A total of 42 candidates are running for nine seats on the Jersey City council this May 12, including for three council-at-large seats and for six seats representing Wards A through F.
In addition, five candidates are running for mayor.
This week, the Jersey City Reporter profiles the 11 candidates running in Wards E and F, listed according to ballot position. In upcoming weeks, the newspaper will profile the other candidates.
The candidates answered two questions – Which issue(s) will you address first when you get into office, and why should the public vote for you?
Ward E: Downtown/waterfront. Bounded by the Hoboken border and Audrey Zapp Drive.
Jamie Vazquez
Vazquez has spent most of his life in Jersey City. A Vietnam veteran and Purple Heart recipient, he was elected overwhelmingly to three consecutive terms on the City Council from 1985 to 1997. Vazquez graduated from St. Peter’s College. He is the city’s Director of Veterans Affairs, and hosted a talk show on WPIX-TV for a decade. Vasquez is running on L. Harvey Smith’s mayoral ticket.
What issue(s) will you address first when you get in office?
“My top priority will be crime. I have seen the increase in robberies and muggings downtown, where I live, over the past year and it is alarming. But all across the city, crime has increased. It is something that we need to address.”
Why should the public vote for you?
“I served three consecutive terms on the City Council, and I’ve been at the forefront of many of the major battles in downtown and citywide for decades. I know the issues and I will be a full-time councilman, not a part-timer who works somewhere else during the day.”
Guy Catrillo
Catrillo was born and raised in downtown Jersey City. He currently works in the Jersey City Mayor’s Action Bureau, and previously worked as a senior planning aide on special project assignment for the city’s historical Apple Tree House. He attended New Jersey City University and then New York University. Catrillo is serving, or has served, on the boards of numerous neighborhood and civic associations in the past 35 years. He is single and has no children. Catrillo is running on Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s ticket.
What issue(s) will you address first as soon as you get into office?
“I will work to create more affordable housing, preserve historic sites, increase safety of our residents and continue to make downtown greener and cleaner.”
Why should the public vote for you?
“For my entire 54 years of life, I have lived in downtown. I know this city and the issues of the downtown community as well as anyone. I believe that voters will have no better representative than me in the Ward E Council Office.”
Azam Riaz
Riaz attended Our Lady of Czestochowa grammar school and St. Peter’s Prep High School. He graduated from Saint Peter’s College and attended Fairleigh Dickinson University and Wroxton College in Oxfordshire, U.K. Since 2000, Riaz has served as an accountant/auditor at a New York City company. He is married with three children. Riaz is running on Phillip Webb’s mayoral ticket.
What issue(s) will you address first as soon as you get into office?
“The issue(s) that will be addressed first are an open, honest and committed form of government. City Hall’s doors will be opened to all races and nationalities. Everyone will be represented and no one will be left out of the process. All of Ward E will be represented and visited to address their concerns.”
Why should the public vote for you?
“I would like the residents of Jersey City to support my campaign for Jersey City Councilperson for Ward E because I believe in a high standard for values, ethics, and social responsibility.”
Joseph Tarrazi
Tarrazi has lived in Jersey City for eight years. He is currently the concierge for a large condo complex in Fort Lee. Tarazzi has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Baruch College in New York City. He has worked in sales, and managed a branch office of an automobile agency. He is an active member of Local 32BJ of the building services worker’s union as well as a participant in neighborhood activities throughout Ward E.
Tarrazi did not answer questions before this article went to press. He is running on Louis Manzo’s mayoral ticket.
Steven Fulop, incumbent
Steven Fulop currently serves as the Ward E Councilman, elected to the City Council in 2005. His career has been entirely in financial services, and he currently works at a New York City hedge fund firm. Fulop served as a U.S. Marine in Iraq in 2001, where he and his unit were recipients of numerous awards and recognition for service. Fulop attended SUNY Binghamton, Columbia University, and NYU. He is single with no children. Fulop is running as an independent.
What issue(s) will you address first when you get into office?
“I will continue to work for safety, education improvement, and reform for lower taxes. Those will be my three overall priorities. In addition, my advocacy for preservation of the embankment as open space and the importance of the Powerhouse Warehouse district will continue to remain core parts of my role in the city council.”
Why should the public vote for you?
“In my first term in office representing Ward E, I have been the only independent voice on the council that refused to rubber-stamp agendas.”
Ward F: Spans most of the Bergen-Lafayette section and a part of the Greenville section. Located between Woodlawn Avenue and Mercer Street.
Viola Richardson, incumbent
Richardson is the youngest of 12 children born in South Carolina. She is married with three children and several grandchildren. Richardson graduated from Jersey City State College. She is now retired from the Jersey City Police Department, where she served for 21 years. The Ward F incumbent, she was elected in June 2001 and reelected in May 2005. Richardson is running on Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s ticket.
What issue(s) will you address first as soon as you get into office?
“I will continue to address the needs for crime reduction, affordable housing, economic development, employment and recreation – continuing to deliver change you can see to Jersey City.”
Why should the public vote for you?
“I have worked tirelessly to bring about positive change you can see to the lives of my neighbors. Whether it has been to help resolve issues relating to recreation, crime, employment, or housing, my ongoing commitment has been the same – to work for the good of my neighbors in Ward F and for the entire city as a whole.”
Ron-Calvin Clark
Clark was born and raised in Jersey City. For the past 20 years, he has served as pastor of the Anointed Gospel Christian Center Church. He studied for the ministry of the Lord at Adonai Temple Christian Seminary and at the Baptist Bible Brotherhood Institute, both in Jersey City. Clark has also served on the boards of other local organizations, including serving on the Jersey City Board of Education. He is single but is the legal guardian of two children. Clark is running on Louis Manzo’s mayoral ticket.
What issue(s) will you address first as soon as you get into office?
“It is about the youth and young adults, as far bringing more recreation and afterschool programs, and more training for jobs. It is a mountainous need in Ward F that has to be addressed.”
Why should the public vote for you?
“Voters in Ward F should vote for me because 1) I have the experience of public office and 2) I have 22 years of experience working in the community.”
Omar Barbour
Omar Barbour was born in Virginia and has resided in Jersey City for the past 40 years. A product of the New York and California school systems, Barbour has worked on New York City’s Madison Avenue. In 1983 he founded AEI, a minority owned and operated real estate development company specializing in construction contracting. Barbour spearheaded the Martin Luther King Drive Redevelopment Plan, which led to the creation of a new town center on Martin Luther King Drive. Barbour has two children and has six grandchildren. He is running as an independent.
What issue(s) will you address as soon as you get into office?
“Crime, and the deteriorating economic situation in the Ward, which are directly interconnected to the lack of decent affordable housing.”
Why should the public vote for you?
“The voters of Ward F in particular know that they are not better off now than they were four years ago. The challenges confronting Ward F are vastly different than any other ward in the city.”
Calvin Hart
A product of the Jersey City Public Schools, Hart is a decorated U.S. Marine, having been awarded three Purple Hearts and presidential citations for valor. Formerly a homicide investigator, he has been a detective for over 25 years with the Jersey City Police Department and Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office and is also a Certified Police Instructor. Hart is running on L. Harvey Smith’s mayoral ticket.
What issue(s) will you address first when you get in office?
“Well, as a law enforcement officer living in a ward that has seen the biggest increase in crime in the city, my top issue is crime. I have seen, firsthand, as a detective and former Homicide Investigator, what crime does. It crushes a community’s spirit and makes economic development impossible.”
Why should the public vote for you?
“I won’t say that it’s going to be easy, but I’m not afraid of the effort. I want to lead us back and I think I am the candidate with the most credibility to do so.”
Lavern Webb-Washington
Washington is a Jersey City native, the 13th child of 14 who attended the Jersey City Public Schools, where she was employed as a custodian before retiring. Her volunteer efforts are largely dedicated to her leadership role in the Randolph Avenue and Harmon Street Block Association. Washington is involved with the C.O.M.B.A.T.T. boxing program in Newark, and founded the Webb-Washington Community Development Corporation. She is divorced with one son and two grandchildren. Washington is running as an independent.
What issue(s) will you address first when you get in office?
“Housing and crime, those issues go together. Also, helping our kids, which I have done for a long time in the community. Our children can’t read and write, and they can’t fill out an application for a job. When you are illiterate, you end up getting into crime.”
Why should the public vote for you?
“The voters should vote for me to bring a change, and because I am involved in the community. Also, [they should] vote for someone who is focused on the community and not on a second job in City Hall.”
Tyrone Ballon
Ballon was born and raised in Jersey City. He graduated from Lincoln High School and attended St. Peter’s College and Victory Church Provision of Promise Ministry in Newark, where he also serves as associate pastor. Ballon works as a terminal supervisor for the PATH system in Jersey City. He is the founder of the Ministry for M.E.N. He is married with four children and one grandchild. Ballon is running as an independent.
What issue(s) will you address first when you get in office?
“One of the issues I will be addressing is crime on our streets, particularly in Ward F. While people talk about resolving this matter with more police presence, and I agree, there are other root causes that need to be dealt with first.”
Why should the public vote for you?
“I have that ability to bring new, innovative ideas and thinking without interference from the political machine because I am running as an independent.”
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonrreporter.com.