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[Editor’s note: In an effort to provide Sun readers and Asbury Park candidates who seek to be elected as the city’s first directly-elected mayor with the most fair and accurate election coverage, the Sun sat down with each of the four mayoral candidates and asked them the same ten questions. No candidates were provided advanced notice of the questions and all interviews were completed prior to the series’ launch on the site.]

Incumbent Mayor Myra Campbell, who was elected to the city council in May 2013, seeks a four-year term as the city’s mayor. She is a 33-year resident of Asbury Park who hails from the Pittsburgh, PA, area. She is a retired Asbury Park Middle School teacher who has owned her own toner cartridge re-manufacturing business, Laser Life Inc., and is currently an independent insurance agent specializing in pre-funeral funding and planning, and education and enrollment in Medicare health plans. She has been a community activist in Asbury Park, and brings a diverse experience of living and working in the city to the table.

City council elections are being held in November with the general election for the first time this year. Previously, they were held in May. Four residents declared candidacy for the position, they are Campbell, incumbent Councilman John B. Moor, former board of education president Remond Palmer, and resident Harold Suggs. The election takes place Nov. 4.

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What brought you into politics?

I’ve always been a community activist, always been a community activist. Worked for the Obama campaign, was a co-chair, Monmouth County Co-Chair, Asbury Park representative for Obama in his first term. Instrumental in re-naming the first elementary school in the state of New Jersey after President Obama. A part of the first Urban Enterprise Zone committee in the city, served on numerous committees in the city, on a frequent basis kept up with the inequities in the health and safety of residents on the West Side during the infrastructure work [for the Springwood Avenue Redevelopment Area] and knowing that I can be a voice for people that don’t have a voice.

What is your number one reason for running to be the mayor of Asbury Park?

To make a difference.

Within the first six months of taking office, what would your priorities be to address crime in the city?

The crime rate is reduced tremendously reduced since I’ve been in office, so I take credit for that. The job is never done, we need a well-trained police force that knows how to de-escalate situations and becomes state certified as a department.

Over the last few months, several residents have spoken during the public participation session about an increased need for jobs in the city, specifically jobs for residents. Do you think it is the city government’s responsibility to ensure residents are employed, and, if so, how do you propose the city increase job opportunities for residents?

It’s not the city’s responsibility, but the city should be trying to find as many avenues to get people to come into the city and employ local residents.

How do you propose the city council work with the Asbury Park School District to increase positive outcomes for Asbury Park students?

The Asbury Park school system is autonomous and the city funds or supplements the board of education budget if it is short. Having said that, the board of education asking the city representatives, whether it be council or anyone else that has a hired position in the city, to come in and act as role models and encourage students to get good grades — to ask them to volunteer and serve as role models.

Over the last ten years, the city has seen a significant increase in redevelopment. Downtown store fronts are no longer empty and beach revenue is at its highest. How do you view the last 10 years of development in Asbury Park? Do you think it should continue along the same track?

We need an entire city that is being rebuilt and I encourage everyone to come to the gentrification workshop on Oct. 30 at Mount Pigsa Church [1301 Springwood Avenue] – where there will be consultants that talk about the gentrification of the city. But the entire city needs to have a good standard or quality of living.

Many residents believe there is a perceived divide between the eastern and western sides of the city, demarcated by the train tracks. How would you characterize this divide and what do you think can or should be done to help bridge the gap between them?

When that statement is made, the thing that bothers me is, people are really talking about the South West side, by and large, if you go to the North West side of Asbury, they may not be talking about the same thing. So, we need to be specific in what we are talking about. But, the reality is, in my opinion, that there is a difference. But how do we address it? We address it by education, exposure, and opportunities for people that want to make a living.

PILOT programs, which reduce taxes on new development for a set period of time and are traditionally used to encourage redevlopment, have been used to spur redevelopment in the city. Under what circumstances do you believe PILOTs should continue to be used in Asbury Park?

Yes, I do believe that they should be used, for this reason: You don’t get anything for free. So, you have to entice businesses to come into the city. Eighty percent of all businesses are small businesses that employ their family, their relatives, their friends, and when we can increase the number of people that want to come in and develop the city, then we create jobs for the people that live here, whether they are small businesses, or restaurants, or whether it’s light industry or whether it is redevelopment.

What makes your angriest about Asbury Park?

I’m not angry, but I would say the thing that concerns me the most is that we don’t have the manpower to do some of the things that we need to do to clean up the city — abandoned properties, the code enforcement department is way understaffed, and until we cam address the quality of life issues with people in every section of the town, by having enough manpower, we can’t implement programs. Three weeks ago I went to Baltimore, to a code enforcement workshop — we could clear up a lot of prooblems if we had the manpower and the manpower was put into programs to address some of the issues we encounter.

What makes you happiest about Asbury Park?

I live in Asbury Park. The city, the vibrancy of the city, the multi-culture of the city. It’s the jewel of the Jersey Shore. The ocean. I’ve been here and I’ve stayed here. I live on the West Side, and I’ve seen the good and the bad, and the good and the bad, again and again, but I didn’t leave.

[Photo provided by Mrya Campbell.]

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