last year, with a total of 7,000 linear feet, or 2.7 miles of water mains to be replaced by the end of this year. The second phase of replacing over 5,000 linear feet of water mains is currently under design, and scheduled to begin in the fall.
 
Comprehensive analysis of water main system: With support from professional engineering consultants, the City developed a comprehensive water system renewal program to make continued investments in Hoboken’s drinking water infrastructure. The program includes 67 discrete locations for water main replacement to upgrade an additional 20% of the system. This analysis has been and will continue to be used to guide the primary locations of the current and upcoming water main replacement projects.
 
Washington Street redesign: As part of the Washington Street redesign, the City upgraded more than 1.25 miles of water mains and service lines on Washington Street. The project was financed by a $7 million low-interest loan from the NJ Infrastructure Bank.
 
Why do we have so many water main breaks?
 
‍Some parts of Hoboken’s water system are more than 100 years old. The majority of the system is nearing the end of its useful life. As cast-iron pipes age, they become brittle and are more prone to break from changes in temperature, pressure fluctuations, or vibrations.
 
Why are the pipes so old?
 
Beginning in 1994, the City of Hoboken sold the rights to the water system until 2024 (previous to the new SUEZ agreement in 2019). A 30-year revenue stream of approximately $240 million was sold to United Water (now SUEZ) in exchange for $13.2 million dollars in one-time payments. That former agreement required Suez to make almost no proactive investment in Hoboken’s water infrastructure. In the past two plus decades, only $350,000 per year was invested in the system, and as a result, only 5% of the system was upgraded.
 
I hope this information has been helpful.
 
All the best,

Ravi S. Bhalla
Mayor