Three candidates are running for two seats in the Democratic primary (June 2) for Maplewood Township Committee: Bike Bus founder Martin Ceperley; current Mayor Vic De Luca, running for his 10th term on the Township Committee; and Planning Board and Hilton Neighborhood Association member John T. Sullivan. Read Village Green’s election guidelines here. Read our election coverage here.
Hi neighbors,
I’m writing to share my reasons for voting for Martin Ceperley for Township Committee.
We have a surplus of talent and dedication in this town, and it shows up in this race. All three candidates have given enormously of their time and energy, and would serve us well. They deserve our gratitude.
So why vote for Martin? For me, it comes down to three things:
Track record. Martin gets things done. He built the Bike Bus into the high point of the week for hundreds of Maplewood families like mine. He has relentlessly advocated for safer streets — and gotten results. (Not just bike lanes but also traffic calming and other safety improvements for pedestrians.) These changes — and more like them — are desperately needed. As a parent of kids who walk miles to school each day, I feel this acutely.
Policy chops. Martin gets into policy details with accuracy — not just on street safety, but also on housing, where he has the subject-matter expertise to go deep. With demand growing and prices rising, he brings a vision for how to keep Maplewood welcoming for families across the income spectrum.
Harnessing Maplewood’s magnetism. Martin brings new ways of communicating (Instagram Stories, anyone?), new ways to demonstrate policy (e.g., the Bike Bus, or his one-day experiment in expanded jitney service), and a creativity in coming up with upgrades to the status quo. It seems like everything he does is human-centric, and driven by a vision of how joyous, inclusive, and magnetic our small town can be. More than ever, we are a destination — not just for individual restaurants or events, but for an approach to life that sets us apart. Martin has the vision to build on this and take it to new heights.
For these reasons, I’ll be casting a single vote for Martin. (Voting singly — aka one vote, for Martin only — sounds counterintuitive, but mathematically speaking it’s the best way to use one’s vote to get him elected.)
Neel Master
Maplewood, NJ
