NJ mayor awarded for rejecting ‘Jersey Shore’ spinoff

UNIVERSAL CITY, CA - JUNE 06: (L-R) Sammi Giancola, Ronnie 'Fist Pump Brah' Magro, Angelina 'Jolie' Pivarnick, Pauly Del Vecchio, Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi, Vinny Guadagnino, Jenni "JWOWW" Farley and Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino pose in the press room at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards held at the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal Studios on June 6, 2010 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

HOBOKEN, N.J. (AP) — An Italian-American group is responding to Hoboken’s rejection of MTV’s “Jersey Shore” reality show — by giving the city’s mayor an award.

The Italian American One Voice Coalition is presenting Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer with its “Una Voce” award Wednesday for denying film permits to a show the group feels promotes negative stereotypes of Italian Americans.

Zimmer says the decision to deny permits was made based on safety and quality-of-life concerns for residents of Hoboken.

The show has been issued permits to film in Jersey City. The spinoff of the reality series will feature Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Jenni “JWoww” Farley renting an apartment in New Jersey’s second largest city. Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy says he believes the show is an opportunity to promote the city.