On Tuesday, residents will have the opportunity to elect six city councilpersons to lead Hoboken into the next four years. Each voter can only vote for one person to represent the ward in which he or she lives.
The polls will open at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
Twenty-six people are running for these spots on the nine-member council. (There are three at-large council members whose seats are not up until 2005, at the same time as the mayor’s seat is up.)
If none of the council candidates amasses more than 50 percent of the votes in their ward, a runoff between the top two vote-getters for that ward will be held June 10. Residents who register to vote by the end of this Monday will be able to vote in that runoff.
Over the past three weeks, the Reporter published profiles of all of the candidates. To learn more about those candidates, visit www.hobokenreporter.com.
This year’s election sees four different slates supporting candidates, and there are also several independents. Five out of the six incumbent councilpeople are running on a slate supported by Mayor David Roberts, and a sixth, 1st Ward councilwoman Theresa Castellano, is running as an independent.
Hoboken United
Mayor David Roberts’ Hoboken United political organization is running a campaign with the slogan “Achievements Make Good Politics,” and is banking on the public belief in the administration’s accomplishments. “For the past 19 months, we have worked very hard to fulfill our platform of political reform,” Roberts said last week. “And I believe we have been successful.”
Roberts came into office in July of 2001.
“Right now, Hoboken is the most exciting city in the state,” he said. “We’re undertaking the biggest park expansion in the history of the city, we’re going to benefit from a $100 million investment in the public school system, we have partnered with Stevens to help train our teachers, and the Hoboken ferry terminal will be completely restored with state funds, and we have come to an agreement that will allow for Elysian Fields to be restored.”
Roberts’ slate of six includes four members who in the past have run on former Mayor Anthony Russo’s ticket, although Rosanne Andreula supported Roberts during the 2001 mayoral election. This has caused some critics to say Roberts is reverting to the practices of the past. Roberts said he prides himself on a government that is inclusive. “These candidates are quality people who have joined together to advance our agenda,” he said.
Running on Roberts’ ticket are: Telecommunications consultant Shelley Miller in the 1st Ward; incumbent Richard Del Boccio, a retired Hoboken principal and long-time councilman, in the 2nd Ward; current council Vice-President Rosanne Andreula in the 3rd Ward; council incumbent Christopher Campos, a lawyer, in the 4th Ward; incumbent Michael Cricco in the 5th Ward; and incumbent A. Nino Giacchi in the 6th Ward.
Hoboken Alliance
The Hoboken Alliance’s leaders are former Roberts supporters who say they have become disenfranchised. The group’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 is running for the 4th Ward seat. Their platform is that Roberts is running a “government of headlines,” referring to Alliance’s belief that Roberts promises a progressive reform agenda and grabs headlines by doing so, but 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.”
In regards to the budget, Hoboken Alliance’s platform is that the city is overly dependent on non-recurring revenues, which they say create an alarming structural deficit. Last year the city had more than $13 million in non-recurring revenues which included $8 million from the now-dissolved Hoboken Parking Authority’s reserve.
“We support good development, but we oppose the unplanned, low quality, out-of-scale development that Hoboken is fast becoming known for,” reads a statement issued by Alliance.
According to the organization, new development must address community needs, office, retail, and recreational endeavors, affordable housing and the city’s Master Plan for development.
On the ticket are: President of the Hoboken United Synagogue Ron Rosenberg in the 1st Ward; former mayoral designee to the Planning Board Elizabeth Mason in the 2nd; community activist Elizabeth Markevitch in the 3rd; Soares in the 4th, co-founder of the Hoboken Charter School and waterfront activist Ines Garcia-Keim in the 5th, and former Hoboken Parking Authority member Daniel DeCavaignac, who works on the technical side of a banking firm, in the 6th.
Hoboken First
Another election factor is the mobilization of a slate that will be supported by the civic organization called Hoboken First. According to Jack Shaw, the first principle behind the group is smart growth, which he said means that once the Maxwell House project is finished on the waterfront, the middle of the city will be built out. According to him, the west side of town is still a prime location for sensible growth and it will become essential in the near future to keep taxes low. Some of the other candidates running this spring have been more strongly against new development.
Shaw added that the ratables received from that new development should not go to new programs or services, but solely to holding the line on taxes. Other issues of concern for the civic organization are better management of the city’s garages, and returning civility to City Hall, Shaw said.
The slate includes: Dominick Lisa in the 1st Ward; John Corea in the 2nd; Vincent Addeo in the 3rd; and Anthony Mussara in the 4th.
Hoboken Citizen Organization
The Hoboken Citizens Organization (HCO) has three candidates and is headed by outspoken community activist Daniel Tumpson. The group’s three candidates are Tumpson in the 1st Ward, Alice Misiewicz in the 2nd, and Cheryl Fallick in the 6th Ward. Their platform entails stopping Hoboken’s overdevelopment; ending harmful government/private partnerships, including Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTs) and redevelopment designations, and creating and preserving public open space.
The group said that a moratorium on development should be implemented by repealing ordinances and the Zoning Law’s Planned Unit Development provisions, and through minimizing Zoning variances. Their platform also states that PILOTs and Redevelopment designations encourage massive development by exempting it from normal zoning and taxes, and passing developers’ taxes onto the rest of the city’s residents.
On the topic of open public space, the group believes land should be used for public purposes, not to benefit developers.
One incumbent and other independents
Even with four tickets there are a number of capable independents. 1st Ward incumbent Theresa Castellano has been a harsh critic of Roberts’ budget, which saw a big spending increase this year, and has discussed the issue throughout the race.
“Because I grew up here, because I raised my children here, because my business is here, quality-of-life issues are really important to me,” said Castellano.
Also spicing up the race for council is the return of former Mayor Anthony Russo, a powerful personality, who lives in the 3rd Ward. He served for eight years as the city’s mayor (1993 to 2001).
Other independents are: Hoboken Police Lt. Edward Mecka in the 1st Ward; and Lucille Haack, who is a familiar figure at City Council meetings commenting on the city’s parking situation, in the 2nd Ward; Sal DeMeo in the 4th; former city worker Jane Richards-Mercado in the 5th, and in the 6th Ward, Carole Bartolucci.
For profiles, see www.hobokenreporter.com. Watch for falling mud
Often in Hoboken, political slates wait until after the last weekly paper comes out to mail out last-minute election flyers making unverifiable claims against their opponents. That way, it’s too late for local newspapers to respond to them.
Since there is a history of such ads and anonymous “midnight flyers” in Hoboken, be wary of any unsigned flyers or unattributed claims. And when in doubt, call the campaign headquarters if you want to hear the other side of the story.