Hossein Zolfaghari, 20, a Montgomery High School graduate, Class of 2018, is a marine biology student with a minor in Spanish at Rutgers University. He is the executive outreach officer for the Rutgers Persian Club. He also is a radio DJ on 90.3 FM The Core radio.
Zolfaghari lives with his parents. His father, Ali Zolfaghari, is a senior engineer at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and his mother, Shabnam Azhar, is a dentist at Apex Dental Care in Ewing. He has a twin sister, Hadieh, who is a student at the University of Miami.
He was born in Nashville, Tenn, lived in Kentucky, and moved to Montgomery with his family in the eighth grade.
Q: What is your platform?
A: My main focus is the environmental part of Montgomery. I will focus on building a community garden in Skillman Park and eliminating plastic bags. There are 34 municipalities in New Jersey that have already eliminated plastic bags. It’s a logical step. I would work with local businesses to make help make the transition.
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I would also institute a Green Seal Program for businesses that meet sustainable criteria, such as recycling waste and abstaining from single-use plastics. People would know these are businesses they could feel good about.
Q: What are the top existing issues in Montgomery?
A: Preserving the environment. In the summer 2018, my friends and I were wading through the brook at Skillman Park and we saw fish with giant red tumors on their heads. That brook has been subject to so much runoff. And it’s right here in our backyard and it’s completely unacceptable.
Q: Why are you running as an Independent?
A: Candidates for municipal office should not have a label. We are not focusing on abortion and gun control and these really big issues that have become stalemates. We are just taking steps to make our town better. There is no reason to run as a Democrat or Republican to do that. The chess game that is our government on the federal level should not be drawn into the local level because that will just lead to a governing body that can’t get things done.
For more information, visit https://m.facebook.com/HosseinForMontgomery/ ■
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