(BEDFORD) – Rowena Cross-Najafi has filed to run as a Democrat candidate for Bedford mayor.
The following is a statement from Rowena Cross-Najafi:
With the support of my husband Reza, family and friends, I look forward to working with the citizens of Bedford on initiatives to improve life in this great city. I admire all that Mayor Girgis and her team have accomplished and can’t wait to start building on those accomplishments to make Bedford work better for every citizen.
I believe that Bedford’s best days are still to come.
My experiences make me uniquely qualified to serve as Mayor. I am a veteran of the U.S. Army, serving three years in Germany and another year in the U.S. Army Reserve before hanging up the uniform for good. I enjoyed a 20-year career as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State, living and working overseas and in Washington to protect American interests abroad.
Born in Bedford and raised in a family of nine children on a farm near Springville, I earned a bachelor’s degree from IU and a master’s degree from the University of Maryland, where I also taught English for five years.
Here in Bedford, I do everything I can to support local organizations that help our community.
For the last ten years, I have served as President of the Lawrence County Historical and Genealogical Society, working with a wonderful board, staff and volunteers to make the Lawrence County Museum one of the best county museums in Indiana.
As a Bedford Rotary Club member, I have served two terms as president, two as president-elect, several as a youth exchange officer, and currently serve as club secretary.
I have been vice-president of the women’s philanthropic organization Psi Iota Xi for three years, and I serve on the boards of Southern Indiana Live On Stage and the Friends of Spring Mill State Park. I am also the president of the City of Bedford’s Historic Review Board.
I believe in Bedford. I believe in you, our citizens. Your hard work, your volunteer efforts, your generosity, and your compassion make miracles happen every day. I believe in our young people, our greatest natural resource, who deserve the support and guidance of all of us, so they can reach, truly reach, for the stars.
I believe in our teachers and educators, for without them, the promises of tomorrow don’t exist.
I believe in our police and firefighters and city workers, who sacrifice so much to keep the rest of us safe and comfortable, and who deserve our full support and all the resources they need.
I believe in our work force, which has shown time and time again that it is up to any challenge.
I believe in our unique history, in the rock our city is built upon, in the sacrifices of our ancestors and the inspiring example of our astronauts.
I believe that our great city can be made even greater. As long as citizens are homeless or under-housed, children go to bed hungry, streets are littered with trash and historic buildings are destroyed because their owners can’t afford to keep them up, there is more work to do.
Citizens struggling with addiction need services nearby. Communication between city government and the citizenry can be improved; government can be made more transparent. Business, small and large, is important to our local economy and needs our support.
I look forward to talking with as many of you as I can in the coming months about how we can work together to address these issues, guided by the past but focused on the future, making the city known for the Stars the brightest star in the Hoosier State.
