Former Gov. Jim McGreevey, Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2), Jersey City Ward E Councilman James Solomon, and Police Officer Christina Freeman participated in the Downtown Coalition of Neighborhood Associations (DCNA) mayoral forum on Saturday.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
HCV Chief News Correspondent John Heinis served as the evening’s moderator for the roughly 90-minute session at the Nimbus Arts Center, located at 329 Warren St.
Former Board of Education President could not attend due to his best friend’s wedding, so Heinis read a statement from him before those present gave introductory remarks.
“For me Jersey City is that iconic city that my grandparents came to … It’s a city that has undergone a remarkable transformation,” McGreevey began, highlighting that test scores between 3rd and 8th grade need to improve.
“ … I think we’re very much in a quagmire … I’m committed to building 1000 units for seniors, a 1000 units of affordable workforce,” he exclaimed.
O’Dea noted he has been a Hudson County commissioner for 27 years, which came after an eight-year stint on the city council as the Ward B representative.
“Never been bossed by anybody because that’s how I was raised,” he declared, noting that he first got into office by one vote so he truly believes every vote counts.
O’Dea also noted that his experience as the deputy director at the Elizabeth Development Company has given him great insight on how to build affordable units.
“I know how to actually sit down with a pen and paper and how to make the economics of it work and what subsidies are needed … The Mayor of Jersey City should be a partner with the schools,” he argued.
The veteran elected official added that the Jersey City Public Schools deserves more state aid and pledged to be 2,800 units of affordable and workforce housing, with at least half completed in the first four years, if elected.
“ … I’m proud to be one of the only politicians in the entire State of New Jersey who doesn’t have a boss. But you could say everyone in Jersey City is my boss,” Solomon said.
“ … Over the last eight years, there’s so much I’m proud of, but there’s so much more to do … We must build more affordable housing. Too many of our long-term residents are being pushed out.”
The downtown councilman stressed that his administration would have a heavy emphasis on affordability and functional, transparent government.
Freeman indicated that she wanted to increase social services for everyone, especially for youth and those struggling with mental health.
“I understand affordable housing is another big thing here in Jersey City that many working families are pretty much struggling with maintaining their status here,” she acknowledged.
The first question focused on what candidates would do to ensure development was more responsible and more incentive-based for residents, as opposed to developers.
“The call I have gotten most frequently is I love this community, but I don’t think I can stay …We want to take abandoned lots and abandoned buildings throughout the city and turn those into workforce housing. So, the people who serve our city can stay in our city,” Solomon declared.
He also touted his record of voting against tax abatements of projects such as the Centre Pompidou, stating that he does not believe luxury projects or developments deserve them, as well as the fact he is not taking any money from developers.
“We know that affordable housing is based on the AMI (Average Median Income) … Those numbers aren’t necessarily a reflection of all the community here in Jersey City,” Freeman replied.
She wanted to create affordable housing for seniors and other vulnerable populations, as well as offer programs to help residents renovate and remodel their homes.
McGreevey said it was a tough question before reiterating that he would build 1,000 units for seniors during his four-year term, also calling for a tenant advocacy unit.
“As Governor, one of the few things I did well was transit villages … connecting development to transit,” also calling for linking open space to affordable units.
O’Dea said he has already worked on buildings in the city to provide affordable housing and get them renovated.
“The city should have a blanket policy to grant those buildings extensions of their PILOTS [payment in lieu of taxes],” He said of buildings with affordable housing.
O’Dea also said he has used many means to create affordable housing in different projects.
“Police, firefighters, most of them can’t afford those units. 80 percent income in this town is about $75,000,” he noted, explaining that $2,000 in rent is nearly one third of their income.
“The amount of workforce housing we do needs to be closer to 60 percent AMI,” he argued.
Later, Heinis asked what role the candidates saw Special Improvement Districts (SIDs) playing in their administration.
McGreevey said he has worked with SIDs and non-profits to help renovate buildings.
“Small business is the backbone of a community, and we have to encourage and support our small businesses. In addition, we have to make sure those areas are safe and clean,” he said.
“There’s a lot of money for Special Improvement Districts … I would require them to create an additional advisory committee made up of the neighborhood associations that join that Special Improvement District,” O’Dea added.
O’Dea further emphasized that he wanted them free of “special agendas” and to help women and minority-owned businesses.
“We want them to be focused on support for small businesses in those districts,” Solomon said.
He explained some SIDs act more like government agencies and wanted to reverse that. Solomon also wanted them to help small businesses with significant issues.
“On Newark Ave., clearly it’s not where it needs to be. It’s not in an acceptable condition,” he added.
“No decision should be made without the community first aware of it and being a part of it,” Freeman pledged, calling for a community advisory board for these scenarios.
Heinis also asked about what the mayoral hopefuls approaches would be regarding enforcing parking and moving violations.
The candidates all endorsed a special traffic enforcement division for the Jersey Police Department, but had largely different approaches otherwise.
“We lose millions of dollars every year because people with New York plates realize they don’t have to pay parking tickets in Jersey City. We have to change that,” O’Dea exclaimed.
Solomon endorsed a surveillance camera program coming to Hoboken would allow the city to issue tickets to cars parked illegally with the parking authority of police having to manually issue the summons.
Additionally, Freeman wanted to ensure that crosswalk lights last long enough for pedestrians to cross, while McGreevey also endorsed cameras for street safety. He also noted a desire use AI-powered prediction software to improve traffic.
“I would request E-bikes to be licensed and to be registered,” he added.
Furthermore, Heinis asked if they would be prepared to move forward with a reval scheduled for 2028 as mayor.
Freeman said yes and said she had nothing further to add before McGreevey answered.
“I would want to … level out gross discrepancies or punitive impacts on those who are candidly on the lower level of the economic scale,” McGreevey declared.
O’Dea said it was important to have “the ability to involve a community, to handicap … who’s going to get hit, who’s going to get hurt, who might benefit” in the process.
He doesn’t believe the mayor should use the potential increased revenue to balance the municipal budget since residents often appeal the process, acknowledging it was a difficult process regardless.
Solomon agreed that kicking the can was not an option and floated the possibility of doing annual revals instead of waiting every 10 years – noting that both he and O’Dea felt the pain of the process during their first terms on the council since a reval didn’t take place for three decades.
“There is a better system of annual re-evals after we do the next one: It tracks the market and it’s fair,” he stated.
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