Veteran Community Advocate Enters Race For Jersey City Ward D Council Seat

JERSEY CITY, NJ — Jersey City Heights resident, attorney, and activist Cynthia Hadjiyannis is announcing  her candidacy for the Ward D Jersey City Council seat in the special election on November 3. For 15  years, she has worked with individuals and community groups struggling with rampant development and fighting to save open space. She’s represented and sued developers and has worked with and opposed local government when necessary — to make sure City Hall does what it is supposed to do for Ward D  and the rest of the City.

With development exploding across the Heights and the whole City facing tough challenges, Hadjiyannis
has decided it’s time to bring her independence, experience, legal training, and activist’s insights directly
onto the City Council.

“It’s time to put that ‘do it yourself’ determination and experience to work to make our local government
more effective and accountable. People often feel like the City doesn’t care. I’ll work to get Heights
residents that quality of life they deserve and to make sure developers don’t walk all over us,” said
Hadjiyannis.

In 2005, Hadjiyannis co-founded the grassroots nonprofit Jersey City Reservoir Preservation Alliance
(JCRPA), which saved Reservoir #3 from development after a battle with City Hall. Since then, the group
has worked with the City to keep the Reservoir open to the public and to pave the way for grants and
investment to transform the site into a world-class nature park. The nonprofit’s work culminated in
$2.6M in grants awarded in the fall of 2019. Hadjiyannis has served as the JCRPA’s President since 2018.

With the Reservoir and other Heights issues, Hadjiyannis formed a close working relationship with
Michael Yun, the founder and longtime president of the Central Avenue SID. When Yun decided to run
for City Council as an independent, he asked Hadjiyannis to serve as his campaign manager. She did not
hesitate to step in. Reflecting back on it, she says, “Like many voters, I wanted an independent
councilperson in the Heights, and I still do.” Yun and Hadjiyannis made a winning team, beating odds-on  favorite Sean Connors in a runoff by a 14-point margin.

She acknowledges that running for Yun’s seat under these circumstances is very sad. “The Heights is
heartbroken. But, knowing Michael, he would want us to keep going. He was incredibly tough and
resilient.” Her independence and toughness are traits Hadjiyannis shares with Yun, and she will bring her  own perspective and skills to the role.

In 2009, she worked with then-councilman Steven Fulop to organize an ad-hoc citywide group that
successfully pushed for the passage of an ordinance to reform redeveloper pay-to-play. In 2013, when
the new Fulop administration sought to push through a massive tax abatement for the Kushner-linked
KRE Journal Squared Project, Hadjiyannis swung into action forming another ad-hoc group, the
“Abatement Action Committee,” which opposed the abatement at the very first council meeting under
the new administration.

In her private practice, Hadjiyannis has taken community-based cases pro bono or on a shoestring
budget to keep abuses of the development process in check. She scored a victory in 2018 against
notorious developer Peter Mocco when he tried to squeeze an extra story into a Newark Avenue project
without approvals. With Hadjiyannis’ help, the neighborhood group appealed to the Zoning Board and
won.

Her ballot slogan “Reaching New Heights” is about protecting what is special about the Heights — its
diversity, families, neighborhoods, commercial districts, green spaces, and arts community — and
improving upon it. “I will tackle complex issues like housing, zoning and development, education, the
local economy, sustainability, and racial equality. Now more than ever, we need City Hall to be
responsive and responsible to the people,” she said.

She’s encouraged by the broad-based support she has received: people who have lived here their whole
lives; newcomers to the Heights; people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds, and with
divergent political beliefs and affiliations. Residents are getting behind her as a candidate because they
know she will make a difference.

Hadjiyannis admits, “I like getting difficult things done. Some people want to climb Mount Everest. I’m
running for office as an independent in Jersey City. I’ve been in training for this for the past 20 years.”