Jersey City Mayor Fulop Answers Questions As Third Term Begins

JERSEY CITY, NJ — As development sprouts throughout Jersey City's varied neighborhoods, Mayor Steven Fulop, now entering his third term, has major problems to tackle amid the city's popularity.

Hundreds of residents are fighting post-pandemic eviction. Last year saw 24 murders in the state's second-largest city, up from 16 in 2020. And residents are furious over a recent redistricting, or redrawing of ward boundaries.

No mayor of Jersey City has won a third term since the infamous Frank "Boss" Hague in the early 1900s. How does Fulop intend to use his third term?

Fulop gave a brief (very brief) interview last month as he began his new term.

Fulop, a former Marine and former Goldman Sachs employee, is raising his family in Jersey City. He was first elected to the Jersey City council in 2005.

On Mask Mandates

Regarding indoor mask mandates, Fulop never ended up re-instituting them like neighboring Hoboken did in December. Then, this past Monday, Hoboken said it would repeal the mandate for most (but not all) public places.

"We've learned a lot over the last two years," Fulop said. "A patchwork of rules municipality by municipality isn't productive. We are going to stay in line with the governor and the majority of the state, and be consistent."

Still, Fulop said, individual businesses can do what's best for their employees and customers about masking, according to their comfort level. And customers can choose whether to use the business.

Fulop said, "We're interested in getting through this in the safest way possible, with consistency of messaging, [encouraging] vaccines, testing."

He said, "It certainly seems like it's becoming more endemic, and we'll be living with this thing forever. We have to do a lot of education around common sense safety practices. We're not trying to be heavy handed. Clearly N95 masks are better than cloth masks if you have access to those. It's important to get a booster shot, make sure you get tested, and limit your exposure to crowded places."

He said it's important for officials to work together, avoid partisan politics, and "say, 'What do we need to do to solve this?' It's not about pointing fingers and making false accusations. It's about following the science and being consistent."

What About Evictions?

The state of New Jersey has always had clear rules in place to try to prevent evictions and homelessness. And during the pandemic, the state instituted new measures to stave off evictions for non-payment of rent.

But many who lost jobs, couldn't work, or saw rents spike in the last few months, are concerned about eviction as some protections and funds come to an end.

Fulop said, "In December and January we gave rent relief to 491 households and we have 600 coming through the pipeline. It's going to total about $10 million. The average rent relief check was $7,100 per family."

But he said it's going to be hard to be involved in every case. With eviction moratoriums being lifted, "It's going to be an issue around the courts," he said. "That's going to be the next big
challenge."

"We want to make sure everybody has a clean, safe place to live," he said, but he stopped short of suggesting that local rules would be passed or changed to help.

"I have to see what kind of resources are available from the federal government," he said. "But somebody's going to have to absorb the loss. Will it be the tenant? The landlord, the bank? I don't
think there's going to be any program to solve rent arrears at the local level."

What's Coming Up

Fulop gave some priorities for the next term: "Finishing projects we started, the City Hall Annex,
an emphasis on anti-violence measures, more social services for mental health, and initiatives like Bayfront."

He said, "The test of four years will be, how did we manage the tail end of the pandemic, and going forward, what do we do to bridge the education gap? People are struggling with employment, housing. It's a really unique time in history [with unique] challenges. It's different from any other time."

Meanwhile, Fulop his also focusing on his family — wife Jaclyn, who runs a successful physical therapy business, and two young kids.

Since women get asked this question often, how does he "Do it all"?

"It's the absolute best part of my day," he said, about coming home to his family. "The one good thing about the pandemic has been, there's been less in person meetings, more time with my kids."

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This article originally appeared on the Jersey City Patch