Mayor Cahill Announces Re-Election Bid: “Always Looking Forward. Always Moving Forward.”

(New Brunswick, NJ) – March 31, 2014 – Calling New Brunswick a community “always looking forward and always moving forward,” today Mayor Jim Cahill enthusiastically announced his intent to run for a seventh term in office, continuing 24 years of public service as mayor of the City of New Brunswick.

A lifelong city resident and Mayor since 1991, Cahill has steered the city during two decades of exceptional growth in the fields of healthcare, economic development, improved housing and public health and safety.

Cahill owes much of his success to collaborations with community partners throughout New Brunswick.  The fruits of these efforts have made city roadways safer, fresh and healthy food more readily available, and quality of life more enjoyable for New Brunswick’s 55,000+ citizens – while delivering the most stable municipal tax rate in Middlesex County.

Under Cahill’s stewardship, the city weathered two economic recessions without losing jobs or programs, with an unemployment rate lower than that of the nation, state and region and with the growth of 7,000 new jobs in the past decade.

“While most urban centers have struggled, in New Brunswick we’ve not lost a step,” Cahill said.

The 2012 opening of The New Brunswick Wellness Plaza brought affordable fitness and wellness programs to the center of the city, as well as the first full-service supermarket to open in an urban center in over a generation. 

Cahill also spearheaded the City’s first-ever Ciclovia, an international initiative bringing New Brunswick’s residents literally to the streets in the interest of recreation, safety, improved community relations, and healthy living.

The quality of housing in New Brunswick is also readily improving and expanding, with the construction of multiple housing developments around the city, including new and affordable housing units for all income levels.

Cahill and his City Council running mates Kevin Egan and Rebecca Escobar filed petitions prior to the March 31 deadline with over 1,500 signatures for re-election in the June primary.

Looking ahead, Cahill said he has plans for large-scale renovations of the city’s park systems, as well as a renewed commitment to New Brunswick’s arts scene.

He also intends to put Livingston Avenue on a diet – that is, the busy County road is to be considered for a “road diet,” meaning it would be narrowed, making it safer and more accessible for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.

“New Brunswick is the only home I’ve known and there’s no greater privilege than to serve one’s community,” Mayor Cahill declared.  “As long as I can continue to work as an effective agent for positive change and growth, I’m honored to help lead our ongoing efforts to make New Brunswick the best it can be.”

Cahill built a career in law, having been educated at Middlesex County College and Glassboro State College (now known as Rowan University), earning his Masters Degree in Criminal Justice at Rutgers University and a Juris Doctorate at Seton Hall School of Law. Cahill served as Assistant City Attorney in New Brunswick from 1980 until first elected mayor in 1990.