Dear Editor:
I am writing to express my enthusiastic support for 4th Ward Councilman Mike Lenz in the special election on Nov. 2. Since the very beginning of my campaign to bring positive change to the 4th Ward and all of Hoboken, Mike has been an indispensable part of my team. Hoboken and the 4th Ward need him to help me keep our town and our neighborhood on the right track.
I ran for 4th Ward Councilwoman back in 2007 because I knew that, while Hoboken had many urgent problems, the 4th Ward had special concerns that had been ignored for too long. While it is not the only neighborhood that floods, the flooding there is most severe. While it is not the only neighborhood to lack sufficient open space, it has the least. While it is not the only neighborhood without enough restaurants and stores, it has the fewest. While public safety is a priority everywhere, the 4th Ward has the greatest needs.
Councilman Mike Lenz and I, together with the rest of the Zimmer Team, are working to make the critical changes Hoboken and the 4th Ward need. Our new Police redeployment plan, prepared in close cooperation with Police Chief Falco, will ensure that public safety will be enhanced through a significant increase in street presence.
A wet weather pump station will be completed this spring on Observer Highway. This pump is expected to dramatically reduce the flooding problem in the 4th Ward. Previous administrations had planned to build this most important pump last – after 3 other less important pumps, putting the 4th Ward last once again. My team and I fought successfully to have the 4th Ward pump done first, and it will soon be a reality.
Thanks to a resolution championed by me and Mike Lenz, and unanimously passed by the City Council, we will soon be installing Emnet sensor technology to help us gain the information we need to craft additional flooding solutions. Mike’s opponent asserted to the City Council that we could get all the data we needed from watching the Weather Channel. His mere three years of living in our city have apparently not been sufficient for him to understand that flooding is a critical public safety and quality of life issue. Instead, he thought the issue only worthy of a flippant sound byte illustrating that he had no understanding of what the sensors actually do.
The developer-friendly Southwest redevelopment plan proposed by Mayor Roberts has been averted, and a new study is being conducted to ensure that the Southwest is developed in a balanced way, with shops and restaurants and a large active park as its centerpiece. The long hoped-for vision of bringing balanced development, park space, and traffic solutions to the Southwest will take time, but it is well underway. Mike Lenz and I are committed to making sure that plans are adopted that focus on maximizing the quality of life of our residents – not the bottom line of the developers.
This week, my predecessor in office surrendered to the authorities to begin his prison term for accepting $25,000 in bribes in exchange for his promise to assist with moving development projects forward. Mike Lenz’s opponent called this “the end of a chapter.” Mike and I understand that the “chapter” is far from over – the perversion of our government by unscrupulous developers and corrupt politicians did not start or end with Peter Cammarano. Mike and I will keep fighting until this “chapter” in Hoboken is truly over. Mike’s opponent, having chosen to surround himself with the same discredited team that misled us about Mr. Cammarano, will not.
On Nov. 2, please vote to keep our neighborhood and City moving forward – cast your ballot for Councilman Mike Lenz, column 9C.
Mayor Dawn Zimmer