LETTER: Marla Decker should be Hoboken’s next 2nd Ward councilwoman

In a letter to the editor, Hoboken resident Jeanne Shanahan spells out why she feels that Marla Decker should be the next 2nd Ward councilwoman.

Dear Editor,

The Second Ward Race IS About Integrity – And Without Question, Marla Decker has the Utmost.

I am writing to support my friend and neighbor, Marla Decker, for the 2nd ward city councilperson for the upcoming election on November 7th.

Recently, her opponent, incumbent councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher, announced, “This race is now about integrity.”

She is right – it is about integrity, and Ms. Fisher’s lack of integrity in attacking Marla’s character should inform all voters that the better choice is Ms. Decker, whose integrity is of the highest caliber.

Ms. Fisher claims that Ms. Decker’s campaign flyer statement — that Ms. Fisher cost the city millions of dollars because she voted to delay the Union Dry acquisition in 2017 — is not true and has since launched a smear campaign focused on Ms. Decker’s character and integrity.

She has repeated attacks on her emails and social media accounts.

I believe she is doing this to distract from the truth – her actions, including those on Union Dry Dock, have been very costly to the city. I worked tirelessly with Ron Hine, the executive director of the Fund for a Better Waterfront.

I’ve lived in Hoboken for 12 years, and I have been very involved with the fund, which has long advocated for the Union Dry Dock site to become a park owned by Hoboken.

Unfortunately, for those residents who have not lived here for 12 years, you may not realize that we almost lost the opportunity to purchase the Union Dry Dock because Tiffanie refused to vote for it.

In 2017, many of us supported the Fund’s efforts. We were focused on lobbying the city to use eminent domain to acquire the property from the defunct Union Dry Dock company and prevent New York Waterway from becoming the owner of its planned ferry site.

The opportunity was there, and Mayor Zimmer supported efforts to do it along with then-mayoral candidate Councilman Bhalla.

However, most city council members, including Councilwoman Fisher, delayed the vote to acquire the property until after the 2017 mayoral election.

The result – New York Waterway promptly acquired the property, leaving Hoboken a step behind and in a weakened position.

Tiffanie votes against things when she feels like it, and this project that should have been completed eight years ago has not yet been completed. Only Councilwoman Fisher knows the reason for her choice to delay, but it was a costly decision, and Ms. Decker is right to call her out on it.

It took six years and millions of dollars to get the property back from New York Waterway.

Likewise, several of our buildings along the waterfront don’t have a plan for hurricane protection and water damage because everything has consistently gotten tied up in multiple meetings, which Tiffanie has slowed down the process by voting against or halting votes in council meetings.

I don’t have confidence that when Tiffanie makes a significant vote, she has you, me, or Hoboken (particularly residents in the water areas) in mind. We have narrowly missed many opportunities because Tiffanie slowed down the voting process at council meetings.

As a long-term resident, I’ve advocated tirelessly with Mayor Dawn Zimmer and Mayor Ravi Bhalla to preserve our beloved community and have seen Marla do the same.

In addition to self-serving statements about Union Dry Dock, Councilwoman Fisher has taken credit for some positive improvements in our ward.

Yet, my experience has been that requests for safety improvements and other neighborhood issues went routinely unaddressed by Councilwoman Fisher for years on end (and often even without the courtesy of an email response).

I find Councilwoman Fisher’s lack of truthfulness about her record troubling. And I see her attacks on Marla’s character more telling of Councilwoman Fisher’s.

I have known Marla for as long as I’ve lived in Hoboken. She served on our board of directors for a decade, and she became a personal friend through a book club I organized. Marla is not a brass, loud, attention-seeking human being. She is not dishonest.

She is an accomplished lawyer, and as a board member for ten years in our building, Marla was someone everyone could talk to – and Marla followed up. Marla, in her measured, kind, and thorough way, gets things accomplished.

I’ve seen this repeatedly in everything we’ve worked on together, and I am taking the time to write this because I believe Marla to be one of the finest human beings I know. We would be lucky to have her represent us in the 2nd ward.

I promise your voice will be heard, your emails answered, and your points of view considered because Marla is not about Marla. Her opinions are not tied to her inflating her ego.

I know Marla to be of the highest integrity. When you are thinking about who to vote for, consider someone who will not only vote for the 2nd Ward but is representing every Hoboken resident.

I ask you to cast your vote for Marla Decker on November 7th.

Sincerely,
Jeanne Shanahan, MA
Educational Consultant (NY & NJ)
Resident of 1500 Garden