HOBOKEN — The mayor of Hoboken has been hit with allegations of an extensive pattern of parking ticket fixing, which the democrat has claimed is a smear campaign timed to his race for Assembly.
Hoboken Mayor Ravinder “Ravi” Bhalla was named in roughly 250 parking violations, dating back to 2005, all of which were ultimately dismissed, as seen in public court records.
Before becoming mayor, Bhalla served on the Hoboken City Council from 2009 to 2018.
Attorney Georgina Giordano Pallitto has sent a letter to state, county and federal prosecutors on behalf of a client whose name has not been publicly disclosed.
Pallitto previously worked as an assistant prosecutor in the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office and is a former municipal public defender in Hoboken.
A good deal of the tickets dismissed were for expired parking meters, violation of alternate side parking rules or parking too close to a crosswalk.
Pallitto's letter to authorities listed six different parking violation tickets listing Bhalla’s car — a gray Mazda sedan — within an 18-month span, totaling $320 in fines and fees.
All six were ultimately dismissed by the Hoboken Municipal Court, which the attorney said despite Bhalla being mayor were not transferred to a different Municipal Court as required for cases involving a member of the governing body.
A spokesman for Bhalla dismissed the letter as “an amateurish stunt” in a statement to Hudson County View.
“The plain facts are Ravi Bhalla never asked anyone for...
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