The Hoboken Girl Team 
In anticipation of the non-partisan municipal elections that Hoboken has on the horizon on November 4th, The Hoboken Girl reached out to the candidates running to be Hoboken’s new mayor about their vision for the city. We also sourced questions from readers + residents for the candidates to address what matters most to Hobokenites. We have broken down the Q+A into a series with questions grouped by topic. There is also an article with the full Q+A organized per candidate here. Read on for the mayoral candidates’ responses to questions regarding their background and qualifications to lead the Mile Square City.
Editor’s note: This article presents all of the candidates’ answers in full. Four other articles have the candidates’ answers grouped by subject. Please find those links below. All candidates and their campaigns were invited to participate. All of these responses are published alphabetically. The Hoboken Girl does not endorse candidates, nor do we allow for any political advertising on our website or social media for political candidates.
The Hoboken Girl: With the increasing number of children being enrolled in Hoboken schools each year, what are your thoughts on accommodating this population, such as the construction of new schools to address population growth and repairing aging school facilities?
Dini Ajmani: Hoboken qualifies for assistance from State’s School Development Authority in building schools. With my 4 years as Assistant Treasurer for New Jersey, I have relationships that I can leverage to build facilities in Hoboken without raising taxes for residents.
Tiffanie Fisher: I fully support expanding the footprint of our Hoboken District Schools. I was the first to raise concerns about the enrollment crisis after being told during the 2016 budget process about a “doubling of 7- and 8-year-olds” coming through our recreation program. I immediately reached out to Dr. Johnson – literally my first year in office in March 2016 – and have been in regular conversation with her ever since about how to meet this growth.
This perspective has informed many steps I have taken as a councilmember. I’ve made sure educational uses are incorporated into all of our redevelopment plans – because land use (and recreation) are where the City Council can have the biggest impact on our schools. I pushed for our Master Plan Redesign in 2017 to include a deep dive into our educational facilities’ needs (but was declined). I also connected the Board of Education with developers to find space for the pre-K program, helping free up classrooms in our elementary schools, and to consider building a new school. Although two-thirds of Hoboken voters opposed the proposed new high school during the 2022 referendum, I know most – including me – are waiting to learn about and would support a stronger, more viable proposal.
And regarding recreation, when the Northwest Resiliency Park was originally planned as a passive park, I pushed back and secured what are now the soccer field and basketball court to support this growing demand for space. And as the growth in our school-age population – along with more residents of all ages – has increased competition for our limited recreation space, I have developed a recreation plan to expand our overall field capacity to meet this demand, including completing plans for a new recreation center within my first year as mayor and having it built before the end of my first term.
Emily Jabbour: The growth in the population of children in the city is a good thing – thriving schools are a great signal for a strong community. That comes with challenges, however, as our school facilities are aging and nearly filled to capacity. We, as a community, need to work together to identify spaces for new, permanent buildings to accommodate this growing demand and invest in the renovation of the aging facilities. I will always be in support of both conversations and actions that set our children up for success.
Ruben Ramos: As someone who served in the State Assembly, I was proud to secure over $30 million in state funding from the Schools Development Authority (SDA) for Hoboken’s public schools to rehabilitate and modernize our facilities. Unfortunately, much of that money remains unspent, and as mayor, I will work with the district to ensure it is fully put to use improving classrooms and repairing aging buildings. At the same time, we must plan responsibly for enrollment growth, particularly in the lower grades where the increase is most pronounced. The greatest need is for Pre-K through 5th grade space, and I will make it a priority to partner with our schools to create additional academic space in both redevelopment projects and on city-owned property. This approach allows us to grow capacity without overburdening taxpayers. I have already demonstrated this model at 38 Jackson Street, where I worked to secure space for Pre-K classrooms as part of the redevelopment. As mayor, I will expand this strategy citywide, ensuring that as Hoboken grows, so too do the educational opportunities for our children.
Michael Russo: To put the bottom line up top: our population is growing, and we need to expand our schools at some point—but that will require new revenue streams to come into the city and our education system. As a Councilman, I proudly sponsored the legislation that allocated PILOT revenues from a developer project to all of our public schools (Hoboken was the first in the state to do this), and as Mayor I’d continue that course of action. We also need to look at corporate sponsorships to do some of the things I want to do, but our city is so perfectly located, and our community so incredibly talented, that I am confident we can find partners to help cultivate our young talent into a top-notch workforce in the modern economy.
Patricia Waiters: did not respond
The Hoboken Girl: Hoboken is seeing more national chains. How will you support small businesses and preserve local character while staying within legal/zoning constraints? Please explain.
Dini Ajmani: Small businesses need healthy consumers with “walking about” money in their pockets. I will work to put more disposable income in the pockets of our residents. I will also review all the requirements, like sanitation and parking regulations, some of which are unnecessary.
Tiffanie Fisher: Our small businesses are the heart of Hoboken’s character — and they need a City Hall that works with them, not around them. I founded the Hoboken Business Alliance after seeing how devastating the Washington Street construction was for our local shops, and as mayor, I will rebuild and strengthen that partnership citywide.
We will work together to improve zoning so it’s more predictable and reliable for small businesses to open and stay open, and I will shore up our Building Department with additional resources and a clearer, more predictable schedule of requirements to lessen the burden on new and existing businesses.
As mayor, I will partner closely with the HBA to do everything we can together to support and accommodate our small businesses so they can stay and thrive here in Hoboken.
Emily Jabbour: As Mayor, I will make it easier for small businesses to open in Hoboken. The biggest challenge now is that business owners don’t know what to expect, they don’t know how long it will take, and they can’t anticipate all of the hoops to jump through. We need to provide a standardized checklist of all of the forms/documents that one must provide to open a business, with the estimated timeline associated with each step of the process. This checklist would come as part of a “welcome wagon” style of outreach promoting Hoboken as a community that loves and supports small businesses as an essential part of our local economy.
Ruben Ramos: Hoboken’s small businesses are the backbone of our community and what make our city unique. While national chains will always look to move in, we need to make it easier, not harder, for local entrepreneurs to succeed. Right now, too many small business owners get buried in red tape and confusing regulations. As mayor, I will create a Small Business Support Desk within City Hall to guide owners step by step through the permitting and licensing process so they do not get lost in paperwork or delay. I will streamline approvals, set clear timelines, and hold the city accountable for meeting them. Small businesses should not have to hire lawyers or lobbyists just to open their doors. I will also explore incentives and partnerships that favor local ownership in redevelopment projects, and use zoning tools where appropriate to preserve the character of key commercial corridors. Just as importantly, the city should actively promote its small businesses through shop local campaigns, cultural events, and support for farmers’ markets. Preserving Hoboken’s local character means cutting red tape and giving small businesses a real partner in City Hall.
Michael Russo: I’ve spent years talking to small business owners. A great example of this is one of my running mates, Pete Keeling, who’s running for an At-Large seat on the City Council. He tried to open a shop in Hoboken, but the red tape was too much. Now he’s up in the Heights. City Hall does not do enough to help small entrepreneurs open businesses. We still have paper forms that go unprocessed for months. We have business owners who are paying their lease for eight months before they’re allowed to open their doors! Imagine eight months of rent and payroll in Hoboken, and you don’t have a dollar in sales. Who can last under those conditions? It should come as no surprise, then, that we have large chain stores next to vacant storefronts on Washington Street, because only those businesses with a massive, off-the-bat cash advantage can survive long enough to really make it here. I don’t call that a fair environment. When I’m Mayor, we’ll digitize critical processes, and I’ll dedicate resources to expediting that opening process. I am the only candidate in this race with experience owning a brick-and-mortar business in Hoboken, and I feel that pain. It’s time for this headache to end.
Patricia Waiters: did not respond
The Hoboken Girl: Many residents + would-be residents complain about the high cost of housing in Hoboken. What is your opinion and what do you think can be done?
Dini Ajmani: Corporate landlords hold all the cards in rent negotiations. This imbalance could shift in favor of the renters if landlords were required to pay the broker fees. I am also concerned about [the] upcoming surge in property taxes unless we change course.
Tiffanie Fisher: The cost of housing in Hoboken is high – and not just housing. The cost of everyday living has risen too, with “Hoboken prices” often higher than surrounding areas. We are, in many ways, a victim of our own success: we created a community people want to move to, which pushes up prices.
Without government action to maintain a balance between housing supply and the people who work here, market conditions will increasingly make Hoboken unaffordable for most. We must use every tool available to protect existing residents from being priced out. That means strictly enforcing our rent control laws and completing the nearly 700 affordable units already planned as part of the 6,000-unit development pipeline.
We also need to revisit how these new units are structured – creating more moderate-income (80–120% AMI) housing and more three-bedroom units, which currently make up less than 10% of new buildings. Three-bedrooms are scarce, often leaving growing families without a way to stay in Hoboken.
Finally, we must rein in taxes – one of the largest expenses for property owners and one that can be passed on to tenants. And for seniors, I would advocate at the state level to expand and strengthen the senior tax freeze program to better help them stay in their homes.
Emily Jabbour: We need to protect renters by supporting rent control protections and fighting corporate landlord tactics like using algorithmic software to set prices. As Mayor, I will work with our state legislators to set a definition of “unconscionable rent increases” so that Hoboken can fight back on behalf of all renters getting annual increases well over 10, 15, sometimes 20%. The topic of affordable housing is critical – it impacts the make up and diversity of our community. We need to prioritize investing in workforce housing to help meet the gap of housing for our middle class – our teachers, public safety staff, laborers – so that people can live and work in Hoboken. That’s why I voted to support the proposal to renovate Garage B and expand its use to include workforce and affordable housing.
Ruben Ramos: I believe that we need to prioritize the building of affordable housing in order to ensure that the middle class and working families can afford to live in Hoboken. That means making development work for our city with tougher inclusionary housing rules that deliver results, faster permitting for projects with genuine affordable units, and development that serves residents first, not developers. We also need better enforcement of rent control and other tenant protections, and I will make this a true priority.
Michael Russo: The average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in Hoboken is now more than $3,500 a month. That is unsustainable. Part of the reason prices are so high is that we have not had one major project come online in the last 16 years! Now, Hoboken has no shortage of luxury condos; I’ll focus on building back our middle class. When I voted to redevelop Garage B, I made sure that vote was premised upon the residential part being 100% affordable and workforce housing. I’ve advocated to build additional workforce or senior housing on the former PSEG site, and as Third Ward Councilman, and former HHA Commissioner, I’ve led the fight to revitalize the Hoboken Housing Authority without displacing a single resident.
At the same time, Hoboken has its share of bad actors when it comes to building owners and landlords. I’ll relentlessly enforce Project Labor Agreements in any redevelopment agreement, PILOT or no PILOT; I’ll hold law-breaking landlords to account in court, and as I have done for years; and I will personally canvass buildings where tenants are experiencing issues to educate them about lease agreements and tenant rights.
Patricia Waiters: did not respond
The Hoboken Girl: Many residents raise concerns about the well-being of unhoused individuals in our community. What are your thoughts on the matter, and what, if any, initiatives would you support?
Dini Ajmani: It is a tragedy that our society allows [the] most vulnerable to languish on our streets. I will work on Section 8 housing for those who have fallen on hard times. However, many who are unhoused need professional assistance and, in some cases, palliative care. No parent would feel safe with their kids playing in a park that has become a de-facto homeless shelter.
Tiffanie Fisher: I work closely with some of our unhoused residents and with agencies in Hoboken and Hudson County that provide supportive services. Together — with support from neighbors — we successfully housed someone who had been homeless in my neighborhood, and I’m currently working on a second case.
Through this work, I’ve seen four things clearly.
First, the people who work in this space — the social workers, case workers, homeless advocates, and shelter staff — are heroes. Full stop. They have some of the hardest jobs out there and work tirelessly to support people who have fewer choices than most of us and face much more uncertain futures.
Second, without an advocate, many who are unhoused struggle to access even basic support or services because the system is so hard to navigate. I’ve helped one neighbor get food stamps, General Assistance, and medical appointments. If I wasn’t helping him — and I don’t say this to pat myself on the back, just to be honest — he wouldn’t be able to do it on his own due to mental health challenges. He would slip through the cracks and end up back on the street.
Third, while the system is full of heroes, it is also fragmented. There are duplications of services, gaps, and a lack of coordination. When it works, it’s amazing. When it doesn’t, it’s frustrating. Many people working inside the system have told me they would like to see all the resources come together in a more coordinated way.
And fourth, this is not just a Hoboken or Hudson County issue — it is a national one. One of the greatest challenges facing our country is a growing population of adults without a stable future. Our policies — and both parties share the blame — have made it harder and harder for people to reach stability.
Here in Hoboken and Hudson County, we will not solve this entirely. But we can do more, and do it better. As mayor, I will bring together all of our local and county resources to work in a more coordinated, efficient way to serve those in need — while also ensuring the safety of our communities by addressing situations where individuals, whether facing mental health challenges or acting out of desperation for basic necessities, may pose a risk.
Emily Jabbour: Hoboken is a compassionate community and there are a number of local non-profits that are doing yeoman work to support the unhoused population. That said, there is not enough being done to meet these needs, and there is not enough coordination of services, which results in residents feeling concerned about what’s happening. As a Councilmember, I called for the hiring of social workers as part of our public safety team to do more outreach in the community. As Mayor, I would pull together all of the stakeholders – city social workers, local non-profits, Hoboken Police Department, Hoboken Hospital, Hudson County, Hoboken Library, etc – to identify the gaps in our services and take these gaps head on. One critical component that we are not doing enough to address is mental health – when someone is experiencing a crisis, they often are directed to Hoboken Hospital, but then discharged after only hours because that’s not the appropriate resource to address their needs. A dedicated mental health crisis intervention team is needed to better address the challenges that are coming to bear in the community of late.
Ruben Ramos: Homelessness is a serious concern in Hoboken, and we must approach it with both compassion and accountability. Every resident deserves to feel safe in their neighborhood, and every unhoused individual deserves access to the services that can help them get back on their feet. As mayor, I will work closely with local partners like the Hoboken Shelter to expand access to rehabilitation programs, mental health services, and workforce re-entry opportunities. I will also support the Shelter in using Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to hire a security guard during peak times, ensuring a safer environment for both shelter guests and the surrounding community. At the same time, I will ensure that public spaces near schools, parks, and transit remain safe and accessible for all residents by increasing outreach teams and coordinating with public safety officials. The goal should be to provide real pathways out of homelessness, not simply to move people from one corner to another. By focusing on services, accountability, and safety, we can maintain the quality of life in our neighborhoods while helping those most in need.
Michael Russo: A Mayor Russo will never punish someone for not having a home. This is about dignity and a path to betterment. I’ll expand the Hoboken Shelter and services by creating a new facility in the northwest part of the city, and it will be full of decent living arrangements for transient individuals. We will seek every funding path possible for job training, drug and alcohol programs, and covering security deposits in order to get those individuals into stable housing. This is not novel; this is just expanding on the phenomenal work the shelter already does. At the same time, we will not allow public drug use and we will not allow encampments to remain and expand. Our job is to take care of everyone in Hoboken for the betterment of our entire community. That’s what we will do.
Patricia Waiters: did not respond
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