Forum for South Orange Board of Trustees Candidates Informative and Polite – TAPinto.net
SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The Academy Heights Neighborhood Association forum for the four candidates for South Orange Board of Trustees was almost too polite to be called politics.
The April 21 event was moderated by Association members Andrew Kit and Catherine Fisher. The candidates each gave an opening statement introducing themselves and for the question and answer period, candidates and questions were matched by chance. At no point did any candidate reference another candidate’s views at all: each stuck to their own positions and accomplishments.
Braynard “Bobby” Brown introduced himself as a 13-year resident and parent of two students in the school district. Brown said his single mother was an educator. “She taught remedial reading to sixth graders — the kids everyone quit on, and she gave them hope.” He said his mother’s example was the basis for his “commitment to public service.” After having “an opportunity to live a dream playing in the NFL” he got his law degree and later, an MBA from Yale. “I’m at the intersection of law and finance,” professionally, he added.
“My ticket is called Vote for Kids because I got into this campaign about the schools in South Orange,” said candidate Neil Chambers of his experience navigating local pandemic education with his two children. But, he noted, it is not his only issue as he has already been involved in public service while living in the village for nine years.“I’ve been on the planning board in South Orange, the Environmental Commission, the green team, and also helped co-found Meadowland Park Conservancy.”
Chambers said owning a local landscape design building company has “given me a unique insight to the things that people are dealing with from a property and a home perspective… What I’m really running about is about quality of life in South Orange, accountability for the government and education system.”
William “Bill” Haskins, a 15-year resident of Academy Heights, said his civically involved parents were an inspiration for him, too. His father was a teacher and then the mayor of their small town and his mother was an uber-volunteer. So “that idea of public service, and being a go-giver, has been with me since since I was a kid,” he said.
Now he is a “daily commuter to NYC as a construction project manager. And I spend my weekends running around in in South Orange’s parks.” He has one daughter at Columbia High School Currently, his civic engagement includes being “the chair of the South Orange Environmental Commission and the leader of our green team.”
Karen Hartshorn Hilton is the only incumbent running. A 25-year resident, she said she spent her career before having children in local and state government. When her four children, were infants and toddlers, “I started being a stay at home mom and that’s when I got super involved in the community.” She volunteered in the schools, at the South Orange Public Library and with Girl Scouts.
When Hilton returned to the work force, “I was executive director of Emerge New Jersey [which] trains Democratic women how to run for elected office. And I liked the work so much that I decided to run. So four years ago, I had the honor of running and winning, and it’s been the job of a lifetime.”
Chambers was asked what the most important aspects of the new master plan are. He said he read it with an eye for “how the downtown was either going to add green space or take it away” but he “was fairly unimpressed by the way that the downtown was only looking at like a green area.” He said he had proposed an option which “could add about two acres of green space in the Sloan Street parking area, that we could also increase parking the number of parking spots and as well as create commercial and really create a node there.” He noted that “outdoor spaces are a real passion for me.”
Each other candidate gave a rebuttal answer. For Hilton, master plan highlights are pedestrian safety and wayfinding. “I think the signage in our town, it leaves a lot to be desired and needs a lot of improvement. And that sort of goes along with the pedestrian safety. But keeping everyone safe — bicyclists, people walking, as well as cars — is very important,” she said.
Haskins noted that “there’s one part of this master plan that I love, and that is that it recognizes that South Orange has an open space deficit, and it calls specifically for South Orange to add open space. And I believe it’s 45 acres.”
A master plan is an “aspirational document that represent our values as a community,” said Brown. He added that “to see equity and inclusion as a section” made him feel good to be a South Orange resident. “While we can’t snap our fingers and make it happen tomorrow…there still needs to be a true commitment to justice.”
For the next question, Brown was asked “Do you have any ideas on how to promote high density development in other areas of South Orange outside of Academy Heights?” Here he stumbled for an answer, acknowledging South Orange should be “making sure that we are finding other areas to develop into” such as Irvington Avenue or downtown, but also offering that “some of the highly residential neighborhoods just aren’t fit for the high density development. And that’s a reality. But at the same time, we do want to see other areas in South Orange to take advantage of high density development.” While not offering specifics, he added “I think there will be other areas for high density development.”
Chambers offered his rebuttal, saying that South Orange could benefit by potentially placing more high density housing in Newstead. “There are already high rises at the edge of Newstead. And I think that that could all that could be expanded… There’s ways to do it in every neighborhood in different ways, whether that is townhouses [or] row houses,” he offered.
“It doesn’t have to be downtown. Actually, if we didn’t do it just downtown [it would] reduce the traffic in downtown and make Academy Heights safer in a way that would allow for pedestrian traffic to become more of a city wide approach and not just a downtown approach,” Chambers said.
Other questions focused on the Village’s tree inventory, pedestrian safety, and the candidate’s volunteer lives.
The in-person municipal election is May 11; If you are unsure of your voting district, check the South Orange website or contact the Clerk’s office at (973) 378-7715 ext. 1 or email Clerksoffice@southorange.org.
The last day to apply for a Vote by Mail Ballot is Tuesday, May 4. The secure Essex County Election Ballot Drop Box is located in the gazebo across from the South Orange Fire Station, 56 Sloan St.
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