Former Hoboken Councilman-at-Large Dave Mello will be seeking his old seat as part of 2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher’s mayoral slate in the non-partisan November 4th municipal elections.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“I’m excited for this opportunity and am running again because Hoboken needs experienced leaders who consistently put residents first and have a proven track record of delivering real results,” Mello said in a statement.
“Throughout my time in public service, I’ve focused on projects that make a lasting difference in people’s lives—like the Southwest Resiliency Park and the redevelopment of the Hoboken Housing Authority—and I believe that kind of leadership is needed now more than ever. I’m stepping up to join Team Fisher because I’m energized by our shared vision and what we can accomplish together for Hoboken’s future.”
Mello served as a councilman-at-large between 2009 an 2017 as part of then-Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s ticket. He sought re-election in 2017 on then-Freeholder Anthony Romano’s (D-5) mayoral ticket, but he finished 12th in a field of 14 candidates.
During his tenure on the council, Mello pushed for the Southwest Resiliency Park and the city’s water infrastructure upgrades during his tenure.
He also played a role in launching the HOP shuttle service and delivering key open space projects including, the 770 House public plaza, the Damon Murray Gym and the 7th and Jackson Resiliency Park.
A Jersey City public school teacher, Mello also spent 10 years serving on the Hoboken Housing Authority board of directors, the last four as the board chair where he advocated for the HHA’s redevelopment plan.
“Dave has always been a tireless advocate for Hoboken residents. His deep knowledge of city government, commitment to public service, and track record of delivering real results make him an invaluable addition to our team,” added Fisher.
Mello is the second member of Fisher’s four-person council slate – three council-at-large and a special election in the 6th Ward to succeed the late Jen Giattino. He follows the announcement of Liz Urtecho last month, who held her campaign kickoff last night.
“Dave brings a level of integrity and determination that our city needs right now, and I’m proud to have him standing beside me as we work to build a stronger, more responsive Hoboken. I’m excited to have Dave join our slate,” noted Urtecho.
“Team Fisher is becoming a powerhouse of experience and results-driven leadership. Dave isn’t afraid to push back when necessary—he brings both unmatched experience and the courage to challenge the status quo. He’s exactly the kind of representative Hoboken needs right now.”
The only other declared council-at-large candidate thus far is Alfredo Veloce, a rent control board member, who is running with 4th Ward Councilman Ruben Ramos.
he was useless and did nothing when he was on Team zimmer and that’s why she dumped him
Also, why Ravi didn’t take him
Dawn zimmer wouldn’t even talk to him when she decided not to run again
She let him hang out there in the wind
What Dawn did to Dave and her entire team is a reflection on her, not Dave, and Ravi’s opinion of Dave is even less important.
Why would she run a guy who called women (including her) the “c-word”? In private, of course, but it got around.
Ravi would never want Dave around and we all know why.
Ravi is corrupt.
Got some news for you but it wasn’t Dawn Zimmer who spearheaded the effort for a Southwest Park. It was Dave Mello.
If you know, you know.
Dave Mello also walked on the moon- it was not Neil Armstrong
More voices really are better.
👍
how comical is this…a retread, giant faced loser who is hates women
makes sense that he is running with tiffanie and liz
who doesnt love a council candidate that ran a burner account
“hates women”…so it “makes sense that he is running with” two, umm, women?
do i have that correct?
Opportunism always wins. Nothing to stop him from calling his ticket “C U Next Tuesday” behind their backs. Do i have that correct? (i do)
Who can forget former councilman Mello
Remember when Zimmer had a 5-4 council Mr. Mello would play games and put a gun to her head with his ridiculous demands
Who else remembers when he was the laziest council person that was never available would never do any work and all he would do is that he didn’t have a three bedroom condo and asked Developer to build more three bedroom condo is hoping to get a special deals deal for himself perhaps?
Oh, and then there’s Mr. Mello who is a public school teacher on the county payroll but refused to put his kids in the Hoboken public school system and said he would never put his kid in Connor’s with “those people”
And then there was that whole incident where he was pushing for a 3rd charter school so that he could put his kid in a school that had the lowest percentage of minorities listed in their demographics pro-forma
Maybe he should spend his retirement studying for the bar for a 3rd time?
we would never spell the whole word, but Mr Mello was often known for spelling out the rest of the worst word in the American language
What a classic case of an absolute do-nothing who’s never met an accomplishment he couldn’t claim credit for.
Did you hear he invented the internet?
To hear Dave tell it, he built the southwest park single-handedly. He saved the hospital, painted the bike lanes, designed Pier C Park, fixed the train station after that accident, reopened the light rail, personally handled all the water removal and damage repair after hurricane sandy, even flew around the earth real fast to make it spin backwards and reverse time so he could bring dead people back to life, just like Superman!
Dave was so busy carrying the world on his shoulders in every conceivable way, it’s no wonder he never had any time to attend committee meetings, read materials ahead of important votes, or even do any fundraising or GOTV for his own campaigns. It’s not easy to do the most fundamental basics of a councilman’s job when you’re too busy doing every conceivable feat of greatness known to mankind.
Plus, he’s very busy talking. He needs to make sure everybody knows how many great things he does that make it impossible for doing the things people expect to see a councilman doing. For example, did you know he was the best-ever White Savior in the Bronx? He knows all about how “those people” live, because he personally saved every last one of them from their own misguided lifestyles.
Truly a hero like no other. Go Dave! If you can find a few voters who enjoy hearing your voice half as much as you do — then you’ve enjoyed it twice as much as them!
Fisher was part of a group that pushed Mayor Zimmer to drop Mello, and talked about him behind his back, though Mello did enough on his own to upset Zimmer as described above. Hot-tempered, lazy, runs a burner account on X. What a mess.
Based on the comments here it seems like Tiffanie made a good pick and now the Bhalla/Jabour bots are losing their minds.
You pass Gaslighting 101 with flying colors!
Assuming you are correct about the alliances of every person posting about Mello’s “alleged” history of misogynist slurs, what difference does that make? Should the witnesses to such gross behavior step up? How about you? After all, a “political insider” like yourself surely knows the same, but it doesn’t align with your current state of hackery. Prostitution pays well, don’t it- or do you work for free? lol
I don’t have a dog in this race, just making an observation that was clearly correct or it wouldn’t have triggered such a bizarre response from you. Good luck!
don’t kid yourself, the slurs aren’t from team bhalla, my guess team ramos
A slur?
Save that for Team Tiff where white is their favorite color
* unless is smoke from weed
So now Tiffy is going after a Latina Lawyer because she thinks the woman is Ramos’s cousin…
Poor Tiff she just cant see past her problems with melanin
you mean team ramos’ relation? looks like I was right team. ramos signs in, slurs and then blames team bhalla & jabbour for the slurs they make.
don’t be fooled not such nice guys.
Seems like mush mello cannot take any criticism. heard he is whining and crying to people about the online comments. that will really make for a good councilman. already unhinged after just one article.
i luv that everyone knows about dave’s comfort with See You Next Tuesday…
what a joy.
I don’t have an opinion on the guy one way or another, but he SURE seems to have the supporters of his opponents here in a tizzy, LOL. No one would bother coming out on blast against a candidate who they didn’t feel was a threat to their preferred choice.
Who is candidate Mello a threat to? He’s just one of 3 At-Large candidates. We can vote for the top of the ticket- Tiffany- without voting for him. Never heard of it? Recognizing that one At-Large candidate is deeply flawed “threatens” no one. Go back to hack school Miss Kiki!
If he’s such a terrible candidate and non-factor, why are there nearly 30 immediate comments attacking him? You and others obviously feel threatened, otherwise why the impassionaed pushback?
Pro tip: Votes aren’t as stupid as you think they are.
The answer to both questions (paragraph 1) is simple: because we know him. We know his temper, his laziness, his disrespectful language toward females, his condescension. So, Miss Kiki, don’t we have a say in whose salary our taxpayer dollars underwrite? We do.
Pro tip: We voters have the right to criticize our government and political office-seekers. You can take it or leave it, but bullying our free speech is a dead end road.
Your slip is showing…
Come for the politics, stay for the psychotic comments.
Just like the toxic bad old days on Nancy Pincus’ now defunct Graftix Avenger blog
Thats how many people will vote for Mello the Big C
It is quite amusing to see people who were among Mello’s most outspoken critics when he was in office now claiming those bringing up what a useless sack of suds he was are somehow projecting fear of his retroactively invented “effectiveness.”
No matter where you stand on this election — love or hate Bhalla, love or hate Fisher, support Russo or Ramos, it shouldn’t matter. Anyone with any actual knowledge of and intellectual honesty about Mello’s tenure as a councilman knows he is someone who *nobody* liked. Full stop. To question the sincerity of people raising historically accurate recollections of this is a sad case of partisan beer goggles.
Ran with Dawn came in 2nd place
Screws reform and gets dropped by Bhalla
Runs without Zimmer and comes in 12th when he runs with Sleaze bag Romano and Friends of midnight flier operations
Will Team Tiff be on our windshields late at night too?