On a bitterly cold and snowy evening a week ago Friday, approximately 75 Hoboken residents attended a launch party for a new political organization called the Hoboken Alliance for Accountable Government.
At the meeting, the Hoboken Alliance announced its slate for the May 13 City Council elections, which are already shaping up to be crowded and competitive. Also at the meeting, the group declared their ideology and platform.
The group’s leaders are former supporters of Mayor David Roberts who say they have become disenfranchised. The Hoboken Alliance’s most visible figureheads are council members Carol Marsh, who is the group’s chairwoman but is not up for re-election this year, and Councilman Tony Soares, who will run in the 4th Ward. Both Marsh and Soares successfully ran under Roberts’ Hoboken United moniker during the May 2001 elections, but are now heading an opposition slate.
Their basic platform is that Roberts is running a “government of headlines,” meaning that they believe that Roberts promises a progressive reform agenda, and grabs headlines by doing so, but in reality, they allege, Roberts has not delivered on those promises for change.
“Some people will criticize us for what we are doing,” said Marsh about breaking from Roberts. “I guess that they continue to believe, despite all evidence, that David will keep his promises.”
She added that “this administration is bent on continuing the failed policies of the past while talking a good game about the future.”
After Marsh spoke, the candidates took turns introducing themselves to the crowd. They mostly hit the same themes throughout their speeches: lower taxes, more and better parking solutions, the need for more open space, making government accountable, and responsible planning when it comes to development issues.
Roberts said Tuesday said that Soares and Marsh have been planning a “power grab” for some time now but that they will be defeated soundly.
“The will continue to be fast and loose when playing with my record; trying to create confusion at every opportunity they get,” he said. “They aren’t running on the truth.”
Roberts added that he is proud of his record as mayor. “I have a strong record that I’m going to be putting behind a qualified slate of candidates,” said Roberts. He said that he will continue to proactively address open space, land use, and parking issues. “Since becoming mayor I have maintained a stable tax rate, crime is down, and in the near future we will open five new parks in town, as well as opening for our residents approximately 1,200 new parking spaces.”
Roberts also attacked the Hoboken Alliance for a perceived lack of diversity and for excluding Hoboken’s “traditional” community. “I’m for a government that practices inclusion and prides itself on its diversity, and they aren’t,” said Roberts. “I believe that everyone should participate in government, not just the small group of people that Carol Marsh and Tony Soares have decided they want to run the government.”
Their slate
In the 1st Ward, the Hoboken Alliance will be running Ron Rosenberg. Rosenberg has been the president of the Hoboken United Synagogue since 1999. Rosenberg criticized the administration for introducing a budget that has a substantial structural budget deficit that depends on $13.4 million in non-recurring “one-shot revenues,” which includes $8 million from the now-dissolved Hoboken Parking Authority’s cash reserve.
“In Trenton, when the operating expenses far exceed the operating income, they call it a deficit,” Rosenberg said. “Across the river, in New York City, they call the same thing a crisis. In Hoboken, we call it a good budget.” Rosenberg added, “In New York City and Trenton, good people are burning the midnight oil looking to reduce expenditures. In Hoboken, we put the ‘for sale’ sign on yet another community asset. In New York City and Trenton they are communicating urgency. In Hoboken we talk about stable tax rates.”
In the 2nd Ward, the Hoboken Alliance will be running Beth Mason. Until recently, Beth Mason served as Mayor Roberts’ designee to the Hoboken Planning Board. Mason, who was the chairwoman of the Planning Board’s Master Plan Subcommittee, recently resigned over disagreements with mayor over several appointments and ideology when it comes to development.
“I am running because we are squandering our opportunities to encourage diversity and economic development that benefits everyone,” said Mason. “We cannot retain diversity if every construction project is a luxury rental composed of only one- and two-bedroom units. We cannot speak about economic development when there is no active plan by our government to attract businesses.”
In the 3rd Ward, Elizabeth Markevitch will be running. Markevitch co-founded Hoboken Common Sense, a local civic group dedicated to open government, and is a familiar face at almost every City Council, Planning Board and Board of Education meeting. One of Markevitch’s big issues has been creating more open space, and that is what she concentrated on most on Monday.
“One of the things I care about most, and so do a lot of people I know, is that we don’t have enough parks and space for recreation,” said Markevitch. “Right now, we have eight schools that use one park for their recreation. Yet, there is no real plan or commitment to create more parks in Hoboken,”
In the 4th Ward, At-Large Councilman Tony Soares will be running. If he wins, he will shift from an at-large seat to the 4th Ward seat. If not, he still is able to retain his at-large chair until 2005. He served as council president in Mayor Roberts’ first year in office, but has since broken with Roberts.
“For months there have been whispers among City Halls friends that I wouldn’t have the guts to stand up and run for 4th Ward council,” said Soares. “Well I have a message for City Hall: I have the guts.”
Hoboken Alliance’s 5th Ward candidate will be Inés García Keim, who is a co-founder of the Hoboken Charter School, a waterfront activist, a cultural event promoter, and is the chair of the Puerto Rican Cultural Committee Scholarship Fund. In her speech, she spoke about some of the problems that the 5th Ward has faced in the recent past.
“The 5th Ward is known for the troubles at the 916 Garden St. garage, and the Northwest Redevelopment Zone that’s being parceled out block by block to politically-connected developers,” Keim said. “We need a council member who will work for planned, controlled economic development that is right for Hoboken, open space for recreation, an accessible government and quality government services for our hard-earned tax dollars.”
In the 6th Ward, Daniel DeCavignac will be Hoboken Alliance’s candidate. DeCavaignac was one of Roberts’ appointments to the Hoboken Parking Authority in 2001, but resigned half a year later over differences in policy with Roberts. DeCavaignac was the first to predict last summer that Roberts would dissolve the Parking Authority and raid its cash funds to plug the budget gap – and just recently, the city approved a budget that took millions of dollars from the former Parking Authority’s cash reserve.
“Tonight, I make two new predictions,” said DeCavaignac. “Number one, the administration will use the proceeds from the sale of 916 Garden to plug another budget hole, not to repay the outstanding debt of the garage. And number two, the mayor and city council president will hire a Hudson County politico to become the new executive director of the parking utility, and not conduct an open public search for the best-qualified professional.”