Hoboken Chamber of Commerce Looking To Revamp Itself

Many business cards were exchanged across the nicely set tables at Amanda's Restaurant on Monday afternoon, as the Hoboken business community came together to listen to Congressman Albio Sires. 

Around 12 p.m., Hudson County politicians (Mayor Dawn Zimmer, Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner, Hudson County Freeholder Anthony Romano, Council members Michael Lenz and Beth Mason) and local business owners started trickling into the restaurant. 

The goal of the event? Revitalizing the Hoboken Chamber of Commerce. 

Part of that effort is using social media to promote the organization and its events, said one of the Chamber's board members Mike Novak.

"We're tweeting every day," Novak said. "The goal is to get 200 members by the end of the year."

Novak said that the organization just got 100 members, up from 45. Inviting Sires was just part of the plan to draw the business community together. 

Novak's fellow board member and landlord of the Hoboken Business Center Greg Dell'Aquila said that these events are held to draw a lot of people. An earlier mixer was held at the W Hotel, Dell'Aquila said. He said he'd like to see the New Jersey senators and other high profile politicans at future events. 

Sires, who owned a business in Union, NJ for 22 years, said that small businesses are the back bone of the economy. He also said he understands the difficulty of paying the bills, especially health care. In his almost hour-long speech—which touched on so many topics it was hard to pinpoint the message of the speech—Sires talked about the process of getting the health care reform bill passed in the Congress.

In the meantime, the guests ate their appetizers (mixed greens or lobster bisque).

"I always found the chamber of commerce to be a great place to network and get different ideas," Sires said. "The small business owner is the big generator of jobs in the economy."

The Congressman spoke until about mid-way through the main course (salmon, chicken or steak). 

Among the attendees was Hoboken University Medical Center CEO Spiros Hatiras. He said he didn't want to talk about the Hospital and its financial situation (the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority recently hired a legal counsel to assess the hospital's financial situation) and that he was there on behalf of the second largest employer in town. 

"I'm supporting the local business community," Hatiras said. 

Sires' speech also touched on health care, his personal history coming from Cuba and the oil spill in the Gulf.  Mostly, though, he tried to relate to the people in front of him, who on more than one occasion were checking their iPhones and Blackberries. 

"We know," Sires said, "that business owners like you are the heart of the economy."

Sires, who lives in West New York, visited Hoboken on the same day as U.S. Senator and Hoboken resident Bob Menendez came into town to promote a new piece of legislation.