Mayor Gerbounka has a distinguished history. He was a Vietnam veteran, being one of the first 2000 marines to set down in DaNang. He served 26 years in the Linden Police Department, retiring as Captain of Detectives. He entered his first elected position as 10th Ward Councilman holding the position for 12 years. Afterward he ran as an independent and defeated former Mayor John Gregorio.
As Mayor, Mr. Gerbounka has run his office in hopes of doing what he feels is best for the town of Linden and its citizens. Due to former policies he has many internal political problems he must face, but even so he perseveres in his duty to help the town as much as possible. One of his biggest accomplishments was a settlement involving the abandoned General Motors plant located in Linden. GM tried to sue the city for $21 million, but just one month after taking office Mayor Gerbounka and several other city officials were able to come to a settlement. Without the courts or legal counselors the mayor and his team brokered a deal that brought the payment down to $2.8 million plus legal fees. The deal was completed in 6 months and the abandoned land now has a new owner, Duke Realty. Duke Realty will be building a retail supermall which will create more jobs for the city and bring in more taxes. A great accomplishment by Mayor Gerbounka and his team.
I chose to photograph Mayor Gerbounka inside City Hall. As mayor this is his element and I tried to get him in as natural environment as I could. I stuck with him for several hours taking pictures as he went about his daily activities. I would liked to have gotten a few shots outside city hall, however due to inclement weather this was not possible.
1 comment:
Serving the country militarily is enough to be revered in a society. And saving tax payers money (as in the case of the GM law sues) is another great achievement. Society needs people like that.
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