Politics & Government

All About Transparency

Second Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason on transparency, the budget and finding yourself

At age 19, Second Ward councilwoman Beth Mason decided to convert to Judaism.

"I spent a year doing the 'find oneself' thing," Mason said.

Growing up in Richmond, Va., most of Mason's friends were Jewish, she said. On her first day of college—during an English class at 8 a.m.—Mason (still going by her maiden name Abruzese at the time) met her future husband, Rick Mason, who is also Jewish. But, Mason said, she probably would have converted to Judaism anyway.

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"You got to be doing it because you want it," she said, "not because someone else wants it."

Mason, 49, said she chose to convert because she agrees with its basic principals, especially the 10 Commandments. "It's basic stuff," said Mason, who was raised Catholic by her parents. "God is everywhere."

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If things get too complicated, it works for less people, she said. And that's exactly how she feels about politics. 

Mason and I spoke about City Council, politics and the issues currently facing Hoboken over breakfast at one of Mason's favorite spots: Turning Point on 14th Street and Sinatra Drive. 

Mason and her husband moved to Hoboken in 1984, because of the city's character and history, she said. Mason is also the mother of two daughters (a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old) and is currently housing an 18-year-old exchange student from Turkey. 

Mason ran for City Council for the first time in 2003, but lost. "The system needed to change," she said. She ran again and won in 2007, when she became the councilwoman for the Second Ward. She hired professionals to run that campaign, she said. 

But Mason wanted to see more change and decided to run for mayor in 2009. She came in second during the mayoral elections in November 2009, losing to current Mayor Dawn Zimmer. 

"Winning or losing doesn't affect the job I do for the Second Ward," Mason said. 

The budget, the hospital and transparency  

As is the case for most of Hoboken's politicians and involved citizens, the budget is first and foremost on Mason's mind. City Council has not yet passed a budget for the fiscal year of 2010 (of which roughly eight months have passed). 

"There is no excuse," Mason said. "The same people were on the council before, that are now in the administration." 

City Council recently held two budget workshops, one on Jan. 30 and one last Saturday (Mason could not attend the most recent one). Mason said State Fiscal Monitor Judy Tripodi promised in March 2009 that the workshops would happen.

"We're now in February, almost a year later," Mason said. "The current administration said they'd be ready from day one ... We're still learning here, we need to do something."

During the last Council meeting, City Council voted to approve emergency appropriations to cover the city's expenses for the months of February and March, something Mason vehemently opposed. 

Among the reasons the process of passing a budget has been able to take this long, Mason said, is because "people aren't paying attention." 

"People think (Michael) Bloomberg is the mayor," she said. 

Constituents are not as informed as they should be, Mason added, and only pay attention after it's too late.

And that comes full circle to the biggest issue on Mason's mind: transparency.

In 2003, Mason helped found of People for Open Government, a "nonpartisan, political committee," which promotes open, accountable and transparent municipal government, according to the POG Web site. Mason also employs a production company to tape all the City Council meetings, which can be found online.  

While discussing these issues, transparency and access to public documents came up consistently. And, Mason said, there's still not enough of it. One example she mentioned was the Hoboken University Medical Center. City Council guaranteed $52 million in bonds for the hospital during former Mayor Dave Roberts' administration.

"But what you may not know," said Mason in a video message she posted on YouTube on Jan. 29, "is that we're also on the hook for $65 million in union contracts."

Earlier this year a transition team memorandum to Governor Chris Christie pointed out that the hospital would likely close in a few months, something hospital officials have denied.

"We know it's in trouble," Mason said, "but what are we going to do about it?" 

Another issue close to Mason's heart is the problem of illegal apartments. At a Council meeting in January, Mason proposed a resolution to deal with the matter. City Council moved the resolution to be discussed in a subcommittee, the resolution was then put on hold. 

"It's dead," Mason said. "Committee members don't want it to go forward."

Mason said she would like to see inspectors who check apartment buildings for illegal apartments and write out official continuing certificates of occupancy. She said also that she wants people to be able to report illegal apartments anonymously.

"Why can't we vote on this issue?" Mason asked. "What's the problem?"

Mason said she is not afraid to be honest and say things people won't like to hear. Enough already with being "nice," she said. In the current economic state, there's just no time for that.

"I'm going to tell people things they don't like," Mason said. "I'm willing to make hard decisions."

This is the fourth in a series of interviews with Hoboken City Council members. David Mello, Michael Lenz  and Ravinder Bhalla sat down with Patch earlier.


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