Dear Editor:
Kudos to the staff of the Hoboken Reporter, and especially reporter Tom Jennemann, for your excellent reports on the 26 candidates in the next week’s city council elections. From that reporting, as well as my own independent observation and research, I feel I now have all the information I need to make an informed choice. You deserve awards for that fine example of civic journalism.
I’ll be voting for Beth Mason on Tuesday, because I believe that the best way to manage development is by hammering out a comprehensive master plan and working from it in years to come. Each and every developer coming to the city with a proposal has a plan; it’s very difficult to get investors without one. If the city doesn’t have a plan, then we are at a significant disadvantage, as we can only react to individual projects rather than keeping them in the context of an overall vision of the city’s future. Beth Mason had led the way toward a master plan for Hoboken, and as part of the Hoboken Alliance for Accountable Government, she is also working to hold the city’s government to widely accepted ethical standards and balance the budget by controlling spending. I also appreciate the inclusiveness of the Hoboken Alliance team, which recognizes that longtime residents and recent arrivals can and should work together rather than blaming each other for our problems.
Thank you.
Janet Dagley