Dear Editor:
Once again, Frank Raia has shown his deep concern for the people of Hoboken, and has gone out of his way as a private citizen to serve the needs of our city’s residents. Last week, a water main broke along Jackson and Harrison Streets, inconveniencing several hundreds of people for over eight long hours.
Upon learning of this health hazard, Frank Raia, a Commissioner on the North Hudson Sewerage Authority, rushed to the scene in an effort to be of assistance to all those who had been effected by this latest breakdown in city services. Frank acted promptly to purchase – at his own expense – well over 100 gallons of fresh bottled water for the residents who were in need so that their families, their households, and their children would not have to go without this essential element of daily life while the city labored to try and get the situation back to normal.
In fact, not only did Mr. Raia show compassion to the plight of the people, but he had the experience and knowledge to know exactly where and how to fix the leak in the broken water main. Raia knew what had to be done from the moment he arrived on the scene, and worked closely with Carmelo Garcia, Executive Director of the Hoboken Housing Authority, to ensure that the city sent over the proper equipment necessary to resolve the problem and restore clean water as quickly as possible.
There can be no doubt that the presence of Mr. Raia on the scene, coupled with his usual hands-on approach to solving a crisis, was instrumental in shortening the duration of this calamity, and alleviating the suffering that the residents of this neighborhood had to endure.
On behalf of all those who were effected by this water main break, I thank Mr. Raia, and would like to publicly state that it is this kind of leadership, concern, compassion, and know-how that we need to lead our city. It is time we had a Mayor who truly cares. It is time we had Frank Raia as our Mayor.
Freddie Frazier