To the editor:
I am writing this letter to share a personal experience that my neighbors and I had with Westwood mayoral candidate Ray Arroyo.
As some may know my neighbors and I had a long hard costly fight to stop an application for a Wendy’s fast food establishment close to our homes. This was going to be a traffic, noise pollution, and quality of living nightmare for us.
[See “Franchisee Pulls Bid For Emerson Wendy’s,” John Snyder, Dec. 3, 2018.]
I reached out to Ray and some of his colleagues and was immediately embraced with helping hands. Ray personally invited our small group to his home to sit down and discuss how we may be able to push back against what others deemed inevitable.
Ray, due to his prior eight years on the Zoning Board, was extremely knowledgeable in the technical ins and outs of zoning applications. He was able to explain, in depth, how we needed to go about challenging the conditional use variances that the fast food franchise sought.
He also went on to explain the difficult legal proofs that Wendy’s would have to establish and abide by in order to be successful, which gave us some hope.
Ray and his council colleagues constantly followed up, even attending Emerson’s Land Use Board meetings, as well as utilizing Westwood’s attorney and planner, to ensure the borough’s interests were protected.
We, as Westwood residents, are forever thankful for Ray’s expertise, compassion, and help with this matter.
Given the looming threat of overdevelopment we see emerging in surrounding towns around us, Ray Arroyo’s experience from his past years of public duty on the zoning board, planning board and council make him the most qualified candidate to be Westwood’s next mayor.
Ray’s wealth of knowledge and his helpful heart, speak volumes about his character, which is why he’s Westwood’s best choice