Suzanne Russell, staff writer at the Home News Tribune, asked mayoral candidate Leora C. Wenger to answer a few questions. Here is Leora’s response:

Dear Suzanne,

Thank you so much for asking to interview me for your newspaper.
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Biographical information

Name: Leora Wenger

Age: 60

Years residing in town: 30

Previous government service (boards and elected office):
I did not serve on a board or in an elected office, but I did create and manage the Environmental Commission website for over 10 years. I also created and managed the Highland Park Public Library website for over 10 years.

Volunteer activities:
I currently serve on the Board of Congregation Etz Ahaim and as the Etz Ahaim Youth Committee Chair. I serve on the Etz Ahaim hospitality, events, charitable deeds, and house committees. I am working with board members to rewrite the Etz Ahaim website.

I am the chair of the Highland Park Republican Committee and the Middlesex County Republic representative for Highland Park District 10 (one of two).

I created and manage Highland Park New Jersey News (https://www.highlandparknjnews.com).

I have taught art, social media, and given tech talks at the Princeton web developers group.

When a baby is born or a person dies in our community, I sometimes cook a meal for the family. I have also organized meal trains for families.

Political information

Party: Republican Party

1. Why are you running for mayor?

As a new set of eyes and ears to the problems facing our town, I can work with my constituents and colleagues to craft possible solutions.

We started a Republican group about two years ago because many of us were unhappy with the one party that has been ruling Highland Park, New Jersey for too long. Several in the group have run for office before, and we wanted to run as a slate instead of as individuals. I agreed to take the slot of mayor. I think of myself as representing all those unheard people in our borough who want change but are too busy with their lives to make the necessary changes. I am at good point in my life; my children are no longer living at home, and I have improved my health to the point where I have more energy to take on this difficult task. I am hoping to improve the lives of citizens, especially those who feel they have no voice in how our government is run.

2. Why should people vote for you instead of your opponent?

If I thought everything was running fine in our borough and in our country, Elsie Foster is a great choice. For example, she really cares that we need a supermarket back in our downtown; I hear it in her voice. She has served in the government for many years, and she has a kind and warm nature.

However, if one feels taxes are too high, one wants to understand what is going on behind the scenes, one feels too many laws have been passed that restrict our freedoms, one wants more locally-owned thriving businesses on Raritan Avenue, or one feels like no one is listening, we now have an viable alternative. You would not just be voting for me … you would be voting for the many people in this borough that have great ideas on how to make this once again a thriving town. I would be listening to lawyers, government experts, engineers, store managers, financial and tech wizards; these are among the many people that I have come to know in our borough.

3. After talking to residents, what is their biggest concern?
Taxes are too high.

4. What are the three biggest challenges facing your town and what is your approach to solving them?
1) Our downtown has too many empty stores and no supermarket. We need to figure out how to deal with all the stubborn landlords who make life difficult for store managers. We definitely should not be charging small, local business owners high taxes or imposing fees or giving them competition with cheap goods from China in front of their stores (this has happened at street fairs).

2) Many people in our town have more traditional, conservative values. They feel uncomfortable speaking up when the borough council imposes values on them that make them uncomfortable. We need to ease that discomfort.

3) Figuring out to lower taxes is not going to be easy. Getting to the point where we can actually lower taxes will take time. In the meanwhile, we need all the help we can with transparency and gathering lists of where all the money is getting spent. Eventually, when we have more people that actually represent the majority on Borough Council and on the School Board, we can hopefully start the process of lowering taxes.

5. Do you have any special projects you would like to achieve in office?
1) Make a transparency list — how much does everything cost? The main project would be transparency. How much is being spent, why and where. Also, it would be good to document all the complaints against landlords, and make lists of ideas on how to get local people once again feel comfortable opening up shops, especially ones that involve necessities like food, clothing, and shoes.
2) Who makes the decisions to implement plans like the redevelopment plan? How can we possibly unravel it and give the borough downtown back to the people, who do not seem to want 5-story buildings, a large parking garage, and all sorts of fancy shops.
3) Find others to run for office.

6. What is your vision for how Raritan Avenue should be redeveloped and what would be the key feature.
Encourage privately-sponsored, publicly available events. Figure out how to deal with the landlord problem, so more local people will once again open up shops. Perhaps a fee for abandonment or lack of use for landlords on Raritan and Woodbridge Avenues would work, although I fear a stronger response will be necessary. The key feature is up to the people who are brave enough to do the hard work of re-opening shops once the landlords are more amenable to the small local business managers’ needs.