Dear Editor:
I’ve lived in Hoboken for six years. I grew up in Northern New Jersey so I’ve watched with my own eyes, what for the most part, has been a positive evolution of our city over the last 15 years. When I first moved here I was happy to sit on the sidelines of local politics. But when I learned of the 84 percent increase in municipal taxes I had to get more involved.
I joined a website called LowerHobokenTaxes.com to learn more about how I could make a difference. Within three weeks our grassroots effort has more than 600 members who signed a petition to express their anger about the mismanagement of our government! Clearly, I was not alone in wanting to become more engaged.
As I am sure you can understand these 600 people come with a lot of emotions: frustration, anger, disgust. I am not here to focus on the negative of the past that got us into this situation. But, I do want to talk about the potential of our future. Simply stated myself and these 600 citizens demand change. And, we want to see it now.
My plea to Judy Tripodi: Judy you have a reputation for doing the right thing. We understand you are in a tough position and will be faced with difficult decisions. We are putting our trust in you! And, we hope that you will be the leader to make the necessary cuts to this absurd budget
My plea to The City Council: Why are we, the taxpayers, the only ones being asked to sacrifice? We have seen you set the right tone with minor givebacks over the last few months. We all know much more is needed. We ask that you work with Judy to make cut backs across all aspects of this budget. Open up the contracts! Find out where the money is going! Your hands are not tied from doing your civic duty of representing your constituents! Just because you do not make the final decision does not mean you can not influence the decision.
There is a new awakened awareness to this issue… it is a viral, grassroots effort using the internet to establish a community that will allow our voice to be heard!
Many of us changed our voter registration to participate in the presidential election in November. We look forward to voting in our first local elections in May!
Thank you to those to attended the rally on Wednesday! Please continue to stay engaged! Together we can lower Hoboken taxes!
Tina Hahn