Ravinder Bhalla, Dawn Zimmer, And Bill Howard Editorial Image

Hoboken, NJ, City Councilman Ravinder Bhalla, Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer, and Bill Howard, Pastor of Newark's Bethany Baptist Church, participate in a panel discussion, “Democracy’s Living Room: How NJ Communities Changed Since 9/11.” The event was broadcast live on “The Brian Lehrer Show,” on New York City’s WNYC Radio. The event took place before a live audience at Montclair State University’s Alexander Kasser Theater in Montclair, New Jersey, on August 30, 2011. On January 18, 2014, Mayor Zimmer, a Democrat, revealed damaging details of how she was pressured by Governor Chris Christie, Republican presidential hopeful, through his aides, to grant significant tax breaks to the Rockefeller Corporation for a building project on 3 acres of Hoboken’s land. She claimed that when she objected, feeling the proposed request improper, Hoboken was not given the $100 million in Super-storm Sandy relief from the federal government, which she had understood would be released to her battered city by Governor Christie. She claims the Governor retaliated by releasing only approximately $300 thousand dollars. She has been deposed by federal authorities investigating the matter which has been a severe embarrassment for the Governor’s administration.