Steve Fulop feels as if he should get every vote from Jersey City in his run for the Democratic nomination to be governor.
“Anybody from Jersey City, or anybody that’s invested in Jersey City, that doesn’t vote for me is foolish,” he said during a talk at the Real Estate Summit in Jersey City last week.
It wasn’t meant to be a big line – and it wasn’t necessarily treated as such by the overflow crowd of commercial real estate professionals at the jam-packed all-day conference.
Strong Fulop support at Summit
Sure, it was an unofficial BINJE poll? But Steve Fulop was the pick for governor last week at the Jersey City Summit for Real Estate.
See story here.
It was Fulop, the politician who (refreshingly) has never been afraid to speak his mind, speaking his mind when asked if the city and county would benefit from him being in Trenton.
His answer was meant to convey that all of his accomplishments in Jersey City should make it a no-brainer for those involved in the city. Not to mention the state.
There, of course, are plenty of critics. But it’s impossible to argue that Jersey City isn’t exponentially better than it was before he became mayor 12 years ago in so many metrics — widespread development, housing stars, emphasis on the arts, increase in public health metrics, better policing and concern for social justice.
Fulop acknowledged his staff — and the passion they have for being mission driven. But the reality is that Fulop was the driver.
“This didn’t happen by accident,” he said about numerous successes.
He scoffed at the idea that Jersey City’s rise was inevitable.
“When people say, Jersey City would have seen these changes because you’re three miles away from New York City, I always say the same thing: Jersey City has been three miles away from New York City for 250 years,” he said. “The reality is that it’s changed because we’ve pushed in each of those departments.”
The key has been making Jersey City a desirable place to be, Fulop said.
“The team does a good job of thinking about: How do we create a livable city that people want to spend time and money in,” he said.
He pointed to the Newark Avenue Pedestrian Plaza, which has been a big success after a big fight. He pointed to the building of the Centre Pompidou and the restoration of historic Loew’s Jersey Theatre, saying they will reshape Journal Square into a premier arts district.
“We’ve embraced arts and culture as a key part or a reason that somebody chooses to live in a city,” he said. “If you didn’t have arts and culture, you wouldn’t want to live in a place like Jersey City. You would choose to live in a suburban area, probably because you have better parking (and) you may have better schools as a whole. So, recognizing that that’s our proposition, that’s where we are.”
Fulop mentioned the schools — likely the top area in which he would have liked to have made more improvement. He says it’s the school funding formula. And he’s not afraid to say why Jersey City was hurt so badly by it: He points to former State Senate President (and current gubernatorial candidate) Steve Sweeney.
“I would say it if he was sitting here … I think it was punitive,” he said. “I really felt that he constructed that formula to hurt Jersey City the most.”
Fulop said Sweeney wanted to hurt Fulop’s gubernatorial plans — and that a funding plan that would cost the city hundreds of millions would hurt Fulop’s aspirations.
Bold? For sure. Blaming others? Some may feel that way, too.
But know this: Fulop put the blame of his early shortcomings as mayor squarely on himself, saying he didn’t surround himself with the right people and didn’t understand how challenging it was to oversee a workforce in the thousands. He feels learning that lesson would make him a better governor on Day One.
As for why he deserves the job — he points to his resume of work in Jersey City. He feels his 8 years as council member and 12 years as mayor translate well to statewide office.
“The philosophy was that a healthy city is a growing city, and that if we eliminated some of the politics around basic procedures on how we approach the development or business community, you would get some commitment around development and investment in areas that you wouldn’t have,” he said. “That was the premise of the administration, and it’s actually proved to be true. And I believe that the state as a whole has some of the same opportunities.”
Fulop said he hopes the rest of the state will recognize that on primary day, which is less than a month away.
He’ll continue to work the state for votes — and he’ll do so while being convinced his record is worthy of support in Jersey City and Hudson County, whether voters like him or not. No candidate, he said, would do more for the area.
“The reality is that you don’t need to educate me about the school issues or the PATH issues or the transportation issues or the incentives or what works or doesn’t work,” he said. “I’ve been in the lead on this stuff for 20 years, and there’s one place that will serve to benefit the most from my knowledge on that, and that is Jersey City and Hudson County.
“So, I go back to the fact that you would have to be a real idiot not to recognize that stuff.”
Bold? Bombastic? We’ll find out on June 10.
