Jen Laird-White Officially Announces Bid for Mayor

Current Nyack trustee Jen Laird-White has officially announced her candidacy for mayor of Nyack, securing the endorsement of the Nyack Democratic committee.

The elections are slated for fall 2011; Laird-White will challenge incumbent mayor and fellow Democrat Richard Kavesh, who has served since November 2009.

"I look at our wonderful Village and see all of the reasons I have chosen to raise my family here but I can also see that there's much that needs to be done," Laird-White said of her decision to run. "Nyack needs leadership that relies on work and progress and not just legislation and delegation. We need someone with vision, ideas and a willingness to go out and help each resident try to realize their dream of what our village can be."

In addition to her work as a trustee, Laird-White founded the Nyack Park Conservancy and served on the Park Commission. She also acts as liaison to the .

Laird-White has spotlighted four cardinal issues she aims to tackle if elected. She hopes to maintain a low tax rate while moving away from a reliance on parking revenue; pursue green and economically-sound initiatives to aid local merchants; curtail nighttime noise and litter downtown; and seriously look into projects like .

"We want to live in a place that thrives rather than struggles, that's peaceful rather than chaotic, that's forward thinking rather than stuck in the past," Laird-White explained in a press release. "We need to work together to make the Nyack we love into the Nyack we imagine."