Beth Mason, the mayor’s designee to the city’s Planning Board, has resigned from her post, saying she no longer feels comfortable being Mayor David Roberts’ voice on the governmental body.
Roberts, in turn, charged that Mason merely wants to run as a council candidate in May along with a ticket of former Roberts supporters who are now against him.
The mayor’s designee is not a permanent member of the board, but rather sits at the discretion of the mayor and serves as his spokesperson on the board on a meeting-by-meeting basis.
In her term on the board, Mason has worked hard as chair of the board’s Master Plan Subcommittee, championing the process that would eventually produce a document setting development guidelines in the city for the next several decades.
Mason was also instrumental in overhauling the board’s antiquated fee structure and instating a new policy forcing developers of large scale projects to present a concept review before submitting a formal application, a step which gives the public an additional opportunity to learn about the larger proposed projects.
Mason wrote in her resignation letter to Roberts that she had even retained a land use attorney at her own expense at times so that she could understand issues coming before the board.
Mason said Thursday that she feels the mayor has not shown enough commitment to his progressive agenda for reform. As proof, she pointed to recent reappointments of board members who were originally appointed by former Mayor Anthony Russo. She also complained that communication between her and Roberts has significantly dissipated over the past several months.
“Your recent board appointments and your continued support of those council members who have done little to actively carry forward a progressive agenda signals to me a change in commitment,” Mason wrote in her resignation letter. “You clearly have also turned against those who have worked hard to enact the agenda you put forward. You appear to have abandoned opportunities to overturn the past administration’s decisions, and have restricted smaller property owners while allowing larger ones to go unscathed.”
Two sides of appointments
Recently, Roberts has made several appointments to both the Planning and Zoning Board that have raised ire from critics. On the Planning Board, he reappointed James Monaco and Nicholas DeTrizio, both of whom were originally appointed by Russo. While they were reappointed, Mason was not made a permanent member.
Mason said Thursday that her disdain for the Planning Board appointments is not because of personal differences with the appointees, but rather was about policy and planning philosophy. “We’re frustrated with how things are moving forward,” said Mason. “If you want to keep things going, you would put people on these boards who really embrace what you envision. These appointments are a matter of policy and should be about moving things forward and getting things done.”
In a response letter addressed to Mason, Roberts stated that reappointing DeTrizio and Monaco did not signal a change in his agenda of carrying out political reform.
“There is no change in my commitment to continuing an open dialogue with all the members of our community to ensure that all voices are heard and taken seriously,” he wrote. The mayor added that he reappointed members that have voting records identical to Mason’s. He also said that it is important include a diverse assortment of people in government.
“She never once complained to me one about [DeTrizio’s or Monaco’s] performance,” Roberts argued later.
Mason responded by saying that the very nature of the Planning Board approval process means that most applications end with a “yes” vote. If there is an application that is presented to the board with no variances, there are very few legal means to vote against the project. That, Mason said, makes everyone’s voting record almost always identical. She added that the Planning Board should be used in a progressive manor and assist in the planning of the city.
“Approving individual projects is only a piece of the pie,” she said, pointing to the Master Plan process as an example of something that board does but is not reflected by how its members vote on individual applications. She added, “Things are slowly moving in the right direction, but we need more people and more voices to move that agenda forward. It’s not so much about the pace of change, but is really about the lost opportunities.”
Says she may run for office
As election season creeps forward, this resignation could have noteworthy ripple effects on the May council elections. While Mason said Thursday that she has not decided if she will run for office or not, there are several groups of disenfranchised “reformers” who would like to see Mason, who lives in the 2nd Ward, run against incumbent Richard Del Boccio. Del Boccio was allied with Mayor Anthony Russo in the past, but will likely run on Mayor Roberts’ ticket this time around.
On the council, Tony Soares and Carol Marsh, who ran with Roberts in 2001, will likely support a full slate of candidates against Roberts’ team.
“Beth [Mason] has made clear that she has the intention to pursue a seat on the City Council, and this resignation is an aggressive political decision,” said Roberts. “This is all about politics.”
In his letter to Mason, Roberts also voiced his support of Del Boccio. “Councilman Del Boccio was a long-time colleague of mine on the City Council, and although he supported an opposition slate, he has proved to be a valuable ally on the council, even embracing a new agenda of change and inclusion,” wrote Roberts. “He is a case in point that all of Hoboken can work together for a common good. I’m disappointed that you cannot understand my intentions of inclusion.”
Roberts also said that the only reason his weekly meetings with Mason tapered off was that the holidays came along. “The holidays have interrupted the pace of our normal meeting cycle with you and several others,” Roberts wrote to Mason. “As you know, I am more than happy to meet with individuals and organizations, no matter how diverse, that seek the betterment of the city.”
Not the first time
This is not the first time in Roberts’ administration that the mayor’s appointees have quit a city board over disagreements over Roberts’ policy and the pace of progress.
On the now-defunct Hoboken Parking Authority, both of his appointees, Daniel DeCavaignac and Alan Cohen, resigned, even after Roberts had fought to appoint them in court earlier that year. Both left their volunteer positions citing stark disagreements over the mayor’s policies.