Accusations and venom flew back and forth last week after City Councilman Anthony Soares announced his resignation from the City Council’s parking and transportation subcommittee.
In a letter to the council, Soares declared his frustration over the lack of meetings and said he felt the administration makes major decisions without asking the panel. Council President Nellie Moyeno, who along with Soares is running for re-election in May, and councilperson and committee head Theresa Castellano responded by saying that Soares never sought meetings and his resignation is merely a ploy to polarize a heated political issue before the upcoming election.
In his letter, Soares said that at first he was “gratified” by his appointment to the committee because he felt that traffic and parking was among the greatest challenges facing Hoboken. But over time he became disappointed in the conduct of the committee. In the letter, he disclosed his disapproval toward the committee’s head, Castellano, by saying she only called a handful of meetings at times that she know that he would not be able to attend. He added that even when meetings were held, they did not deal with the most pressing of topics and that the committee should have be discussing things like the troubled garage at 916 Garden and not, in Soares’ opinion, topics like raising meter rates and “park and shop” vouchers.
But Castellano said Soares is just creating campaign issues.
“He could have could have come to me at any time to request a meeting but he never did,” said Castellano last week. “He needs to create campaign issues for himself, that’s all he is doing here.” Castellano added, “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, criticize.”
Soares said that he had, in fact, asked for meetings in the past.
In a letter of response, Council President Moyeno defended the committee and its chairwoman.
“During your tenure as a councilperson [Soares], you have offered no suggestions or solutions on how to deal with Hoboken’s traffic and parking concerns,” said Moyeno. “Also, as a committee member, you have never asked for a meeting.”
Had no input on traffic study
Soares said that the last straw was the presentation of Phase I of a new traffic study two weeks ago without any input from the subcommittee. The city introduced the major study in a press conference only two months before the mayoral election, even though critics have been calling for a solution to the city’s traffic problems for some time.
Soares said his committee should have been consulted about the need for major widening on the north end of town and the proposal to turn Jackson and Monroe streets into major arteries. Soares said that he has strong opinions about the proper course of traffic in Hoboken but that he was never heard. He said the study is merely a “boondoggle” to aid some of the administration’s favored developers and would have liked to present those feelings before the study was released.
In response to the accusation that he had never helped find solutions, Soares said that it’s hard to find solutions if one doesn’t know when meetings are being held. He also insisted that he had made multiple attempts and requests for meetings, but that those requests constantly fell upon deaf ears.
He could not present any written documentation for requests for meetings.
Soares’ letter goes on to make several more indictments as to why he believes the traffic and parking sub-committee has been so unsuccessful in his eyes.
“We can speculate on what they are trying to hide,” Soares said in his letter of resignation. He accused the mayor of “political meddling” in the Parking Authority. He also noted the mayor’s wife’s status as a Parking Authority commissioner.
In her letter of response, Moyeno wrote, “I contend that without offering any constructive criticism, you have reduced yourself to political posturing, crying out all kinds of unsubstantiated allegations rather that dedicating yourself to being an effective leader.”
When asked why his resignation is so close to the election, Soares quoted Martian Luther King Jr. “It is always the right time to do right,” he said.
But there are some that feel that in resigning from the committee, Soares is not being dutiful.
In her letter to Soares, Moyeno said, “Your quitting is nothing more than political grandstanding. Rather than fighting, you remind me of Roberto Duran’s famous ‘No Mas’ statement when he was fighting for a championship.”
Soares likened his decision to Abraham Lincoln’s resignation from the Whig party because they did not have a strong enough stance on slavery. He said that most people do not view Lincoln a quitter, because he was doing the right thing. “I am not giving up on Hoboken,” said Soares last Thursday. “I just feel like this administration has abandoned its oversight role. Under a new administration I will be more than happy to again serve and work hard for this committee.”