To the Editor:
Born and raised in New Jersey, I have lived in the Hopewell Valley for over 20 years. I have built a life here with my lovely wife, Anita, and after leaving a career in the financial services industry, we opened our business, Jack’s Greenhouse and Farm, located in Hopewell Township. Sarina is a proud graduate of Hopewell Valley Regional High School and is now a Freshman at Elon University. Jaina is an 8th grade student at Timberlane Middle School. I am an officer of the Trenton Cyrus #5 lodge of Free and Accepted Masons. Free Masonry donates nearly two million dollars a day to charitable organizations. I am also a trustee on the Woosamonsa Schoolhouse Board. I have proudly sponsored both boys and girls divisions for the Hopewell Valley Soccer Association for the last seven years.
My background as a small business owner for a nursery and farm as well as for a family owned financial services business, my training as a US marine, and as an officer of various local organizations, such as the Trenton Cyrus #5 lodge of Free and Accepted Masons and the Woosamonsa Schoolhouse Association, have allowed me to obtain the unique skill set needed to listen to our residents, identify their needs, and consider the long term fiduciary implications of each decision. These are the skills that I see lacking in our current administration.
The current one party dominated township committee has shown an unwillingness to listen to our residents’ heartfelt concerns and the poor decisions made by the current administration are being made with reckless speed and little public input. They have shown a complete disregard to mount a meaningful fight against developers, opting to further burden our already fragile infrastructure.
Unexplained and unnecessary personnel vacancies has resulted in a slowdown of our local government services; one example is the inability to pick-up brush that has piled high in many of our neighborhoods.
I support stopping the overdevelopment of Hopewell Township from developers and protecting the land that was originally dedicated for open space. I will vote for topics and issues with a non-partisan mind set. I will listen to my neighbors and community members, allowing them to fully voice their concerns and questions as opposed to just rubber stamping decisions and ordinances. The township committee must embody the core beliefs of the current residents of Hopewell Valley, not those of developers who wish to line their pockets by destroying our scenic countryside and peaceful way of life.
Our wonderful community is built on the connections we make with our friends and neighbors. We talk with one another at the local farmer’s market, socialize at barbeques, and cheer our kids on from playgrounds to the athletic fields. My wife and I love raising our family in Hopewell Valley and I feel it is time to give back to the community that has given us so much. Therefore, I am hoping to be elected and serve on the Hopewell Township Committee to restore good government, transparency, fiscal responsibility and public input.
Please vote for me, Ed “Jack” Jackowski, for Hopewell Township Committee on November 6th.
Ed Jackowski
