By Ande Richards | For MosaicDecember 07, 2023 at 12:00 pm EST
Bill O’Dea, a born and bred Jersey City resident and longtime Hudson County commissioner, wants to be mayor of his hometown, the state’s second-largest city.
O’Dea announced his bid for mayor on Nov. 18 with the full backing of the Teamsters. He knows the city intricately and has big plans to make Jersey City — the most diverse city in the nation — a beacon of industry and inclusivity.
He’s running against former Gov. Jim McGreevey who shares a similar background to O’Dea. They both grew up in Jersey City, both attended catholic prep schools and Catholic universities, both have lengthy political careers and experience running a business.
One difference is McGreevey has more political success, winning a statewide race, and a greater political defeat, resigning after scandal. But O’Dea says he will run no matter who the party backs and expects additional endorsements from unions in the coming months.
He’s a known entity in the county after serving his eighth full term as a commissioner, working as the deputy executive director of the Elizabeth Development Company and serving as chairperson of the Public Resources Committee and as a member of the Taskforce on the Homeless and Liaison to the Workforce Investment Board.
His notable accomplishments include the creation of a step-down unit in conjunction with Alliance during the height of COVID. The facility was open for two years and was located across the street from one of their hospitals. It provided 100 beds for individuals who were homeless, or a victim of domestic violence and needed shelter.
In partnership with the Hudson County Building Trades, he created a program called Impact, designed to increase minority participation and access to construction trades. So far it has drawn about 200 individuals — women and minorities — have moved into trades, including plumbers, electricians, laborers and carpenters.
Mosaic spoke with Commissioner O’Dea to learn more about the man who would be mayor. The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity:
MOSAIC: You’ve written two plays, six screenplays and a novel — you’re a closet writer.
BILL O’DEA: So, I joke because I’m only the second best writer in my family. I have a sister, who you might have heard of, Colleen O’Dea, who’s a news reporter. So I’m not even the best writer in my own family. But I did write a book that I self-published called The Legacy of Haguesville and I’ve actually been working with a documentary filmmaker out of New York and a producer out of California to try to turn that into a miniseries or television series.
MOSAIC: I was looking at the 2020 census for Jersey City. There are almost 300,000 people in Jersey City and a huge percentage are nonwhite. It breakdowns as 27%, Hispanic, 25%, Asian 22% Black. So why do you think you best represent the citizens of Jersey City?
BILL O’DEA: My career as an elected official has been being involved, on a daily basis, hands-on, with all those groups that you just identified. In fact, when we announced a couple of weeks ago, that crowd there, which was about 700 people, was reminiscent of all those groups that you just described.
I’ve watched the diversity occur and I’ve been able to be a part of it as it happens. I have worked on issues relating to those different communities and that gives me a unique perspective and the skill sets to be a successful mayor.
MOSAIC: Jersey City has a large Muslim community and considering the unfortunate war between Israel and Hamas, some of that conflict has shown up in our communities. How would you navigate tensions between Jewish and Muslim communities in Jersey City?
BILL O’DEA: We have to get everyone to sit down and talk to each other. We’ve had a couple of events initiated by community leaders and religious leaders, to talk things through, to recognize that nothing good is accomplished through hate. Obviously, in this particular situation, I’ve had hour-long conversations with both sides. And those positions are so different, yet you have to respect the positions.
MOSAIC: Is there anything that you would do proactively to facilitate that?
BILL O’DEA: I’m part of groups that are constantly talking. I was supposed to have a meeting yesterday with a Jewish leader and a Muslim leader and they had to change it but we’re going to reschedule for next week. The purpose of our meeting is to create a process or procedure for these ongoing discussions and dialogue between both groups because I think at the end of the day, deep down people want there to be a peaceful resolution of the differences that are occurring today.
MOSAIC: On Nov. 26 there was a celebration of life for Andrew Jerome Washington, the young man who was tragically killed by police in his home while in the throes of a mental health crisis.
BILL O’DEA: I was at the first vigil at the family’s home soon after Andrew’s passing. I’ve spoken to family members, I’ve spoken to community leaders about it. I’ve been involved in conversations with Jersey City Together to get the program that matches mental health professionals with law enforcement professionals to identify and work better on situations like this when they arise. I continue to push for the city council and the city to get a contract awarded.
From the county perspective, we are looking at how we can make part of a warming facility a place for individuals who have mental health issues and need to stay somewhere for a day or two so they don’t wind up in a correctional facility. We need to spend more money on mental health services, not only for adults but for children.
MOSAIC: According to the 2020 census, 10% of the population in Jersey City doesn’t have health insurance, and 16% live in poverty. Do you have any plans to significantly decrease that number?
BILL O’DEA: In my role as a county elected official, I work very closely with Alliance, which is the qualified federal health center that’s located in Jersey City and is tasked with the responsibility to provide health services to that 10%, or those individuals that don’t have it. Recently, I sponsored an ordinance that’s going to allow them to purchase and acquire the building they’re located in, which will allow them to expand the number of clinics and the number of programs they have.
We’re working with them to take two properties in Jersey City — they’re single-room occupancy rooms that house both reentry individuals, homeless individuals and individuals that have other temporary homelessness issues.
We will have on-site health care services, as well as on-site addiction services, and mental health services. The value of that is preventive care, which is so much cheaper than waiting for an individual to get so sick that they have to go to an emergency room.
I’m a huge advocate for all development, whether it’s a commercial office, whether it’s warehouse distribution. If you’re going to create jobs in Jersey City, we will get you the qualified people from Jersey City to access those jobs. We’ll train them, we’ll give them on-the-job training, if necessary.The best way to assist individuals who are below poverty is to get them a good-paying job.
MOSAIC: What I’m hearing in all of those jobs that you listed is that many of them are union jobs. And I know that you got a huge endorsement from the Teamsters. Do you think it’s because of the work that you’ve been doing all along?
BILL O’DEA: I believe when you get someone a good paying job, that’s a union job, that union is going to protect the rights of those individuals and make sure they get good wages and medical benefits. In fact, you know, one of the things I’m proud of in 2001, I sponsored the second living wage law of any county government in the entire United States. And we’ve strengthened that law over the years because now it guarantees medical benefits. It guarantees sick time.
Creating affordable housing and maintaining affordable housing is critical. That means a strong rent control law.
I sponsored in the county, the funding for the right to counsel and that program will continue until the end of next year. At that time, Jersey City will have in place its own right-to-council program. I think that’s important.
I have a strong partnership with the Jersey City Board of Education and as mayor, I’d like to open up more schools at night to give kids alternatives to the streets, or open up youth centers. Many of our young people need homework help. A lot of young people had serious literacy losses as a result of COVID. If a teen isn’t able to read at a fifth-grade level there’s a 5,000% or 50 times, greater likelihood they will wind up being incarcerated.
We used to have free summer camps up to a couple of years ago. I’m committed to public private, nonprofit partnerships to bring back at least six to eight free summer camps.
I’ve been working with young people to create a program in our county correctional facility to teach literacy to our inmates, and it was their idea, not my idea, but it inspired me to know that we need to do those same programs on a school level and a community level for our young people. Preventive programming is always better.
MOSAIC: Do you have any plans or programs that you want to implement for the immigrant community?
I would support an ID program. I think that’s a great a great idea but more importantly, within the county now, we work closely to identify individuals who come here to get them health care even if they’re undocumented and programs to find them housing. Our biggest challenge is overcoming their fear that government is going to send them back.
I’m actively involved with local groups — some of them are faith-based — in identifying and assisting individuals, even if those individuals are not documented. Many years ago, I worked with the AFL-CIO, to create a program at 830 Bergen Avenue that offers assistance to individuals that are here. If they seek asylum, they try to assist them. They also provide individuals with work visas to get permanent status, and ultimately to get to citizenship.
We need workers. So rather than being short-sighted, individuals can have gainful employment and pay taxes. What are we doing? Let’s fill those positions. That’s it.
We also have to control spending. The city has some real annual operational deficits. And it takes many years to solve; not one year. One of my commitments is to bring in the best and the brightest from the world of finance and management — we’ve got a lot of them with Goldman Sachs and Depository Trust companies that are located in Jersey City — and bring them in to create a multi-year budget to get our taxes and spending under control.
Taxes went up 30% this year. It was probably a $20 to $30 million hole that’s being filled with one-time revenues and we have to get away from that. We need to better collect that payroll tax. We are not fully collecting that tax every year and that’s causing some of the spike on the board of education side of the taxes.
MOSAIC: The more we talk the harder this mayor’s job sounds.
BILL O’DEA: I think I’m up to the challenge. But you know, the old saying ignorance is bliss. Jersey City’s a great city. We just need to better take advantage of our opportunities.
