Rent Control Vote Certified; Reformers Mulling Challenge

The Mile Square Taxpayers Association, which supports modifying Hoboken’s existing rent control laws, is still deciding whether it will challenge the narrow election day defeat of its rent control ballot initiative for a second consecutive year.

“We are reviewing our legal options,” Ron Simoncini, the group’s executive director, said Thursday, one day after the Hudson County Clerk’s office certified last week’s election results.

Despite initial reports to the contrary, the rent control status quo (“No” on Public Question No. 1) prevailed by 122 votes, according to the official results posted online Wednesday by the county clerk’s office.

“We’re extremely and extraordinarily happy that the citizens of Hoboken not only defended tenants in Hoboken, but in our view, also defended democracy,” said Cheryl Fallick, a tenant activist who managed the Hoboken Fair Housing Association’s campaign to oppose the rent control amendment.

“It’s really just affirming what happened [last year],” added Fallick, who fought an identical ballot initiative last year, only to see the status quo’s 52-vote victory overturned on an MSTA appeal. 

“I’m now glad that we had the revote — as much as it was a very grueling process for us — because the MSTA opponents to rent protections in Hoboken were quoted as saying that if it wasn’t for Sandy they were absolutely certain that they would have won. Obviously, now we know the answer to that — that is not the case.” 

While Simoncini noted he was not optimistic that challenging the vote would prove fruitful, he said the city’s initial botched tally of the results coupled with the HFHA’s small margin of victory had him seriously considering requesting a recount.

“I would challenge the election results simply because I would like my own representative standing there while they count, because my representative wasn’t there when they were counting before and they came up with multiple separate counts,” he said, stressing that he believed the city clerk’s release of inaccurate numbers was an honest mistake borne of incaution, not the result of any “mischief” going on inside the office.

While Simoncini said it was difficult to accept defeat, given the amount of time and effort he put into the campaign, he believes the process provided enormous educational value to residents and said he took consolation in how close the vote ended up, especially considering Mayor Dawn Zimmer opposed the proposed reform.

“You had over 49 percent of people say they were interested in rent control reform,” he said. “That’s got to be a message to the elected officials and the appointed officials in town that this thing’s broken. I don’t think there’s any question about that. I don’t think anyone thinks that rent control in Hoboken works.”