Last month, Better Blocks sent questionnaires to all Hudson County Commissioner Candidates across the nine seats up for election this year. Eight of those seats are uncontested. Four candidates responded:

• Bill O’Dea (District 2 – Jersey City)
• Yraida Aponte-Lipski (District 4 – Jersey City)
• Ron Bautista (District 5 – Jersey City and Hoboken)
• Alex Valdez (District 9 – Harrison, Kearny)

Pam Johnson confirmed receipt of the questionnaire but never provided a reply. The other four county commissioners running for re-election unopposed did not acknowledge receipt of the questionnaire when it was sent to their official county email addresses.

The questionnaire responses have been left unedited from how the candidates submitted them but are displayed here side-by-side so voters can easily compare how some of the likely next set of county commissioners will approach key issues like housing, Vision Zero, and bus rapid transit in Hudson County.

For the other big race on many Hudson County residents’ ballots, you can see Rob Menendez and Mussab Ali’s responses to the Better Blocks New Jersey congressional candidate questionnaire here:

Early voting is now open. Remember to vote by June 2!