Dear Editor:
After attending the opening of the Hoboken United Campaign Headquarters on Washington Street with Councilman David Roberts heading the ticket as the Mayoral candidate, I thought back over the last three years of Hoboken United’s efforts to make some changes for the better in city government. In partnership with community groups, we have prevented a few disasters (like building on piers over the Hudson and changing rent control to disfavor tenants). Admittedly, other efforts, like more equitable appointments to City Boards and affordable housing initiatives have been blocked.
Hoboken United and its elected public officials on the City Council, now running for office, Councilmen David Roberts, Ruben Ramos and Tony Soares, as well as Carol Marsh, the community activist who has joined the ticket, are, like the majority of their supporters, people with jobs and businesses, family lives and interests that stretch beyond political power and greed machinations. I have watched them and members of the public try to speak their piece before City Council meetings and experience being squelched and ridiculed. Since we, the public, sit directly in front of the Council, the smirks, grimaces and impatient shuffles of the members of the current administration in response to any disagreement to their not so hidden agendas are painfully obvious. Under these circumstances, it takes guts to speak up and I credit those who do.
Some of us who ran for City Council two years ago, on the Hoboken United ticket, both winners and losers, were bombarded by the tactics of cowardly character assassinations in the guise of unsigned letters and midnight flyers with disgusting implications slid under apartment doors.
As a mental health counselor, I earn less than 40K and I was written up as a criminal for sharing an apartment which is the only way I and other working people can remain in Hoboken. Ironically, members of the administration earning over six figures continue to live in government-regulated affordable housing. When I challenged my opponent to debate real issues, she refused. I lost the election by less than one hundred votes. I was told that a deal with a developer cost me votes in Applied Housing. That explanation is unacceptable. I accepted and regret the loss. As voters, we are given the privacy and privilege of voting in a booth. No developer or political machine pulls the levers for us. If we choose to allow ourselves to be intimated or uniformed that is our vote to lose. We owe it to ourselves and our community to make educated choices.
The Hoboken United ticket in the coming May election is the proven educated choice for our community. There will continue to be differences of opinion, but a real democratic system is not threatened by diversity. It learns from and thrives on a variety of views. Most imporant, our differences are treated with respect. Tremendous damage has been done to our community by uncontrolled development which offers no balance of affordable housing or the necessary parking and traffic accommodations. At present, we are a snarled city with overpriced housing, shops, restaurants and two supermarkets that overcharge anywhere between 10 to 50 percent compared to other markets. There is no space left for working families, the poor or senior citizens. We have lost our sense of priorities and decency as a multi-cultural ecnomically mixed community that protects and takes pride in the healthy mix of voices. With Hoboken United we have a chance to have our voices heard!
Jean Forest