Tomorrow June 9th, Hoboken will have two distinct choices in the Mayoral candidacies between Dawn Zimmer and Peter Cammarano and their respective slates. The choice will be that between governmental reform (Dawn) and keeping the status quo (Peter). It will also entail a choice between between the patronage model of government which creates jobs for the sake of creating jobs (Peter) and a more service oriented perspective which looks at what level of employees is needed to provide City services (Dawn). What is at stake is taxes for sure but most importantly the scope of potential big scale development of the NJ transit plan and Northwest Redevelopment plan as well as many other potential projects including SW6 Park. A City Government that is overstaffed can always be corrected by a future mayor but these large scale projects once done will forever change the scale of Hoboken for a long time, for better or for worse. Do we seriously want to be like Jersey City? I say no and therefore support Dawn Zimmer and her team on Development issues. Peter is simply backed by too many big money interests to be trusted on this issue in my opinion.
This election is simply about turnout now so I am not expecting to change any minds this late in the game but rather express to you the reader why I have taken the position I have taken. Some Zimmer team supporters may see the the election of the Cammarano slate as a sort of a Hoboken Armageddon as depicted in this parody of Peter Cammarano and his slate but I simply include this here to provide a little pre-election humor and to note that this depiction would be a bit of an exaggeration to say in the least.
The Four Horsemen of the Hoboken Apocalypse? :)
Not Exactly - Parody by Graphix_Avenger
A lot is at stake for both political camps but even more importantly Hoboken as a whole. Although Peter Cammarano would like to paint every Zimmer supporter as a divisive minority, I find that Peter's remarks made directly to me indicate that he is in fact not the uniter he claims to be. During his campaign he has made a remark to one door knock person " I feel sorry for you for supporting Dawn", he has said to me that Dawn supporters are seflish, and has thrown out numerous other insults towards Zimmer supporters. Note to Peter: if you are trying to convert voters to your side who are informed 1) don't make up history 2) don't insult their intelligence with your verbal belligerance 3) if unable to convince retreat gracefully rather spewing insults. Sure, some Zimmer supporters I am sure crossed the line of decorum but this is the actual lead candidate himself showing contempt for differences in opinion. Not a leadership quality I look for in a future Mayor.
Dawn may not be the perfect candidate in terms of political presentability but I trust her judgement and her integrity as well as her intelligence. Peter Cammarano is still bragging about his debate performance. However, in that debate while showy in what he thinks is his rhetorical brilliance he showed me a few things that were actually disturbing besides the fact that like past arch-nemesis and new political turncoat friend Lane Bjardi, he loves to hear the sound of his own pontificating voice. Trust me on this one folks, Lane is a much better speaker because he actually understands what he is speaking about rather than stringing together talking points.
Anyway, I digress, back to my concerns on the debate: One, he slandered the performance record of Ravi Bhalla as rent control attorney which has since been rebutted by a long standing member of our community. Two, he said the hospital was thriving and yet it has less than 8 days cash on hand according to Moody's. Not exactly an example of great financial judgement. Lastly he misstated Dawn Zimmers record on the Pier C Park. Dawn passed that resolution only when it was properly funded.
Dawn does have a real plan to cut taxes by 25% although I too realize that she will probably get a lot of resistance on this if elected. Peter will cut garbage pickup. Either Dawn or Peter will benefit from the elimination of the one-time reserves that were required this year in part due to the financial mismanagement of the past and the other part due to reserve requirements mandated by the state.
There are many other issues that I could delve into but due to my own time contraints I will end it here. Three main areas to me where Dawn excels over Peter are 1) Honesty and Transparancy (where are Petey's ELECs still not filed in the runoff), 2) The Bottom line and the Budget 3) Development that is in scale with the community.
Dawn's Slate also shares her vision and willingness to dicsuss the issues. It is unfortunate that they have been shut out of certain buildings during this campaign in their efforts to reach out to all voters. My recommendation is to vote Dawn Zimmer 1A, Carol Marsh 1B, Ravi Bhalla 2B, and Dave Mello 3B. They were also the only runoff candidates that agreed to a debate.
This election should be very close and is truly all about turnout in this point and that always puts more pressure on the non-establishment candidates to trun out the vote. Those behind the machine vote tend to always show up and pull the lever. If this election breaks decisively it would most likely go to the establishment candidate Peter Cammarano only because his base of support has a much more reliable track record. Demographics are changing in Hoboken and I do feel this will be a real close election with an uncertain outcome. More the reason to get out and vote regardless if you agree with my choice or not.
I pledge that whoever wins this election I will offer my advice and expertise in particular technology, IT services contracts and business process mapping if needed free of charge to Hoboken as I can make myself available. I want a better government for Hoboken and should not be belittled for having a different opinion than some and vice versa. I will let bygones be bygones after Tuesday. Will the rest of Hoboken do the same? Stay tuned.
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