Brandis Puryear and Travis Amaker waging grassroots people campaign

Roselle Democrats Brandis Puryear and Travis Amaker are waging a grassroots people-powered campaign that has connected the candidates to the community with door to door canvassing, block parties and ethnic outreach events.

At a block party in the Fourth Ward, residents got to meet Brandis Puryear and Travis Amaker, the council candidates who have a combined record of 32 years in public service.

“I was impressed to learn that Puryear is a detective sergeant in the Irvington Police Department with 17 years of law enforcement experience,” said longtime Roselle resident Doreen A. Rinaldo. “Born and raised in Roselle, Puryear graduated from Abraham Clark High School. Brandis also earned a Masters of Public Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University.”

“The son of Roselle’s first African-American mayor and grandson of a Tuskegee Airman, who continues to operate a business his grandfather founded after World War II, Travis Amaker provided security for the Jersey City school system plus, he trained and supervised officers with the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office,” said Rinaldo, who said the candidates are well qualified.

Another resident, Mario Cornejo, said the Democrats unveiled a solid plan to protect families from being over-taxed.

“Brandis Puryear and Travis Amaker proposed a Property Tax Circuit Breaker to make property taxes more fair and equitable,” said Cornejo, who owns a small business and lives on Dennis Street. “Their plan would cap every family’s property tax liability to five percent of their yearly income.”

“Out of 564 municipalities in New Jersey, Roselle has the 15th highest tax bills compared to the town’s average municipal home value and the average income,” said Cornejo, who attended a Latino issues forum hosted by the Democrats on May 24. “Brandis Puryear are Travis Amaker have a bold plan to break new ground because too many homeowners are not getting their money’s worth from the local government.”

There has been a decline in the quality of basic municipal services involving sanitation, safety, and security, according to Darryl Barnes, a Crescent Avenue realtor who has called on local officials to hire more Roselle residents.

“We need to hire more Roselle residents at more prominent positions other than crossing guards and DPW laborers,” said Barnes. “From the 2020 employee salary report, 74 percent of Roselle’s highest-paid employees do not reside in Roselle. After eight hours, they get on the Parkway and spend your property tax money in their towns.”

As law enforcement and security professionals, Puryear and Amaker have a genuine strategy for violence reduction by promoting community safety to boost security, build trust, limit police use of force, and decrease violent crime—resulting in fewer arrests.

“We understand the importance of community engagement since people who live out of town will not participate in our neighborhood watch programs,” said Amaker.

“Neighborhood safety programs foster community engagement and trust,” said Puryear. “Watch programs have been keeping communities safe for over 40 years.”

“Since the early 1970s, neighbors banding together and working with local law enforcement have prevented crime and protected the community against injustice while promoting community safety and boosting security and building community confidence in law enforcement,” said Puryear. “

Safe communities are thriving communities built on economic stability, trust among neighbors through community engagement, high-quality education, a clean environment, health care access, and positive community engagement.