INDEPENDENTS
JOIN FORCES FOR
CITY COUNCIL
RACE
(Asbury Park, NJ ~ April 19, 2005) Jim Keady, Stuart Z. Koperweis and Ben
Schneider, three independent Asbury Park City Council candidates, announced
today that they will be joining forces in their bid to unseat a majority of the
current administration. The
three bring significant and diverse personal, professional, and government
experience to the alliance, offering Asburyâs voters a real choice on Election
Day.
âWeâve come together to give voters
a clear choice on May 10th.
Itâs no secret that the people of Asbury Park deserve better leadership and we
are going to provide it,â said Keady.
Keady has been an active political
voice in Asbury
Park for the past several years, on issues from eminent
domain abuse to affordable housing to responsible redevelopment. As a former professional athlete and
coach, he has shown a deep commitment to the kids of Asbury Park by co-founding
the Asbury Park Youth Soccer Club and volunteering at the Boys and Girls
Club. He also volunteered as a
coach for the Varsity Boys Soccer Team at Asbury Park High
School where the team won the Shore Conference
Officialsâ Award for Sportsmanship.
In his professional life, Keady is
the Co-Founder and Director of Educating for Justice, Inc., an educational
nonprofit organization based in Asbury
Park that provides content on issues of social justice
and human rights to colleges, high schools, churches and community groups. He is an internationally-recognized
lecturer and human rights advocate and is currently producing a feature
documentary film on Nikeâs sweatshops. Given his commitment to economic justice
and his work in the area of corporate accountability, Keady received the 2002
Mario Savio Young Activist Award for "spirit of moral courage and vision." He is also an independent business
consultant to various non-profit organizations in the areas of administration,
operations, fundraising, and marketing.
Stuart Z. Koperweis is clearly the
most qualified candidate regarding urban economic development. Koperweis started his political career
in 1993 as Chief-of-Staff for the Mayor of Jersey City where he was responsible
for a $360,000,000 budget and more than 1,500 civilian employees. The following year he was named
president of the Economic Development Corporation. In this role, he was responsible for
creating $55 million in public sector development projects, leveraging this into
$2 billion dollars in private sector investments, creating 35,000 new jobs, of
which, 61% in the retail sector were for local residents.
In 2002 Koperweis started his own
consulting firm and he now assists municipalities, which currently include
Bloomfield, Teaneck and Merchantville, in urban development
and progressive economic incentive programs such as Special Improvement
Districts, Urban Enterprise Zones, and Economic Development Corporations. Koperweis is also the former Executive
Director of the Greater Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce and under his leadership
from 2002-2004, he was able to increase the Chamberâs membership by 39%,
increase their net revenues by 79%, and he brought back the famed Carousel
Awards Dinner.
Ben Schneider has been actively
serving the citizens of Asbury
Park since 1999. He has served as a member and then
Chairman of the Planning Board. He
has also served as Vice Chairman of the Technical Review Committee, which
reviews design elements of the city's pending waterfront redevelopment. He is
currently a Commissioner on the city's Environmental Shade Tree Commission, is
Chairman of the Sunset Lake Commission and is a Deputy Emergency Management
Coordinator for the City of Asbury
Park. He is
also an active member of the Asbury Park Historical Society, the Homeowners
Association, and the Garden Club.
Schneider is a retired Major from
the New Jersey National Guard with 22 years of active and reserve service. During his tenure in the military, he
was responsible for personnel and administrative support for the 42nd
Infantryâs 4,000 soldiers. He also
served as the Logistics Readiness Officer for the 42nd Infantry
Division and was responsible for managing over $50,000,000 worth of military
equipment. His distinguished career
is marked by his receiving four Army Commendation Medals, four Army Achievement
Medals, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Rifle and Grenade Sharpshooters
Badge. Upon his retirement from
active duty, Schneider founded and continues to serve as Commander of the Asbury
Park American Legion.
