Dear Editor:
As a lifelong resident and a senior citizen of our fair city of Jersey City I feel that I must, for the record, state some of the reasons why we should reelect Jerramiah T. Healy as our Mayor in 2012. I have been involved since the 1960’s in governmental, civic and political endeavors. I am a career civil service employee for the past forty four years and also serve for the past twenty one years as an adjunct professor and work additional hours in the community. Please note that I do not have the financial ability to take off from work for a year to campaign for political office and am a true son of our city, not an out of towner.
Our Mayor is what Jersey City is all about, being raised in a hard working family, attending law school while he was employed, attained his law degree, worked as an assistant prosecutor, chief judge of the municipal court and has dedicated his life to bettering our city. He has moved this city forward including but not limited to the following: hired new firefighters and police officers through grant funding from the federal government, raised the city’s bond rating being touted by Moody investment firm that the city has an improved financial position with structurally balanced operations, led the fight against Spectra concerning the gas pipeline targeted for the city, commenced groundbreakings for new residential development, parks, infrastructure improvements and continues to promote programs fro the very young to the most senior resident.
The alleged opponent of our mayor, the councilmember from downtown apparently is only using this quest to become mayor as a stepping stone to other avenues. This man has alienated many of our communities by his activities, violating the Open Public Meetings Act in the area of the position of superintendent of schools. He has unfairly challenged role models in the community, the hard working director of the incinerator authority and campaigned against the first Hispanic sheriff of our county in 2010.
I will not only vote for Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy in May, 2013, I will also spend my working hours for his campaign. The reelection of our mayor will certainly be for the benefit of the health, safety and welfare of the 250,000 plus good people of our city.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert B. Knapp