Angela Perkins, Democrat For Westwood Council

Angela Perkins is one of four candidates for two seats on the Westwood Council this year.

Perkins, a Democrat, is a Westwood native who has lived in town for 30 years, works as an attorney and has been involved with various women’s groups.

She said she wanted to run for council because she believes officials have been spending too freely and increasing property taxes are forcing some longtime residents out of the community.

“I was walking around my neighborhood and I was amazed by the number of houses that had the stickers on them; abandoned houses,” Perkins said.

Perkins said that, if she is elected, she would focus on cutting spending, not giving out more raises to police during the recession and reducing bond debt to stop property taxes from going up.

“We can’t keep bonding our future to pay for the present,” she said.

One area that Perkins said she would spend in is to continue Westwood’s road repaving program, which officials delayed this year because of a drop in the borough’s assessed value. She compared the infrastructure maintenance to visiting the dentist.

“You can go now, or you can go three years from now, but in three years it’s going to be a lot more expensive,” Perkins said.

Perkins also said she hoped to address the chronic flooding issue by working with nearby towns to dredge waterways.

“You can’t stop Irene and Floyd, but you can definitely stop people getting flooded when it rains an inch-and-a-half,” Perkins said. “We’re due for dredging — we just haven’t done it.”

The general election is Tuesday.