Dear Editor:
Whoever said politics isn’t personal was not from Jersey City. It appears to me that in a turn of events the current Jersey City mayor has behaved rather petulant and what appears to be with malevolent intentions. Contrary to what one observer might say Healy is absolutely not a man of his word. Now, with the recent push poll and smear tactics, his campaign is practicing bottom of the barrel politics. I’d be nervous too though if I were a sitting duck figure head Mayor, the same way Dave Roberts of Hoboken was on his way out because he couldn’t raise the money like he once could. It’s the true telling tale. Just for fun, I’ll give the first person a Pepsi that names a mayoral candidate that was down by over half a million dollars in fundraising during the January before the election. One can practically taste the panic and desperation. Beyond agitation or irritation the current administration has resorted to a negative campaign because it can’t run on the real issues. Taxes have doubled. Everybody I know realizes Jerry never minded the store but that’s how you get robbed the way city taxpayers got robbed by the contractor that built the municipal court house.
Another example and small sample is that the streets of Jersey City have been filthy for eight years. I for one find it offensive when someone calls my home dirty city. The administration is going backwards and is in denial. It’s so bad that volunteers had been popping up even before the hurricane and literally doing the work that their tax dollar should be paying for. It’s nice that groups can rally and are willing to do this. It’s certainly not because they have the extra time or that they are all gung ho about cleaning up garbage. They’re doing it because they have to. The alternative would be to live in squalor because this administration failed them yet in another category. They have the nerve to brag about helping 300 out of 1000 blighted properties. When I went to school that was a 30 which meant that you didn’t study, do your homework, or were just clueless on the subject. Who gets a 30 percent and brags about it? The broken record goes on to talk about how the potholes have been filled and the roads have been resurfaced. It seems counterproductive that they started milling and paving during October when school was back in full force. Had they started the first day of summer instead it would have been finished without being such a burden on motorists. The administration isn’t milling and paving streets either. We, the taxpayers are. We are also paying the real money it costs for parks and open space, so it’s wrong for any administration to take credit. Taxpayers pay tens of millions of dollars for related quality of life amenities and other routine work to be done.
James Francis Waddleton
Lifelong resident