My name is Fred Esteves and I’m announcing my candidacy for Kearny’s Third Ward Council.
Born in Portugal, I migrated to the United States when I was 10 years old. In 1979, I moved from the Ironbound section of Newark to Kearny, the town that I call home.
Politics is nothing new to me. Back in 1996, when the mayor at that time wanted to sell the water department, I thought that was a bad decision, so I decided to get involved politically. Since that time, I helped the first Portuguese councilman to win the election, worked on campaigns for the first Portuguese elected mayor, served on the Planning Board for over 24 years, the Urban Enterprise Zone for over 20 years and on the board of Governors for the West Hudson Hospital for two years.
I volunteered my engineering services back in 1995 to the Kearny Schools that created an energy savings worth $1.7 million. Currently, I am a Third Ward County Committee leader and County Committee Vice Chairman.
I have been involved in politics for 26 years and I feel that my experience in public service has prepared me for the position where I can make the sound decisions that will impact the town of Kearny’s Third Ward in a positive way.
Now that I am retired, I want to create a better future for the residents of Kearny by promoting transparency and ethical government, push for more inclusive voting that puts all quality-of-life government decisions on the ballot for voters like you to decide and lastly maintain and improve community open space for a better quality of life.
A resident of Kearny for over 44 years, I am a proud U.S. Army Veteran of the Vietnam era. A 1970 graduate of East Side High School, I earned a bachelor of science degree in electric engineering from NJIT. I am married and the father of two sons and grandfather of two granddaughters.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.