Dear Editor:
I am grateful that people speak their mind in a letter in this newspaper. Mayor Dawn Zimmer expressed her position on the three Hoboken Public Questions that are on a very crowded ballot on Nov. 6. I believe she is a woman who will vote her conscience on these issues and is making what she believes to be the best decision for the good of Hoboken and its citizens.
In her letter of Oct. 14, she stated that she feels that any protections for tenants will be minimal considering the huge financial incentive for landlords to create apartment vacancies (by evicting current tenants) if Hoboken Public Question 2 passes. This would put tenants in the precarious situation of losing their homes. How effective are the minor penalties against tenant harassment when there is very little legal protection against eviction for these tenants?
The proponents of the rent decontrol amendments keep saying that current tenants will continue to be protected by rent control as long as they remain in their units. But if the voters vote to decontrol rents for new tenants (by voting “yes” on Hoboken Public Question 2), then why wouldn’t the landlord want to get rid of the current tenants so he can jack up the rent for the new tenants? A current tenant may remain under rent control, but rent control does not guarantee that the current tenant will be protected from eviction by a landlord. Once the current tenant is forced out of his rent controlled unit, his next Hoboken apartment will be decontrolled, so that tenant actually does lose his rent control protections! When the tenant tries to move elsewhere, he will have to move out of town because all the Hoboken rents have gone through the roof. A tenant I know is being forced out of her apartment and is now desperately looking for a new apartment for less than $2,000 a month.
At election time, so much misinformation is being thrown around that one has to stop and think and absorb only the facts before taking a position on an issue. My mother used to say not to believe everything you read or hear, and I have heeded those words wisely. Propagandists will repeat the same lies over and over again hoping that their target audience, the voters, will begin to believe it as fact. The truth is that if the rent decontrol amendments are approved by the voters, many renters will be forced out of their homes. Please help to defend them by voting NO on Hoboken Public Question 2 on Nov. 6.
Mary Ondrejka