Earlier this week, it was announced that there would be a virtual meeting with Hoboken City officials and the development team working on the redevelopment of the Neumann Leather factory located on 300 Observer Boulevard. This issue has been of great interest to local residents because the building, which was built in the 1860s, is often open to the public for events such as the annual Art Studio Tour, plus it houses studios for artists, musicians, and small businesses. We were planning to report on the highlights from the meeting, however, the meeting lasted only 10 minutes. Why? Because it was Zoom-bombed — with porn.
Inappropriate and shocking as the situation was, 1st Ward Councilman Mike DeFusco had the perfect Jersey response. Read on for what we know about the incident.
Hudson County View reported that only several minutes into the virtual meeting, which was open to the community, the presentation was interrupted when an unknown participant began writing “No one cares lol” on the images being presented. Community Development Director Christopher Brown was giving a recap of the redevelopment plan that was approved by the council in 2015, and announced, “Great, are we getting Zoombombed?”
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As the virtual slides continued to be scribbled on, the presentation was paused. Then, per HCV, the participant, who remains unknown, began playing a pornographic video.
Brown responded with, “Oh that’s not good. Oh that’s not good. Oh come on,” after which Brown apologized, but declared that the meeting would have to be rescheduled. One participant, according to HCV, had signed in from Tel Aviv, where it was 1AM, just to participate.
While we obviously don’t have any developments to report on in regard to Neumann Leathers, it is worth noting that Councilman DeFusco made it loud and clear that Hoboken, New Jersey is not to be messed with — not by other states, not by hungry seagulls at the shore, and certainly not by Zoom-bombers.
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Per HCV, his message is this: “To the punk responsible, let me tell you something: in Hoboken politics, we don’t hide behind Zoom to attack someone, we do it face to face. You’re pathetic.”
As reported, Public Safety Director Kenneth Ferrante added that while there was no additional available information on what transpired during the meeting, from prior experience, it will take several weeks to receive information from Zoom — if they receive anything at all.
