Dear Editor:
November 6 will be a critical Election Day, with high stakes for our nation and our local community. I urge my neighbors here in Hoboken to come out and vote to re-elect President Obama and Senator Menendez; the Kids First team of Ruth McAllister, Jean Marie Mitchell and Tom Kluepfel for Hoboken Board of Education; and to vote yes on the election-reform ballot questions 1 and 3 and no on the rent-control ballot question No. 2.
Two years ago, I risked foregoing job security to start my own business. The scariest danger of all was giving up my employer-subsidized health care. In the end, we decided to make the investment in our future by purchasing our own health insurance and proceeding with the business plan, and fortunately, things have worked out, and our business is now thriving with four employees. But in pondering the dilemma, one question occurred to me – how many innovative, job-creating ideas never take flight because their bearers can’t afford to go without employer-sponsored health insurance? Access to health care is a job engine that sparks enterprise, and I thank President Obama for fulfilling the crucial and historic task of overhauling our nation’s health-care system. For that, he has my vote once again.
Similarly, my life has been impacted in overwhelmingly positive ways by the incredible work of the Kids First team and their tireless reforms of our public school system. As the father of a 2 ½ -year-old with a second child due next month, having public schools we can rely on is critical to my family’s ability to thrive in Hoboken, a city we love. This team has faced years of threats, intimidation and stonewalling by the plunderers who once controlled the district. The Kids First trustees are a dangerous threat to those who were accustomed to living high on the hog at the expense of our city’s children and taxpayers, and who wish to return to looting the public trough for expensive steak dinners and other atrocious indulgences. Commissioners McAllister, Mitchell and the rest of the reform team conducted a thorough audit that pulled the veil off the patronage mill and set our district on the right track to truly serve the kids first. We must continue the progress, not return to the era of self-serving cronyism. Please join me in voting for McAllister-Mitchell-Kluepfel in ballot positions K-L-M.
Finally, when I first moved to this area in 2001, I was thoroughly confused when I saw municipal-election signs in early spring, and presumed there was some obscure primary that wasn’t relevant to me. I was stunned when I learned that this was, in fact, the regular municipal election, a system clearly designed to fly under the radar and control turnout to preserve the status quo. I am ecstatic at the opportunity to consolidate elections to the nationally recognized Election Day. Please join me in voting “yes” for Hoboken questions 1 and 3. Similarly, to protect tenants who make up such a valuable component of our community, please vote “no” on Hoboken question 2.
Sincerely,
Jake Stuiver