Dear Friends, Family and Neighbors:
As you know, Hoboken continues to face many great challenges, and with city-wide elections next week, Hoboken’s next Mayor must have not only the right position on issues but must also possess the ability to work with diverse constituents – our community as a whole– to achieve common goals. Again, we need to elect a leader for all of Hoboken, not just for the politically connected. That can be done only with a clean break from the establishment.
As her council colleague, friend and supporter for the past two years on the city council, I have watched Dawn flourish into a great leader not only for the 4th ward, but for all of Hoboken. There is no question given the challenges before us and the need to preserve the diversity of Hoboken, we must choose a leader that has no ties to past politics and has adept leadership skills and charisma to work toward accomplishing those goals. Dawn’s brand of politics is refreshing and admirable. Her policy decisions and stances on the issues draw from broad resources from in and outside of Hoboken.
Dawn’s Church Towers vote was a game-changer in many ways. Her decision was rooted in saving affordable housing, creating affordable housing and providing fairness and equality to all taxpayers.
Flooding is a problem in much of Hoboken, but obviously worse in the southwest. As a minority on council, she has introduced new technology that will help solve the flooding problem and save Hoboken taxpayers and North Hudson Sewerage Authority ratepayers millions of dollars.
Dawn lead the effort to install stanchions and bike lanes. These were public safety and quality of life issues. These were accomplished when the city has had virtually no funding. But the benefits in providing clear visibility and reducing speed on our streets was priceless.
As leaders we need to set examples. Reducing salaries of city council and the administration were of minimal impact to the budget, but we are all in this together. We are all overpaid, and that’s a fact. But Dawn is the only one with courage to recognize that we have to cut more from the single largest component of the budget – salaries.
Lastly, Dawn has taken a strong leadership role on redevelopement. We have to do it differently, and from a different perspective. Dawn has worked hard and drawn on experience and community input to bring new ideas to southwest Hoboken, with significant changes to the NJ Transit plan, Western Edge and most recently, north Hoboken.
If you want to continue to move Hoboken forward, please consider Dawn Zimmer for Mayor. We need a clean break from the past, and like the success of Kids First two weeks ago, there’s really no choice but to elect Dawn and her council candidates Carol Marsh, Ravi Bhalla and Dave Mello.
Thank you for your consideration and support.
Peter Cunningham
5th Ward City Councilman