Mayoral candidate Evelyn Smith was invited to the debate, but did not attend.
The format of the luncheon was that each candidate was asked three questions, which they were supplied ahead of time.
Question 1
Successful cooperation between government and the business sector often relies on an open and systematic exchange of ideas. How will you promote and open dialogue between city government and business people of Hoboken?
Russo said that currently, very few small business owners have a direct line of communication with City Hall. He said that this is not due to a lack of effort by business owners. He pointed to the success of the Hoboken Hospitality Association, a group of restaurant and bar owners who have come together for the promotion and marketing of the city's restaurants.
"I think that all of the small businesses in Hoboken should do something similar," Russo said. Russo, who is a physical therapist, said he is a member of a therapy association, but only on a national level and state levels. He said that something similar should be incorporated on the local level.
But that's only half of the solution, said Russo. The city would then have to do a better job communicating with these new associations. "We as a city should put together an advisory board made up of one person from one of those niche businesses," Russo said.
Marsh also said that the city needs to do a better job reaching out to the business community, especially when it comes to communication. "In this community you are the knowledgeable people, when it comes to building businesses," Marsh said to the Chamber crowd. "I think the best thing we can do is to set aside time to listen to you. It is very important that you have a venue to voice your ideas."
Raia, who is the developer who built the ShopRite on the city's west side, agreed that communication between City Hall and the general business community could be better. "The first thing I would do is set up a liaison between the Chamber of Commerce and the city," Raia said. He said that too often the city has acted out of its own need to generate revenue, before consulting with business owners. The example he gave was the meters on Washington Street.
"When I am mayor, I will talk to the business people and ask you if you like changing the parking meters to 15 meters for a quarter, before I actually do it," Raia said. "The city went out, and they were in a budget crunch, they were looking to raise money."
He added that he believes the biggest issues facing business owners are parking, rising rents and taxes.
Roberts said that Hoboken, like many urban districts, has its challenges. "There are great challenges that require collaborative efforts," Roberts said. "In the past four years I have had numerous conversations with the Chamber and its leadership."
He added that with the meters, the city was trying to create more turnover of the parking meters. "We want customers to use the parking meters, not the people that people that work at the businesses," Roberts said. But as a way to aid the business owners, the city offers a "deeply discounted" rate in the garages for employees.
Roberts also supports the creation of a Special Improvement District, where local merchants collect money through a business tax and use that money for marketing, promotions and streetscape improvements. Jersey City has a similar SID.
Roberts added that the future for businesses in Hoboken is bright. "Right now the spending power of Hoboken residents is incredible," Roberts said. "Within walking distance of the shopping district, there are 30,000 that are earning over $55,000."
Question 2
Parking in Hoboken is a challenge for residents, business people and customers alike. How will you address the unique parking problems of Hoboken-based businesses and their customers?
Raia said the first thing that he would investigate would be to make all of the parking diagonal from Eighth and Washington streets to Observer Highway. He added that those spaces could be metered, but because making them diagonal would add to the total number of spaces, the city could make the meters cheaper.
Secondly, Raia said that he would place more signs directing shoppers to the city's municipal garage. He said the garages always have available spaces, but a lot of times shoppers don't know they exist.
In terms of creating parking, Raia criticized Roberts for selling the city's municipal garage on Observer Highway to plug a budget gap. He said that property, because of its central location, could be a good location for another municipal garage.
Raia also criticized the mayor for taking millions of dollars from the Hoboken Parking Utility and using it for the city's operational budget. He said that money generated from parking fees should be reinvested into creating new parking.
Raia concluded that the city's zoning should be changed to require developers to build, instead of one parking space per unit, at least one parking space per bedroom.
Roberts said that his administration has done much to better the city's parking problems. "Parking in Hoboken remains our most difficult issue," Roberts said, "but since I've been your mayor we made, created, or built over 1,600 new spaces." (Note: Many of those spaces were designed or proposed during prior administrations.)
Roberts said that during his administration, the city opened the St. Mary Parking facility, with over 700 spaces.
Roberts noted that the 320-car automated parking garage at 916 Garden St. is now up and running and is making a profit, after his administration renegotiated the management contract with the private company that operates the garage. This garage was planned by now-defunct Hoboken Parking Authority.
Roberts added that there were 600 new parking spaces created by the re-paving of Sinatra Drive and opening up 15th Street and extending Washington Street north.
"And we did create angle parking wherever the state of New Jersey said it was wide enough," Roberts said. "The problem with Washington Street, south of Eighth, is that the street is not wide enough to create angled parking."
The mayor added that if re-elected, the city still needs to create more parking. "And there is more parking on the way," Roberts said. "Stevens' Institute of Technology is building a garage with 750 spaces. We're working with NJ Transit for 650 new spaces. We are working with the people that own the Tea Building, they have 500 surface spaces above their need, and we're looking at the Maxwell House development, which will include over 300 spaces above its parking needs." Russo's parking platform throughout this campaign has highlighted two major points, both of which he hit on Thursday afternoon. The first is to build long-term parking storage. He said that many residents only use their car periodically, so if a larger garage on the city's parameter for longer term storage might be an effective way to take cars off the streets.
Russo also proposed to further reduce the legal parking distance from the curb from 16 feet to 8 feet. He added that because of the addition of traffic-calming devices, such as speed humps, even at only 8 feet, there would still be enough visual space to safely cross the street.
Marsh said that City Hall needs to find the way to maximize the city's garage.
One idea she gave was to give people incentives who want to park their cars all day long in one of garages instead of on the street.
She added that the city needs to stop spending parking revenues to balance its budget and use them as money for the creation of parking solutions, like neighborhood garages for problem areas.
Question 3
Hoboken has undergone dramatic residential growth over the last 20 years. It could be argued that planning for business growth has largely been ignored during this time. How do you plan to reverse this trend and nurture the growth of business in Hoboken over the next four years?
"This is the biggest question facing the business community," Marsh said. "What are we going to do to encourage businesses to come and stay in Hoboken?"
Marsh said a good first step would be to work toward balanced development. She said that Hoboken has become lopsided with a far too high a ratio of residential projects.
"Anyone in this market that is given a choice between building residential property and building commercial or retail property, will build the residential project," Marsh said. "It's quick and it's profitable, but relying only on residential development, in and of itself, is not good for a community in the long run. We clearly need to have parts of the town that are zoned for businesses. Where parking is provided, there are active storefronts, there's office space, all of which is collected in one spot so people go there."
Roberts said that his administration is very aggressively planning, though the city's master plan, for large areas of our geography for commercial and retail applications.
He said the master plan calls for an "Underbridge Area" near the Hoboken/Weehawken border, where the main use will be commercial and retail businesses.
Roberts also said that he is proud that the W Hotel will be coming to the southern waterfront. This project, he said, will bring a welcomed boost to the city's business community.
He added that the office buildings along the southern waterfront that house Wiley and Sons, among other tenants, "are creating an economic engine that is fueling many opportunities in our city."
Roberts said that the residential growth has not been haphazardly planned. He said it's not a bad thing that Hoboken has become one of the most popular places in New Jersey to live. Roberts said that the disposable income has gone from $270 million in 1900 is $570 million today. "Those are people that are shopping the city's stores and eating in its restaurants," Roberts said. "They are adding vitality to our city. We understand clearly that there is a place for residential development and there is a place for commercial and office development, but let me make it very clear - let's stop this heavy criticism of this expansive economy that has followed the new residential areas in our city."
Russo said that the first step to striking a balance between residential and commercial and retail is to implement the city's master plan for development. He said that while the plan had been adopted by the Planning Board, the administration has been dragging its feet when it comes to implementing the zoning recommendations contained in the master plan.
"Immediately as mayor on the first agenda, at my first City Council meeting I will have the master plan zoning ratified," Russo said. "It's been far too long that we have waited for this document to become law."
Russo said that a second way to strengthen the business community controlling the city's spending. "The taxes of Hoboken are high," Russo said. "We need to decrease the taxes in Hoboken."
He said that these taxes are passed on to business owners, which have added to the major problem of escalating rents, forcing several businesses off of Washington Street.
Thirdly, Russo voiced his support for Hoboken to pursue the creation of an Urban Enterprise Zone in Hoboken. UEZ is a state-run program that allows municipalities to incorporate 3 percent sales tax. It is used in towns like Union City.
Raia responded that he it might be impossible to create a UEZ in Hoboken. He said that when he was building the ShopRite on the city's westside, he was told then that Hoboken does not meet the requirements for a UEZ.
Russo responded that there is now legislation making its way through the state legislature to change the laws for UEZ inclusion.
"As far as business is concerned, we definitely need jobs. I'm sick and tired of people telling me that they need to go out of Hoboken for things they need, and then when they come back home they can't find a parking space," Raia said. "These are the issues that are concerning people, I want build businesses here, not in other towns."
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