Eleven of the 12 City Council candidates in the May 12 election participated in a question-and-answer forum sponsored by the Quality of Life Coalition and People for Open Government on Tuesday.
On hand at Our Lady of Grace Church were mayoral candidate Beth Mason’s ticket of Anthony Pasquale, Raul Morales, and Vinnie Addeo; mayoral candidate Dawn Zimmer’s slate of Ravi Bhalla, Carol Marsh, and Dave Mello; mayoral candidate Peter Cammarano’s candidates Michael Novak, Frances Rhodes-Kearns, and Angel Alicea; and two independent candidates, Timothy Occhipinti and Christopher Carbine.
All of the candidates are vying for the three at-large seats on the nine-member council.
“I’ve watched our taxes rise and our services fall,” said Occhipinti at the forum. “I’ve done enough watching. It was time to get off the sidelines and get in the game.”
The forum was moderated by TV reporter, anchorman, documentary filmmaker, and Hoboken resident Bob Bowdon.
Development question
Questions were submitted by audience members to monitors who grouped them together by issue for each candidate to answer.
One person asked whether the city should put a kibosh on development until a new mayor takes office, saying Hoboken was becoming a “Hong Kong on the Hudson.”
The Mason team was resolute against a hold on redevelopment, while the Zimmer team was entirely in favor of a moratorium.
Marsh said that while the council can stall redevelopment plans, it may be illegal to stop all building. Bhalla pointed out the need for “sustainable green development.”
Cammarano’s team was split on the issue – with Novak, a recent appointee to the Zoning Board, against a hold, and Alicea and Rhodes-Kearns for it.
The independent candidates gave less direct answers.
Reval: The third rail
Candidates were asked their view on a city-wide revaluation, a process that would bring property assessments up to date. Some owners of older buildings in town are paying taxes on what the buildings were assessed at more than 20 years ago, while new owners are paying high taxes. A reval would result in a de facto tax increase for roughly one-third of the residents, according to estimates.
Novak pointed out that the state monitor already has committed to beginning the process in the next fiscal year. But many candidates wavered on their support.
Mello said he would try to find relief for senior citizens – “who stuck with this town when it hadn’t gone through the renaissance it’s gone through” – if they are negatively affected by the revaluation.
Fixing the budget
Candidates were asked whether or not the budget can be reduced by 30 percent in the next fiscal year.
“The budget problems that we see now were Draconian and sudden, but the problems that led us here were not,” said council candidate and former mayoral candidate Carol Marsh, who used to sit on the council. “This is a result of years and years of fiscal mismanagement.”
But the question remained: Could the council cut the budget 30 percent?
No one on the panel promised a 30 percent cut to the budget in one year.
Pasquale said, “Whether we had a 47 percent tax increase [this year] or the new math of 23 percent, it’s still significant. A lot of it has to do with the mismanagement of this administration. Even the incentive retirement plan that was put in place was mismanaged and will probably result in a lawsuit.”
Carbine took swipe at former mayor Anthony Russo, whose restitution checks payment to the city are frequently questioned. Russo spent several years in jail after being arrested for taking bribes from a city contractor, and is supposed to pay the city more than $300,000 in restitution.
“I think we should collect all the money we have coming in to us, particularly from the Russos,” Carbine said.
Going regional
Bowdon posed the question of whether the city could safely save money by teaming up with the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue squad. The NHRFR serves West New York, Union City, Weehawken, Guttenberg, and North Bergen.
Bhalla said the regionalization of fire response teams in Union City was an “unmitigated disaster.”
Union City’s mayor, Brian Stack, has complained that fire service costs have actually gone up because of the regionalization, rather than down, although some say that North Hudson mayors have simply used the regionalization as a scapegoat when budgets rise.
Bhalla also cautioned the city not to overdevelop the city beyond the current Fire Department’s means. “Right now our Fire Department is not equipped to fight a fire at the 70th floor of an office tower,” Bhalla said, in reference to the proposed New Jersey Transit Redevelopment project that would put a tall tower on the city’s south side.
Alicea said the response time of units is a major hurdle in regionalization of firefighting resources.
Parks and cultural needs
Another person asked candidates how they would approach acquisition of parkland and support for cultural events in the city.
Addeo said it is unfortunate that local youth sports teams have to practice outside of Hoboken. His support for more parks was echoed by the rest of the panel. Pasquale said that now is the time to buy real estate for such a purpose.
The sponsors are also presenting a mayoral candidate forum on April 28.
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Watch forum online
Candidates also discussed rent control, affordable housing, and the St. Patrick’s Day parade.
Video of the event will be made available online at www.qlchoboken.org and www.hobokenpog.org, and our breaking news site, www.hudsonreporter.com, will link to those sites once the video is up.
The sponsors are also presenting a mayoral candidate forum from 7:0 to 9:30 on April 28, which will also be held at Our Lady of Grace Church, Fifth Street and Willow Avenue. It is open to the public.
Timothy J. Carroll may be reached at tcarroll@hudsonreporter.com.