10/27/2026
When I read this today, I teared up a little. I can only speak for myself and as a witness to some of the commissioners I've been lucky to serve alongside, but public service and the work of local government is often hard, frequently challenging, and many times thankless. And that's okay! We do the work proudly because it's worth doing. But being a public servant, especially as a woman/wife/mother, has been one of the most difficult things I've ever done in my life. I and other women I serve with have been verbally assaulted, demeaned, denigrated, harassed, and threatened, in person and online. A commercial property owner here in Red Bank told a friend of mine (not knowing they were a friend) that "someone needs to send those GIRLS down the river." Literally, someone said Hollie and I needed to be murdered. Most of the people who say these things, who are truly some of the most hateful and vicious human beings I've ever known, have never met us or talked to us or tried to get to know us. Some of them said these things to our faces. Some of them are neighbors who live on our own streets. Nevermind that we are real human beings who have families, children, pets, other loved ones, and who work in other ways professionally (one of my colleagues is a public school teacher, one an artist, one an engineer, and I'm a social worker at an emergency mental health hospital). What I'm getting at is that I see those people -- to paraphrase the great Maya Angelou: They showed me who they are and I believe them. But I also see the countless neighbors out there who see us and the work we are all doing together. They're in this with us. They're in this to leave this place better than we found it. They're in this not just for the neighbors who are here today, but for the neighbors we have yet to meet, the neighbors who are yet to be born. And I'm so darn grateful to be here with them 🫶
I am writing to publicly express my gratitude to Red Bank City Comm. Terri Holmes and Mayor Stefanie Dalton for an incredible display of effective, responsiv...
