Dini in a Nutshell
Hoboken's budget is broken.
We are getting priced out of the city we love
Dini has the skills our city needs today. She has served as:
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury
Assistant State Treasurer for the State of New Jersey
Dini is the only person running who is not a member of the city council that brought us to where we are today
Dini will not take any money from special interest groups
Meet Dini
Dini Ajmani is running to be mayor of Hoboken—her home with her husband, daughters, and their dog. She has the experience Hoboken needs right now. Dini has protected tax dollars as Assistant State Treasurer in Phil Murphy’s administration and worked to lower housing costs as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department. She understands the challenges our city faces—rising rents, infrastructure issues, and public safety concerns.
Dini believes in smart governance, fiscal responsibility, and policies that improve our everyday life. She will put her experience from running large organizations to work.
Dini’s life story is a testament to the ideals of hope and opportunity that define America. Raised in a small town in India, Dini was brought up by a father who was a welder, and a homemaker mother. Their hard work and dedication instilled in Dini a deep appreciation for possibility and perseverance.
She gained expertise in management with an MBA from Stanford University. Prior to that, she received a Masters in Computer Engineering from the University of Texas, Austin.
After school, Dini and her husband of now 37 years, Sonny, found their true home in the Garden State, eventually deciding to settle in Hoboken after one fateful evening when their NJ Transit train was cancelled and redirected to Hoboken. It was love at first sight for both of them, and perhaps the best thing to ever come out of an NJ Transit failure. Together, they raised two daughters while Dini worked her way up the ranks as one of the few women on a rough-and-tumble Wall Street trading floor.
Dini is deeply committed to giving back to the community and country that has offered her and her family so much. Over the last decade, she has harnessed her expertise in economics and finance—and experience with managing teams of hundreds of people — to some of the hardest issues in public service.
In 2018, Dini brought her passion for transparency and accountability in government budgeting to state government as the Assistant State Treasurer. There, she worked to stabilize New Jersey’s finances and fought to protect state pension benefits and negotiated aggressively with insurance companies to get New Jerseyans a better deal on health benefits. In recognition of her efforts, in 2021 President Biden appointed Dini as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department, where she worked to help the U.S. economy recover from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and lower housing costs.
All the while, Dini has become deeply embedded in the Hoboken community, serving on the Hoboken Planning Board and supporting local institutions that enhance the quality of life in the city.
Dini is ready to draw upon her experiences and record of service to help shape Hoboken’s next chapter as Mayor. She will fight to preserve the city’s unique character, support our families so they can thrive, and finally give Hoboken a government that is both responsive and responsible in addressing the many challenges the city faces.
The Platform
Hoboken is becoming unaffordable, and people are getting priced out. Dini is running for mayor to ensure the people who love this city can stay here
Bring Down our Property Taxes
Over the past five years, taxes have exploded, and our quality of life has gotten worse. The current leadership has failed to deliver for our residents and is leading Hoboken down an unsustainable financial path.
Our tax increases have outpaced inflation. In 2024, Hoboken property taxes went up by 8.5% and school taxes went up by 15%. Our rents are double the average median rent in the nation. For a young family or a senior on fixed income, it is becoming challenging to continue to call Hoboken home.
Parking
Sometimes the City’s leadership seems to be at war with residents who own cars. City hall has given out 15,000 permits for only 10,000 spots. Developers are not required to build sufficient parking for renters. More residents need street parking. One can spend 20-30 minutes just looking for a parking spot. It is neither good for the environment nor for our mental health. More and more of the parking spots available to residents are being repurposed.
Our sense of safety has eroded in recent years. So many of our residents have personally encountered a situation where they felt unsafe.
I plan to:
●Triage homelessness. No two situations that lead to homelessness are the same. We need to provide services to assist temporarily homeless and ask the county to assist with those in need of long-term care.
●Support our police. Policing is a challenging profession. Anti-police policies have discouraged enrollment. I will work with our police leadership on building trust and visibility.
Public Safety
E-Bikes & Making our Sidewalks Safer
Delivery e-bikers on our sidewalks are endangering our lives, the lives of our kids, and the lives of our four-legged friends. E-bikers crowd the streets, ride too fast, and often ride on the sidewalks. This problem has lingered for a long time. It impacts our sense of well-being in Hoboken.
We should hold accountable the food delivery apps that employ delivery e-bikers. When an e-biker is caught breaking rules, the public safety officer could record their mobile number and report it to their employer. Employers should pay the fines and reduce the number of orders assigned to the repeat offenders. Food delivery apps have made millions of dollars in the food delivery business. They should feel the pinch when the people they employ are not following the rules.