SECOND WARD: Tiffanie Fisher / Nora Martínez-DeBenedetto | Hoboken City Council Candidate Questionnaire — VOTE NOV. 5, 2019

Hoboken’s Municipal Election is Tuesday, November 5, 2019.

We asked Hoboken City Council candidates the following questions:

• You’re a candidate for the Hoboken City Council. This particular election has put a lot of focus on the role of a Council and a Councilperson, working in conjunction with the City’s Administration. How do you interpret that role?
• What are the key issues within your ward and how will you plan to address them?
• What are the key issues facing Hoboken on the whole, and how will you plan to address them?
• You are running against someone. In what way(s) do you differ from your opponent(s)?
• Why should residents in your ward give their vote to you?
• What’s your favorite Frank Sinatra song, and why?

Here are their answers, in their own words:

CANDIDATE: Tiffanie Fisher (incumbent)

hMAG: You’re a candidate for the Hoboken City Council. This particular election has put a lot of focus on the role of a Council and a Councilperson, working in conjunction with the City’s Administration. How do you interpret that role?
Tiffanie Fisher: For things to get done, the Council and the Administration have to work well together and notwithstanding the rhetoric, we actually do. We have gotten so much done in the last four years, and in particular the last two. The Council has voted 8-1 or better 87% of the time under the Bhalla administration. That reflects a lot of common ground, constructive relationships and a lot of progress. My personal best example is with Suez. Mayor Bhalla let me spearhead the project of getting a new contract because he saw the pushback we gave in 2017 on a deal that would have been bad for Hoboken. The team was my Council subcommittee (Giattino, Ramos, Jabbour), Business Administrator Stephen Marks, Environmental Services Director Jennifer Gonzalez, City Engineer Kimberli Craft and their respective teams, Deputy Chief of Staff to the mayor Jason Freeman and amazing outside Financial, Legal and Engineering consultants. We focused not just on better economics for Hoboken, but a better operating partnership with Suez. And what we got was $30M savings for Hoboken taxpayers and a new path to end water main breaks in Hoboken. Win. Win. Win. That is what government should look like.

h: What are the key issues within your ward and how will you plan to address them?
TF: Within the 2nd ward the top issues are completing the northern part of our waterfront as open space and pedestrian safety. Other issues that are raised but are more citywide include the impacts of overdevelopment on everyday quality of life issues – like overcrowding, long bus lines, and scarcity of street parking and concerns over store closings.

• Waterfront – I will continue to advocate for my neighbors against the proposed Monarch, a fight I have been in since day one. For the year ahead I will work with all of my colleagues to ensure that the final agreement is something that can work for everyone so we can avoid what happened with the terms proposed in 2016. I will also support the Mayor’s path to acquiring UDD.
• Pedestrian Safety – This will be addressed both at a macro level with roll out of Vision Zero, and at the same time at a micro level through advocacy for individual intersections. We have made or are in the process of making improvements at a dozen intersections across the ward. New signs, lights, vertical delineators and/or curbs have been installed at each of these in the past few years: 15th and Garden, 14th and Garden, 13th and Garden, 14th and Willow, 15th and Hudson, 12th and Sinatra, and 14th and Shipyard.

Development related concerns and store closings I’ll address in the next question.

h: What are the key issues facing Hoboken on the whole, and how will you plan to address them?
TF: What I would group together as all issues that feed from overdevelopment – from long bus lines, to difficulty getting in and out of Hoboken, to short playing time on the soccer field due to lack of field space, to scarcity of parking. And concerns over what should be treated as an amenity for our residents – store closings. For the first one, I have been pushing for an informed, strategic plan for development city wide that is anchored around a plan to bring commercial development (office primarily) to the development areas in the corners of Hoboken. Commercial tenants would be the best complement to our current population because it brings jobs so people don’t have to leave the city to go to work, it brings people into the city as our commuters are leaving so less stress on our transportation channels, it brings huge tax revenues without the demands for municipal services, and it brings a daytime population to help support our businesses. But commercial is not what developers want to build because it is less profitable and higher risk than building residential. But we need to push for what works best for Hoboken. Which I have always done.

Store closings – I have spent the past two years working on establishing a Special Improvement District in Hoboken so we can create a more supportive environment for our businesses to operate. Mayor Bhalla appointed me to be the Council representative on the steering committee, and I have worked closely with twenty local commercial property and business owners to create the SID (approved by the City Council in August) that will, among other things, help improve the process for store openings, perform a retail market analysis to determine the obstacles / opportunities around attracting consumers to Hoboken, creating a one-stop-shop location for local businesses to help level the tenant / landlord dynamic (unsustainable rents), visually improve our central business districts, and provide better connections to businesses city wide and not just on Wasnington St. 2020 should be an exciting year for our businesses and for our Hoboken.

h: You are running against someone. In what ways do you differ from your opponent?
TF: As mentioned above, most of us in Hoboken share common ground and I think on the issues my opponent has spoken publicly on, we have more similarities than not. Both of us want a public waterfront. Both think pedestrian safety is a critical issue. Both concerned about the safety of the eScooter pilot program. I see us differing in three ways. First – track record, plain and simple. I am an incumbent has worked tirelessly for and led our community on many issues as an elected representative for the past four years, and a waterfront activist since 2011. I have a track record of listening, showing up, fighting for what is right and delivering real solutions. Second – As I mentioned above, I believe that the biggest issues that the city faces relate primarily to making sure we don’t get development wrong. I have over two decades of professional experience relating to this subject matter that I have brought to bear in all of the recent redevelopment discussions from the Hilton Hotel, to the Western Edge, to Monarch. And I think is critically important that our local government have someone with this experience. Third – I think her campaign shows that she will not necessarily be the independent voice for the 2nd Ward and our City when we most need it. Independent doesn’t mean oppose – it means supporting all great ideas and pushing back when its necessary. Like I did with Suez in 2017. My opponent has been silent on the mayor’s Railyards plan that is out of scale and has not had any of the analysis required to ensure it works for Hoboken. She has been silent on the myriad examples of special interest money coming into our election to help her slate, some directly benefitting her. And she continues to push out dishonest narratives about me.

h: Why should residents in your ward give their vote to you?
TF: Because no one is going to engage more with them, and make them engage back on issues that are important to them, than me. Because no one is going to advocate more on every issue important to them, than me. And no one is going to keep them informed on every issue important to them, than me. When I set out on this journey four years ago, the words Engage Inform Advocate defined my platform. And they still do. We have accomplished so much together as a ward – it has been a true partnership between my neighbors and me. And people should give their vote to me, so I can keep voting in return for them.

h: What’s your favorite Frank Sinatra song, and why?
TF: “High Hopes.” There are so many good ones – and I love seeing your Friday posts each week – but this one I remember from when I was a kid. My mom would play it and we would sing the part about the ant and the rubber tree plant together. I like the message – I am generally a glass half full person. And I like the personal nostalgia.

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CANDIDATE: Nora Martínez-DeBenedetto

hMAG: You’re a candidate for the Hoboken City Council. This particular election has put a lot of focus on the role of a Council and a Councilperson, working in conjunction with the City’s Administration. How do you interpret that role?
Nora Martínez-DeBenedetto: If I am fortunate enough to be elected to the city council, I have one goal, and that is to serve the residents of my beloved hometown. As a lifelong resident of the Second Ward, there is simply no other little slice of the world that is more important to me. I will work cooperatively with the mayor and the other members of the city council to get concrete things done for the 2nd, such as solving dangerous pedestrian safety issues, and preventing the Monarch towers from being built. I have a personal relationship with every single person that sits on that dais right now, and you will never see me playing petty politics with the issues that are most important to our city.

h:What are the key issues within your ward and how will you plan to address them?
NMD: My number one priority is pedestrian safety. I will work to make positive changes to 15th Street and also Willow Avenue. 15th & Garden, for example, could benefit from a raised intersection, which will slow down traffic significantly. Additionally, I will advocate for lowering the city-wide speed limit to 20 mph, and also focus on education for ride share drivers. If they want to make money in Hoboken, then they need to understand that we are a pedestrian-centered community.

The other issue that is on everyone’s mind in the Second Ward is the Monarch. I will work together with Mayor Bhalla’s administration to prevent the proposed towers from being built on our waterfront. Instead, we are hopeful that the towers can be transferred to a downtown location, closer to a transportation hub, and the remaining pier at 15th Street can be turned into open space. In the past, my opponent has rightly recused herself from voting on this issue, as she has a conflict and financial stake in the outcome of the Monarch decision. Now, just days before the election, she has announced that she plans to vote. This would make any final negotiation open to legal action, and I think we can all agree that the last thing Hoboken needs is another legal bill.

h: What are the key issues facing Hoboken on the whole, and how will you plan to
address them?
NMD: Hoboken is facing a density crisis. I believe in urban life. I loved the independence afforded me when I was a kid growing up in this city, and my mom will tell you it’s a great place for senior citizens, too. What it also should be, is easier.

We need to figure out a way to move people around our city faster and simpler. I think expanding the Hop is a no-brainer. I ride it at least twice a day and it is packed all the time. We need additional routes, that leave the Hoboken Terminal at more staggered times, and the Hop MUST run on weekends.

Another public transportation issue that needs to be solved is the lack of a light rail station in uptown Hoboken. With the redevelopment happening in the North End, we finally have an opportunity and we cannot let it pass us by again. Uptown Hoboken was promised a light rail stop in the ‘90s. It never happened. Not again on my watch!

A network of protected bike lanes is another piece of the puzzle that can help to move citizens around our town safely and efficiently.

h: You are running against someone. In what ways do you differ from your opponent?
NMD: I’m a woman of action. I never leave a conversation or a meeting without an action item. I believe in listening, to constituents and experts, and then making an informed decision and getting the job done. If I am fortunate enough to be elected to the city council, residents can look forward to quarterly community meetings, and proactive problem solving.

h: Why should residents in your ward give their vote to you?
NMD: I have been a community activist in Hoboken since I was a teenager. I know the issues, from the waterfront, to rent control, to the floods, because I have lived them for a lifetime. I feel that representation matters, and my unique perspective as a mom, educator, and activist means that I always be there to step up for my neighbors.

h: What’s your favorite Frank Sinatra song, and why?
NMD: Why did you have to save the toughest question for last? “Summer Wind,” with a special soft spot for the way Frankie hits that note on, ‘And guess who sighs *his* lullabies….’ Gets me every single time. Also, anything off of Live at The Sands, especially the Tea Break, which is essentially ten minutes of classic Sinatra standup.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH
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