With now former Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla sworn in as a state assemblyman to represent the 32nd Legislative District, Council President Jim Doyle will be the interim mayor for approximately two days until Mayor-elect Emily Jabbour is inaugurated.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“As I conclude my last day in office as Mayor of Hoboken, I wanted to share that it has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as your mayor for eight years. Thank you for the trust, partnership and support you have placed in me,” Bhalla said in a statement this morning.
“I’m comforted by the fact that I am leaving this office with Hoboken as an even better place to live and raise a family than when I first took office, with more quality of life projects now underway that will continue with the next administration.”
He also thanked his family, his current and former staff, and noting that he is looking forward to continuing to represent the Mile Square City in Trenton. LD-32 also includes all of Jersey City’s Wards C, D, and E, as well as a small portion of B.
Bhalla was a two-term councilman at-large when he was elected mayor in 2017 in a six-person race for an open seat, getting re-elected in 2021 where he ran unopposed.
He unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez (D-8) in 2024 before getting elected to the state Assembly last year.
Additionally, Dundon Advisers announced Bhalla as their managing director and co-head of infrastructure last week, as HCV first reported.
As for Doyle, he was elected to a council at-large seat three times in 2013, 2017, and 2021 and was named to his first term as council president last year.
“I don’t imagine they’ll be an opportunity to do too much damage, but there are things to get done,” Doyle, 66, joked over the phone.
“For example, I just signed a construction contract for Maritime Park. I’m proud to help in any way I can in the next couple of days.”
He added that he’d like to continue serving on the planning board if possible.
Jabbour, a two term councilwoman at-large, won a six-person race for mayor last year, defeating 3rd Ward Councilman Mike Russo in the non-partisan December 2nd runoff.
Her inauguration will take place at the DeBaun Auditorium at the Stevens Institute of Technology at 1 p.m. on Thursday.
Bhalla and Doyle have done so much destruction to Hoboken and its residents these past eight years.
Now we have another no-experience Business Administrator entering and we all know how that will turn out for Hoboken taxpayers. Bad!
Hello Carolina
Can you be more specific? What exactly have they done to destory hoboken?
Don’t waste your time on “Carolina”, it’s more nonsense from a sore loser.
Bhalla and his crack law department don’t know the Faulkner act which governs Hoboken’s form of government. The Council president does not automatically become Acting Mayor. The Council must vote for any citizen of Hoboken to become Acting Mayor when there is a vacancy in the office. The statute also allows for a Mayor being out of state or incapacitated to appoint any Department Director or the City Clerk to become Acting Mayor provided that they are a resident of the city.
Emily, please clean house in the Law Department.
Actually Richard when the mayor resigns the Council President automatically becomes Interim Mayor. The Council them has 30 days to choose an acting Mayor by majority vote. If it fails to do so the Interim Mayor becomes acting Mayor until a special election is held.
That is what happened in 2009 when Mayor Cammarano resigned and Mayor Zimmer became Interim and then acting Mayor until being elected Mayor in a special election.
Perhaps you should have considered reading the Faulkner Act before leveling your misguided, unfair criticism.