Dear Editor:
Don’t be fooled by the number of people running for Mayor. The choice is very simple. Either you want Dawn Zimmer to run the city or you don’t. With all due respect to the others who filed to run, there’s only one person on the ballot with the support, experience, credibility and drive to defeat Zimmer and put Hoboken on the right track. That person is Beth Mason.
In the three months since she chose to hold the dual offices of Acting Mayor and Council President, Zimmer has shown us all just how ill-equipped and unqualified she is for the jobs. Last spring the Zimmer ticket promised to introduce a budget with a 25 per cent tax cut in their first six weeks in office. Where is it? I’ve pressed her on this issue at council meetings. Zimmer sheepishly cowers, and the look on her face tells me her campaign promise was a lie.
There are many reasons to believe we’ll get another tax increase this year on Zimmer’s watch, chief among them the fact the Acting Mayor refuses to release budget information before the election. That’s a tactic we’ve seen many times before in Hoboken. Dawn takes credit for things she had nothing to do with (such as the return of the Cross-Town Bus, and the NHSA’s downtown sewage pump project) but hides behind the cover of the State Fiscal Monitor on the most important issue: The Budget. If the news was good (or anywhere near the hype of her campaign promises) don’t you think Zimmer would have shown us her budget by now? We shouldn’t be surprised. First Zimmer abstained on a budget vote, and now she abstains on sharing the truth with the public.
Frank Raia loves Hoboken, but his loss in the last School Board election shows he doesn’t have the support necessary to win the Mayor’s seat. Kim Glatt’s claim she’s an “outsider” is silly to anyone familiar with the circumstances of her appointment to the bench by Anthony Russo, and her reappointment by David Roberts. Even today Roberts supports Glatt’s candidacy with a sign in the window of his home. A vote for Raia or Glatt is a vote for Zimmer in this winner-take-all election. There won’t be a runoff. This is it, for all the marbles.
Beth Mason’s coalition of support is intact and growing. Beth is the only choice with the integrity and credentials to fix our budget, create new active park space, and encourage sane and sustainable development. I firmly believe Beth Mason is the only candidate with the character and support to win this race and move Hoboken forward with real reform. Let’s join together to elect a fighter for ALL of us. Please vote for Beth Mason on November 3rd.
Thank you,
Lane Bajardi