After months of jockeying and hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign spending, the Hoboken mayor and City Council races come down to Tuesday’s runoff election. The runoff pits incumbent Mayor David Roberts and his three City Council candidates against Councilwoman Carol Marsh and her three.
Hoboken voters can vote for any three of the council candidates.
Being mayor of Hoboken is a full-time job that involves managing a $72 million budget and overseeing the Parking Utility and four city departments: Environmental Services, Human Services, Community Development, and Administration, which includes the police and fire departments.
The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The first time around
On May 10, in the first general election, Roberts and Marsh received 3,803 and 2,976 votes respectively. Roberts won 37 percent of the vote, while Marsh got 29 percent.
Other candidates were school board member and businessman Frank Raia, Councilman Michael Russo, and community activist Evelyn Smith. Both Russo and Raia have since endorsed Roberts.
Mayor David Roberts
David Roberts, 48, is the 37th mayor of the city of Hoboken. Throughout his campaign, Roberts has said that he will continue to improve the residents’ quality of life by fully implementing the city’s new master plan for development, and achieving his open space and recreation goals. Roberts also has noted the importance of the public schools’ educational partnership with the Stevens Institute of Technology, and the development of new affordable housing. Roberts hosted the first local forum on charter schools in the 1990s.
Roberts is a Hoboken firefighter who went on leave to serve as a councilman before becoming mayor.
Roberts’ family owns profitable establishments including East L.A. Restaurant and Westside Plaza.
Roberts is running with incumbent Councilman Ruben Ramos Jr., attorney Peter Cammarano, and schoolteacher and former housing board member Terry LaBruno.
Councilwoman Carol Marsh
Carol Marsh, 49, who is running on a reform platform, first became active in Hoboken politics in the mid-1990s when she fought against redevelopment plans that would have built a high-rise office building on Pier A. Only through a grassroots movement was the plan defeated.
In 2001, after two decades working in technology for financial firms, Marsh was elected to the Hoboken City Council as part of Mayor David Roberts’ ticket, but soon broke with him. She said Roberts hasn’t lived up to his original promises.
Marsh is running on a platform of controlling city spending, acquiring open space, effectively planning development, and making government accessible to the public. Marsh has been critical of Roberts’ performance and said that while in power, Roberts increased spending by approximately $18 million, acquired little new land for open space, and hasn’t effectively managed development. She has also said that Roberts has become beholden to his campaign contributors.
Marsh is running with incumbent Councilman Tony Soares, attorney Brian Urbano, and Inés García-Keim, who works for an airline and is a co-founder of the Puerto Rican Cultural Committee Scholarship Fund and the Hoboken Charter School.
The council candidates
Last week, both mayoral candidates were profiled. Click on www.hobokenreporter.com to read more.
Below are sketches of the council candidates. They are seeking three at-large seats on the nine-member council. At-large seats represent the entire community. Council members earn approximately $20,000 a year.
The outcome of the election will determine who votes on issues related to development, parking, affordable housing, and taxes.
Marsh’s ticket
Inés García-Keim
Inés García-Keim, is a familiar face at city meetings. Originally from Puerto Rico, Keim graduated from Barnard College at Columbia University and was the first woman in her family to earn a college degree.
She was founding board member of the Hoboken Charter School and serves on the board of the Quality of Life Coalition. She also volunteers to aid victims of domestic violence and is helping expand the Puerto Rican Cultural Festival from a small event to a waterfront festival. García-Keim does community outreach for the Hoboken Historical Museum and serves on the Rent Leveling Board. And she has been on the Board of The Fund for a Better Waterfront, as an outspoken advocate for responsible development.
In the Reporter’s April candidate profile, Garcia-Keim said that the first priority should be to bring Hoboken back to being fiscally responsible.
“Hoboken’s fiscal health must be restored so we can effectively embrace the opportunities and address the challenges ahead,” she said. “We simply cannot continue to spend more than what we collect in revenues. With a budget that has grown over 30 percent in just three years, the city administration needs to take an honest look at every line item to eliminate redundancies and make sure that every expenditure is justified.”
She added that as the city plans its growth, it must ensure the preservation of historic structures and the creation of recreational facilities that include performance spaces and active recreational and passive green spaces, not just on our waterfront but in new residential neighborhoods.
Tony Soares
Incumbent Councilman Tony Soares is a creative director for a Manhattan Ad agency, where he produces TV commercials for clients such as AT& T.
After college, he moved to Hoboken where he became involved by joining the Coalition for a Better Waterfront and other advocacy groups. Tony was elected to the City Council in 1999, and then re-elected in 2001 on Mayor David Roberts’ ticket. Soares soon broke with Roberts because he believes that Roberts failed to live up to his campaign promises when it came to maintaining an open government, and showing fiscal restraint.
“The most important issues facing Hoboken are its lack of open and honest government, quality city services, and fiscal responsibility,” said Soares recently. “Despite his promises and election year claims, not one of these issues has been effectively addressed under Mayor Roberts.” He added that the public has to be listened to. “When we ask for open space and commercial development, we shouldn’t get residential high-rises,” said Soares. “Quality city services can only be consistently delivered when employees are respected, and show respect to the public.”
He added that, “fiscal responsibility requires recognizing we have run out of assets to sell, and that uncontrolled residential development has only worsened our financial mess. We have no choice but to find more efficient solutions to our city’s problems.”
Brian Urbano
Brian Urbano came to Hoboken as so many do, renting an apartment and working in the city. He first worked as law clerk to a Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court and then as a litigator at a New York law firm.
He holds a law degree from the University of Virginia, where he was an editor of the Journal of Law & Politics, and a B.A., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University.
In 2004, Urbano was one of the most vocal supporters of pay-to-play legislation, and helped write, and then introduced to the City Council, an ordinance banning pay-to-play, which is the trading of no-bid contracts for campaign contributions.
Urbano was one of the most vocal activists when it came to last year’s pay-to-play reform movement.
“There is a strong correlation between people’s involvement and their belief in the system,” Urbano said in April. “Hoboken should be leading the state in its effort to return the public trust in our government rather than perpetuate it. That means electing people who believe that government is there to serve all the people of the community through an open and fair process.” He recommended changes like hiring the most qualified rather than those politically connected, ensuring that public documents are readily available to the public, making sure that budgets, audits and other regulatory procedures are done on time, and making sure budget workshops are standard operating procedure to include the public.
Roberts’ ticket
Peter Cammarano
Peter Cammarano is running on Mayor David Roberts’ ticket. After graduating from Boston University in 1999 with a B.A. in political science and a minor in history, Cammarano settled in Hoboken and graduated from Seton Hall Law School.
Currently, he works for the law firm of Genova, Burns & Vernoia in Livingston, where he practices in the areas of labor and employment law, and election law.
Cammarano is a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, and Hudson County Bar Association. In addition to the private practice of law, he also works as an adjunct professor at Montclair State University, teaching legal research to undergraduate and graduate students.
Cammarano was active locally in national Democratic campaigns.
Cammarano said that the most important issue facing Hoboken will be how the city manages its growth.
“While it’s certainly a blessing that our city continues to attract so many new residents, such growth will require the attention of our local government and commensurate growth in our ability to serve our citizens,” said Cammarano in April. “We must ensure that our parking space keeps up with the growth; that our water, sewer and other utility services are up to the task; that our schools continue to improve and meet the demands of a younger population; that we acquire and maintain enough open space for public recreation; that our businesses are vibrant and reflective of the character of our neighborhoods; and that our government remains responsive to a changing citizenry.”
Terry LaBruno
Terry LaBruno has lived in Hoboken her entire life. She is the youngest of six children born to Lena Mosca-Cappiello and Daniel Cappiello, who arrived in the United States from Italy in 1904. Her uncle, Steve Cappiello, served the City of Hoboken from 1963 to 1991 both as a city councilman and three-term mayor.
LaBruno graduated summa cum laude from St. Peter’s College in 1979 with a B.S. in psychology. She went on to teach high school mathematics at the Academy of Sacred Heart in Hoboken from 1979 to 1990; from 1990 to the present she’s been teaching at St. Mary High School in Jersey City.
LaBruno served on the Hoboken Housing Authority board in the 1990s, but left after the other board members continually dealt with litigation and fights rather than moving forward.
LaBruno, who lives on the west side of town, said before the general election, “I believe the most important issues facing Hoboken are maintaining our diversity, continuing to tackle quality of life issues, and integrating the Hoboken Housing Authority apartments into the Hoboken renaissance.”
She added that one of her priorities will be to keep families in Hoboken. She said this can be done through effective planning of development, with an emphasis on enticing builders to include larger units, and also through supporting education.
“Partnerships and cooperation between city and school officials, as well as volunteer and parent groups, will be the secret to the success of our schools,” said LaBruno. “I would like to see another senior building built to insure that our older residents, too, have the opportunity to stay in Hoboken. Our young people deserve more community centers and activities.”
She added that she would also advocate improving the conditions in the Hoboken Housing Authority.
Ruben Ramos Jr.
Incumbent Ruben Ramos Jr., a born-and-raised Hobokenite, graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1995 with a B.A. in political science, and is now a teacher in Paterson.
In 1999 he becomes the youngest councilman elected in Hoboken when he won the 4th Ward seat. In 2001, he ran on Robert’s ticket for an at-large seat and again won.
In 1999, Ramos was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease, and after a regimen of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, he was declared cancer free in 2000. He later became council president. He also was a keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 2000 in Los Angeles. Ramos said that Hoboken is a complex urban environment with a diverse population that expects a high caliber of city services.
“Our biggest challenge is to maintain and expand the quality of life for our entire population,” Ramos said in April. “Much of our needs are outlined in our new master plan, for which I was proud to have been a close advocate and participant. The Roberts administration has made significant strides to incorporate its recommendations into municipal policy. We have already outlined a comprehensive initiative to nearly double the amount of open space in our community utilizing traditional and creative techniques.”
He added that as many more residents choose to raise their families here, he is proud that the administration has made educational advances a top priority. “We have created a dynamic linkage program between our public schools and Stevens Institute to provide an advanced curriculum of science and technology,” he said.