Asbury Park Mayoral Candidate Dan Sciannameo, Not Afraid To Clash With Developers Or City Hall

ASBURY PARK, NJ — On Nov. 3, there will be an election for Asbury Park mayor, as the city's longtime mayor John Moor announced in April he would not run for re-election.

Deputy mayor Amy Quinn is running for mayor, as is Dan Sciannameo, a member of the Asbury Park Planning Board. Both are Democrats.

Here's a bit about Sciannameo to introduce him to voters, and Patch will run something similar about Quinn later this week.

Sciannameo has never been afraid to butt heads with City Hall or local developers. As a member of the city's Planning Board, he's often taken positions in the past four years that have put him at odds with City Hall.

In 2022, he voted to deny demolition of Holy Spirit Church. Last winter, he was part of a vocal group of residents who slammed the city for failing to protect legendary landmarks of the Asbury Park boardwalk, such as the Casino.

And in August, when the city of Asbury Park announced it will renovate the aging Convention Hall, Sciannameo was the first to say he was deeply suspicious of the $75 million in tax breaks the state of New Jersey gave the developer, Madison Marquette.

"I wish Convention Hall was in the hands of a more trustworthy entity," Sciannameo said on his campaign website. "That would make many of us feel more comfortable with this kind of public investment and the likelihood of a successful project. We should also scrutinize the tax credit award agreement as it pertains to compliance, oversight and accountability. And since the tax credits alone are not enough to complete a restoration project, we need to know more about what commitment Madison Marquette is making to use its own resources to undertake the restoration?"

Last year, developer Marquette Marquette threatened to sue the Planning Board if Sciannameo did not recuse himself from voting on an application they had before the board, because he's been so critical of them.

While Sciannameo did end up rescuing himself on that vote, he called the tactic "bullying."

“We have to stand up against this kind of intimidation in our city," he said. “If you’ve been paying attention during this mayoral campaign, you can see that the political establishment and powerful political insiders are pulling out all the stops to elect their preferred candidate (Quinn). But I believe the people of Asbury Park want something very different. They want a mayor who answers to them — not to political power brokers, developers, contractors or special interests.”

Sciannameo also said residents have repeatedly raised concerns with him about whether people who disagree with City Hall are treated differently from those who support the current administration, Moor, Quinn and others on the City Council.

“Throughout this campaign, I have heard the same refrain from residents: If you want something from city government, you better be in good standing with the deputy mayor. If you’re not, good luck to you,” he said. "It's a culture of fear, retribution and pettiness. The message is simple: support us, vote with us, do what we say and stay quiet — or face the consequences. It's created a culture of intimidation and retaliation."

As for his ideas, Sciannameo proposes encouraging commercial redevelopment throughout Asbury Park, including on the city's West Side. He said for too long, most of Asbury Park has been ignored while city leaders focus solely on the waterfront.

“For too long, development in Asbury Park has been concentrated on the waterfront while other parts of our city remain underutilized,” said Sciannameo. “We need an economic development strategy that works for the entire city—not just for developers."

To that end, he's calling for the city to create a West Side Arts District. His proposal would establish a clearly defined arts & cultural district on the West Side, centered on Springwood Avenue and surrounding neighborhoods. He proposes the city help open affordable artist studios, galleries and affordable spaces for artists to live. He also said the city should fund performance spaces, murals and artist-designed streetscapes, plus live music and cultural programming through the year. He calls for the city to partner with local artists, arts organizations, schools and cultural institutions and he calls for the adaptive reuse of existing buildings rather than "solely relying on new construction," which he says Asbury Park has done too much of.

Sciannameo has worked for 39 years as a real estate appraiser, mostly in New York City, and he said he has experience there working on major urban development projects. He's worked on buildings around Rockefeller Center and the World Trade Center, and he's a past president and board member of the Metropolitan New York Chapter of the Appraisal Institute and chaired the Appraisal Committee for the Real Estate Board of New York. He's been on the Asbury Park Planning Board since 2022. He is married, and he and his wife live in Asbury Park. The couple has adult children.

Sciannameo also criticized Quinn's record after she's spent more than a decade on the City Council.

“After 13 years in office, residents have every right to ask a simple question: Are we better off?” Sciannameo said. “I don’t believe we are.”

He said Asbury Park is becoming unaffordable for homeowners and renters; there are escalating property taxes, lack of parking, flooding, development pressures and the condition of the city’s West Side and Main Street.

These are all issues that have not received enough attention from City Hall, he says.

“When is Wesley Lake going to stop overflowing every time we have a major rainstorm?” he asked. “What is the real impact of all this development? What are we doing about parking? What is our plan to revitalize Main Street? And our taxes have become a major burden for homeowners. People I speak with every day are worried about whether they can continue to afford to live here. Where is the meaningful expansion of affordable housing? Where is the relief for tenants who are being priced out?”

"I never planned to run for elected office. I’m not a politician, and I’ve never been active in partisan politics," he said. "But after watching problems in our city fester and get worse year after year, I finally said, enough."

Election Day is Nov. 3. Early, in-person voting runs Oct. 24 - Nov. 1; the closest location for early voting is the Neptune Twp. Senior Center, 1607 Corlies Avenue, Neptune, NJ. There is nowhere to vote early in person in Asbury Park.

Mail-in ballots were sent to homes last week.

Asbury Park Mayor Candidate Sciannameo Skeptical Of Plans To Renovate Convention Hall (August)

State Of NJ Planning A Huge Renovation Of Asbury Park's Convention Hall (August)