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Jersey City synagogues all face the obstacle of being located inland, rather than near a glut of young professionals by the downtown waterfront. For mayoral candidate Dan Levin, that geographic dilemma isn't exclusive to the Jewish community.

"One of the bases for our campaign is that in our city, because of the historical machine-type politics and the lack of openness and regular people serving in the public process, most of the waterfront development doesn't have space for any type of community institution," Levin said in an interview with Jewish Life of Hudson County.

The 46-year-old Levin, who has lived in Jersey City since 1996, sees himself as one of those "regular people" because he has never run for political office before. As the May 12 election approaches, Levin is a dark-horse candidate among a pool of five that includes incumbent Jerramiah T. Healy and former Acting Mayor L. Harvey Smith. Jersey City has never had a Jewish mayor.

Levin explained that east of Marin Boulevard in downtown Jersey City, there are 45,000 residents but no public schools, libraries, parks, or houses of worship of any kind, because the city dedicates too many of its resources to urban redevelopment. Levin even lives near a former German-Jewish synagogue that is now a condominium complex, and is concerned that religious properties are being re-zoned for the wrong purposes.

While the United Synagogue of Hoboken thrives in large part because it is only a few blocks from the waterfront, Levin said, Jersey City shuls like Temple Beth El, Congregation B'nai Jacob, and Congregation Mount Sinai do not have the same luxury.

"The buildings that remain in downtown Jersey City are not where the new community is going to come from," Levin said. "There are tremendous efforts (by synagogues) to reach out to people on the waterfront, but it's difficult to do. What I'm hoping for is the re-birth of Jewish life that will be able to create institutions where people can think in a public and civic manner."

After spending a decade in management at Municipal Credit Union in New York City, Levin shifted his focus to public service as one of the founding directors of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy and the founder of Civic JC, a policy study and advocacy organization that pushes initiatives such as pay-to-play elections reform.

"I'm not a career politician, and I don't have any family that works for local government, so I can come and be independent -- more focused on the public interest without being bound by special interests," Levin said.

"By coming from a business background, I have a different approach for how we can manage money, how we take on debt, how we can provide services and improve the functioning of city government," he added.

Right now, Levin sees government as "the biggest industry in Jersey City and Hudson County," one that has become a self-sustaining product tattered by the cronyism of Democrats in a de facto one-party system. Civic pillars like synagogues and churches are the only viable counter-balances to that dysfunctional system, Levin, a Democrat running against the party establishment, said.

While growing up in Newark, Levin witnessed the local Jewish community leave the city and flock to suburbs like South Orange, where Levin's family moved. Jersey City Jewish life experienced a similar decline after a renaissance in the 1950s and '60s, and Levin says that another key to the community's ongoing revival is setting up Jewish day schools, which attract young families and make sure they stay.

Again using the United Synagogue of Hoboken as an example, Levin noted that USH's Hebrew school meets three times a week, while the school at Beth El in Jersey City only meets on Sunday morning.

"Families will be the ones who are less transient," Levin said. "They won't just move to New York when they can afford to or move to the suburbs when they have children. Then, a congregation's sustained family grows."

Going up against an incumbent like Healy who has raised about $2 million and has been endorsed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Levin has resorted to grassroots campaigning through canvassing as well as new-age techniques such as video podcasting.

"I believe my candidacy is treated as credible, because we came out with a sound platform and we articulated what that vision would be for the city, and we have backgrounds of community involvement and activism," Levin said. "The challenge is with money and resources. We have an incumbent mayor that essentially becomes the political machine, with city workers working full-time to get out the vote for him."

Even if he cannot win this uphill political battle, Levin hopes that his campaign alone will have imprints on the future of Jersey City.

"Jersey City can be a wonderful place, and everyone can benefit in different ways by taking a sound and rational planning approach to economic development," Levin said. "I'm not in it to just get on the inside of government, and perhaps we are changing the dialogue in Jersey City."