Working For Jersey City

Yraida has lived most of her adult life as a public servant. It’s the way she was raised. Since joining the Board of Commissioners of Hudson County, she has tried her best to make sure her constituents understand how our local, county, state, and federal government work and made herself accessible through newsletters, town hall meetings, office appointments, email, and phone. She truly wants to hear from and work hard for you.

Since becoming a commissioner, she has attended every caucus, budget, and actual meeting. She also serves on the County Planning Board as well as several committees. Having served as a committee person helped prepare her for this responsibility, but she has sure learned a lot and will continue to learn as her term goes forward. She’s grateful for all your feedback; it has been very helpful.

Being raised by a hard working-class family and having known poverty firsthand, she doesn’t romanticize it; she deals with it. She works closely with County Executive Tom DeGise, her colleagues on the Board of Commissioners, the Hudson County Department of Housing and Reintegration, and many non-profits to assist those less fortunate gain access to services and resources. While, as the saying goes, we can always do better, know that many initiatives are in place to help. 

Coming from the Dominican Republic, a land rich with open space, Yraida appreciates open space and wants to see as much as possible here. Since becoming a commissioner, she has been working with the Jersey City Parks Coalition, Essex-Hudson Greenway Project, park associations, and open space advocates to maximize open space and find money to obtain additional open space or improve upon the space we already have. Being on the Hudson County Planning Board allows her to work closely with planners responsible for our open space and have input on grant funding. 

Quality education is essential to our community. The County does not have any jurisdiction over the Jersey City Public Schools, but it has schools of its own, which are controlled by an independent school board, even though funding for these schools comes from the County Executive and the Hudson County Board of Commissioners. Our county schools are highly competitive, and families have reached out to Yraida for assistance navigating the process, which she has done and will continue to do.

Several quality-of-life issues she’s been working on are the reduction of helicopter traffic, cleanliness (particularly on Kennedy Boulevard), snow removal (particularly in the Heights and Journal Square), appropriate traffic safety improvements to JFK (Kennedy) Boulevard from Pavonia Avenue to St. Paul’s Avenue, and an approximate 3 acre park at the Brennan Courthouse. If there are quality-of-life issues that have not been mentioned, please reach out, and she’ll do her best to assist.

Lastly, Yraida has been very involved in our community registering voters, attending neighborhood meetings, assisting at cleanups, gardening, attending National Night Out (police-community partnering), marching in parades, and taking part in festivals and special events. In fact, she recently was an honorary grand marshal for the West Indian-Caribbean, American Carnival Association and the Philippine American Friendship Community (PAFCOM).