You may have noticed a few handpainted lawn signs supporting David Cohen for Council. These signs were painted by volunteers including myself on salvaged plywood with paints gathered from our homes rather than spending dollars on campaign advertising.
This conscience choice reflects David’s priorities when so many in our community a have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, he and Leticia Fraga are encouraging anyone lucky enough to be financially secure to donate to the COVID Emergency Relief Fund a joint effort between municipal government and local non-profits to provide rental assistance to those experiencing COVID-related financial hardship in our community.
While I have worked with David on a number of environmental issues, it is his focus on the most vulnerable in our community that I especially admire. David worked on the Neighborhood Buddy Initiative connecting residents to an older or otherwise vulnerable neighbor to check in on them to make sure they are safe in the event of any kind of local emergency. He is an avid supporter of affordable housing and smart growth. Smart growth and its goal of increasing choices in housing and transportation, can improve the quality, distribution, and supply of affordable high performance housing. David has also advocated for facilitating accessory dwelling units or conversions of single family homes into duplexes so that longtime residents then can use the rental income to offset expenses making housing more affordable for Princeton’s disappearing middle.
His background as an architect has proved invaluable and his dedication, open mind and work ethic are qualities that make him the right candidate for Princeton Council.
Heidi Fichtenbaum
Princeton
