While the non-partisan Jersey City mayoral contest isn’t until November 4th, 2025, former Gov. Jim McGreevey hosted his seventh Town Hall event yesterday.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
“I’ve got a bias for folks who have been around,” McGreevey joked to about 50 people at Monumental Baptist Church, located at 121 Lafayette St., last night.
He also said this was his seventh Town Hall meeting since declaring for the mayor in November – roughly two years before Election Day. Education was the first subject discussed at the public forum.
Laura, who declined to give her last name, said classes like spelling and geography had been cut from the curriculum in the Jersey City Public Schools.
“It’s an area I think is so critically important. I want great schools for every child regardless of zip code,” McGreevey began, noting he penned an Op-Ed on literacy recently.
“The children are at a disadvantage. They’re expected to go on to first grade writing a paragraph … Pre-school kids should be learning to read too,” LaToya Hillier said when expressing concerns about financial literary.
McGreevey responded that every child of an appropriate age should be enrolled in pre-K, to which Hillier said there aren’t enough services for those in need.
Additionally, he said that as mayor, he would strongly advocate that the legislature allocate more money to the city’s schools.
“While we have all this wealth downtown, many of our children in school are challenged … I guarantee you we will have a citywide literacy program,” McGreevey declared as a campaign promise.
Hillier complained there are too many students per teacher in each classroom, to which McGreevey said he was committed to getting this right.
“There is no communication skills. They’re on their phones and iPads. They just look at you. It’s so important to have books,” Salma Cortez said.
“The board of education, they feel they can do whatever they want to,” activist Tina Nalls said, which prompted McGreevey to discuss recreation.
“One of my frustrations is the schools are locked, and kids can’t play after school. I think it’s critically important we have recreation programs for young people,” he explained.
As he has previously, McGreevey criticized Fulop’s Centre Pompidou museum proposal, which he joked he couldn’t spell, as too costly.
“That money is better used on our children. A museum may be great if the citizens of Jersey City aren’t paying for it,” he stated.
“That museum will attract a different Jersey City,” Brandy Warren replied.
She did not think it would benefit most of the city’s residents, going to complain about increased fees on child summer programs and swimming pools while the city is allocating millions of dollars for a museum – though it’s future remains uncertain at the moment.
“Young boys have to have exercise, exercise, exercise. Any child should have access … to healthy recreation,” McGreevey replied.
McGreevey turned to the conversation to employment, encouraging people to take construction jobs and truck driving positions, which pay well.
“We all have different gifts … We need housing that people can afford,” McGreevey said to agreement from the people in the room.
“I’ve met with different developers. They talk about the expense of land. There’s ways to do it,” he noted about building affordable housing.
He also called for bringing back the parking authority and expanding the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to help make commuting more manageable for residents.
McGreevey eagerly took notes on a large pad, which he periodically reviewed with those assembled, throughout the evening and indicated more Town Halls are on the way.
While his first Town Hall in February ended with an unexpected guest having a lot to say, this one went off without a hitch.
It will be a sad day for Jersey City if this crook becomes mayor.