Thank you, Monica

Hoboken Board of Education Trustee Monica Stromwall says goodbye 

GA was sorry to hear the Hoboken School District will be losing a dedicated board member, Monica Stromwall.

Ms. Stromwall made an emotional announcement at the August 16, 2016 meeting that she will be stepping down because her family is moving out-of-state.

Monica was an activist parent with two kids in the district, when she was appointed to replace Board Trustee Carmelo Garcia, in January 2014.  Garcia resigned from his board seat after he was elected to the NJ Assembly.

Stromwall ran for a full term as an incumbent, and was elected with Sharyn Angley on November 4, 2014.

2014
Her resignation was a surprise to some board colleagues, who described her to GA as "honest, earnest" and "a very dedicated, hardworking trustee."

Stromwell's board peers praised her at the meeting, including Trustee Peter Biancamano, whose began his tribute "for someone not on the same side as, like Hoboken likes to say, as me...*"
*GA takes exception to that.  If Peter reads this, there is only ONE "side" for Hoboken School Board Trustees: the district CHILDREN'S side.   ALL decisions should be governed on what's best for the CHILDREN of the Hoboken District, not any elected municipal official or candidate- be it Reform or Dark Side. One's personal political ambition has no place on the Hoboken School Board. 

Former board members Jean Marie Mitchell called Stromwall "articulate, and above all, passionate...... I want to offer you my biggest thanks for helping the people of this city and the children of the Hoboken schools  Thank you for all of your work.""

Former Hoboken School Board Trustee Jean Marie Mitchell
So, what's next?

A source tells GA, "The board has 60(?) days to fill Stromwall's vacant seat.  It will be advertised and anyone can interview, which is how Monica got her spot."

Do you hear that, people?

Anyone interested in serving Hoboken's school district for the betterment of our city, here is your chance.  It will take a lot of your personal time, but, the returns could not be greater.

Personally, GA hopes that one of the new 'crop' of involved residents who attend meetings, who understand district issues,  who will practice good boardsmanship, respect ethics rules, who are NOT political partisans and who only hold obligation to ONE "side"- the district children- will step up.

That's what I hope. The stakes could not be higher for our city.

Thank you, Monica. 

Comments

  1. Sorry to see her leave, she is not only a great BOE member, but she and her family are wonderful neighbors.

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  2. Great job. Thank you.

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  3. Will there be four seats up for election this November?

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    1. Nope. Whomever is appointed will finish Monica's term.

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  4. This is such a loss to the community. Monica was a great board member. Completely uninterested in all of the Hoboken politics stuff and absolutely serving for the betterment of Hoboken's public school children. It's a shame that her family were priced out of town, but it happens a lot these days.

    Sheillah Dallara will be appointed to the seat. I liked what she had to say when she ran for the seat last time, so that'll be fine with me even if we have to go through the charade of pretending that anyone else applying has a chance to be appointed.

    There will be the usual stuff said at the meeting about how we hope the other great candidates will stay involved and then there will be Pat Waiters who will apply and who will have a few things to say about not getting appointed.

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    1. 5:24 said : "Sheillah Dallara will be appointed to the seat. ..."
      If that's true, why is the board wasting everyone's time asking for applications?
      You are either a political insider with some knowledge of inner workings --OR-- the board is just going through the motions to make it look like an open process.

      I think you might be lying and just stirring the pot

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  5. A great trustee indeed, I do think it was unfair to state she couldn't afford Hoboken on the front page of the Hoboken Reporter, It's one thing to say you were displaced, your landlord jacked the rent, it's another to move to a wealthy suburb in Connecticut to a large center hall colonial with sprawling lawns and a winding driveway. Just say, you prefer the burbs and how much farther your dollar goes. Don't whack the town on your way out the way Maxwell's did when they moved after selling out for nearly $1million

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    1. Tod and dave from maxwell's "sold out" for a mil???? Not what i heard, farrrrrrrrr for it.

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    2. You're not in my opinion "displaced" when your rent goes up either. You're only "displaced" if you're evicted despite your willingness to pay the legal rent (market rate or rent controlled), or the status of your apartment somehow changes from affordable housing to market rate while you're living there and still qualified to receive affordable housing.

      Lot's of talk about "displacement" but I wonder how many people in Hoboken have actually been displaced. My guess is not very many, certainly not enough to constitute a crisis.

      Perhaps I'm wrong about that but until someone produces some actual data based on a reasonable and fully disclosed definition of displacement there's no way to know.

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    3. As a home owner I am very happy that property values are going up in Hoboken. It is also a very clear sign that it is becoming a much more desirable place for people to move to.

      In many places property values tanked years ago and have either gone lower or stayed the same.

      For most people their home is their largest investment and to see that investment grow. Those who need or want to move on are rewarded with an nice profit on their investment.

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    4. Do my eyes deceive me? Is there really someone posting that displacement isn't real in Hoboken? Come on buddy at 2:47, this is the city of delivered vacant. Just as recently as couple of weeks ago a tenant at 920 Bloomfield was displaced. Popped up on my facebook thread. Some developer claiming single-family status to get her out according to the post. Some neighbors were trying to raise money for legal expenses for her. Can't speak to what happened with Monica, it doesn't sound like she was displaced, it sounds like she was priced out.

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    5. So a family buys a very narrow townhouse with a rental unit and has the unmitigated gaul to want make their home better with their own money and make it a one family home. Disgraceful.

      If we start letting people think that just because they own property that they are going to be allowed to live in it that could get way out of hand.

      We as a City must not allow this sort of free market to ever happen. Write letters, complain at City Council meetings post o the internet, not may of people are needed to make it look like this is a real problem. B*tch on comrades.


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    6. An anecdote based on a facebook post is not exactly data and delivered vacant was a long long time ago. Inless your claiming people are still being burned out of their homes the reference is meaningless and citing it just highlights the fact that you have no actual data.

      Even you anecdote doesn't hold water. What evidence is there that the single family status isn't real? Your little anecdote isn't evidence of even a single incident of displacement.

      How many people do you think have been displaced during the last say 4 years, what's your definition of displacement and what's your source? And please don't cite another facebook post. Doing that just highlights the fact that you don't really know what you're talking about.

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    7. The small handful of people who are constantly bitching about displacement in Hoboken can not deliver facts, they just think if they keep on saying it people will actually think it is a real big problem.

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  6. 700 for business K plus license

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    1. no way they got $700k. they didn't sell the building, did they? $700k for a bar business that obviously wasn't profitable enough for them to keep it sounds unlikely.

      can yo link to some public documents that might back up your claim? i'd love to be proven wrong, todd and dave are great guys and it would be great to think they made out well, just not sure it's the case.

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  7. At least she wasn't as stupid as that putz who put up his own money to try and stop a successful charter school from going to eighth grade. Now that he has embarrassed himself in front of a city that wants nothing more than great school choices for their children, which effectively raise our real estate values, you can be sure he will walk away. Good riddance buddy, go get yourself a cup of coffee.

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  8. So I am guessing Patricia Waiters will take the opportunity to get up start ranting and raving , waving her race card around, speaking about herself in the third person and generally making a fool of herself. No matter how many times you see it it always sad and pathetic.

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  9. How does a move to a nice house in Connecticut constitute displacement?
    It sounds like a lifestyle choice and one many have made from Hoboken.

    Is there anyone who doesn't know a growing family who left Hoboken for a big suburban home with the backyard, front lawn and two car garage? Shoot, most brownstones in Hoboken cost seven figures or more and don't have a parking spot.

    Choice is not displacement.

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    1. I do. I even know some empty nesters who sold one of those big suburban houses to move to Hoboken.



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    2. If they wanted to stay, but there was nothing available in the price that they could afford, that sounds like the definition of priced out to me. A choice would be - we need a 3 bedroom so "do we want this 3 bedroom in Hoboken for 1M or this 3 bedroom in CT for 1M?" If the cheapest 3 bedroom in Hoboken is 1.5M and 1.5M is out of their price range, then they didn't have a choice, they were priced out based on their needs.

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    3. So they made a choice to move from an apartment to a house.
      Like thousands of others before them in Hoboken.

      Didn't hear Stromwall say anything about three bedroom apartments.
      Most people would be thrilled to buy a house in the seven figure range.

      Only in Hoboken would anyone try to call that "displacement."

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    4. Hoboken's entire housing market is what it is because people have been priced out of NYC. I don't see many people complaining about that so pardon me for not being upset when someone gets priced out of Hoboken. You live where you can afford to live. Plenty of affordable housing in the greater NYC metropolitan area.

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  10. There might be overlap in the terms "priced out" and "displaced", but there obvious differences. Priced out means you can't find anything within your desired price range. Displaced implies you were booted out by someone (a landlord) or some event (hurricane, fire. etc.)

    I don't know Monica and only know what I read in the HR. She said she loves Hoboken but came to a crossroads where she needed more space but none was available in their price range, so they move to the burbs. That's an old traditions, isn't it?

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  11. Somewhere in this thread (from the first comment) the message of thanks that GA meant to convey was totally and utterly lost. You all need to stop pontificating, stop trying to surmise the "real" reason behind this clearly personal decision to move and START talking about what you can do to make even the smallest sliver of the positive impact on this community that Monica has made.
    I hope that everyone who knows (or knows of) Monica, will thank her. Thank her for her selfless pursuit of the betterment of the Hoboken school system. Thank her for being able to unite a disparate group. Thank her for having the courage to do what was necessary and what was right... And then acknowledge that someone else will have to fill big shoes. I truly wish that the Board and the residents of Hoboken choose her replacement wisely. But most of all, I hope that anyone who puts their name in the hat for consideration - is doing it for Kids, educators and support staff of the Hoboken School system.

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    1. Agreed.

      Thank you Monica,

      Hoboken is a better place because you unselfishly gave your time and effort.




      Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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