Residents Want Mayor To Address Taxes, Snow Removal in State of the City Address

Mayor Dawn Zimmer will deliver the first State of the City address on Tuesday night, during which many Hoboken residents hope the mayor will—among other things—discuss property taxes, parks and the city’s clean up efforts after this winter’s snow storms.

“The snow removal was slow,” said 33-year-old Allison Fox, who said she recently moved back to Hoboken after five years in Hong Kong but lived in Hoboken for six years before then. 

, this winter has been one of the worst in recent history, starting off with the , during which Hoboken was . 

The Zimmer administration has been faced with multiple challenges, some of them inherited from past mayors, such as the and the city’s waterfront problems. Recently, the city announced repairs to , much more than initially expected. This does not include , which will be .

Aili Monahan, 30, also mentioned the snow removal as one of the issues she’d like to hear addressed at 7 p.m. at the DeBaun Auditorium on the Stevens Campus, as well as the level of the city's property taxes.

“It was a bad winter,” Monahan said, pushing a stroller on Washington Street, “but that doesn’t excuse the complete incompetence.”

Monahan, who has lived in town for two years, said that she would also like to either see property tax go down or the quality of services go up. “We pay to live here,” she said.

Hobokenite Mark Gray, 27, said he would like the mayor to address “the city’s response to street cleaning and the fact that it doesn’t get done.” His wife Mary added that the couple, which has lived in Hoboken for four years, was looking to buy a house in Hoboken, but was put off by the high property tax rate.

“She came into a mess,” Mary Gray, 27, said about the mayor, “but the way the winter was handled was not a good sign.”

Mark Gray added that he would like Zimmer to talk about Pier C Park, to which he referred as “a never ending saga.”

, after many months of delay. The play ground area and one entrance to the park still remain closed.

All members of the public are invited to attend the mayor’s speech on Tuesday night, at 7 p.m. at the DeBaun Auditorium on the Stevens Campus.