FOURTH WARD: Ruben Ramos / Lisa Sprengle | 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: Ruben Ramos (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?
Ruben Ramos: I believe that one of the most important jobs of the City Council is to work with the Administration to improve policy but also to stand up to the Administration when their agenda negatively impacts our community. We pushed the administration to renegotiate Hoboken’s deal with the city’s water provider which saved taxpayers $30 million dollars, delivered a fiscally responsible budget that cut $600K in wasteful spending in City Hall and stood against property tax and parking hikes that would have negatively affected our residents. The Council needs thoughtful, courageous leaders that are willing to stand up and fight for what is right for our neighborhood and not simply a rubber stamp for the Mayor’s agenda. We have witnessed countless examples of the Council working with this Administration in order to advance a positive path forward for our City which the Mayor alluded to in this NJ Insider quote, “Fortunately, this is a strong form of government and I’ve been able to enact the priorities of my administration and for most of the big ticket, the council has agreed.” I am willing to work with any Administration in order to do what is best for our neighborhood.

h: What are the key issues within your ward and how will you plan to address them?
RR: There are a number of issues that affect the lives of our residents in the Fourth Ward from affordable housing to traffic and safety. I have worked with the Hoboken Housing Authority to secure $1.6 million in funding which was used to purchase new doors, security cameras and boilers. The new security cameras make our entire neighborhood safer and the new doors were a much needed improvement for Housing Authority residents. In order to make the neighborhood more safe for commuters and pedestrians, I fought for a Southwest traffic study which brought new stop signs to the Fourth Ward and alleviated traffic congestion in the area. I also worked with New Jersey Transit to get new traffic signals installed at Path Station crossings and new lights put in underneath the train trestle to make it safer for residents to get to and from Downtown Jersey City.

h: What are the key issues facing Hoboken on the whole, and how will you plan to address them?
RR: The issues facing the Fourth Ward are issues that affect all of Hoboken. Flooding, development, affordability, quality of life and safety are all issues that we must collaboratively confront. We need forward thinking leaders with experience in order to solve these problems. We have already begun addressing these issues, many of which need constant advocacy. In regards to affordable housing for example, I supported the addition of a Tenant Advocate in City Hall for the first time ever, I helped secure $1.6 million in funding for the Housing Authority and I have opposed development in Hoboken that doesn’t include adequate affordable housing units.

h: You are running against someone. In what ways do you differ from your opponent?
RR: I have run a positive campaign based on the issues and I will continue to do so. All that I will say, is that I am an experienced leader in our community and that together we have delivered real results for the Fourth Ward. I look forward to being there for my neighbors in the new year and working with the Administration and the Council on the important issues facing our City.

h: Why should residents in your ward give their vote to you?
RR: I grew up in Hoboken and have dedicated my life to public service. I have been proud to serve the people of the Fourth Ward on the City Council and it would be my honor to continue to fight for our neighborhood. We need experienced, honest leaders with a proven track record of getting things done. My advocacy has resulted in improved traffic safety, funding for public housing residents, fiscally responsible budgets, new parks and so much more! In addition to the big ticket items, I have always delivered on the smaller, more local issues that residents have because at the end of the day, that is what a local government official is supposed to do. I will continue to work with this Administration or any other one in order to get things done however, the Fourth Ward knows that I will never be a rubber stamp.

h: What’s your favorite Frank Sinatra song, and why?
RR: I have always been a big Sinatra fan so picking a favorite song isn’t easy but I would have to go with the classic “New York, New York.” As a lifelong Hoboken resident that has lived so close to New York City my entire life, that song has always held a special place in my heart.

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CANDIDATE: Lisa Sprengle

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?
Lisa Sprengle: Councilpeople should respect the Mayor’s leadership and treat the Administration with respect, but also have a responsibility to exercise their individual independent judgment. As a Ward Councilperson, it would be my particular responsibility to make sure the interests of the 4th Ward are always fully considered. Disagreements will always exist but the heated, politically motivated personal attacks that we have seen too often over the past few years are simply not acceptable. In my professional experience, when a group works well together and all parties participate, even with differences of opinions, you end up with the best net result, as you have explored every opportunity and weighed as many results as possible. This moves a group much farther along in terms of results than petty infighting and narrow tunnel vision.

h:What are the key issues within your ward and how will you plan to address them?
LS: In the 4th ward, traffic is a huge problem, which directly ties into pedestrian safety and smart development.  We need to put the interests of 4th ward residents first and not the interests of the developers.  After much transparent public input and based on the advice of the City’s professional planners, the SW redevelopment plan was created, with unanimous City Council support, as a low density plan.   It is a smart plan, and the vision of this plan should be adhered to.  It is unfair to our residents to permit over development that will increase traffic congestion, endanger pedestrians and damage our quality of life.  All development projects should come with community benefits, infrastructure upgrades and architectural integrity.

h: What are the key issues facing Hoboken on the whole, and how will you plan to
address them?
LS: This is a very personal question to, not only each ward, but each resident.  Parking, traffic, commuting, pedestrian safety, bike lanes, affordability, rent control, development, flood protection, small businesses and historic preservation, to name a few.  My mission as the 4th Ward Council person will be to hear from all residents of the 4th ward.  I will always fight hard for the residents and put their interests first.  This includes advocating for increased police presence. Tonight, on Newark Street, I witnessed a driver cutting off the turn lane on a red light, almost hitting a cyclist.  We need to advocate with NJ Transit for the lights at the Lightrail to be properly timed and we need to advocate with the County to have Paterson Plank repaved and re-routed to a one way street.

h: You are running against someone. In what ways do you differ from your opponent?
LS: With my background in business I am confident that I can bring strong financial and analytic skills to the table to hold the line on taxes and comprehensibly review budgets.  I will also explore all additional sources of revenue.  Unlike my opponent, who was first elected to the Council 20 years ago, I am not a career politician, and as such, my votes will represent the residents of the 4th ward first, last and only, never to be placed second to a developer’s interest at our expense.  My approach is to under promise and over perform.

h: Why should residents in your ward give their vote to you?
LS: The residents of the 4th ward should vote for me on Tuesday, November 5th, because my agenda is clear – I bring new ideas and I want to give a fresh voice to the forgotten 4th ward. I will work hard for what is best for our ward and I believe that my skills in my professional life – accounting, finance and law- can add tremendous value to our ward as the Ward Council person. I do not aspire to higher office, I just want to represent the interests of our ward, over that of any developers, PACs or unions.

h: What’s your favorite Frank Sinatra song, and why?
LS: Chicago is “My Kind of Town.” Why, because that’s where I was born, on the 4th of July no less!

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH
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