NEWS: Read Shane Smith’s review of Norrice’s “Talking Politics” appearance with opponent Nidia Lopez here.
I am running for council to ensure that Ward C residents’ concerns are heard and addressed. Now, and throughout much of the past, this city has been blatently unresponsive to our needs. I am proud to say I am community activist who has lived in Ward C for 14 years. Due to the city’s lack of action, I have had to band together with other activists to urge city hall to rehabilitate and create public parks, restore and expand mass transit, repair streets and sidewalks improve public safety, limit density, and improve government by eliminating dual office holding and dual public job holding (“double-dipping”). Yet even after years of extraordinary citizen effort, still many of our concerns go unanswered—addressed by city hall only as a last resort.
Worse, we have witnessed city hall betray citizens by putting the interest of those doing business with or in the city above the well-being of their constituents, like in the Powerhouse Arts District. Time and again, the concerns of the people who live here are ignored while the interests of developers receive immediate attention.
Why have all the efforts of these dedicated citizens not yet come to fruition? Why have we had to struggle to bring about progress and protect our interests? I am left to conclude that our entrenched city politicians care more about protecting their own futures than ours. We need better representation and a progressive council that will lead the way into the future by responding to the community. I have decided to take action and join with Dan Levin, the “Good Government Guy” to make Jersey City’s government accountable to us, the taxpayers, not to the firms or the developers doing business with the city.
We need representatives who will listen to us, appreciate us, and work with us to bring about necessary change. If we want our parks improved, our representatives should improve our parks. If we want to limit density, they should limit density. If we want community policing, we should have community policing. And they should work with us because, after all, they work FOR US.
My pledge to you: I will listen to you and work to address your concerns. I will recruit residents to become decision makers in Jersey City by nominating qualified Ward C residents for appointment to the city’s boards, agencies, and commissions, such as the Planning Board, the Zoning Board, and the Environmental Commission. I will identify and encourage Ward C residents to run for elected office. I will work in a spirit of cooperation with the council and the city administration to promote the common good.
Working together, we will transform Jersey City into the first class community we deserve. It shouldn’t be “us” against “them”; we’re one Jersey City.
~Norrice Raymaker
Norrice Raymaker, a fourteen-year resident of Ward C, seeks the Ward C council seat and plans to change Jersey City government by increasing public participation.
She is using the campaign process to encourage residents to seek elected and appointed positions on Jersey City’s many boards, such as the Planning Board and the Zoning Board.
Norrice is committed to listening to residents, supporting community projects such as the restoration of the Lowe’s Theater and Reservoir Three, increasing mass transit, saving taxpayer monies, bringing back community policing and opening recreation centers so that young people have constructive activities after school. She will insist that government lead by example. To that end, if elected, she will not accept the car that is given to council members. She believes that our elected leaders should take public transportation and the parking spots at City Hall should be reserved for constituents, not politicians and employees.
Raised in South Milwaukee Wisconsin, Norrice graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in Communications, moving to Jersey City and making her home in Ward C in 1990. Seeing the lack of concern for animal welfare in Jersey City, she worked tirelessly for ten years to open the Liberty Humane Society, serving as the organization’s founding director and first president.
She has been a member of the Sgt. Anthony Park Association for fourteen years, and has served as the Vice President for the past four years. Spearheading the development of the Sgt. Anthony Park Community Garden, she sucessfully procured a grant through the Jersey City Parks Coalition (funded by Goldman Sachs) to conduct the annual spring cleanup and planting. She is also a former board member of Civic JC, the policy study and advocacy organization that introduced pay-to-play reform and conducted the Civic Survey, a plan for transforming Jersey City’s government. In addition, she is currently on the board of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy, the citywide historic preservation association.
Norrice is a certified Speech Communications teacher who has been an adjunct professor at Hudson County Community College, helping non-native English speakers to improve their pronunciation and communication skills through the class “Pronunciation Perfect”. She has also taught at the Hudson County School of Technology and has been a song leader and soloist at St. Anne’s church since 1992.
Norrice has never been compensated for her work as an activist, has never worked for government, and is employed full-time as a compliance assistant for a firm at Harborside Financial Center.
