Although people had to be turned away because of a lack of room in the small community room in Rivera Towers last week, the candidates’ forum moderated by the NJ League of Women Voters might easily have been mistaken for an early evening tea.
The four candidates that represented various slates for Town Commission maintained decorum largely because Mayor Felix Roque – the man that they are primarily running against – did not attend.
Mayor Roque and his ticket had a political fundraiser scheduled for the same day, and were not represented at the forum.
The other three slates sent representatives. Speaking at the event were Juan Espinal of Future is Now, Town Commissioner County Wiley of WNY United, Anthony DeFino of Hope for the Future, and Patrick Cullen of Our Town is Not for Sale. Jose Rosario declined to attend.
While organizers said Roque and his staff failed to respond to numerous calls and emails, Paulo Fonseca, Roque’s campaign manager, said Roque had scheduled a fundraiser for the same night before he ever knew about the forum. Roque is also caring for his ailing mother.
The League of Women Voters, a non-partisan organization, moderated the event and asked 10 questions to which each candidate had two minutes to respond. The topics included development, open government, parking, public transportation, tax abatements, municipal debt, city parks, cleanliness of streets, and the educational system.
For the most part, the four candidates spoke out against current policies when it came to development, citing questionable approvals for development and an over emphasis on residential development.
Cullen was particularly critical of the zoning board, saying some of its rulings have been reversed by courts due to conflicts of interest. DeFino said the city needs to focus more on commercial development rather than residential.
All four candidates attacked the Roque administration for an alleged lack of open government, citing political hiring, contracts being awarded to political donors, and other potential ethics violations. In the past few years, Roque has been the subject of a scathing state report on his alleged meddling in the school district (see past articles) and was cleared of an FBI charge that he hacked into a political opponent’s website.
Regarding the open government criticism, Wiley said, “There were some meetings in which resolutions were being introduced I never saw before as a commissioner.”
“When you have a drunk driver, you don’t change cars, you change drivers. We need a change in administration.” – Anthony DeFino
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DeFino, Espinal, and Cullen each said selecting people for boards should be based on their expertise, not their political connections.
What a change of government will do?
The four candidates disagreed with each other on the question of whether West New York should change its form of government from a commissioner form to a mayor and council. As it is, voters elect five part-time town commissioners, and they choose a mayor from among themselves.
Cullen believed town should adopt a mayor and council form of government in which all five council seats are run at-large – meaning everybody in the city should vote for all five. Espinal, however, said he liked the idea that each ward of the city could elect its own council person.
Wiley said the change would only concentrate even more power in the office of the mayor and reduce the ability of commissioners to running day-to-day operations in various departments.
DeFino agreed. “When you have a drunk driver, you don’t change cars; you change drivers,” he said. “We need a change in administration.”
The four candidates tended to have similar views on tax abatements, saying they believed that they were focused too much on residential development, and not enough on promoting commercial development.
DeFino pointed to the dearth of commercial development along the waterfront, and the need for more business, not more people.
Cullen pointed out that West New York is considered the third most densely-populated city in the United States, behind Guttenberg and Union City. He said West New York does not need more residential development. All four candidates said schools suffered as a result of abatements because schools get very little if any of the tax revenue generated.
All four candidates attacked three previous administrations – those of Roque, Silverio Vega and Albio Sires – for allegedly increasing municipal debt. DeFino criticized Sires for financial tricks that eventually led to a hefty rise in taxes under the Vega administration. These claims, however, should be seen in light of Sires’ arch rivalry with DeFino’s father, former Mayor Anthony DeFino.
Wiley said that if his team is given control of West New York he will authorize a complete review of the inner financial workings to determine that was done and what needs to be done to correct the situation.
What about conditions in the parks?
In responding to issues concerning the parks, Wiley – who serves as commissioner in charge of parks – defended his record.
The lengthy preamble to the question was: “Many local residents with small children who frequent the parks have contacted us to say that the parks are in disrepair and dirty… What will you do to make West New York greener, ie less concrete and more grass, space, light, air, and quiet as opposed to the current practice of cutting trees down and pouring concrete as in the case of what several residents have referred to as ‘the concrete citadel’- the improvements taking place at Veteran’s Park located on the east side of Boulevard East just a few blocks south of 60th St.?”
Wiley said his department does the best with the resources available, and responds to complaints when his office gets them. He said groups do hang out in the parks and leave a mess, but these things are cleaned up as soon as possible.
Cullen also came to Wiley’s defense, noting that during the political skirmish that resulted in Roque reassigning Wiley to the parks department, Wiley did not get the funding or manpower necessary to do the job. This has changed over the last year, Wiley said, noting great strides in improving the parks.
Espinal said the town has too few police and should consider hiring special police at a lower salary to help keep tabs on problem areas in the parks.
DeFino opposed putting gates on the parks, saying it sends the wrong message to the people. He said West New York is an open community and should remain that way.
The four candidates disagreed somewhat on how to keep the streets clean. Espinal and Cullen seemed to think better enforcement of littering and other laws would help encourage people to keep the community clean, DeFino and Wiley seemed to prefer better education and encouragement. Both felt the town should not be punishing people but inspiring them.
Politics and schools don’t mix
The candidates also mostly agreed that politics is the biggest problem the West New York school district has. Some people claim that the schools tend to score lower than other places in the state, and thus make West New York less attractive a place for people to live.
“If elected, would you agree to refrain from supporting, endorsing or financing any candidates for the Board of Education in order to foster the degree of board independence that’s essential?” the question asked.
Wiley said he would not refrain from supporting candidates he believed would benefit the education system. He and others agreed that it is political interference in the hiring and promotion processes inside the school district that is detrimental to the health of the system. The goal would be to do away with board members who are political appointees in favor of candidates who have the well-being of the district at heart.
“Over the last two administrations, we have had an infiltration of the Board of Education by politicians,” Cullen said. “So teachers – instead of being free to do their jobs – are worried about losing their jobs or not getting promotions.”
In a related issue, the four candidates appeared to favor construction of new schools to accommodate the waterfront community.
Parking and public transportation
All four candidates agreed that one of the biggest issues is the lack of parking.
DeFino said he believes his reforms might be extreme, but necessary, proposing that additional decks be constructed over existing parking lots, especially near the shopping district on Bergenline Avenue.
Wiley said he was critical of recent increases in parking fees that seemed to designed to increase revenue, not relieve congestion. He proposed altering metered parking hours to allow more free time for resident in the area.
Currently, people who come home from work in the evening have to continue to feed meters. He proposes changing the hours from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. rather than to 8 or 9 p.m. as they currently are.
Espinal proposed eliminating meters on weekends. He said the town needs to review the current handicapped parking spaces, noting that many are no longer being used by those who originally obtained them.
He also suggested reducing the length of yellow-curbed No Parking zones to increase the number of legal parking spots in the city. He also pointed out that homeowners, who had garages and off street parking, should use them and not park in the streets.
While public transportation ought to be the logical alternative, West New York has huge problems in this regard as well.
Cullen said public transportation is a huge problem, and that because of massive ridership, the town must work with non-NJ Transit buses to make provide additional service. But he said the town must make sure these jitneys safe to avoid tragedies such as the death of an infant in 2013.
“Buses are so overcrowded; it has become an ironic necessity for people bound for New York City to get up earlier to take a bus in an opposite direction just to get a New York bound bus that isn’t filled to capacity.”
Forum almost didn’t happen
Sponsored by West New York Concerned Citizens, the forum nearly did not happen, partly because organizers said they ran into a Catch 22 in getting insurance coverage. Joshua Breakstone, founder of WNY Concerned Citizens, said they originally conceived of three separate forums that would have taken place in three parts of the city.
“If we had a place with room for 400 we could have filled it,” he said. “But this is a start.”
A total of about 40 people attended the forum and more than 20 were turned away at the door due to prevailing fire codes.
The polls are open Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. For past stories detailing the candidates, please see hudsonreporter.com and scroll down to West New York News.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.