Independent Hoboken Council-at-Large candidate Cindy Wiegand is calling for the restructuring of the city’s recreation department as a nonprofit with up to six board members.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“My proposal would provide Hoboken a framework to help to develop new recreational opportunities commiserate with Hoboken’s status as New Jersey’s crown jewel. No one is
discussing using the Union Dry Dock site as a place to create a world class water complex and pool,” Wiegand said in a statement.
“The ability to complement the current developer commitment to building a pool in town with a recreational fundraising entity could allow us to create a magnificent water complex adjacent to the Hudson set against Manhattan’s majestic backdrop. Just think of the possibilities for residents of all ages!”
According to her plan, a not-for-profit entity would leverage the current rec department’s strengths and resources and augment it with greater input and direction from the community.
Additionally, she says this approach would provide the ability to raise funds from residents, businesses, and philanthropic organizations to increase its financial wherewithal to underwrite and expand activities.
Specifically, she is calling for the rec dept. receiving the same city budget allocation that it currently receives, maintaining “legacy sponsorships” to maintain programs like baseball and softball, and having public and private representatives on a board.
This board would include the recreation director, currently Leo Pellegrini, one or two city council members, and three city residents.
“As the inventors of America’s national pastime, it is well past time that Hoboken leads on reimaging the blueprint for community recreation. Recreation is vital for children, teenagers, seniors and all those in between,” Wiegand added.
“Our city’s current offerings are too limited in scope and are plagued by a signup process that is uneven and lacks transparency and that too frequently leaves residents immensely frustrated.”
There are 10 council-at-large candidates seeking three seats in the non-partisan November 2nd municipal elections, where Mayor Ravi Bhalla is running unopposed.
There’s a reason the candidates are mentioning the recreation department…it’s always done the minimum. Other towns have so much for their kids at low cost. I want to see the incumbents plan for more classes and parks, not force other agencies to pick up the slack for rec.
John, are these her actual quotes? They are close to incoherent. Run-on sentences, nonsensical statements and does she know the meaning of the word commiserate?
https://twitter.com/Cindy4Hoboken/status/1444019821763518468
Thank you….quite concerning.
I couldn’t agree more with your concern, Wilson. We already have Councilman DeFusco who doesn’t seem to own a dictionary and constantly misusing big, fancy SAT words to make himself sound smarter than he actually is during his obnoxious soapbox speeches that we’re forced to listen to every meeting.
As I commented when the guy on her ticket played the pool card: Since this is Hoboken, a city pool would be a nightmare of mismanagement, expensive maintenance and exorbitant liability. Nice idea, but I don’t want my tax dollars wasted on it, too many other more important things to do.
Terrible idea, perfect way to cause discrimination, title 9 , ADA and federal funding… this is such a bad idea
It’s not supposed to be a good idea. It’s only meant to be interesting sounding enough to peel off enough votes throw the election into a runoff where Tiff and Jenn hope “old Hoboken” will be able to win by reassembling the Cammarano coalition. In a low turnout election.
Other than Mayor Bhalla’s ticket, the highest vote getter will almost certainly be Patty Waiters not the candidates floating the “reformy” sounding ideas.
While this plan says it would include Director Leo Pellegrini on the board, Ms. Wiegand is directly questioning his leadership over the recreation department. I’d like to commend Director Pellegrini for the commitment he makes to Hoboken in ensuring residents have plenty of recreational opportunities. I’m not seeing the broken system that Ms. Wiegand is claiming. Walk around Hoboken on any given weekend and you’ll see Director Pellegrini running in between fields to ensure all activities are going off without a hitch or finding creative ways for fitness businesses to use outdoor space, just to name a few things. This is on top of his remit as our Director of Health and Human Services, playing an essential role in keeping our community safe during the pandemic.
Never head of this woman or anything good she has actually done for Hoboken. Trying to throw shade on Leo Pellegrini who has done so much for the families in Hoboken from the children to the seniors to promote herself is just disgusting.