Dear Editor:
My name is Bonnie Murray. Hoboken is very special to me. I met my husband here, we are raising our two children here. Hoboken has given so much to our family, I want to give back to the city and create positive change in the 2nd Ward. I’ve been working as a concerned citizen to make needed changes in our community. On the back of that success, I’m running for City Council.
As a wife, a mother and a citizen who’s passionate about seeing positive change and forward thinking, I will be a strong and accessible advocate for the people of the 2nd Ward.
I am running on an Independent platform because I believe we need to drive progress in Hoboken. Too often elected officials won’t open their eyes to good ideas and move them forward because they came from the other side – it’s not about sides, it’s about solutions! I will foster collaboration on our City Council to get the town moving forward; not standing still.
In the 2nd Ward we’re not seeing the benefit of our tax dollars, and let’s face it we pay our fair amount of taxes. When your taxes are driving real improvements in your parks, streets, and schools, then it’s appreciated as an investment in our quality of life for today and tomorrow. These critical things aren’t getting done due to fractured politics.
Here are my focus areas:
Getting our roads paved – We’ve waited too long to get them paved!
Foster open communication – A resident shouldn’t have to attend a City Council meeting to engage with their Council person. I will enhance communication across the board.
Street traffic flow and congestion- We’re a highly populated community and growing. We need to ensure resident safety, examine how to improve traffic flow and address parking.
Better maintained city-run parks and more recreational space-Our uptown parks are not being properly maintained and we need more space as our Ward continues to grow. As such, I oppose The Monarch Project and believe that land needs to be conserved for recreational space.
Clean streets-Better garbage pickup is needed and I will work with our Sanitation Department to fix this.
Plowed roads- Our last two winters were brutal and when your roads haven’t been plowed; it doesn’t make it easy to get around
Planning for the future- Since 2010 the population has grown by 50 percent! This number could easily skyrocket to 70 percent in the next few years based on today’s planned construction. We’re already facing infrastructure issues, we need to start planning on how address this growth in the here and now.
As your Council representative, I will bring these issues to the forefront now, so we can build a better 2nd Ward. The 2nd Ward is a great community of people and I am proud to represent all of you on the ballot as ticket number “C” for this election on November 3rd!
Thank-you,
Bonnie Murray
Candidate for City Council 2nd Ward