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Had a great weekend that was about as South Orange as it gets! It's been so exciting meeting so many residents over the past week or two, and finally today the weather even cooperated! I spent the morning attending a beautiful Palm Sunday service at the South Orange Vailsburg United Methodist Church and met a bunch of residents (and former teachers!). It was a great service and the issues of social justice and community betterment were almost too topical. Thank you to everyone at SOVUMC for inviting me into your community! Next I ran up to Carter Park to meet and talk to some of the local residents who were working to help clean up the area there as part of their Neighborhood Association. Wish I had taken some photos of the residents, and Seton Hall students, who were working together to take care of their neighborhood, it's a great example of how much energy our community puts into this town. After that, I spent some time speaking with residents in the Glenview Rd. area in Newstead about downtown development, improving our public safety and on how much we need to focus on promoting South Orange as a destination to...

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  |  April 7, 2011 CANDIDATE FOR VILLAGE PRESIDENT SPEAKS TO TOWN-WIDE SAFETY CONCERNS South Orange, NJ - Alex Torpey, a South Orange resident, small business owner and candidate for Village President, released a series of statements today about safety concerns in the Township of South Orange Village including recent ‘flash mobs,’ tainted drinking water and armed robberies.“People move out to this community in large part because they are able to keep a close distance to New York City and to other resources while living in a diverse, safe and enriching environment," said Torpey. "The issue I've been hearing most frequently in my conversations with community members is that business owners, residents and students who contribute to this town are feeling as though their safety is not as guaranteed as they once thought."South Orange has recently been experiencing large groups of young people in the Village’s downtown, a gathering commonly referred to as 'flash mobs' that result in roughly 300 to 500 young people from the surrounding area loitering and causing disturbances downtown. A February flash mob resulted in the assault of a store owner and multiple arrests. Four other police departments responded mutual aid into the town...

Last night, we had out first official meet and greet at a local business. And what better venue to host than Bunny's, who provided some complimentary refreshments to the several dozen people who came out to talk about how we can more proactively address the concerns of our community moving forward. I got to see some familiar faces and meet some residents for the first time. As I mention in my short impromptu speech below, hearing about the stories of residents, students and businesses owners is really the basis for this campaign, and I encourage anyone who wasn't able to make the event last night to check out our upcoming events at some more local business and residents' houses at alextorpey.com/events, or drop me an email or a note on Facebook or Twitter. Here is my short address to community members last night:

Hey everyone - Check out the brief video update below, this past week has been really exciting. Not only has Village Hall certified all of the candidates for this spring but our Kickstart the Future fundraising drive has been a tremendous success, with over 50 people financially supporting our campaign in under ten days. Click below to watch the brief video update! Thank you again - everyone who signed a petition, financially supported us or helped the spread the word about why is it so important we bring a new voice and new leadership to Village Hall this spring. Have a great rest of the weekend, and stay safe tonight! Alex

Today, South Orange Village Clerk Robin Kline certified the candidates for the South Orange municipal race this spring. For Village President: Myself, Alex Torpey Current Trustee Janine Bauer For three trustee positions: Alyssa Aronson Mark Rosner Deborah Davis Ford Howard Levison I'm looking forward to discussing more (I've already gotten the chance to meet and talk to over 300 South Orange residents, business owners and students) with people about the future of South Orange. And I look forward to a spirited and robust debate of how we can be a leader in public safety, adapt innovative cost-saving IT solutions, open up our local government to our community, direct inclusive commercial and residential development and all of the issues that are so important to our town. (Don't forget to check out the 'What I Believe' page for more information on those topics.) I truly wish Trustee Bauer the best of luck and look forward to seeing her on the campaign trail! This is an exciting time for South Orange - Democracy in action. And the end result is going to be discussions and discourse that push us forward even more and help us innovate for the future. Thank you everyone who...

This week, I'm excited to announce our Kickstart the Future Fundraising Drive. Over the next seven days, we are asking 50 new people to get involved with our campaign by contributing to it. Watch the Kickstart the Future video below, and then head on over to alextorpey.com/donate to contribute and get involved today! Don't forget to tell your friends to get involved, and after you donate, you'll be able to invite your friends via email, Facebook or Twitter on our website.Thanks so much for your support, and as always, please don't hesitate to get in contact with me if you have any questions or just want to share your thoughts about the future of South Orange! Alex

Hey everyone! Just want to report back on how successful announcement day was. It was incredible meeting so many residents, business owners and students who care so much about this community. It's exciting to think about how many more people I will have the opportunity to meet over the coming months. And I have to thank all of the supporters and volunteers that put in their time to help make our announcement such a wonderful success! There were so many issues on people's minds about the future of South Orange, and I'm pleased to announce that we will not only be covering issues in a comprehensive fashion over the next few months, but we will be soon launching an online suggestion box/discussion forum that will help our community be able to actively participate and get their voice heard online. On a slightly different note, we have set up our online donation platform, and would greatly appreciate the financial support needed to get the word out to South Orange that they have the opportunity in May to usher in a new era of community leadership. You can find the donation page at alextorpey.com/donate. Many people have been asking about the press...

Today, I am formally announcing my candidacy for South Orange Village President! Please take a look at my announcement video below and share this page on your Facebook and with your friends: It has been a long few days gearing up for this announcement, and a lot of work has been put in by myself, but more importantly incredibly supportive friends, residents and colleagues, so I will update back here after spending the next few days meeting as many people as possible. I will be around town all day today and tomorrow talking with residents, business owners and students about the future of South Orange. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with me over Facebook, Twitter, email or stop and talk to me next time you see me around town. This is an exciting time for South Orange and I am looking forward to being a part of this with you all! Check back soon, I will updating this blog with notes and videos of people I meet, the issues that are most important to our community and the experience of working on a grassroots political campaign.