CR-V Ya Later: Hoboken's Disappearing Cars 💨

Plus a do-gooder developer, an exclusive summer recipe, and much more!

Photo: Hugo Holland

Hello and welcome to the latest Weehawken Gazette!

In our last issue, we had a contest in which one lucky winner could receive a brand new Weehawken Gazette beach towel. And the winner is… Anupapaya! Congratulations and we will be in touch to deliver it to you. Free prize delivery included? Yup.

In this issue we have another exclusive recipe, plus lots of piping-hot local news. Plus as ever, it’s all hand-crafted by humans, no AI-slop here!

But first, as a reminder, paid subscribers can collect their free vintage repro postcard and stamp, leave comments, and bask in the warm glow of helping us support actual freelance writers and artists. So thanks all, we truly appreciate every dime, and here’s where to do that:

🐬 Dolphins Cruise Past Controversial ‘Empty Sky’ 9/11 Memorial In Jersey City

OK so the dolphins and the 9/11 memorial have nothing in common, except the memorial is in the news, and in a recent video here on Instagram, you can see the dolphins swim by it. Here’s a picture of the memorial up close from over a decade ago:

Photo: Chris Light, 2015

Wait, What’s the controversy?

Apparently the Liberty State Park memorial which was dedicated on September 10, 2011 is both “unfinished” and in need of repairs. Critics say there are now dead trees, broken lighting and kiosks, and the site is missing some victims names. Also when planned, the outer walls were supposed to reflect light and have words added to the outside,”never forget” and “always in our hearts.” Thing is, the 25th anniversary of 9/11 is coming up, so people wonder, if not now, when? That said, it’s projected to cost $15 million to finish/fix which is… not cheap especially in a state known for the highest property taxes during a time when many people are seeing major tax increases. See this from the Bergen Record: Jersey City residents express shock and concern over tax increase, or just talk to most anyone in NJ who has seen a recent tax bill.

So do you think it’s worth it? Let’s do a poll and see what the people think:

Sources: New Jersey’s Empty Sky memorial needs urgent repairs and Sherrill ‘needs to move’ on stalled 9/11 memorial, co-designer says.

Hometown Hero: Joe Lyga Helps WNY Neighbors Know The Route Cause Of Traffic

Joe Lyga and family

Originally from Basking Ridge, New Jersey, for the past 6 years software developer Joe Lyga and his wife Lan, pictured, have lived in a building on Riverwalk Place in Port Imperial. Their adorable baby has not lived there for 6 years, mainly because she’s only 9 months old.

I got in touch with Joe after seeing him share an ingenious dashboard for local transit on Facebook. He said it was an “update” but it was totally new to us. It’s hyper local to Riverwalk, and pulls in data from the Bus, Ferry, Light Rail and the Lincoln Tunnel. You can also toggle between to and from NYC. It’s totally free, and there’s no app or sign-in needed. Without this you’re bouncing between all sorts of apps and websites including NJ Transit, the Lincoln Tunnel website, the My Terminal app, and the NY Waterway app.

A screenshot of the Riverwalk transit dashboard :joelyga.com/transit/

I wanted to know more about how and why he did it, and he was kind enough to answer my questions.

Q: I love how your dashboard has all the transit options in one place... what inspired you to do this?

I work in midtown Manhattan, and I either take the bus on River Road, the bus on JFK Blvd, or the ferry. It all depends on how much traffic there is in the Lincoln Tunnel, what the ferry times are, or if I’m leaving at a time of day where there aren’t many buses on River Road. The usual transit apps like Google Maps and CityMapper were missing info for our area like live bus times, how full the buses are, or which gate the bus was leaving from. And I found myself having to use 4 or 5 different apps for all the info.

I’ve worked in software development for close to 20 years, and I’ve done a little bit of everything. When I was looking to build this, I did some research and found out that all this info is available using APIs. So I decided to make a simple little dashboard so I could find everything in one place. I made it originally for myself, but I decided to publish it on my website so our entire community could benefit from it. It’s pretty specific to our area, including info on the two closest bus stops, the two ferries that leave from our station, Lincoln Tunnel traffic, and the light rail.

Q: How hard was it to build? You gather the info streams and... what did you build it in?

It’s built in a very simple way. It’s a Python script that pulls data from a few different APIs once per minute, and uses a Jinja template to build a static HTML webpage. I originally made it 3 years ago, and have been gradually making it more reliable and improving the design ever since.

Q: Do you find people are using it?

Right now I know there are at least a few dozen people using it. I’ve gotten some pretty happy responses on Facebook, and some requests to add things like the Brookfield Place and the light rail. My total possible audience is a few hundred people at most, so I’m happy if at least some people are getting use out of it!

I’ve been considering expanding it to more areas. I know everyone that commutes to the city has to make decisions based on traffic, bus availability, trains, etc. I know everyone is up to their eyeballs in general-purpose transit apps that try to do everything or are too complicated, which is why I’ve kept this focused to just our area. But could definitely add more areas!

Q: Do you ever come “upcliff” to hang / shop or are you a waterfront/city type only?

I love West New York. It’s such a great little walkable community full of young couples, dogs, and little kids with great transit options to the city. And I’m up on the hill a lot especially for the food. My favorites are Cuomo’s Deli, Petite B Bakery, Locos Tacos, Aumm Aumm, and so many other amazing places. I’m also very happy with how much is being built on the waterfront, especially the new gyms, cafes, and restaurants. But most especially, how great everything is for new families.

Thank you Joe for answering our questions and thank you for keeping everyone down there rolling on (or by) the river. And now, since the song is stuck in our head, here’s a musical interlude…

Related WNY stuff… we covered Petit B Bakery in April 2024: weehawkengazette.com/i/143989534/breaking-news-french-invade-nohu

🍴 Weehawken Gazeats With Chef Marcos Salazar

Welcome to our second-ever local superstar chef recipe, this time with Marcos Salazar.

Close readers know we’re featured Faubourg’s Weehawken outpost a few times, as it’s the place to go for intentional seasonal cooking with high-quality ingredients. Plus, they recently made the Top 50 Restaurants list in NJ Monthly, which is nothing to sneeze at. We are thrilled to have their head chef contribute a summer salad with his thoughts. Take it away, Marcos!

“Everyone likes watermelon in summer because it’s fresh and sweet, but more than that, it brings me back to my roots. When I was a kid my grandma would get a fresh watermelon every other week, and she’d cut a portion to eat, and she’d juice the rest. What I like most is the combination of texture and flavor from the watermelon: it’s soft, but firm.

And since summer is when heirloom tomatoes hit their peak, that’s why we build many of our warm-weather dishes around them at Faubourg. This salad is one of our favorites: little heirloom cherry tomatoes, juicy watermelon, crisp cucumber, and a big scoop of creamy stracciatella, tossed with a chardonnay vinaigrette and finished with feta, mint, chives, and a drizzle of balsamic reduction. Fresh, fast, and basically summer on a plate.”

— Chef Marcos Salazar, chef de cuisine at Faubourg Weehawken

Heirloom Cherry Tomato & Watermelon Salad with Stracciatella

A summer recipe from Chef Marcos Salazar’s kitchen

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 Pint heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved

• 2 Cups seedless watermelon, cut into cubes

• 1 Cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into triangles

• 8 oz Stracciatella

• 1/3 Cup crumbled feta cheese

• 1 Garlic clove

• Fresh mint leaves, torn

• Fresh chives, finely snipped

• Flaky salt

• Freshly cracked black pepper

• Balsamic vinegar reduction, for drizzling

For the vinaigrette

• 3 tbsp chardonnay vinegar

• 1/2 cup good olive oil

• ½ Garlic clove minced

• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Whisk the chardonnay vinegar with the olive oil and minced garlic until emulsified; season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. In a bowl, add the halved cherry tomatoes, watermelon cubes, and cucumber triangles with the vinaigrette. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and the fresh mint and tossed with the vinaigrette to combine.

3. Spread the stracciatella at the bottom of the plate as your base.

4. Spoon the tomato, watermelon, and cucumber mixture right on top of the stracciatella.

5. Scatter the crumbled feta over everything.

6. Finish with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar reduction and a scattering of fresh chives.

7. Serve right away, while it’s still cool and the stracciatella is at its creamiest.

⚠️ 🥒 One more note from the chef: although it’s tempting, don’t skip seeding the cucumber, because it keeps the salad from getting watery and lets all the other flavors shine.

Reminder of a reader benefit: If you go to Faubourg for dinner, they offer a free basket of warm, freshly-baked citrusy madeleines to any patron who mentions reading about the restaurant in the Weehawken Gazette.

Anybody Here Pals With Ed Feigenbaum?

Public domain photo from Feigenbaum’s time working for the Air Force

Did you know a world-famous computer scientist was born in Weehawken, lived in North Bergen, and graduated from Weehawken High School in 1953? His name is Edward Feigenbaum, he was inducted into the Weehawken High School Hall of Fame in 1996, and we’d love to interview him about his formative years and his thoughts on technology today, but how do you contact a 90-year-old retired computer genius when you have no clue where in the world they are? I put out the request on Facebook, and two people responded that they think they graduated with him, but so far, no dice.

He’s a Turing Award winner, and we are even reading one of this books in case we score an interview. It’s a book about the rise of artificial intelligence… from 1983. Think that’s impressive? He was writing about AI in 1963. Damn.

That said, we found an interview with him on YouTube where he talks of his early years (like he says he built a radio to listen to Knicks games at MSG so hopefully he was excited by the NBA finals this year). Anyway, if anyone has a connection, hook us up and thank you.

🚘 🥷 HoBrokeIn Honda

A recent Facebook post from August 6 shared that a Honda Pilot was stolen off the street in Hoboken on 9th between Madison and Jefferson. Then a commenter weighed in to say their Honda CR-V was swiped from the exact same spot a few weeks before.

Turns out that Hondas are being targeted all over northern NJ. From April, this report from Teaneck of airbags being stolen from about a dozen Hondas: abc7ny.com/post/teaneck-burglarized-cars-thieves-steal-airbags-leave-least-dozen-vehicles-trashed-nj-town

Then we found Clifton police warning about Honda and Acura airbags and crash sensors being jacked: nj.com/news/2026/06/nj-police-say-thieves-are-stealing-a-surprising-part-from-hondas-acuras.html.

But this is not just happening in NJ. In Philly, thieves are taking the wheels off Hondas, and you wake to find your can on crates. Other baddies in Philly are stripping Honda CRVs and leaving them in the parks. And it gets worse… your car is taken because the keyless system means crooks can create a key on the spot, and after your car is taken, some smarty pants thieves are hacking the systems to swap VIN numbers: AirTag Leads Cops To Stolen Honda After VIN Swap.

What can you do? According to these articles, police are recommending those wheel locks, which might deter a thief seeking an easy target. There are also “after-market covers” for the things where the sensors are, but apparently it’s hard to get a cover they can’t remove. See: Catalytic Converter Theft Is So Passé, Thieves Want Your Radar Sensors Now [Jalopnik]

And yes, a GPS or AirTag device might help recover your car, but they warn you not to try to go the vigilante justice route and try to recover your car on your own.

New “Skip the Stuff” Law Does Not Mean Plastic Utensils Are Banned

As of August 1st of this year NJ now has a law saying that people getting casual dining orders wont get single-use plastic utensils and condiments by default. This does not mean that you can’t get them, it means it now won’t be automatically packed in bags. This cuts down on litter, waste, and saves the business money. It will also help my ego because the few times I ordered Chinese food for myself, there were always 3 or 4 forks in there, and it made me wonder if I was super greedy and was supposed to be sharing my broccoli and garlic sauce with a crowd.

But seriously, where it’s allowed and where it’s not is a bit confusing. Like yes, in schools, prisons, and health care facilities, single use is still allowed, and seems food courts have two more years to get with the program? Anyway, this site has a good chart: dep.nj.gov/get-past-plastic/ and some neat graphics to help you understand why it’s important.

From the NJ DEP Outreach Toolkit

Note: Hoboken started “Skip the Stuff” in September 2024, and they’ve been fine, no?

Weehawken Library Bookmark Contest

The theme for this contest is “Unearth a story.” Bookmark designs are due by August 31 and winning designs will be reproduced and distributed at the library in autumn. The contest is open to artists ages 1 and up — sorry infants! One design from each of the following categories will be chosen: Ages 1-4, 5-12, 13-17 and 18 and up.

Speaking of the library, Weehawken Adult Book Club (this sounds sexier than it is) meets Monday Aug 24 at 7P and the book is Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.

Sci-Fi / Fantasy book club meets Monday Aug. 31 at 7p and the book is A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin.

One read, one to go: Sorry for the glare on the covers, but that’s library protectors for ya.

Only $3.95 Million To Live In (Part Of) Sinatra’s Family Home

Ol’ Blue Eyes bought this Hoboken property for his parents in the 1940’s. In modern times it’s had a gut reno, got fancy appliances, and it hit the market.

Read all about it here on Patch: patch.com/new-jersey/hoboken/former-frank-sinatra-family-house-hoboken-listed-sale-3-9m

Related: Annual Frank Sinatra Sing-Off happening August 13 at 6:30P in Hoboken and 10 contestants will vie for the 2026 title. Where? Sinatra Park on Sinatra Drive. More details: hobokenmuseum.org/event/hoboken-my-way-sinatra-sing-off-2/

Loco Local Logo Video

The North Bergen logo and the Warner Bros. logo… once you see the resemblance, you can’t unsee it. Or is that just us? Note: Substack is having problems with the embed feature right now, but you can see the video here — it’s only about 15 seconds long.

Instagram embeds are not working now on Substack but the vid is here.

Good night and joy be with you all

Many thanks to our unpaid copyeditors. Hugo, and the one who wishes to remain anonymous.

Feel free to leave a comment here or email us tips: susie@bignoyes.com

You can also follow on Instagram here: instagram.com/weehawkengazette/ or on Facebook here: facebook.com/weehawkengazette

Get some official Weehawken Gazette merch here: gimmepancakes.com

The newsletter is still free, but we are now accepting pledges. Thank you to the incredibly sart people who’ve pledged, and please consider upgrading to paid. We have paid artists and we now pay guest writers. We have not paid ourselves because we are saving up for our goals: print editions, hiring more journalists and artists, media insurance, expanding the site, and more.

Reminder: Paid subs can claim their free classified ad and their free postcard and stamp, so DM or email us to get one.

If you want to sponsor with ads or want to discuss sponsored content email susie@bignoyes.com — as always, we will always disclose pay or freebies.

Freebies disclosure: No freebies in this issue! A few Amazon affiliate links in there, but no freebies.

Who the heck does this? See our About page.

You can also support by buying our new merch here or taking a meeting with Big Noyes if you need a slamming website, PR campaign, marketing plan, brand refresh, social media strategy, email newsletter, pitch deck and more.

Tah for now, nice nabes!

Susie

PS Subscribers get this newsletter first AND they can laugh at exclusive errors that are later corrected in the archive version.