On December 22nd at 5PM, while most of Weehawken was readying for the Christmas holidays, and doing some last minute grocery or gift shopping, 5 Council members convened and voted to ban all short term rentals in Weehawken, effective IMMEDIATELY.

As a constituent of the beautiful town of Weehawken, you must have a few questions:

•  Why was this rushed and done in the shadows?
•  Why was the townhall agenda only published the day before?
•  Why was the meeting time moved at the last minute?
•  And most importantly, why didn't Weehawken constituents get a fair chance to debate and discuss such a dramatic change in legislation, before it is voted on and implemented?

This petition is to call for a repeal on ordinance 19-2022, which casts a broad stroke ban on all short-term rentals in Weehawken, AND begin a fair open discussion on passing a Common Sense Short-term Rental ordinance that ensures the protection of the family friendly suburban nature of the town, whilst fostering tourism to enrich the township tax coffers and grow local businesses. Many townships and cities in Jersey have passed similar common sense short term rental regulations, including Hoboken, Jersey City, and coastal beach towns, which greatly benefit both residents and those areas. 

Mayor Turner is a sensible man who genuinely wants what’s best for the town, and he himself agrees that “the township officials will take another look at it next year to see if they will allow the rentals with common-sense regulations”. (Source: Zeitlinger, R. (2022, December 19). Weehawken looking to officially ban short-term rentals like Airbnb, Vrbo. from NJ Hudson Publication)

Regardless on your stance on short term rentals, we, as Weehawken residents, and most importantly Americans, must be united behind core democratic values of transparency and participation. The Weehawken council is accountable to their constituents to operate openly, allowing for public scrutiny, as well as, allow all constituents to have the opportunity to participate in the political process - only then can we design legislation together for the betterment of our township.