Hilton, Brown and Haskins Respond to Our Questions in Advance of Election

SOMA Action sent a questionnaire to the candidates for South Orange trustee with questions about achieving equity in policing, increasing affordable housing, defending the environment and other issues. Below is the response from the slate of Karen Hilton, Bill Haskins and Bobby Brown. Neil Chambers offered to have a conversation with our endorsement committee but has not submitted written responses.

We urge all South Orange voters to learn about the issues facing South Orange and to vote in the municipal elections on May 11.

Left to right: Bill Haskins, Karen Hilton, Bobby Brown

Fair and Bias-Free Community Policing

What have you done in your prior four years in public office or as a private citizen to address issues concerning biased policing in systemic ways (not simply on a case-by-case basis)?

Each of us believes in equity and inclusion in all that we do and have approached our public and private roles with that in mind. We speak up when injustice occurs as a response to the incident at hand and to show our stance against implicit and explicit biases. We think each resident plays a role in changing systemic issues and our action or inaction either helps or hurts the likelihood that the system changes. In a more official capacity, during Karen’s tenure as Trustee, the village launched the Community Care and Justice Initiative, which is a partnership between South Orange, Seton Hall and Essex County. The initiative seeks to reimagine traditional models of law enforcement by putting a greater emphasis on health and crisis intervention while embedding care and compassion service values into all facets of police operational strategies and enhanced training.

The creation of the Community Police Collaborative (CPC), which is being led by Trustee Candidate Bobby Brown, brings together law enforcement and community members to identify improvements ranging from data to training and enhancing community relations. The CPC has most recently identified code revisions that identify alternative ways for the Village to respond to non-criminal code infractions, revisions that are pending adoption from the Board of Trustees. Moving forward, we are committed to ensuring accountability and transparency when Internal Affairs issues arise and to soliciting and listening to feedback from the community that may not be captured in incident reports. All residents should feel safe and feel heard.

What metrics would you look at as benchmarks by which to establish progress in terms of reducing bias in policing, and what would you put in place to help achieve these? 

Several municipalities have tried to quantify progress in creating unbiased policing based on metrics, but it is very tough to do. We will certainly evaluate all data available, including complaints about how incidents were handled and use of force reports, and monitor the success of youth diversion programs. But while benchmarks like reduced incidents of use of force against people of color and lower numbers of overall complaints lodged against our police department might be seen as progress, the reality is that we need to listen very carefully to our neighbors and visitors in our community to make sure that we are truly making improvements. As we all know, many people may not feel comfortable filing complaints and we need to ensure as elected officials that mechanisms are put into place to know that feedback and sharing personal stories are encouraged and needed to truly understand how we’re doing and what we need to do differently.

 When people feel completely unbothered by driving through our town or feel completely safe during a traffic stop, then we can celebrate progress. Instead of relying solely on data benchmarks, we believe managing open forums and information portals for residents and visitors to express their experiences would be ideal since they foster transparency and togetherness.

What do you believe you will need to do as a leader to repair the damage done to the relationship between the police and the community as a result of the report?

We will continue to push for transparency and accountability to build trust. Here in South Orange, new procedures have been recently put into place to ensure all interactions of force are reviewed. But we believe it is important to build positive relationships between the police department and the community. We acknowledge that we cannot hold our own police department liable for the transgressions of police officers in other parts of our country. Both police officers and the residents they encounter during any engagement are both simply trying to get home safely each day to their families. As leaders, we will emphasize that commonality as often as possible and create opportunities for much more positive interaction between our residents and police. The creation of the CPC, which allows for frank conversation and solution-seeking between our local officers and our neighbors and friends, is a step in the right direction. Our hope is that it leads the way to foster mutual trust and respect beyond just our police to all members of our village and our guests. 

Do you believe in restorative justice? And if yes, what would restorative justice look like in South Orange now and in the future?

Yes, we believe in restorative justice. Restorative justice could look like a community event at the high school or public library in which minor infractions would go to be resolved. It could be a place where those grade school students aspiring to become lawyers one day get their first taste of arguing a case. Imagine the overall impact of a sixth grader serving in the “second-chair role” next to an attorney who also lives in town as they advocate during a restorative justice proceeding. There’s an opportunity here to help our next generation of leaders play a part in supporting and improving community relationships.

Are you in favor of releasing data given the use of force report?

Absolutely. Trust is earned through ongoing transparency and accountability. 

What will you do to ensure there is more transparency and accountability between the police and the public?

We will encourage far more collaboration between the police and the public. For example, providing more opportunities for our plainclothes police to engage socially with the public during off-duty hours. Also, we would encourage our police department to require officers to spend a minimum number of hours walking through town to get to know residents and revisit programs that have had some success like Coffee with a Cop. Similarly, we would bring back recreation programs that bring our youth and our officers together in the spirit of sports.

Do you support a Civilian Board similar to Maplewood’s?

Yes. While the CPC is a great start, it is an advisory committee with limited power. South Orange Village is a civil service town and Maplewood Township is not, which may legally present different challenges. Having a board with more review powers would be helpful. It could certainly improve transparency and overall trust. It’s something we would like to look into.

Cannabis 

What will you do in office to ensure the cannabis industry in our two towns is equitable, and that Black-owned businesses are prioritized?

Some of the decisions about the cannabis industry are made at the state level and therefore beyond the reach of the Board of Trustees. However, we would support our residents by making all of the information available and providing assistance to residents in need of additional help with the process. Once the Cannabis Regulatory Commission issues guidance (TBD), we will host a community meeting with stakeholders to discuss options relating to adult-use retail and legal options we can take advantage of to support minority-owned businesses. As a team, we are committed to involving the community in these conversations relating to retail, growing, consumption areas, etc. Because information on this is not yet available, we are unaware of how local governments will have the power to issue licenses and how/if priority can be given to potential licensees based on race.

Do you intend to enact local tax ordinances on cannabis sales?

We need much more information before we can answer this question, but one of the attractive things about this new industry is the potential tax dollars to our town. We want to analyze the option of levying up to 2% tax on retailers’ annual sales and determine the best ways to utilize those new tax funds for our residents.

If so, and how will you ensure that these funds will be used to support residents that have been harmed by the War on Drugs?

If a local tax is enacted then some of those funds should absolutely go to re-entry programs and to help families torn apart by incarceration. Given how deep the issues run related to the impact of the War on Drugs, some of these tax dollars should also go to supporting therapy for mental health and various social programs locally.

We would support earmarking funds to support residents that have been harmed by the War on Drugs but do not have a program design in place to sufficiently respond to this question at this time. Without knowing what type of money this would generate and what programs would best achieve the goal, it would be premature to throw out an answer. Our team would support the creation of a working group to assist the BOT in analyzing licenses, revenue and distribution of revenue.

We would also strongly suggest using funds from the excise fee assessed on local growers to create partner programs with neighboring communities that have impact zone opportunities. Programs designed to assist families negatively impacted by the War on Drugs could be another form of shared services with our neighboring municipalities. 

Affordable Housing 

Income inequality is one of the greatest challenges facing our society. It has produced gentrification and the proliferation of luxury housing on the one hand and a terrible shortage of affordable housing on the other. Racial and national origin discrimination compounds the problem. Do you agree that South Orange should contribute to the solution to the affordable housing crisis?

South Orange Village should and is contributing to a local solution to this problem. We must keep in mind, however, that the Village has dual and conflicting mandates. South Orange has the thirteenth highest property taxes in the state of New Jersey and the South Orange Governing Body must do all in its power to limit property tax increases. The challenge is finding a solution that limits tax increases on local homeowners, while solving the very real problem of affordability of our housing stock.

What are the impediments to South Orange providing sufficient affordable housing?

The impediments to the Village are, as with many things, complex. Firstly, the community pushback: many residents consider these new buildings out of character and worry that they will generate too much traffic and crowd the schools. Also, providing “sufficient” affordable housing involves municipal land use law, local zoning and our budget.

How do you propose to provide adequate affordable housing in South Orange? 

As Trustees, we will follow through with the goals of the 2019 resolution which authorized the Village’s settlement with the Fair Share Housing Center without taking a vacant land adjustment or fighting in court to reduce our “fair share” number – something that has never been done before. South Orange has a very aggressive plan to construct over 100 affordable housing units in the next 3-5 years through inclusionary developments, its Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and partnerships with Community-Based Organizations (CBOs). Twenty percent will be set aside for very-low, low- and moderate-income housing in new construction. We will provide affordable housing in South Orange by adhering to the settlement with the Fair Share Housing Center. We will also require developers to pay into our affordable housing trust fund. There is a limit to the financial viability of any proposed development, but we will use all measures possible to require developer contributions for inclusionary affordable housing. 

What have you done in the last four years in a public or private capacity to address the affordable housing crisis? 

Karen, in her capacity as an incumbent, has supported each and every opportunity to provide affordable housing in the Village. Bill and Bobby have collectively used their voices to raise awareness of this problem in the Village and supported efforts to rectify it.

At the time of this response, Trustee Hilton has advised that South Orange will be accepting a $1,000,000 contribution to its Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The Team thinks this is great news and will continue to promote policies that will provide more affordable options to community members and those who wish to move to South Orange to make it their home.

How should South Orange accommodate seniors in South Orange who have lived in the Village for years and wish to “age in place?”

“Aging in place” is a very real problem for our Village – much of our housing stock, while beautiful, is generally not accessible for seniors with mobility challenges. Our Seniors add a tremendous value to the collective fabric of our community and we want residents to stay in place as well as welcoming new seniors to our Village.

South Orange has an aging population. As people age and become less vigorous they also become “empty nesters”: living in homes with three, four or more bedrooms which they have difficulty maintaining and paying for. One way for seniors to stay in South Orange is to make arrangements to share their homes with others.

Karen has served for four years as liaison to the Two Towns for All Ages initiative which works with Maplewood and other communities in New Jersey. Through this initiative we have brought numerous education opportunities to residents for housing modifications and for in-home and community-wide safety initiatives. We also have promoted and advocated for the Homestead and Senior Freeze programs. Karen has advocated for zoning changes, included in the draft Master Plan, allowing for Accessory Dwelling Units to be built. 

Our team will continue supporting and advancing policies for seniors.

What changes in our zoning code can be made to promote communal living by seniors who need to share their homes with others in order to be able to “age in place”?

We should adopt an Accessory Dwelling Unit ordinance – allowing for these housing units to be built to better accommodate our seniors to “age in place.” This is stipulated in the draft Master Plan currently under consideration. Our Team is fully supportive of this change to zoning provisions that will not only assist seniors but will also create greater housing supply for everyone.

Defending Our Environment 

The costs of recycling have become a fiscal burden for both towns, as markets for plastics, in particular, disappear. In addition, SOMA's garbage is hauled by diesel trucks through Newark to the Covanta plant in the Ironbound community, and the exhaust fumes and incineration are both environmental justice problems. Reducing waste production and disposal are complicated problems in our context, but activists and our elected and appointed officials are working together to find better solutions. What options do you see and would you support to incentivize households to waste less and the towns to reuse or repurpose more?

Under the chairmanship of Bill Haskins, the South Orange Environmental Commission and Zero Waste team have really been focused on these issues over the past few years. Environmental justice was a key motivator for our team as we worked on our reusable bag ordinance. However, that was just the beginning of what we can do and what we should do. We currently have two work streams underway. 

The first is adopting a new, innovative, Municipal Solid Waste Plan. South Orange has partnered with Maplewood to retain a consultant to help us create a plan that will improve environmental efficacy for SOMA. The Environmental Commission and Zero Waste team worked with Village staff and elected officials on the RFP process for the consultant, and they are ready to collaborate on creating the plan and enacting it. Elected officials need to fully support this work and everyone needs to get ready to embrace change. 

The second is rethinking our recycling facility at the Department of Public Waste. The Zero Waste team’s research is showing us that our current approach to single-stream curb-side recycling creates a stream of material with limited or no value to the Village, but if materials are sorted and well taken care of, the material can shift from being a liability to an asset. Example: wet, dirty cardboard is not recyclable and must be thrown away at a cost of $90 per ton. Clean, dry cardboard can be sold for $40 per ton. A new approach to sorting at our recycling facility will allow us to identify materials with value, sort them, and market them to actually be recycled. Better environmental efficacy and the increased value of the material can pay for the program. The Village has retained an architect to work on upgrades to the facility and the Environmental Commission and Zero Waste team have been advising on the design. 

Both of the above initiatives will need to be supported by robust public education campaigns so we can get the most out of our efforts. Both the Village and villagers can do better and we will.

We have joined the Empower New Jersey coalition of environmental groups to advocate for a moratorium on all new fossil fuel projects in the state and instead push for renewable sources like wind and solar. The decision-making is mainly in the hands of Governor Murphy and his Department of Environmental Protection.

What steps would you be willing to take to support these principles and communicate them to other political leaders in the state?

We are familiar with the work of the Empower New Jersey coalition and their efforts and agree that it is time to move on from fossil fuels and adopt renewable sources. New Jersey Empower reached out to municipalities via environmental commissions to ask for support of a resolution against the New Jersey Transit fracked gas power plant. The Environmental Commission had a thoughtful discussion of the resolution and forwarded it to the Board of Trustees recommending that they adopt the resolution. They did. Governor Murphy decided that the project wasn’t a good idea for the community and New Jersey. We are glad South Orange had a small role in this and look forward to what could be done in the future. We are also thrilled that through our partnership with the Sustainable Essex Alliance on Municipal Energy Aggregation ninety percent of South Orange residents purchase electricity with twice the renewable content as the state average.

What other proposals do you support to protect our environment? 

A lot, but let’s start with building the next phase of the River Greenway project – a paved walking, running, biking path from 3rd Street in South Orange crossing the Rahway River via a new bridge and connecting us to Maplewood. This is a grant funded project that has been in the works for years and it's time to build this bridge.

Also planting trees. South Orange has partnered with Seton Hall and completed an inventory of public trees. It is showing us that we have a real deficit of trees along our streets and in our parks. We also know that many of our trees will be lost in the near future due to pests, disease, and age. We need to respond with a robust planting plan.

Transparency and Effective Administration

What steps will you take to ensure diversity and inclusion in municipal administration? 

We believe that diversity starts at the top and if elected, this ticket, along with the full Board of Trustees, will be the most diverse we have ever had. We elected our first woman and Asian-American Village President in 2015, the Board of Trustees currently has a woman-majority composition (the first in its history), we elected our first LGBTQ member in 2019, and if this ticket is elected, Trustee Candidate Brown will be the second Black representative on the Board of Trustees. Diversity and representation matters.

As it relates to staffing, South Orange is a civil service community. The task ahead is to provide more career development and job fairs in partnership with our local school district to recruit local children for jobs in the public sector.

In addition to elected officials and staff, it is important for us to recruit diverse talent to local boards, committees and commissions. As a team, we will continue to monitor and promote opportunities for residents of diverse backgrounds to volunteer.

What steps do you propose to gain efficiency through shared services? How can we get increased efficiency from shared services while protecting employment standards and jobs of public employees? What is your opinion of sharing fire services with Maplewood?

The Hilton, Haskins Brown ticket is in full support of merging our two fire departments. Under Trustee Hilton’s guidance (she has advised that after a pause during the pandemic on these discussions), both South Orange and Maplewood are prepared to make recommendations and have updated the initial report with recent data relating to calls for service. As noted in the original report and comments from the two towns, no jobs are being lost and headcount efficiency will be achieved through attrition. We will continue to investigate the sharing of essential municipal services with Maplewood, to improve the quality and the efficiency of service delivery.

The struggles to defend democracy and push back against xenophobia are crucially important. These fights begin at home. SOMA Action is currently pressing three issues for county government. We seek an end to the contract with ICE to maintain a detention center, which allows county government to profit from xenophobia and horrible conditions for immigrants. Will you publicly support our efforts to end the ICE contract?

The ICE contract is a complex and difficult issue. We applaud the significant measures the SOMA Action members have taken to highlight the troubles associated with the ICE detention center. However, we would like to see an overhaul of the entire immigration system, and work to ensure humane standards are maintained at the Essex County facility. Many of the detainees have families, attorneys and support in close proximity to Essex County and we fear if removed from this area, losing visits and support from their families would cause greater hardship for these detainees. 

We seek an end to the party line, the mechanism by which party leaders virtually dictate the outcome of primary elections. Will you publicly support our efforts to end the party line in primary elections?

Yes. The party line does not affect our election as we are non-partisan. However, we believe that the “party line” dependence makes it very difficult for new candidates to access elected office. We know that voter habits are formed by the name placement on the ballots, and efforts need to be made to increase the number of women and non-traditional candidates onto the ballot. Giving the voters a real choice is the true definition of democracy.

Your Message 

Why are you running and what are the most important contributions you would make to our town if elected?

Karen Hartshorn Hilton
I am running for another four-year term as Village Trustee to continue improving our public spaces, enhancing fiscal oversight and making South Orange a place for everyone to call home.

Over the last four years, I've worked to reinvigorating of our commercial spaces, as well as the renovation of the Baird Center. In the next four years, we need to continue to improve our downtown corridor, repurpose the Cameron tennis courts, which have fallen into disrepair, complete the River Greenway Project, and transform our library into the magnificent space our community deserves. In addition, I will continue to pursue all aspects of pedestrian safety, equity and inclusion, fiscal prudence and a robust recreation program.

We have investigated sharing essential municipal services with Maplewood, to improve the quality and the efficiency of service delivery. In the next four years, we have to make sure we move from the planning stages and make shared services a reality wherever doing so will benefit both our towns. 

If I have the honor of being re-elected, I am most excited about renovating our public library spaces. All of the other projects are important, but the library has been, and continues to be, my top priority.

Bill Haskins
I have been the chair of the South Orange Environmental Commission for three years and with a growing corps of volunteers, we've already accomplished a lot around the village from removal of large rusty junk from the wooded areas where our kids play to planting native shrubs and trees to improve our vistas and help our pollinators to reducing single-use plastic bags in our shops – all to better our village and engage our neighbors. We’ve gotten kids and youth involved in cleaning our watershed of trash for River Day. We’ve joined forces with Seton Hall students to inventory our public tree count and help us clear invasive plants, which gives us better access to the wildlife inhabiting our beautiful river. We’ve welcomed our talented seniors to help fix broken items at our annual Repair Café to keep stuff out of the landfill. One of my favorite things about the Environmental Commission is that we’ve gotten our villagers outside to invest in making our village a better place to be. On the paperwork side, we have sought and won grants – most recently we were awarded one providing us with $30,000 to increase our tree canopy – and we’ve been recognized by Sustainable New Jersey.

Even while environmental issues are front and center for me, I am not a one-issue candidate. With professional experience as a New York City construction project manager, I’m ready to lend expertise toward South Orange’s construction projects, including the River Greenway which will connect South Orange to Maplewood with a walking and bike path. Our residents should feel comfortable not just in our parks, but on our busy streets, and, as Trustee, pedestrian safety will be a priority. I also have an interest in facilitating affordable housing in the village and, with my love of reading and art, I’m excited to contribute ideas for innovative programming for our public library and in working with South Orange Recreation and Cultural Affairs. Like the care of our open spaces, solid and diverse arts programming improves our quality of life. 

Now is the time to step up and make sure environmental issues stay on the Board of Trustees agenda – Build the Bridge, Revise Recycling, Plant Trees, and Commit to Energy Aggregation.

Bobby Brown
I am running for the South Orange Board of Trustees again because I still seek to make a positive impact on our community. If elected, I plan to spend my four years in office making sure that there is equity and inclusion in all that we do.

My wife and I decided to move to South Orange 13 years ago. The diverse population and the proximity to New York City were the two primary things that initially attracted us. We then decided to build our family here. We are the proud parents of two boys, ages 10 and 8. While these things might seem like simple background facts, we did not come to these decisions lightly and we have committed our most precious resource (our family) to being here. As a Trustee, I would focus on making South Orange a better place for all residents of all ages who have also made the decision to commit their families to living here.

I am honored to serve as the chairperson of our South Orange Community Police Collaborative (CPC) committee. In that effort, our committee of thoughtful, devoted residents work to improve the relationship between our police and community. We strive to ensure our police department eliminates all bias behaviors and treats both residents and visitors justly. The CPC believes that good data is the ticket to assess and ensure that goal. The committee also aims to increase transparency to build a trusting environment. If elected, I will apply these same principles of being fair, informed, and transparent as a Trustee. By trade, I am an attorney, and I will work in collaboration with our Board while using my career skills to facilitate pragmatic assessment of the full range of municipal policy.

I am a former professional athlete who spends a lot of time coaching local, youth sports teams these days. As a result, I use a lot of sports clichés (my apologies in advance) and utilize the team mindset to achieve most objectives. I believe in setting clear goals and writing them down for accountability. I believe in sacrificing individuality altogether to achieve the greater good of the team. I also believe in creating a strategic game plan and relying on the entire team for its successful execution. I was also raised by a school teacher, my mom, and the lessons she taught me as both a parent and an educator stay with me to this day. She taught me to challenge my own sons and the student-athletes I mentor with the importance of scholastic excellence in building the bridges of opportunity.

As Trustee, I would treat all South Orange residents as teammates and play my role in helping all of us win the fight for equity and inclusion in all that we do.