Dear Editor:
As a new member of our Library’s Board of Trustees, I write to respectfully introduce myself to the community and request support for this important public institution.
By way of introduction, I have lived in our amazing town for eight years now with my wife Dilly.
We have a one and a half year old boy and another boy on the way! By training I am an attorney, but I have spent the past 9 years working as the co-founder of a small non-profit, building it from one employee (myself) with a budget of less than $75,000, to a national organization of 11 employees with a budget just over one million dollars, and offices in New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington, DC.
The non-profit I helped found, the Sikh Coalition, is the nation’s largest Sikh civil rights organization. In the course of my duties there, I have had high stakes meetings with more than one United States Attorney General, the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, and the Department of Transportation Secretary. I have also testified as an expert before numerous governmental bodies, including last month before the United States House Judiciary Committee. I also worked for a short period as an adjunct professor at Columbia University before work at the Sikh Coalition demanded my full attention. It is these life experiences – as a manager, fundraiser, and advocate – that I hope to bring the Library’s Board of Trustees.
I would like to thank Mayor Dawn Zimmer for her trust in me. I am also excited by the team Mayor Zimmer has appointed to the Library’s Board of Trustees in the past year. They are Ilise Benun (a marketing professional); Forde Prigot (who has significant experience in finance); and Mairead Patterson (who is presently pursuing a Masters degree in Library and Information Science). I look forward to working with both the new appointees and the dedicated public servants who have been serving for the Board for years.
Last week the Reporter published a letter from Council Member Theresa Castellano questioning my appointment, which was made by Mayor Zimmer, not the City Council, because my brother Ravi serves on the City Council. Ms. Castellano did not appear to have given any consideration to whether I would be an asset to the library board based on my professional qualifications. I hope that she will consider my qualifications as set forth in this letter and reconsider her position. Simply put, our Library should be a politics free zone. The Library Board is an unpaid position and my only motivation in volunteering my time is my desire to serve my community.
We need dedicated public servants focusing their energy on making it stronger. I hope to be one of those servants. Please feel to reach out to me if you have ideas and thoughts on strengthening our library. I can be reached at amarhoboken@gmail.com
Sincerely,
Amar Singh Bhalla