Articles Posted in Hoboken Notes

June 27, is Helen Keller day, and I just happened to watch “A Miracle Worker” on TV, which is a great, great movie about how Helen Keller was taught to understand the world by her teacher Ann Sullivan.  Well, the part of Helen Keller was played by Patty Duke and she played such a great part that I looked her up on good ol’ Google and come across another true family tale. 

‘A family law attorney sees and hears a lot of what might be called “ inconvenient truths”  but increasingly our culture, is more and more accepting of the truth.  What was scandalous years ago, is pretty much accepted, except for of course some people who don’t understand that there is no standard, average perfect family, and how  it’s the imperfections that we must all come to love and accept.

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Sean Astin’s Childhood With Patty Duke

In The Lord of the Rings he cheated death, fought enemies and helped bring a gold ring to its destruction. But before taking on the role as Frodo’s trusted sidekick, Sean Astin survived a struggle of a far more personal sort.

 

Steph%20photo

Just helped out a new business woman in Jersey City /Hoboken with a dog training business, Steph is great with Dogs and Roxy is already doing all sorts of polite things !!!!! The world needs good dogs, give Steph a try, especially those barking dogs in your apartment.

http://goodkarmatraining.com/

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They say you learn new things everyday.  Well as a long time Hoboken resident and Attorney I thought I knew about most things the City Government did.    But there is always something new to learn and that is the wonderful and much needed Hoboken311, which is a website that provides a lot of information about Hoboken Laws and regulations and, which was new to me, you can give detailed requests to the City about problems that need to be corrected.  Me, I complained about a broken sidewalk near my office.  Here is a screenshot of my request:

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I will update this Blog about the response to this request, but I think it is just great that at lease there is a process in place to deal with Citizen requests and suggestions.  Check it out.

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http://narrative.ly/2012/11/fortunate-one/

Photos by Sophie Butcher

Fortunate One

A writer turned PR director turned stockbroker finds her calling among a deck of tarot cards.

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A Paperless office is great when the Power is on !!!!

  • Not so great when the Power is off.
  • But the Power is back and we are open and ready for business.
  • For all my clients, all your files and papers and documents and emails were not touched by the Storm.  Everything is safe  We moved and protected them. 
  • Our Computer  servers were also protected and we are getting fully online this Sunday Nov. 4th.  Please call the office at 201 656-1000 if we don’t answer just leave a message.  Email is working.
  • We also are implementing a new Text to Office service, since it is clear that Texting is the way most people communicate.   We will be the first Law office that I know of that will have a Text Number for the office.   That should be up and running next week.

Now on to some Legal Advice for all.

  • At this point it is too early to know the exact process and procedure for people trying to recover money for all their damages.
  • Frankly, for most people and most damages, lawyers will probably be more of a problem than a means for a solution.  I have received  many calls already about property damage and my advice is this:
  • Use that Cell Phone Camera and take pictures and more pictures.
  • Take close-ups and far away shots.
  • Use your camera to take pictures of any relevant receipts or things you are replacing or fixing.
  • Make sure the photos are dated.
  • Use some system to take voice notes, like even calling yourself to document your thoughts

And now for some Spiritual Advise.

Break out the Bubbly and have a great time !!!!

Frank Marciano

(this was written short and sweet, more to follow.)

Article by Judy Marciano, who is getting so good, that people now say when they see me, oh that’s Frank, the Realtor’s Husband.

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The last census taken in Hoboken showed our population in the year 2000 at 38,577 people. As you know, we just had another census count taken this year and by all accounts our population has increased by at least 10,000 bringing the total to around 50,000 people. This amount does not include people who come here to work or party, it is just the residents. There are a few people in Hoboken who think this increase is a bad thing, but they are a small, but vocal minority, most people are happy that the increase in population has brought more stores, more food places and more activity on the streets. All of which has made Hoboken a safer and more vibrant community.

What many do not know is that in the next 10 -20 years there are plans to increase the residential housing stock to add another 10,000 residents to our city. On the Southern edge of Hoboken, New Jersey Transit put forth a proposal by a planning firm called FXFOWLE to add 6,000 residential units to the City. While that plan was withdrawn for now, a more modest plan for an 18 story high rise building is proposed on the site of the existing bus terminal. Since it is on only 3% of the 54 acres that New Jersey Transit controls you can be sure more development will be proposed on their property.

 

Humpty-Dumpty

Those profound words of wisdom spoken by Humpty Dumpty in “Through the Looking Glass has special relevance in the world of Law.  Clients often want to know, in no uncertain terms, what is going to happen.    While I win?; How Long will it take?; What is the Answer?; Can you Guarantee? How much will it cost? are all questions I get after clients give me a one sided, 5 minute summary of their problem.   While I do my best to estimate my fees and give an educated guess as to the outcome of a case, no one, no lawyer, can guarantee a result.  In fact the entire Court system with motions and appeals, and different courts is based on the fact that in real life nothing is crystal clear.  Most of the time the issues are clear enough so the answer to a legal problem is clear, except of course when they’re not.  Take for example a simple case of tenant being evicted for non-payment of rent.

Simple enough, you don’t pay your rent you can be evicted.  Except of course, if you were being overcharged, then rent control laws might determine that, not only will the tenant not be evicted, that the Landlord owes the Tenant money.  Or if the rent was held back because the condition of apartment was substandard, then the Tenant can not only stay but the Landlord would have to fix up the apartment.  Or how about the case when the Landlord tries to collect rent, even though he lost control of the property though a foreclosure, and is not entitled to collect the rent.  Or how about the case when the tenant, having not paid rent, files for bankruptcy, then the Landlord is prevented from evicting the tenant because the Bankruptcy laws stay all proceedings.

post-it-ipad 

The above is a picture of a new software program on the IPad called Nozbe, a task and team management program that is helping to keep us organized and so that we can Get Things Done.

I don’t need to explain how busy a person’s life is in  today’s work environment; too much information and not enough time.  Over the last few months I decided to explore the internet for team and task management  programs to try to create a more organized office that would makes us more efficient and better able to respond to our client matters.  After trying out over 75 programs we have decided to incorporate Nozbe into our daily routine.  It is a Web 2.0 program but it also has an IPhone and IPad Application.  It is a collaborative task management program that allows all of us here at Marcianolaw to assign and track all those things that must be done in a law office.  While it will not make us perfect we are trying hard to create a transparent and responsive client attorney experience.  You can also sign up for a free trial and take advantage of a truly useful tool that will help organize your daily life.  If you want to learn more feel free to contact Frank at the office.

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