The Hardest Job In Hoboken

When Mayor Dawn Zimmer got involved in Hoboken politics, she could have never foreseen the remarkable career she was about to enter.

In 2007 she won the Fourth Ward seat twice in six months. In May 2009 she ran for mayor and lost, only to become acting mayor three weeks later, and be elected as Hoboken's first female mayor in November.  

Zimmer ran for the Fourth Ward City Council seat in 2007, after she got involved with the Southwest Parks Coalition to fight to bring more park space to a development in the Fourth Ward. The coalition needed somebody to run for council in order to get their voices heard. Zimmer volunteered to do it.

"Quite frankly, I never expected to win," Zimmer said during an interview in City Hall last week. "I felt it was important to make a statement."

In a runoff against then-Fourth Ward Councilman Christopher Campos that June, Zimmer won by a mere six votes. (After a recount it turned out to be eight votes)

Campos sued to overturn the decision, Zimmer said, adding "It was one of the most difficult times of my life." 

But, not wanting to drag the City of Hoboken through a lengthy and expensive legal battle to resolve the matter, Zimmer made what most people thought to be an unbelievable choice: she agreed to a special election. 

And she won again. 

Last year, Zimmer decided to run for mayor of Hoboken, a race she ultimately lost to Peter Cammarano by 161 votes. 

"It was really disappointing to have worked so hard and come so close," Zimmer said. "I fully admit, it was hard to be at the inauguration." Three weeks later, Cammarano was arrested for taking bribes. After reading the complaint against him, Zimmer, in her capacity as council president, asked Cammarano to resign.

Last November Zimmer won the special election, becoming the first female—and the first Jewish—mayor of Hoboken. And that's no easy job, considering the issues on the table.

"It's turning out to be even more challenging than I expected," Zimmer said.

Zimmer, who grew up in New Hampshire, has lived in Hoboken for seven years, with her husband Stan Grossbard (who is from Brooklyn)  and sons Jacob and Alex.  

Persistence pays off

One of the mayor's major issues has been the state's audit of the Police Department, which she received last Friday. Zimmer made a public plea for the release of the document earlier this month. 

An audit of the Hoboken Fire Department will be performed by an outside company, she said, because "clearly it's not going to work with the state." It's not clear yet who will perform the audit of the fire department and when it will be completed. Those audits are important for the people of Hoboken to know how the departments are working and for city officials when it comes to cutting and re-organizing, Zimmer said. 

Zimmer has not yet responded to the findings of the police audit (done by the former police chief of Maplewood, N.J.), which states that Hoboken's police force can be cut by roughly one third and that the position of Public Safety Director could potentially be eliminated.

The 2010 budget

One of the issues the city is currently facing is the lack of a budget for the 2010 fiscal year. A budget has not yet been passed by city council. After city council passes the budget, it will have to be approved by State Fiscal Monitor Judy Tripodi, before it's sent to Trenton for ultimate approval. 

One of Zimmer's campaign promises was to cut the budget by 25 percent, something which most likely won't happen this year. "We're not going to see it in this fiscal year," Zimmer said. "I don't foresee it being much of a tax break."

The biggest part of the budget is personnel costs. Currently, the city is still in labor union negotiations with the police department to settle on new contracts. Zimmer did not reveal any information about when negotiations will be completed. 

City Council held two budget workshops (one on Jan. 30 and one on Feb. 13) in which Department Directors presented their budgets. "I'm proud of the budget workshops," Zimmer said. The workshops—which are public as well as broadcast on the City's Web site—are part of the effort to make Hoboken's government more transparent, Zimmer said. 

In the meantime, City Council approved emergency appropriations to last the city through the end of March. 

This St. Patrick's Day will be different

Zimmer described the goal for this year's infamous St. Patrick's Day Parade as "enjoyable, but not out of control."

The fine for public drunkeness has been increased to $2,000 (the maximum was $1,000 last year), the entire police force will be working and there will be a zero tolerance policy in place. 

Zimmer is also encouraging bar owners and other who profiter from the parade to deposit money into a designated fund to help pay for the $100,000 it costs the city. 

"We have not received nearly what was hoped for," Zimmer said. "The tax payers are ultimately paying for this."

What else is left on the table?

Zimmer inherited a city in a budget crisis and many unfinished projects on the table (to name a few: Pier C Park, Sinatra Field, the City Garage, the 14th Street Viaduct).

And new issues come up all the time. For example: City Hall has termites. Downstairs, where the Parking Utility is located, swarms of termites are eating the wood. Zimmer said she did not know how much it would cost to terminate the problem. 

Another issue is that Sinatra Field is falling into the water, and therefore rendered useless for now. 

"That's the result of shipworms, that should have been taken care of a long time ago," Zimmer said, "and quite frankly I think there are issues about how it was even built."

It's still unclear when Pier C will open, Zimmer said. "Hopefully we're ready to go by the summer," she said. Just the railing along the path that leads to the park—which extends into the water—needs to be completed. The majority of the work is done. Zimmer didn't say how much the completion of the project will cost, and said that "some contractual legal issues" have been the hold up. 

"The extent of the problems left on the table are larger than I even expected," Zimmer said.

On the day she was inaugurated as acting mayor in July 2009 Zimmer walked over to City Hall with her family. Expecting a quick ceremony before getting to work right away, she was met by hordes of national media. "I basically wanted to keep it simple," she said. 

But simple wasn't in the cards for Zimmer.

"It was an out-of-body experience," she said about that day.  After the ceremony she was questioned by national media in the council chambers. The way she went about handling that situation—"I just answered them," Zimmer said matter-of-factly—resembles the way she seems to be handling her position as mayor and the challenges and criticism that come with the job.

"I recognize that there'll always be people criticizing me," Zimmer said. "I'm doing what I believe is right."