Lori Hopkins-Cavanagh Joins Mayor's Race

New London Realtor Lori Hopkins-Cavanagh has made her mayoral aspirations official, filing paperwork to register an exploratory committee for the upcoming election.

Hopkins-Cavanagh, who that she was considering running for the office, has been a Realtor since 2004. She established the real estate company , at 249 Pequot Avenue, in 2009. Prior to this profession, Hopkins-Cavanaugh opened Hopkins Advertising & Public Relations and represented clients such as Pfizer, Mohegan Sun, Lime Rock Park Raceway and General Motors. The advertising company still exists for in-house marketing at ShoreViews.

“From prosperity to disparity, 50 years of decline is enough,” Hopkins-Cavanagh says on her website, Lori for Mayor. “It is time for new leadership that understands the value of preservation and the importance of home and business ownership. I will secure New London’s future by restoring balance and stability – neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block.”

Hopkins-Cavanagh also revealed a “Resurrect New London” plan targeting 10 areas for municipal improvement. One part of this plan calls for moving the to a new energy-efficient building at the corner of Bank Street and Howard Street and put in a visitor center in the current Eugene O’Neill Drive building to “capture visitors entering and leaving the city (instead of prisoners).” Another point calls for the temporary housing of homeless people in the low-income housing on Crystal Ave. in order to meet the 100 percent threshold required by the Department of Housing and Urban Development before residents can be moved to higher quality housing.

This plan also calls for the restructuring of municipal operations for greater efficiency, stabilization of neighborhoods, retention of and revitalization in the Hodges Square neighborhood, more tourism-based retail stores in the downtown area, an end to the city’s relationship with the New London Development Corporation, and an improved tax structure.

"Until balance is restored, our city will continue to decline. We've heard the excuses…for crime, lack of student achievement, exorbitant taxes and hundreds of millions of dollars in failed developments,” Hopkins-Cavanagh says on her website. “The Resurrect New London Initiative begins with a clear understanding of why our city has failed."

Waterford school officials hired a private investigator to after suspecting that she was living in New London and sending her children to the Waterford public schools. The case was dropped after she agreed to move into a Waterford residence by Jan. 1, 2011.

Hopkins-Cavanagh said in a statement that she has homes in New London, Waterford, and Vermont and that her residency would be a in the election. She said her children have attended Waterford schools since 2008 after she married a Waterford resident. She said her stepdaughter's mother had recently died of an illness and that it was necessary to keep the girl in the Waterford schools due to its support network.

"To support and strengthen the developing family bond between the two children, Lori and her husband decided that moving her son and sending the children to school together, in Waterford, where her husband maintains a residence, was the right choice," she said in the statement. She said both children will begin attending middle school next year and that she and her husband are looking at all public and private school options in the region.

Hopkins-Cavanagh says on her registration papers that she has no party affiliation. She attended the and St. Bernard High School and graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1983. She also attended the University of New Haven but left to form her advertising agency.

Hopkins-Cavanagh was a founding board member of and formerly served as vice-president of the organization. She has also served on the boards for non-profit organization such as the Better Business Bureau, Children’s Museum of Southeastern Connecticut, , , and the YWCA.

The current appointed mayor, , is running for the elected position as an independent alongside Democratic city councilors and and Republican city councilor . , an attorney and Democrat, and community activist have also entered the race.