Due to shifting populations in Hudson County, the shapes of the jurisdictions overseen by the county’s nine freeholders have changed, causing a ripple effect. Hudson County Incinerator Authority Chairman John Shinnick, who was appointed to head the committee to adjust the district lines, said that growth in Bayonne forced the committee to move district boundaries.
In the form of county government that was established in Hudson County in 1974, the population is divided into nine districts. Each one is overseen by a Hudson County freeholder, who sits on the Board of Chosen Freeholders, which oversees regulations and contracts regarding county facilities. These districts are adjusted after every federal census. The 2000 census showed significant growth in Bayonne, which forced the committee to shift some of the lines northward.
The largest geographical change came in between the 8th and 9th districts, where the 2nd municipal ward in Secaucus shifts from the 9th district, which includes the rest of Secaucus and all of Harrison and Kearny, into the 8th district, which includes North Bergen and a tiny portion of Jersey City Heights.
The most significant shift in demographics happened in Jersey City, where the 4th district lost sections of downtown Jersey City and picked up sections of Jersey City Heights.
Shinnick, who took over committee in October, said the redistricting was months overdue because the former chairwoman of the redistricting committee, Maribeth “Beth” Janiszewski, resigned following the resignation of her husband, former County Executive Robert Janiszewski as result of an alleged FBI investigation.
“We had pretty much start from scratch and look over everything,” Shinnick said.
Although Beth Janiszewski also oversaw the controversial redrawing of Jersey City’s municipal ward lines – which apparently cut Jersey City Councilwoman Mary Donnelly out of her own ward and was eventually overturned – Shinnick said the county redistricting lacked political controversy.
“We were just behind,” he said.
Shinnick said he picked up the process in mid-January, but had to learn the rules governing the redistricting as he went along.
“Beth had a lot of expertise,” Shinnick said. “We had to look at laws and statutes in order to learn what the rules were. We wanted to do this right, and it seems we did, since no one looks to be challenging the map.”
Shinnick said the committee had to divide the total population of Hudson County – about 640,000 – by nine in order to accommodate a growth in population in the Bayonne area. The number does not have to be exact, he said. The total number in a freeholder district must be within 5 percent of 71,000. He also said the committee tried to be sensitive to the people living in a district and the voting patterns existing there.
“We did not want to alter things too much, and we did not want to redistrict an incumbent out of his or her district,” Shinnick said. “We took a hard look at each area to try and maintain the same diversity.”
The biggest population change came to the 4th district because of pressure to move north from Bayonne.
“We didn’t have a choice,” Shinnick said. “Bayonne is the southerly most point the county. We couldn’t restrict into Staten Island.”
In the case of Secaucus, the committee tried to make the break at the natural political boundary, so that the 2nd municipal ward went into the 8th Freeholder District, making it easier for voters there when going to the polls.
Panic time for office holders?
Redistricting can be a nightmare for incumbents, altering the population so significantly that it removes their traditional voting base. Areas of a district can differ sharply from one another depending upon numerous factors, any of which can alter the way people vote, such as rates of employment or unemployment, level of wealth or poverty, home ownership or renting, needs for social services, level of education, crime rate, age, race and ethnicity of residents.
In this redistricting, Freeholder Nidia Colon, who represents the 4th district, lost sections of downtown that used to be Jersey City municipal Ward E, containing three of Jersey City’s eight public housing projects. She acquired tracts in the Heights which were in Ward D with a larger white and Asian population.
“It’s a shift of thousands,” said Freeholder Bill O’Dea.
“I didn’t have any districts in Ward D,” Colon said, “Now I have ten new districts there.”
Colon said she once had four districts in Hoboken, but lost them after the 1990 census.
She inherited parts of Ward D from Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons, who currently retains a handful of sections of Ward D, along with some in Ward C – all in Jersey City Heights – as well as the entire city of Hoboken.
Of the nine freeholder districts, Colon’s is shaped the oddest, looking something like the letter C with one part located near Grove Street and Exchange place and the other reaching up into Jersey City Heights to end at the North Bergen-Union City border at Secaucus Road.
Although Colon admitted she was upset when she first saw the map and realized how much of her constituency would change, she said she has accepted the facts.
“I’m not thrilled, but I’m not unhappy,” she said. “I had great feeling for many of the people in the public housing projects. I was with many of those people for ten years. But I’m leaving them in good hands with Freeholder [Bill] Braker.”
Election this year
Freeholders – who are all required to run every three years – are facing re-election this year, which means Colon and others will have to seek out new voters and adjust their message.
“I’m going to have to expand on my issues,” she said, noting, however, that most of what she has run on in the past involved a city and countywide approach.
Although Hudson County is considered friendly territory for Democrats with a consistent level of registered Democrats at about 125,000 over that last four years, the county has become less overwhelmingly Democratic than in the past, with nearly 130,000 registered voters claiming no party and about 27,000 registering as Republican. Significant pockets of Republicans and unaffiliated voters are located in Ward D in Jersey City.
“This just means I’m going to have to do my homework and reach out to a whole new population of constituents,” she said.
Colon said she would soon begin a voter registration drive.
“I’ll campaign as hard as always,” she said.
She does not predict a sharp change in issues she’ll be running on: housing, education and crime.
“Those are issues municipal and county issues,” she said.
Little change despite altered geography
Al Cifelli, as freeholder of the 9th district that includes Harrison and Kearny as well as Secaucus – has had the largest geographical change, with the loss of the 2nd Ward in Secaucus.
“For my side it doesn’t change anything,” he said. “Secaucus’ population is mostly homogeneous, so it doesn’t have a huge impact on voting.”
The 9th district is largely middle class, he said, with a large percentage of people owning their own homes. This leaves taxes as the largest issue. How to keep taxes stable is the question he must bring before voters when running again.
Maurice Fitzgibbons, Freeholder in the 5th District, lost part of Jersey City Heights, but maintains a large section of the eastern slope.
“Since 1994, the Heights have been good to me,” he said. “I’m happy I still have some of that area.”
The shift did not greatly alter the voting population. But he did say the Heights were changing and so were the issues, noting that the sections he represents are going through similar changes as Hoboken did years ago, people looking for more services and the revitalization of Central Avenue – that area’s business district.
“People that live there are worried about overdevelopment and projects that might block their view,” he said. “Some are anticipating the construction of the elevator that will allow them access to the light rail. Increased transportation will help change the area more.”
O’Dea said his freeholder district, District 2, that runs along the western side of Jersey City from St. Pauls Avenue near the Pulaski Skyway to the border of Bayonne, largely gave him the areas of the county he would have wanted.
“If I had been allowed to draw my own district, I couldn’t have drawn it much better,” he said. “I would have liked to have kept the County Village section. [Freeholder Barry] Dugan picked that up. But you have to expect some changes.”
O’Dea said he had a good racial mix in his area, which includes about 21,000 whites, 18,000 blacks, 14,000 Asians, and 14,000 Latinos.
He said he takes the same basic position on issues, which includes community programs, keeping taxes stable, creating jobs and governments hiring local residents wherever possible.
“I have Lincoln Park smack in the middle of my district,” he said. “I’m proud of the fact that over the last three years, we’ve brought in millions of dollars to help fix up facilities there.” Who is this guy anyway?
Residents of Secaucus’ 2nd municipal ward now have a new freeholder. This was done not by election, but redistricting. For voters accustomed to voting in the 9th freeholder district, the name Thomas F. Liggio is hardly the household word that Al Cifelli was, although Liggio has been part of the political scene for almost two decades.
Liggio is just completing his first three-year term as freeholder of the 8th District, although he served 14 years as a commissioner in the township of North Bergen.
“Mayor [Nicholas] Sacco asked me to run,” Liggio said, noting that operations on the county were very similar to those of the municipality. “It’s on larger scale. County government receives a lot of revenue from state and federal grants, and also deals with many more social services.”
Currently Liggio chairs the Purchasing Committee and serves as a member of the Hudson County Planning Board. He also holds membership in the following committees: Public Resources & Emergency Management, and Senior Citizens & Veterans Affairs. The Freeholder serves as Alternate Representative to the New Jersey Association of Counties.
Freeholder Liggio possesses an M.B.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck campus, and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. He spent his childhood in the town of West New York and graduated from St. Joseph’s High School.
Although he spent some of his youth in West New York, Liggio has lived in North Bergen for 37 years. He and his wife have three grown children and five grandchildren. He is a certified municipal finance officer, and thought he admits it was an effort to learn finance, it has given him a good handle of county and municipal operations.
Currently Director of Compliance for the North Bergen Municipal Utilities Authority, Liggio’s employment background encompasses over 22 years in the private sector in businesses such as Pepsico, Litton Industries and Hackensack Water Company.
“I started in private industry, then changed careers,” he said. “For a while I worked for Essex County. Now I work for the North Bergen MUA.”
For Secaucus, Liggio said his focus will be on maintaining county services, county roads and the county park. “The biggest issue will be to keep taxes low and stable,” he said, noting that he will be knocking on people’s doors over the next few months in his effort to get re-elected, and will introduce himself to his new constituents.
“I’ll tell people how I’ve worked very closely with Al Cifelli during my first term,” he said.
While Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell said the change in Secaucus will dash the hopes of a resident of Secaucus becoming freeholder – since blocks of votes in Kearny and Harrison would overcome those cast in the two wards of Secaucus in the 9th Freeholder district and votes in North Bergen would out-poll those in the 8th district – he said Secaucus will have two freeholders instead of one.
“This gives Secaucus another vote on the Freeholder board,” said Secaucus-based Assemblyman Anthony Impreveduto (D-32nd Dist.) “For years we’ve had to depend on Angelo Cifelli or Al Cifelli. Now we have another place to go if we have a problem, and we’ll have two people working on our behalf.” – Al Sullivan