Official release
Governments in general, and the current occupants of Hoboken
City Hall in particular, often go with solutions in search of problems. From
the ongoing Washington Street Destruction Plan, to the Benches for Beggars
(which replaced parking by the downtown CVS with red chairs and tables), to
repeated back and forth efforts to “fix” traffic in the south and southwest of
town, the majority of our current crop of political “leaders” are victim to
their own groupthink and hubris. An attitude of doing something because they
can and of confusing their preferences with the priorities of our urban
community have sadly become pervasive.
Naturally, these “leaders” have consulted with handpicked
“experts.” They have undoubtedly conducted a “study”
(or two) with an engineering firm that clearly
has no interest in having repeat business, has an 100% immunity to confirmation
bias, and in no way, shape, or form, would ever return the results it was asked
to sign off on to secure said future continued business. The reality is that it
doesn’t take the people of Hoboken an expensive study to know that traffic has
gotten worse on Observer Highway and that the Washington St Destruction Plan
includes dangerous curb extensions and kills parking spots on the Avenue. The people
know Court St isn’t a project to be taken up for the County Board of
Freeholders because it’s not one of the handful of county roads our taxes pay
so much (and get so little in return) for.
From barely used bike lanes on main streets to tax dodging schemes
called PILOTs (Payment in Lieu of Taxes), our city leaders have done things
based on their conception of their public image not for the betterment of
Hoboken, the bottom line of the taxpayer, or to help ease the schlep in and out
of town for the car driving commuter. This pattern of negative behavior is
worse than the benign neglect many of my fellow council candidates have engaged
in with their silence on the issues.
When elected to city council I will not be silent, I will
see if proposed solutions actually address a real substantive problem facing
our city or are more of them same attempts by many to “make their mark”.
Hoboken has real issues, perennial flooding, a high cost of living, an
anti-small business climate, a shortage of housing stock, and an extreme
deficient of parking. When elected, I will ensure our city council doesn’t
ignore these problems by inventing others.
Joshua Einstein is a member of the New Jersey Republican
State Committee and the Hudson County Regional Jewish Council. He co-founded a
Democrat-Republican Dialogue group which alternates meetings between Hoboken
and Jersey City. He writes a regular column for a north Jersey community
newspaper and has been published in over 14 sites and newspapers. He walks dogs
in town and is an Executive Board member of the New Jersey State Young
Republican Federation.
Read More...
