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Schundler, hecklers square off during tour of Jersey City
Originally appeared in the Bergen Record on Thursday, September 6, 2001
A vocal group of about 20 protesters dogged Republican gubernatorial
candidate Bret Schundler on Wednesday as he led a group of supporters and
the media on a six-hour bus tour of his "successes" as mayor of Jersey City.
As Schundler portrayed new development and charter schools as symbols of
the rebirth in the state's second-largest city, his critics said his nine-year tenure
as mayor primarily helped wealthy developer-contributors and New York
transplants who are driving up rents.
Schundler was unfazed by the demonstrators despite frequently being the
center of a noisy crossfire of shouts from supporters and critics. At each stop,
he told a tale of how previous administrations had failed to deliver in a
particular area, but he had triumphed.
"By the time I came into office, the city was a basket case. We were
hemorrhaging jobs. Now the city is booming," he said.
But seeing the media attention the protests were receiving, he also tried to
undermine their credibility.
"I've never seen most of these people," Schundler said as a swarm of shouting
critics holding protest signs greeted him at his first stop in Journal Square.
Schundler contended that was odd, because he'd been the target of many
protests during his nine years as mayor, which ended in June.
"It's a pretty sad day when the Democratic machine has to import its
protesters," he said.
Some of the teenagers holding protest signs at corners in Journal Square said
they had been offered $30 for two hours work by Democratic candidate Jim
McGreevey's campaign.
One young man could not explain the meaning of a sign he was holding that
read "$23 million Bret." It was a reference to the deficit the city's new
administration said Schundler left, a charge Schundler denies.
"I have no idea, I just get paid to stand here," he said.
McGreevey spokesman Richard McGrath denied paying the protesters.
"The money didn't come from here," he said. "We had no role and no
knowledge of the activities in Jersey City. They must be mistaken."
But the teenagers who said they had been paid were largely showing their
signs to motorists passing through the square, and were not part of the
raucous, mostly African-American group that began heckling Schundler from
the moment he arrived. The group followed him throughout the day from
Journal Square to a housing construction site to a new supermarket to a
charter school to new office and apartment towers along the Hudson River.
"I'm going to be in your face all the way," Daryn Martin, executive director of
ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, told
Schundler during one of the several times the two men got within a few inches
of each other.
"The city's in such an uproar because you left it that way. If you can't manage
the city, you can't manage the state," he said.
Martin said his cadre of demonstrators was not paid by any political group,
and insisted they frequently heckle Democratic city and county officials as
well. He said the issue Wednesday was Schundler's treatment of the poor, not
politics.
"Too much Wall Street housing and not enough affordable housing," he said.
Schundler defended his efforts. He argued the city had built 2,600 units of
affordable housing during his term and cut unemployment so residents could
find jobs. He said he fought with labor unions so construction projects would
use more local labor. And he said charter schools he spearheaded were
offering children an alternative to failed public schools.
A new light rail system that stops at Martin Luther King Drive provides
needed access so poor residents can work in the new office buildings being
built on the waterfront or in Manhattan, just 15 minutes away, Schundler said.
Schundler also engaged in a lengthy argument with reporters about the best
way to cover his record on property taxes. Though taxes on the average
homeowner have risen, he says the media should use a different statistic, the
total amount of property taxes collected, which he says was lower in his final
budget than before he took office.
Residents on the picket line weren't buying it, however.
"I own a home, my taxes went up. My water bill went up," said Cheryl
Thompson of Bidwell Avenue.
McGrath said McGreevey has no plans to run a similar tour of Woodbridge,
where he has been mayor since 1991, "but we'd be happy to show off our
pride in the township any time."
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