Lynn & Tony Know
Lynn & Tony Know
Why An At-Large Voice Can Unite City Hall with Kristen Zadroga-Hart
Local change starts where we live, and today’s conversation dives into the messy, human, and fixable parts of city life. We sit down with Kristen, a lifelong Jersey City educator and athletic director running at-large, to talk about trust, safety, and housing—three pressure points that shape daily life more than any national headline. She shares why she spoke up when the community was hurting, how empathy builds social glue, and what it takes to turn schools into neighborhood hubs after the last bell rings.
We unpack a broken relationship between City Hall and the Board of Education, then get specific about coordination that actually helps families: opening school gyms and arts rooms for evening programming, building better bridges for funding, and acknowledging the state aid gap that leaves districts like ours scrambling. Safety isn’t abstract either. A high school went 18 months without a crossing guard, and we explore simple fixes—smarter recruiting, retention, and full-time cross-training—that respect both budgets and lives. Parks and green spaces also get their due; in a dense city, they are essential infrastructure for health, youth opportunity, and community.
Housing anchors the back half of the conversation. Kristen favors incentives over hard mandates to bring more affordable and workforce units online without chilling development. We discuss how supply and demand influence rent, why a 2,700-unit deficit calls for urgency, and how to align public goals with private capital to put keys in doors faster. Running at-large lets her connect ward-level needs to citywide decisions, acting as a bridge for residents who don’t feel heard. And yes, we talk turnout: early voting is open, runoffs are likely, and every ballot counts more than you think. If you care about schools, safe streets, and a fair shot at staying in your neighborhood, this one’s for you.
If this conversation resonates, subscribe, share with a neighbor, and leave a quick review—it helps more Jersey City voters find their way to the polls.
Your hosts: @lynnhazan_ and @tonydoesknow
follow us on social @ltkpod!
Hey, welcome to the Lynn and Tony Know podcast. I'm your host, Lynn.
SPEAKER_02:And I'm Tony. We are both wellness coaches and married with kids.
SPEAKER_00:Join us as we talk about all things health, wellness, relationships, life hacks, parenting, and everything in between unfiltered. Thanks for listening and let's get into it. Welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_02:Welcome back. We're back. And not only that, we have our first uh three-peat as a guest, even though you're only gonna get to see it once. But the good news is it was a great conversation last time. I don't think we need to try and recreate the last one. We got we've got enough material here, I think, with this particular candidate that we can voted today. We voted today, which is Sunday for everyone listening.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, you go vote. Early voting is is open. There's no excuses. It's the difference. No line. I mean, it's it's just yes, it's the same as voting, but there's like no line and it's quicker, apparently.
SPEAKER_01:If you're going away on vacation, if you're worried about the weather, if you're so excited to vote for someone.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we we were happy to get it. I wanted to get it over with, you know.
SPEAKER_02:For sure, for sure. Yeah. And we did. We actually were just out on a walk and we're like, let's just knock this out. And so we did. With all that being said, I'm gonna give you a second here to adjust.
SPEAKER_00:Let me read the and then we're gonna introduce. Today on the show, we're joined by Kristen, a lifelong Jersey City resident, educator, and community advocate. For more than 30 years, she's been a proud part of the Jersey City Public Schools where she now serves as athletic director at McNarrick Academic High School. Kristen comes from a strong union family and has dedicated her life to giving back, whether through education, coaching, or community leadership. She's been recognized as a Jersey City woman of action and teacher of the year and has helped spearhead projects like the Caven Point Soccer Field Renovation renovation. A proud mom of three and a wife of a Jersey City firefighter, Kristen is passionate about creating better schools, expanding affordable housing, and building more opportunities for youth across the city. Welcome to the show, Kristen, for the third time. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_02:Well, well worth well worth the effort. Um, I mean, it's so interesting that this is what I I find so fascinating about local elections. Is two months ago somebody said, What's your opinion of Kristen's droga heart? I said, like, I have no idea. I know she's running, I know what slate she's on, and that's it. And fast forward, and at this point, Lynn and I are fans. We're fans of, I mean, if nothing else, the bio reads exactly like somebody that I would want running for office in a local election. You you just seem like the type of person that is is wants to do it for the right reasons.
SPEAKER_00:And you know, I think it's known that we're there's certain issues that are very important to us, and you've been very vocal about those issues, specifically the graffiti, the free Palestine graffiti that was at the uh you know, it was Eno's Jones Park, I believe. Uh there was an in that instance, and you, you know, you you posted on October 7th, and you know, that kind of being outspoken in a time that we live in today is especially for the Jewish community in Jersey City, it means a lot. And it meant a lot, you know, to me.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and and it's for us, I think at this point, what it what it symbolizes that there is nothing for you to gain politically by speaking out at this point. I mean, maybe never there was, but even two years later, even less, there's even less to gain for somebody to speak out in this way. For us to see that from someone that we don't even know really was meant meant something. It meant a lot. And uh I I would I would love to hear a little bit about why why you felt compelled to do it.
SPEAKER_01:I think I'm I'm I'm not an expert in foreign policy or foreign affairs or anything like that, but I know that we have a um strong Jewish community in Jersey City, a strong Israeli community, wherever that that crossover is. And I think that people were hurting. It was atrocities and it was something that no one should ever have to see or or feel or hear or experience. And people here, even though what I say may not change anything in on the national level or global level, I think people need to know that they are heard and someone empathizes with them and sympathizes with them and just try to help bring some sort of healing or ease, ease some of the healing, because those are things that can never be fully healed, I don't think. But I think I hopefully I showed that I can empathize and and just trying to bring, like I said, like just healing it and know that you're heard and you're felt and and people are here to support you.
SPEAKER_02:Well, it was it was warmly received by us and by our community. So I feel comfortable speaking on behalf of all of them and saying thank you for that. Let's get into it. Let's get into some of the nuts and bolts of why we're here. And one of the things one of the things I'm not even sure we spoke about before, uh, I would like to understand maybe the thought process for running at large versus running for a ward. And if you had a choice or don't, at large just seems way more intense to me because you're running for votes in every ward. So that seems harder uh in a way, but I would love to hear what your your thought process was on that and what it's like.
SPEAKER_01:I think um living in Jersey City my whole life, 54 years, I've lived in, I grew most of my life I lived in between wards B and Ward A. I lived in Ward F for a time when I was in when I was in high school, my family lived there. And I think just coaching and mentoring and and being a lot of the things I did were citywide. The teaching um of the schools that I w were were at the most between Renaissance and McNair draw students from the whole city. It's not just like a district school, a neighbor neighborhood school. So I think I've formed those relationships with the students, with the parents, with um people I've coached, just my mom being a teacher up in the heights. A lot of her students and their children still live up in the heights. So I think citywide made sense for me. Although a lot of people knocking on the door and phone calls, they're not really sure what an at-large council person does. They understand mayor, they understand their ward candidate, but at large, I kind of had to explain that role to them a little more. So that was, I wouldn't say challenging. It offered an opportunity for an additional conversation, I think. Um, but I think citywide, it made sense for me. And for our our ticket, I think it made sense for the ticket as a whole.
SPEAKER_02:Nice. So maybe, maybe for I'll even I'll even say for myself and certainly for some of our listeners, I would imagine. What what are the biggest differences between uh I guess your role as a city council member when you're at large versus when you're representing a ward? Obviously, we know if you represent a ward, you represent that ward specifically, you advocate for that ward specifically. What what's the difference for you as an at-large candidate in your role?
SPEAKER_01:I think for me, it would be connecting with community groups in each ward, deferring on certain things to the ward representative because they they're basically the first line of defense for people. They the people know the person in the ward that they elected directly. So a lot of times they would go um specifically to that ward person, but just being able to form relationships across the ward citywide, understand issues where maybe someone downtown is fighting a development that's happening in ward A. But my responsibility would be to the residents of ward A in that circumstance, have conversations with that ward um council person, see what the community around them are saying, and then try to make an informed decision, weighing the city as a whole.
SPEAKER_02:Interesting. Okay. And I can also, I can also see a bit of you can be a catch-all for, for example, like if somebody knows you and in their ward, the person that they knew or wanted to win didn't win, then you would be maybe more of their point person on the council if they had something they wanted to convey where they may not be as comfortable with whoever is is representing them at that time.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's true too. I mean, people maybe they campaigned hard for or really wanted a a a different person in one of the ward positions and they don't they feel like they don't have a connection with their ward representative, then any of the at-larges whoever, and you don't even have to go to your ward person because everyone votes on on everything together. So if you have a relationship with a different ward person, you can go to them. I know when I've had issues, I've gone to specific city council people who have helped me. I speak at meetings a lot. And I'll always thank the people that reach back out to me with answers or responses. And it's not all I live in ward A, it's not always the ward A representative that I get answers from.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we've we've had similar experiences reaching out to different people for different reasons across the city council. And like you said, everyone on the city council has as much of a vote, whether they're at large or in a ward. It's all this, it's all the same level of influence in that regard. Why are you running? Why are you uh why now? Why are you running? What do you hope to influence in this city? What are you seeing that you may be dissatisfied with and want to you want to have your stamp on?
SPEAKER_01:I think there's a lot of things I'm dissatisfied with. I have been for a long time. There's certain things that I'm happy about that I would like to see more of that maybe I could fight for that as well. I think two of the main issues that are very personal to me are the negative relationship that's been going on between City Hall and the our public schools. There have been, there's been no coordination, communication, and it's sort of been butting heads. And I think that it definitely needs to stop. There needs to be more communication and coordination and just being together because at the end of the day, we're we're for the Jersey City residents, whether they're pre-K3 or 100 years old. We work together, we're paying taxes that fund the city and the public schools. So I think those conversations need to be better. And as the athletic director, as an athlete my whole life, as the mom of athletes, our our parks, our open spaces, our green spaces have been horribly neglected and not where I think they should be. The city of this size and urban cities, children and adults need those open spaces. And that's something that I'm passionate about and that I want to help upgrade within our city.
SPEAKER_02:Help me understand the the disconnect between, as you put it, between city hall and the schools. Because uh when I look at it as a you know regular citizen, you have the the boe over here, you have city government over here, and I I don't know what the what the crossover is or what the collaborative nature of that is or could be or should be. Like just help me understand like how that would work on a like on a municipal level. What does it look like for for you all on city council or the mayor to work with the BOE and help improve the schools?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think we need a designated recreation center in every ward. Every part of the city students should be able to walk to a fully functional recreation center. But on top of that, we have 40 recreation centers already built into our city with public school spaces where they should be open after school for the gyms or the arts rooms or music classes, whatever the case may be. And not just for children. It could be for adults, for yoga classes, for language classes, for coding classes, for how to build a resume, how to um conduct an interview different things. So I think the funding issue has been huge at the state level, where our Jersey City public schools have been drastically, drastically underfunded on the state level. And it falls on the city to fill in that funding gap. And with the abatements we've had with pilots, historically, the city has not put the school funding aside, put the funding into schools that would typically come from a pilot. And I think anytime you get a tax bill, it's always, and the school is the reason for our our taxes going up. So I think if there was some sort of relationship for the past decade, then the schools can't be a scapegoat for for why our taxes go up. So I think those are our two big reasons, but just um the taxpayers are the adults and typically the the parents in the district, and their children are, I mean, in the city, and their children are the students in our public schools. So there's a crossover to begin with, quality of life around the schools. Um, what are we is it safe for our students to to walk to school with crossing guards? There's no crossing guards with bike lanes, with uh street safety, with cars, with police officers. There's so much c I think there's so much crossover just in in the general sense of the word that our students become our future free Yes, and every everything you said made complete sense.
SPEAKER_02:Uh I guess what I was looking to understand was uh from a governmental level, what kind of collaboration is there from City Hall to the BoE? Like are they are they completely individual entities? They don't they don't really do much together or or is there more cooperation between those two than than there than than I think there is?
SPEAKER_01:There well right now there's zero coordination. And I guess on a on a general scale, governmental wise, there they're two different governing bodies. The the BOE is an unpaid elected position. The municipal government is is its own entity, they have their own budget, their own employees, their own ladder in infrastructure, whatever the word you want to use. So technically there's no, they're two very separate entities, but in a city or any kind of municipality, there should be some sort of cohesive coordination and not um like aggression or pitting one against the other. Does that does that answer what you're talking about?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, definitely. I I I wasn't I wasn't too clear on if the city council or the mayor's office or anybody had any influence or any say over the board of education or if they were legitimately completely separate. What you're saying is that right now, city government is using the school system as the scapegoat for why the taxes are going up. When the reality is that the state funding formula is such that we kind of get screwed in compared in comparison to the rest of the state, then the city, in order to have properly functioning schools, needs to make up the difference. And that's more so why taxes are going up, not because, not just because the Board of Education is doing something maliciously wrong. It's also it's it's three moving parts that aren't working all together at the moment.
SPEAKER_01:For a specific example, if you look at the city of Patterson, Patterson has a lower population than Jersey City. But if you look at their school district, they have about the same number of students that are um free or reduced lunch and special education and English language learners, which are the driving factors that are in a budget, those students require more resources. We have about the same. Patterson gets about$500 million in state aid. We get about$120 million in state aid. So the city has that difference.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, okay. So so that allocation is based on the needs of the specific type of students that each district has, essentially. Because some yes. Okay, okay. I don't want to get too lost in the weeds on this, but I I I know it comes up a lot, and I know I don't necessarily I kind of glaze over a little bit when I start hearing about it, but at the same time, I do want to understand it a little bit better, and I think other people would probably would too. But we won't get too far in the weeds and the and the boe stuff. But uh, yes, so when it does come to schools and and school safety, we I know we had this conversation last time, but I I do want to touch on it again. And you had brought up that I forget which school was it McNair that didn't literally have zero crossing guards?
SPEAKER_01:For a year and a half we haven't had a single crossing guard in the in the vicinity.
SPEAKER_02:Why is that?
SPEAKER_01:There's a shortage of crossing guards. Um, and I guess the city prioritizes possibly younger schools, schools with younger students in it. And even though our s our students bike to school, they scooter to school, they walk to school longer distances, typically elementary schools or primary schools, students get walked to by their parents or dropped off in a car pretty close to the door. So I think it's a false narrative that high schools don't need crossing guards or have less of a need of crossing guards. And I would never say pull a crossing guard from PS3 because then God forbid something happens there. But we need to do a better job of hiring and retaining school traffic guards because they're they're vital to the city and they know the students, even not just crossing the school, but they get to know the students, they get to know the families, and and they're just another resource that we can use. Our crossing guard retired a year and a half ago. She knew most of the students by name. Any of the parents that came, she knew if there was an issue, she would come inside and say, Oh, that whatever, I I overheard this, or I think this student needs needs some attention today, or is the social worker around? Can can they talk to that student? So I think they're they're not just how like putting up a stop sign and crossing the school. They're a true resource to to our schools.
SPEAKER_02:That's a lovely story. I want to I want to meet this crossing guard.
SPEAKER_01:Well, she retired, so I I wish she was still there, but she I hope she's enjoying her retirement.
SPEAKER_02:This doesn't seem like something that would be would require that much overhead. Like I this doesn't of all the issues that we have in Jersey City, of which there are many, and some of them f I find to be very expensive, probably. This one does not seem like an expensive problem. So I'm having trouble understanding why it wouldn't be relatively easy to solve.
SPEAKER_01:What it are we just not trying to hire people or we're not a the the number, I think it was, I forget if it was like 150, 175, we're budgeted for. So it has nothing to do with the money wasn't set aside. There, I don't know if if the um outreach isn't isn't good or it's not a um desirable job for someone. I think we need to figure out how to make it a full-time position so that people, yeah, I work three hours in the morning and then two hours in the afternoon and I have all this space in between. We need to figure out how to better utilize the um the school traffic guard safety guard so that they can maybe make it a full-time job. It's ideal for maybe someone who's older and retired from another job or in between jobs or um what whatever the case may be. There's certain people who may be more drawn to it, but I think we need to figure out a way to hire the full amount that we need.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah, this seems like something that could be solved pretty pretty easily, even if it was just a matter of cross-training. I mean, you cross-train crossing guards into that was fun. You cross-train them into something else that could fill out the rest of the day. Outside of outside of the school systems and outside of the public safety aspect, what else are you seeing in Jersey City that you would want to give your attention to if you're elected?
SPEAKER_01:I mean, the the easy one that everyone has an issue with is affordability. People are just being priced out, the rents are are too high, there's not enough affordable units, 2,700 units short in Jersey City just to meet the bare minimum of what's needed with our um population. Um that that number is probably a little old where people have lost jobs, prices have gone even higher, more people are being pushed out. So we probably actually need more than than what the the last audit said. And I think going back to public safety, specifically our public safety department right now only has one public safety director who oversees the police department and the fire department. I would like to see that split so that there is a director of the police department and a director of the fire department, so they both get the attention and the equipment and the resources that they need to be successful.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that that seems like a lot to oversee for for one person. The affordability thing. So you said we're we're 2,700 units short. How do we catch up?
SPEAKER_01:We need to incentivize putting affordable units into um either existing or new newer developments we should require. But also if you simply require affordable housing for the develop, the developers aren't in it for the goodness out of their heart. It's their business. They're trying to make money. And if they don't break even or make money on a development, they're not going to do it. It won't make sense to them. So we have to figure out ways to help them with funding through the city or the state or federal, federal grants incentivized. There's um aspire credits that, and I'm not a by no means an affordable housing guru. I've learned so much on this campaign. But I think there's ways that it makes sense to require, not not necessarily require, but incentivize to a point where developers now want to put that affordable housing in, where they're still bringing affordable units or workforce housing units, but they're not losing money. They're actually making the same amount or more money than they would have if it was all luxury, luxury units.
SPEAKER_02:Got it. Yes. So you are you are in favor of working with the carrot rather than the stick, it sounds like, which I listen, I full disclosure, I sell condo buildings every day. That's that's what I do. I do I not in Jersey City at all, but in Brooklyn, that's that's what I do every day. And I can assure you they're in it for the profit, but they can be incentivized to do just about anything like the rest of us. My concern with a lot of the language around this election has been what if what do we do if we literally elect somebody that alienates the entire working class of developers and none of them want to touch our city at all? So I'm glad to hear you put it like you're putting it. And and I obviously you're not, as you said, an expert on on affordable housing, but even just the mindset of, you know, we can work with people. They're people too. They'll if we work with them in a way that you know isn't patronizing or alienating, then we can probably get some something done, especially when you said we're at almost a 3,000, maybe even more unit deficit as is. Like we're gonna need people to build these units. So I I really look forward to, if nothing else, just out of sheer curiosity, what kind of what the next administration, whoever it is, tackles this issue, because this is not just an issue in Jersey City, obviously. This is an issue in a lot of parts of the country. So I I believe in a lot of ways that market supply and demand dictate price. Like bottom line, supply and demand dictate price. The more supply, the less demand and price goes down. Like that's how it goes. That's how it goes across the river when when I'm working. Like that's just the nature of the beast. Nobody's going to, I think if you're if you're positioning yourself as somebody that's just going to lower rents, I don't find that realistic at all. I think you can you can flatten the curve at best. You can flatten it out. It's it's just like promising we're gonna cut your taxes. It's like, no, probably not. You're probably not. There's that's not realistic. And I I want to live in a reality where we're spoken to in in terms that actually make sense and and are attainable, rather than saying we're gonna cut cut your taxes and cut your rent, and your utility bills are gonna go all the way back down to where they're it's like, no, none of that's real. Like we can't promise these things and not be able to back any of it up. And I like I like that you're thinking of it in in terms of more of a a collaborative effort and from a place of that's rooted in reality. Babe, I'm sorry I'm talking all over you. I know you're on baby duty a little bit, but it's your show. Is it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You don't you wanna Politics is your thing.
SPEAKER_00:I'm listening.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:I'm being an informed voter. You're you're I already voted, but we already voted.
SPEAKER_02:We already voted because early voting has started. It started yesterday or two days ago.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And it goes for 10 days. So there's eight days left of early voting. Then Monday, the third, there's no voting, and then November 4th is election day.
SPEAKER_00:Cool. So there's no excuses. No excuses. I say I say this all the time. If you sit on your keyboard and troll and complain on the internet and you don't vote, then there's no respect for you.
SPEAKER_02:No, you don't get to do that.
SPEAKER_00:You need to go vote.
SPEAKER_02:And by the time this is out, there'll probably be five days of early voting left, six days, six days of early voting left, whenever.
SPEAKER_00:You know, if you go early voting, there's no lines, you can write in the poll.
SPEAKER_01:You can go anywhere in the county. You don't even have to. If you work in Union City, you can but live in Jersey.
SPEAKER_02:County.
SPEAKER_01:Early voting, you can vote in anywhere, any of the county. And they basically doubled the number of early voting sites. There's so many in Jersey City. They're in every every cell. There's no excuse.
SPEAKER_02:That's amazing. Great.
SPEAKER_00:And you get to talk to the fun polling ladies. What do they call them? Polsters?
SPEAKER_02:Poll workers. Pull workers. Pull workers. I sound like a stripper.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, in the very most innocent sense of the way. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01:The poll were they're so sweet.
SPEAKER_02:They're the best. It's like it feels like the most old timey. Like I'm back in like the 90s or something. Like in the world.
SPEAKER_01:Just say the 90s was the old times.
SPEAKER_02:The 90s was 35 years ago. It is now. No, well, it's like four years ago. I hear you. I hear you. I hear you. And I'm I, you know, I'm not gonna be disrespectful, but like I I know I tell people I'm 40 years old, and I'm like, that doesn't make sense to me. I don't understand how that came to be, but here we are, and the 90s was 35 years ago. Yeah. And wood paneling was awesome. But yeah, no, the poll the poll workers are absolutely lovely up here in the heights. And let me ask you this. This is completely unrelated to your campaign. This is elections in general. We're walking in. Obviously, there are 17 people on each corner of the of the park uh campaigning. And I'm just it seems like an odd deployment of campaign capital because I I can't imagine the person, and and it always happens, so there must be data that backs up this spend. But like somebody's walking in to go to the polls and they're like, I don't know yet. And if one of these people talks to me, I will change my mind. Like that scenario seems odd.
SPEAKER_01:In a governor gubernatorial election or a presidential election, people want to go in and vote for the top office, and maybe they didn't do research on the other ones. So they'll grab a piece of literature and be like, all right, that's the last person that talked to me, so I'll vote for those. But I think typically if we're going into early vote, you're informed and you're you've educated yourself on the candidates and you kind of know who you're voting for across the board.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we were like ambushed with so many people.
SPEAKER_02:It's a bit overwhelming, but at the same time, it's like I somebody must be stopping and talking and making up their mind right on the spot, or else.
SPEAKER_00:But it could also turn a voter away. Like if it's like and really invasive, like I could see it could give you like the ick, like you know, they're chasing my vote. Like that's weird. Like why, you know?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I could see that.
SPEAKER_00:It's like a creepy d dude you went on a date with and like he just keeps calling you type thing, you know?
SPEAKER_02:Oh no, the creepy dude's not working at the end. This is the meta. Okay, an analogy. It's an analogy. Okay, got it, got it.
SPEAKER_00:So you're on Bill O'Day's ticket. Why? What's the like background story?
SPEAKER_01:A year and a half ago, he will tell you his home base is basically the Miss America Diner. So a year and a half ago, he asked me to meet him for um a cup of coffee. So I met him in, I don't know, it was nine o'clock in the morning, maybe, um, at the start of the summer. And I thought he had an issue. He wanted to talk to me something about the schools or education or whatever. And he actually asked me to to run, to consider running on his his ticket. And he's he said specifically at large. He's like, I know all the thing you've done, the things you've done throughout the whole city, and I would really appreciate and be honored if you would we if you would be on my ticket at large. And I was so I was taken back a little bit, and I told him I would have to go home and talk to my husband about it, talk to my family, and see if it was the right time and the right space for us. And I think it just bill as a whole. Growing up, I was a huge Mr. Rogers fan. And there was an episode where he was talking. There was a little boy that was scared, and he said his mom would always tell him, if you ever get scared and if you get lost, just look for the helpers because they're they'll be there to help you to to get you to safety or or help you figure out whatever your issue is. And I feel like that's Bill. I think he's a helper. Anyone you talk to, wherever you are, whether it's them, their their mom, their sister, their cousin, their neighbor, he has helped someone in every neighborhood of this this city. And I completely respect that. And it I'm rooted in in um service, I guess you would say, where I can um appreciate the fact that he he will go out of his way. He gives out his his personal cell phone number. People call him at two, three in the morning. I just got kicked out, or it's a domestic violence issue, and he will put them up in a hotel until they get safety, he will get them the resources they need. And and I think that's just the kind of person that I want to work with and and work for. Great.
SPEAKER_02:That's a good answer.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's a great answer.
SPEAKER_02:That's a good answer.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:No, I that's a that's a very glowing. review. I don't know him. Like I I I don't know him at all. So I did I I've been curious.
SPEAKER_00:Philo Day's like old school Hudson County. I know he I know he's you know he's always he's been you know in politics for a very long time. Kind of surprised that he's only running now for mayor but he's always been around always on the scene. He uh a comedian he's an actor right like he's like super funny and talented.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah yeah really yeah yeah he's really funny he's acted on stage yeah nice he loves to talk about his acting acting uh experience so yeah fun fact I'm gonna check out his IMDB after this maybe we'll see him in the zombie opera next year.
SPEAKER_00:So how are you planning on balancing you know I know this is a qu people hate this question because it's like why are you asking like only women get to ask this question. Well her kids are grown still though you're you have a family and you have a full-time job like it's a lot.
SPEAKER_02:There's a lot.
SPEAKER_01:How am I gonna balance it? No sleep probably but I feel like a lot of the stuff I do now in the city would just be enhanced by by being on the council. There's certain things that I give a lot of time to but I can't necessarily make decisions on or and it might even be less time on certain tasks because I I would know the the doors to open or the peop discussions to have or resolutions to propose where it can make some of the things I've been fighting for a lot easier. Take the the Katin Memorial I don't know if you remember the the fight for years on the waterfront statue. Yeah yeah I was one of the petitioners that started we got the petitions we would have forced a an election to bring that to a referendum and I can't tell you the hundreds of hours I spent doing that where if I was on the city council I may have been able to have those conversations where that whole aspect would have been over and and didn't need to come to that point. So I think um I've never been much of a sleeper. So this is just something else that I would be able to um give like my full time because I've so how many hours a night do you get I'm big on the hours if I'm lucky maybe four.
SPEAKER_00:Wow yeah how do you function?
SPEAKER_01:On on a shoestring basically sometimes we gotta get to the case my body that's what it's used to. I I'm an insomniac and some of my best work and my best ideas come at two three in the morning and then my husband's alarm goes off at four o'clock so he can get up and go to the gym and then I'm up anyway.
SPEAKER_02:So brutal actually you know what that for I can't even imagine.
SPEAKER_00:I'm a newborn and I can't imagine yeah but I've I struggled like with for a whole year I was only getting like three four hours but I was that I was going absolutely crazy.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah she's running for biologically your your body just gets what it needs or or doesn't.
SPEAKER_00:I'm not saying it's healthy and I'm not recommending it but this is my lifestyle I I need my sleep I take I take medication so that I could sleep I don't care I'm not ashamed of it.
SPEAKER_02:But I there is a test that I keep getting targeted for on Facebook where it says you may not need to get up at 5 a.m you may need to get up at like there's your perfect time and also you might possibly be a genius at 2 a.m if you go to bed at 3 like this crazy stuff to justify whatever sleep patterns you have going on but now I sort of feel like I want to take it and see where I land.
SPEAKER_00:You need a lot of sleep.
SPEAKER_02:It's true.
SPEAKER_00:I get it too Tony Tony needs a lot of sleep.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely got a lot to got a lot to take care of around here. I had one question and it has completely escaped me at the moment.
SPEAKER_00:I can't help you I don't read minds.
SPEAKER_02:Well listen ultimately we are so grateful that you have given us the time again we are looking forward to I'm honestly just looking forward to a conclusion in all of this. I actually just saw you uh the Hudson County Chronicles Bruce wrote a uh a very nice article about you and then he's predicting um a six person runoff for at large is that does that sound right to you?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah I can't imagine it's not going to be because the way there's 15 people running at large and unless what the top person gets 50% of the vote then they bring the next two people with them and I don't see a a world where one person out of 15 is going to get 50% vote. My goal right now how I'm mentally preparing myself is I'm trying to be top six at this point.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And the runoffs how long how long after the the first vote are the runoffs months December 2nd would be the runoff so we have to deal with another month of yeah of this nonsense no I'm done across the board everyone I'm deleting I'm deleting in the internet like I am done after November.
SPEAKER_01:And I can't imagine there's so many candidates from mayor to all of the at-largest to every ward that I I don't know if any of them will will be first ballot.
SPEAKER_02:I I'm very interested well A I think the problem is getting people to vote in the runoff oh the runoff sounds crazy because like you can win a runoff vote with a total like I saw a statistic from a couple years ago where the runoff pulled like 3,000 voters like 3,000 votes are cast which is that's nothing that's a that's a percent and a half or two whatever of the total population it's just nuts.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah people people are are done because like I said a lot of people go for the top of the the ballot which would be governor that would be decided the sheriff the assembly the school board those would all be decided on November 4th and it's just I guess trying to keep your supporters engaged and informed and letting people know that there is a runoff because it's it's right after Thanksgiving December. So it's gonna be cold out it's not it's not gonna be an easy task but it's hopefully people are engaged and they they come back out for whoever they support so that it's not doesn't come down to a um 0.8% of the vote to like 0.5% of the vote.
SPEAKER_02:It hopefully it's representative of of what the exactly the initial intentions were of the whole yeah which is tough but I do believe just based on there seems to be more engagement in voters maybe on both sides of the river right now as far as turnout goes I think there's an uptick in interest. I think the last presidential elections certainly got people paying attention if nothing else one way or the other whether they liked it or hated it whatever. And I think that what's happening on both sides of the river is is making more people pay attention and I also don't I like you said I don't see anybody first ballot 50% maybe one race I don't know. So people hopefully stay engaged because none of their choices are are automatically through and that'll keep that'll keep them coming back I hope. But if it does Lynn will probably have quit the political side of the podcast by then and I'll have to do it solo if I keep it absolutely I've reached my my limit. She's reached her limit yeah well I appreciate you going on this with course it's important.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah and we appreciate your time thank you so much and again sorry for her technical difficulties but we we did it we did it we did it roll with the punches thank you for the opportunity thank you for the conversation we wish you the best of luck yes thank you you got this of the luck with the with the new baby thank you so much