Biography
A proud and lifelong resident of Jersey City, Councilman at Large Daniel Rivera was born at Margaret Hague Hospital. A graduate of Ferris High School, he attended St. Peter’s University and the Career Training Institute in Orlando, Fl.
Daniel is a former Clinical Coordinator of Research Projects at both Newark’s Beth Israel Medical Center, and St. Barnabas Health Care. Currently Daniel works at the Jersey City Medical Center in patient services.
As Councilman at Large, Daniel has supported the economic and responsible growth of Jersey City and has a track record of advocating for the whole city while making sure it continues to grow. Daniel has worked to help the administration keep taxes flat every year since an initial 2% decrease in the first municipal budget while in office.
He has also helped lead the city to its largest period of economic growth in the city’s history with over 7,500 new jobs created, unemployment at a record low 3.8%, and development at an all time high with construction starts leading the state with over 10,000 units under construction and another 19,000 in the pipeline while working with local unions to help hire local Jersey City residents as well as help building the first development aimed at veterans housing. Having served in the United States Marine Corps, this was especially important to Daniel.
The Councilman at large supports strong progressive issues such as enacting earned sick leave, raising the minimum wage to $15/hour and investing over $6 million to help revitalize local parks. He's also a staunch supporter of Jersey City Police, Fire, Rescue and Office of Emergency Management personnel as evident by the launch of the United Rescue Community Based Emergency Care, believed to be the first of its kind in the United States. The innovative system cuts down emergency response times by connecting local trained volunteers to an emergency via Smartphone technology, upgrading fire trucks and other equipment as well as upgrading the police fleet and helping the police department grow to over 900 members to ensure the streets of Jersey City remain safe.
In addition to his professional life, Daniel has also dedicated his life to keeping Jersey City’s kids off the streets and engaged in extracurricular activities. Not only has he volunteered his time to make sure that the city’s parks and open space were well maintained and safe for our kids, he has also served as president, coach, umpire and safety director for Jersey City’s Roberto Clemente Little League. For 17 years, he has tirelessly worked to provide children with a sense of team work, sportsmanship, and fair play. He has also served as the Assistant Director for District 7 Little League for the past several years.
Above all Daniel has strong family values. He and his wife Neida have been married for 27 years and have four beautiful children -Daniel, Kayla, Adrienne, all of whom attended New Jersey City University and son, Adam who like his father, attended Ferris High School and currently serves in the United States Marine Corps.
Councilman at Large Daniel Rivera cares deeply about Jersey City and plans to continue to ensure all families have the same opportunity he and his family have had to make Jersey City a better place to live, work and play.