Ravi Bhalla, who lives in Hoboken's Second Ward has declared himself as a candidate for City Council. To the best of my knowledge he is the first to formally do so for either one of the three at large council seats or Mayor of Hoboken.Here is his campaign website: http://www.ourhoboken.com/
Here are some of the highlights as to what he stands for from the website:
The most important issues facing Hoboken’s citizens, and therefore those issues that are the focus of this campaign, are fiscal responsibility, transparency in our local government, and modernization of our government's delivery of services to our citizens.
Fiscal Responsibility: Taxpayers in Hoboken are victims of a dysfunctional relationship between the Mayor’s office and City Council. The immediate result is a failure to control spending coupled with an estimated 47% rise in property taxes. The long term issues are even more serious.
Transparency: Transparency in government means that our citizens have access to the information they need or want, when they need or want it, without undue burden to obtain that information. This is far from the norm in Hoboken today. As an example, simple requests for budget information can carry on for weeks with the final delivery being incomplete. This should be unacceptable and we can do better.
Modernization: In many ways Hoboken and her citizens have missed out on the tremendous advances technology has brought to the private workplace and governments nationwide in recent years. Our municipal government has tremendous opportunities to embrace technology for efficiency.
Go to his website to read more....
My Take: Being the first to formally declare his candidacy gives Ravi somewhat of an initial edge. I don't know him too well at all but what I have seen impresses me. He is intelligent, engaged and helpful as evidenced by his initiatives in the second Ward as well as legal advice to the BOE on the HOLA process which turned out to be good advice.
The one thing about running for an at large seat in Hoboken is that your chances are far better to win if you are on a slate with a potential Mayoral Candidate. It will be interesting to see if he
lines up with a ticket or remains independent. Declaring his candidacy early gives him some leverage in negotiating to get on a ticket if that is what he decides.
Do not take this commentary as an endorsement since I don't yet know the rest of the field. I am just encouraged that a concerned citizen who has showed interest in the City's future has decided to put his name in the race. ◦
