Dear Editor:
In his “State of the City” speech, Mayor Healy said he wanted to see “a better city.” Everybody wants to see a better city. But how are we going to get there?
We haven’t heard in the Mayor’s speech or seen in his record either a vision or a plan.
Let’s take a few examples. The Mayor admitted there were broken promises from his last speech, like his failure to move the Dept. of Public Works out of City government and into the autonomous JC Incinerator Authority. That’s exactly the wrong idea. The right way is to merge the JCIA back into the City, and install new, professional, accountable management. That’s Steve Fulop’s vision, and it’s the right direction.
The Mayor says that more police is the answer to the crime problem he also says we don’t have. More police are great, but only if they join a better-run, better-deployed police force. Steve Fulop’s anti-crime plan reorients the department to our neighborhoods through proven community policing strategies. That’s Steve Fulop’s vision, and it’s the right direction.
The Mayor thinks that the same old politics will somehow build a new City. He relies on the crony politics that landed his allies in jail, and coerces city employees to give him money. And he calls for an election based on the divisive notion that only his supporters are the “real” Jersey City.
To Mayor Healy, anyone who doesn’t toe his party line is an outsider, even though most of his top leadership actually lives out of town. Steve Fulop will change that immediately, by requiring police and other department heads to live in Jersey City.
Steve Fulop has built a diverse team of volunteers who live in every part of Jersey City, people who were born here and people who’ve chosen to live here. Each of his Council candidates brings a track record of community involvement. Steve Fulop’s policy solutions (stevenfulop.com) come from listening to ordinary Jersey City residents, studying the issues, and working hard to give us the kind of functioning government we deserve. That’s Steve Fulop’s vision, and it’s the right direction.
Not many people are satisfied with our government. As a social worker and as an ordinary citizen, I see every day that our City is struggling, and we need to make progress on our persistent problems. Steve Fulop’s success so far demonstrates that people recognize he is leading in the right direction.
The big question is how many people will vote on Election Day (May 14). The more people that vote, the better chance we have of getting a Mayor and a Council who represent all of Jersey City.
I will be voting for Steve Fulop and his team, and I will do my best to see that my friends and neighbors are involved. I’m engaged because I love Jersey City. I care about our future, and we need leadership that will take us in the right direction.
Paul Bellan-Boyer