On Tuesday, two major players, incumbent Mayor David Roberts and Councilwoman Carol Marsh, both announced that they are running for mayor. They also revealed their City Council tickets. Three at-large City Council seats are up for grabs on the nine-member council in May.
Roberts will be running with two teachers - Councilman Ruben Ramos Jr. and Terry LaBruno - and attorney Peter Cammarano.
Marsh has picked Councilman Tony Soares, attorney Brian Urbano, and Inés García-Keim who works for a major airline (see sidebar).
Councilman Michael Russo, who is also considering a run for mayor, will announce his candidacy and runningmates in the next several weeks, he said Wednesday. Russo is the son of former Mayor Anthony Russo. If you are a Hoboken resident and want to run for mayor or council, it's not too late. Any Hoboken resident who has lived in the city for more than one year can pick up petitions from the city clerk's office at City Hall.
If he or she can collect 310 signatures of residents by the deadline of March 17, he or she can run.
Roberts to campaign on record, quality of life issues
With Frank Sinatra music in the background and about 150 people in attendance, Mayor David Roberts kicked off his re-election campaign in front of the Hoboken Historical Museum Tuesday afternoon.
He laid out his platform, which he hopes will win over voters and lead to a second term.
Roberts is the 37th mayor of Hoboken. In 1981 Roberts joined the Hoboken Fire Department, where he once received a Class III Valor award for rescuing two children from a burning building.
In the 1980s, his family started making investments in commercial and residential real estate in Hoboken. They began several profitable establishments including The Madison Bar and Grill, Amanda's Restaurant, Hoboken Daily News, and Westside Plaza. Currently, the family owns and continues to operate East L.A. Mexican Restaurant.
In 1985, Roberts ran and won the 6th Ward City Council seat, which he held until beating out Anthony Russo for mayor in 2001.
As he addressed the crowd, he said he is running to improve the quality of life for all Hoboken residents. "Of all the issues facing our community, there's nothing more important that our quality of life," Roberts said. "This issue was the foundation of my first mayoral campaign, and it still is today."
Roberts said his campaign will focus on the implementing the city's Master Plan, creating new open and recreation space, and keeping Hoboken's streets safe and clean.
The Master Plan is a document that governs the course of zoning over the next 20 years in Hoboken. During Roberts' term, it was conceived and then adopted by the City Council after numerous public hearings over the last two years.
Roberts also said that during his four years he has been an advocate for the public school system, has helped in the development of new affordable housing, and has added parking.
"Hoboken has again become family-friendly as young parents to choose to raise their children here," Roberts said. "This is in large part because of our improved schools. We have forged a strategic alliance with Stevens to train our public teachers to develop a curriculum of science and technology."
On parking
In Hoboken, residents often circle block after block looking for that elusive parking space. During every municipal election, parking is a major issue. Roberts said Tuesday that his administration has taken steps forward when it comes to parking. "Under this administration, we have created over 1,000 new off-street spaces at 916 Garden St. and the Midtown Garage by St. Mary Hospital," Roberts said.
However, both projects were designed and approved during the Russo administration.
Roberts also said that his administration "[has] become proactive in creating hundreds of new spaces through angular parking on Sinatra Drive and also on 15th Street."
Roberts' opponents have criticized Roberts for using the Hoboken Parking Utility's surplus of about $10 million in order to fill a budget deficit two years ago. They said that money could have been better used to build new garages or improve the existing ones.
Marsh said that, if elected, she will use money from tickets and parking fees to provide parking solutions, not to finance additional hiring and administration spending.
Roberts on his opponents
In addition to announcing his platform, Roberts also said why he believes he is a better candidate than Marsh. He painted Marsh and her ticket as a group of obstructionists who are quick to complain, but are light on ideas. "I was a councilman for 15 years, and I believe my record speaks for itself," Roberts said. "But what [has Marsh] proposed or accomplished over the past four years? With that in mind, to paraphrase Henry Ford, 'You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.' "
Marsh makes pledges
Marsh, for her part, contended that she does have ideas that will make Hoboken a better city. In front of about 100 supporters at her 1002 Washington St. campaign headquarters, Marsh announced her candidacy Tuesday night.
Marsh first became active in Hoboken politics in the mid 1990s when she fought against redevelopment plans that would have built a high rise office building on Pier A. Only through a grassroots movement was the plan defeated.
In 2001, after two decades working in technology for financial firms, Marsh was elected to the Hoboken City Council as part of Roberts' ticket. As can be typical with Hoboken reformers, the honeymoon didn't last long. Councilpeople Marsh and Soares slowly became political foes of Roberts.
Marsh said that in 2001, Roberts was elected on a platform of controlling city spending, acquiring open space, stopping overdevelopment, and rooting out corruption - things that she supported and still does. But she says Roberts has broken promises and hasn't been able to deliver, which is why she and Soares broke away early in his term.
Marsh said that while in power, Roberts increased spending by over $20 million, acquired no land for open space, and gave developers "free rein."
It is true that when Roberts came into office, the city was operating with a $54 million budget. Now, four years later, the city is spending $72 million, and currently can't approve the current budget until the City Council figures out how to deal with a $7.9 million shortfall.
Roberts blames expenses like increasing employee health insurance costs. Marsh blames the increase on excessive hiring, out-of-control professional services contracts for politically connected firms, and lack of fiscal controls by the administration.
Roberts and his City Council allies have undertaken some controversial financing schemes which have put off millions of dollars in current expenses to future years. This included taking $10 million from the Parking Utility that was earmarked for parking improvements, refinancing the city's debt for a longer term at a higher interest rate for some upfront savings, frontloading tax abatements, and most recently designing a plan to sell the city's garage to close a budget gap.
"We have to control city spending and stop leveraging our future," Marsh said.
But Roberts claims that the city is in good fiscal health. He said that even with spiraling health costs, which have doubled since he's taken office, he has not raised taxes once since becoming mayor. (See related story inside.)
Stopping patronage and pay-to-play
Also, Marsh said that the Roberts administration has given favorite-son treatment to a number of professional services firms that are generous campaign contributors.
On the City Council, Marsh and Soares were both major advocates for sweeping pay-to-play reforms which were approved by the public by a 9-1 margin in a November referendum. "Pay to play" is the practice of awarding professional services contracts to campaign contributors. Such practices can result in politicians approving overly expensive or unnecessary projects in exchange for campaign support.
Marsh also said that developers also have gotten "sweetheart deals" from this administration, which could include variances from the Zoning Board to construct higher or more dense buildings.
"We can't continue to give this city away to developers," Marsh said. "After a decade of unplanned and uncontrolled growth, with each project justified by its supposed benefits, we should be rolling in dough. Instead we have a budget shortfall and a tax increase on the way. Isn't it time we all agree that building bigger buildings to lower taxes just doesn't work?"
Development a key issue
What is shaping up to be a key issue in this election is parks, or the lack thereof.
Roberts recently unveiled a sweeping plan to add more parks to town, particularly at the town's perimeters. But some residents believe it doesn't go far enough or isn't consistent with the master plan.
Roberts says he "has identified nearly 20 acres" including both active and passive recreation, soccer and baseball fields, a swimming pool, an adjacent recreation center, and a permanent ice skating rink.
"This plan will increase our open space by nearly a third, from 40 acres to nearly 60," said Roberts Tuesday. But his opponents say that Roberts is overstating the amount of open space that his plan is going to create. They argue that several of the parks that Roberts included in his plan were in the pipeline before Roberts came to office. They also said that Roberts is relying too heavily on redevelopment plans, which they believe are nothing more than sweetheart deals so developers can build dense high rise buildings in addition to parks.
Over the next couple of months, Roberts will try to sell his parks plan to the public. Meanwhile, his opposition will chip away at the plan.
Russo only weeks away
Councilman Michael Russo has said that it's likely that he is going to run, but is not yet ready to officially announce. "I'm a leader and not a follower," Russo said Wednesday. "I'm not going to let what other people do determine when I'm going to announce."
Russo has served on the council for a year and a half.
Assuming that he does announce, Russo will be a major player in this elections. During his year and half, Russo has taken a leading role on the council and has been able to move toward the middle, where he has been able to appeal to both constituents from old Hoboken and new Hoboken.
He has been critical of Roberts' budgets, has argued to reduce professional services and control spending, which appeals to reformers, and the fact that he is from a long time Italian Hoboken family means that he will have a strong base with old Hoboken.
One cloud that could hover over Russo's campaign is that his father, former Mayor Anthony Russo, was recently convicted of taking bribes while in office and is currently awaiting sentencing. But Michael Russo thinks that his father's impact over his campaign will be minimal. He won his 3rd Ward seat comfortably even though his father was already indicted.
"I'm my own man," Russo has said many times, when asked about how his father's conviction might affect his political aspirations.
To find out about running for a mayor or council seat, pick up an application at City Hall or call (201) 420-2071.
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