Student & Transparency Advocates Receive Verbal & Written Attacks

Supporters of the proposed $330 million dollar sports complex with a school attached have engaged in hateful demagogic attacks on those who don’t agree with them. Instead of arguing why they believe their case is correct, they have attempted to smear the advocates of good pedagogy who are standing up for the students and people of Hoboken. The following are just a few examples of the many insanely offensive, bigoted, and sometimes inadvertently hilarious statements the advocates of the $330 million sports complex with a school attached have said publicly.

On January 13th in a social media thread below an op-ed authored by Jerome Abernathy, bad idea booster Heran Haile stated that “it’s disgusting he’s been chosen to speak as the “black voice” in the room. If you care about children in Hoboken please vote yes.” Pretending anyone chose anyone else to speak up, Ms. Haile engages in racist rhetoric implying all people in a particular group must think alike. Moreover, she ignores the fact that Mr. Abernathy is a well respected civic leader with decades of championing the Hoboken Public Library and much more. This is of course not to forget Patricia Waiters, a community leader who is also African American, and has been at every BOE meeting speaking out against the bad idea that is increasing the cost of living for all residents by building a $330 million sports complex masquerading as a school.

Christopher Munoz, a Hoboken BOE employee and Vice President of the local teacher’s union, stated at the January 11 BOE meeting that, “people don’t know the difference between 240 million and 330 million, you would know that if you took math with Ms. Perry.” Condescending tone aside, Mr. Munoz (who failed to mention he is a Bayonne BOE Trustee) would have the public believe he is shocked every time he purchases an item to find the actual cost he must pay higher than the sticker price because of the tax he is charged at the time of purchase. Munoz would have the public pretend the total bill for the $240 million dollar bond with an amortized interested rate of 2.2% over 30 years isn’t $330 million dollars which even the Hoboken BOE for which he works admits.

Robin Piccapietra, Hoboken High School principal, stated at the same BOE meeting (and without offering evidence) that, “over the course of the last month, I have read and heard more ugliness and mean things written about children in my school that is absolutely horrific and people who write that should be ashamed of themselves.” Principal Piccapietra did not quote any of the many op-eds or BOE meeting public comments in favor of voting NO, because there has been a total of zero that have included “ugliness and mean things” about any student. Rather, the principal of the Hoboken High School slandered the entire movement of out loud and proud Hoboken parents and other residents who know academics should be the focus of a school system, not attempting to whitewash the low literacy and math scores of the BOE with a new unnecessary $330 million sports complex.

At the same BOE meeting, one family even deployed their 8th grader to argue that those opposed to the complex were against students. However sickening it may be to attempt to use children to attack others over a difference of opinion, the child inadvertently made the vote NO case. He stated that, “for as long as I can remember, I’ve heard parents and kids who are not currently in the district school system imply or flat out say that my school isn’t good enough, that the academics aren’t strong.” If the adult’s puppeteering their children to support the $330 million bad idea examined Hoboken's enrollment data they would see that the vast majority of parents, going back decades, in the public district schools agree with what this child has heard and have withdrawn their children by or in the middle school grades. Parents and families do this when moving to a better school district, by putting their children into a charter school lottery, or by paying for Catholic or private school. This is the reason the number of children in a class going up the grades in the Hoboken Public District School System shrinks by 2/3rds between kindergarten and middle school – because most parent’s vote with their feet to take their children to a school system they believe has a better academic performance record. A sports complex of any size will not change that feeling, improved pedagogy and education will.

At the January 6th BOE public propaganda session in the current high school, one bad idea booster stated that the tax increase won't affect renters, when the reality is that tax increases can be passed on even to those in rent-controlled apartments. In a social media thread, yet another hysterical hype man for elected officials planning behind closed doors stated that, “building incredible sports complex is a problem says the person who never played sports you clowns. Our kids need sports and deserve quality, you cheap b*stards." Seemingly unaware that BOE already has a swimming pool, the municipal government is planning an ice rink in the Northwest Park, the hockey team (which is shared with Weehawken) is less than 2 years old, and the outdoor basketball court at Columbus Park (accessible to all) wasn’t being replaced by indoor courts only accessible by the BOE.

At the January 4th BOE meeting pro-boondoggle speaker Chris Clark went off the rails attacking an educational and good government advocate stating, “we have an advocate who doesn’t have any children, didn’t, not married, didn’t do IVF, didn’t adopt, doesn’t foster, doesn’t coach a team, but we’re going to listen to her on this nonsense?” Not only is a person’s marital or reproductive status not Mr. Clark’s business, but he ignores the fact that every taxpayer and renter will be paying the massive tax increase if the project passes regardless of how many children they have. Clark later stated that, “if you do vote against this, you can say what you like, but you are voting against children,” as if a plethora of parents weren’t advocating vote NO to send the BOE back to the drawing board for plans focused on academics not a sports complex.

From top to bottom, many advocates of the $330 million sports complex with a school attached have engaged in bigoted and demagogic attacks while at the same time impugned their opponents for allegedly not being civil and for being “political.” By political, these bad idea boosters mean that Hoboken’s education and good government advocates have had the chutzpa to disagree with them. From the fact that the BOE had these plans for at least 2 years prior to showing the public in December of 2021; that elected bodies should not govern by my-way-or-the-highway; and the reality that not only is there no enrollment explosion but that a NO vote sends the BOE back to the drawing board (as they themselves have stated) – there was already ample reason to vote NO on January 25th. Now there is one more reason to vote NO - to tell those trying to divide the community with race baiting, bigotry, delegitimizing others because of marital and reproductive status, and demagoguery that this negative aggression and hate has no home in Hoboken. On January 25th Vote No.