Glen Rock Residents Create Non-Partisan Website For New Candidates

Two Glen Rock mothers have started a website highlighting the new candidates running for office in the general election Nov. 3.

To that end, Leslie Kossar Schraer and Laura Occhipinti created grforchange.com. The website features brief profiles of several board of education and council candidates. Bruce Packer, a mayoral candidate, is also featured.

“There’s not enough people in the know,” Kossar said. “We said to ourselves, why don’t we arm the people who haven’t paid attention as to who the new people are so that when they step into the voting booth, they’ll know who they are voting for.”

The website grew out of the ladies’ interactions with people on Facebook. Schraer and Occhipinti belong to several Glen Rock community groups. They often communicate with other residents, especially mothers, about the issues in town.

The candidates featured on the site have all embraced the online community and talk often with residents online about their ideas — something many current elected official have not done.

Glen Rock is town in transition. There are many issues that have sprung up in recent years, like the growing number of vacant businesses, no chamber of commerce, unrest in the police department, and, changes in zoning laws that have caused many new and younger residents to say that leadership changes are needed.

“Glen Rock is this special little cove and it is really a very community-based town. It’s awesome,” Kossar said. ”But there are things going on in town that are very troubling.”

(Pictured: A screenshot of the grforchange.com homepage.)