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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.]

Harold Suggs, 66, has lived in the city since he was nine years old. He worked as a special events coordinator for the Port Authority for 10 years and currently owns his own international public relations and marketing company, The Harvis Organization. Suggs has also served on the city’s planning board and is a former member of the board of education.

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 incumbent Mayor Myra Campbell, incumbent Councilman John B. Moor, former board of education president Remond Palmer, and Suggs. The election takes place Nov. 4.

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What brought you into politics?

What brought me into politics, actually, I cam home, I interned at the Asbury Park Press for two years, and I was home [from college] in ’70 and I was visiting friends on Springwood Avenue. It was cheaper to live in my parent’s house through the summer months rather than get an apartment. So, what happened was I was over there hanging out before I went to work for my internship, which required me to be the sports editor, and that’s a night job. So, that was cool, I didn’t mind that. Then everything broke out – the whole riot broke out and what happened was, because the police had cordoned off all of Springwood Avenue we were not able to get from point A to point B to get food, pampers for the children, so we arranged to have food shipped in to the West Side Community Center. Now, I’m on First Avenue, I walked From First Avenue to Springwood Avenue and the state police rousted me and one friend and threw us up against a wall, frisked us — the whole nine yards. So, from then on I had to cut through back alleyways just to get to the community center and I did that and we coordinated the distribution of food to those who needed it until things got better. So, that bit me a little bit in regard to community effort. So, beyond that I worked with EnCap and the Checkmate Office. I worked with my friend Cynthia Whedon, and we coordinated for the first part of the year programs and the distribution of Thanksgiving baskets. Toys For Tots, and that might be someone going with her to Shop Rite to shop for turkeys to get the basket complete. Also, getting toys from various organizations and those who could not make it to the mall, the Marines set it in motion, Toys for Tots, and Cynthia and I were there to distribute those toys to the checkmate office.

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

Well, all of my experience both professional and within the community. I think I bring something to the table. I’ve worked, not only in those capacities within the community, my colleague and I were chosen by Governor Christie Todd Whitman to co-chair the Community Co-ordinating Committee. What we did was, we went around the city – most of our meetings were held at the Boys’ Club where we got anchance to hear people say “I need this service or that service” and what we found was there was a duplication of services. We already had various groups in the community that do those things, and that’s fine, but you’re already doing the same thing the other person is doing, and that lessens the monies that are available. It just was chaos. As a result of that, tho things, kind of funny. We got every division of the department of community services to come to Asbury Park, we hemmed them up, upstairs, and closed the door. Out of that came a grant that one of the city employees wrote, a grant to the state, which gave us enough money to train students, residents, how to prepare for jobs in retail. Because once you get involved in it you see how much good it does and what kind of an impact it has, and you have idea of how to make it better and you want to make it better.

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

Well, it’s funny you should ask that question, because some time, maybe Thursday, maybe in a week and a half, I’m taking a group from Asbury Park to Parsippany. Now, Parsippany I learned last year, has a program called “Operation Truth.” The program is actually, I called and spoke to someone in Parsippany, and they gave me a good overview of it. They also said “we actually think it came from Boston.” So, I spoke to someone in Boston and they gave me an overview, but since then things broke off in Boston so that cut that short. But, then I spoke to someone in Syracuse. The program is designed this way: If you are in a gang, right? and you want to come out of that gang environment, they give you a chance to do that. And once you are out of it, you can’t go back. Well, you can but then go back to the program or environment. What happens is that, those who need to get a GED, housing, food, whatever the case may be, they bring them to an environment where they can do that. Now, are you out of the gang yet? No. Your gang is still there but you are out of the environment. Now, what happens here, however, say there are ten people in a gang, one goes back out — because there are a lot of murders in those city’s – if one person goes out and kills someone, the remaining nine, if you get sentenced, also get sentenced at the same level. So, it’s a great incentive program in that regard but I want to ask to have it tweaked a little bit because if you are in a gang and you come out of that environment, someone in gang “B” might say, ‘Well, he killed my guy last month, he shot and killed him, so I’ll go and get him because he doesn’t have a gun and he’s not going to do anything.’ But then that puts his other guys in jeopardy. I want to see if I can have that tweaked a little bit to say that anyone in the outside gang that tries to take revenge, they also take that same hit [legally]. If you’ve got three guys in your gang, if you’ve got 20 guys in your gang if you kill someone or do something, you’re down with that too. So, that’s a good program. I’ve got Chris Decker — is it Becker or Decker? — from the county prosecutor’s office down here. He is representing Asbury Park, and he is okay with it. He is going to foot the bill for us to participate. So, I’ll be speaking to judge Lawson. I want to bring people up there to Parsippany who are involved with these kids on any level. So, I’m asking Chris in the Prosecutor’s Office to take a part in that. I’m also, I’ve also asked to retired police officers, Gilbert Reed and [George] Corbin, I’m going to bring in Kevin Daniels, who is a lawyer in Asbury Park. I’m also going to be in tough with the Division of Community Services out of Trenton to see if they can come to the meeting in Parsippany, because all of these various departments are involved with kids somewhere down the line. I just spoke to someone to try to get someone from the city’s police department at the table. That’s going to expand. But, first I have to get my ducks lined up as far as times and dates and so forth and so on, but that program I hope to bring to Asbury Park.

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 a no-brainer. You live here, have city residents here who want to work, and you don’t find a way to find jobs for them. There’s no real program. One thing about my agency, the one I own, I interact with people from all over the country and literally all over the world sometimes. I was speaking to someone today in Israel, this evening in China, today, someone here in New York who lives here but his mother just passed away, he is from Guyana. I mean, the list goes on and on, Canada and so forth and so on. I know there are jobs that can be brought here, you have to go get them. You have to tell people, yes, we are only 1.5 miles square, but there are places where you can set up shop. If you do that, that’s the actual responsibility of the municipality, that’s your leadership. That’s automatic. But what they’ve done is, they’ve focused their attention on the beachfront. And that’s why my campaign slogan is I’m “representing the other half.” It doesn’t mean the West Side or the East Side, it means those that are not being addressed, that are not having their concerns be addressed. That bothers me, because if you believe in the community you believe in all aspects of the community, not just one segment, because there are jobs on the beachfront – no doubt. What is now the Stone Pony used to be Ms. Jay’s. I used to work there in the eighth grade. That was cool.

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

I think they need to understand that there is a challenge. I’m a former elected school board member, and you have to know the community and the make of the community and its issues to be effective. Now, contraty to belief, most parents who live in the West area, anyone who lives anywhere in Asbury Park, they want the same thing everybody else wants for their children. I could quote you names right now that have come out of the middle of the hood. Ron Casey lived in Boston Way, this is the absolute truth, loved in Boston Way, his mother was a housekeeper for someone on the other side of the fence. He used to walk over there with her in the summertime and see her on her knees, cleaning the floors. When he graduated from high school the late former Senator Howard [Smith] gave him a nod to go to the naval academy. He went there, came out as an officer, and over 30 plus years all he did was what you see on the TV today, NCIS. He covered U.S., Europe, the Middle East — all of that. Now, he says to me, ‘Man I see cases on TV that I was involved in but I can’t speak about it.’ When he came out CIA, the Secret Service, Homeland Security, INTERPOL, FBI, they all wanted him to work for them, he said, ‘I can’t do it man, I’m tired of the game.’ I could mention Bobby Watt, Bobby Watt grew up in Asbury Park Village, single parent household, his mother had about four or five children. She was a sweetheart, too. He graduated in 2008 from being a member of the New York Philharmonic. He’s been around the world numerous times.

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?

Well it should continue, but, again, my position is that anything that’s done should be done in tandem with the rest of the community. It should be locked in, if I’m going to bring more business down here somewhere along the line it has to benefit the community. Not just for part time jobs, because people who come here — I walked the streets this past month or so getting my petitions signed, I talked to so many people who were coming here for the first time who moved here. One guy said he has been here for seven years, but he worked for a company and he met his then-fiancee and he was so enamored at the diversity of the community, Hispanic over here, African American over here, Jewish over here, Italians – he was just enamored by it. I appreciate that, you know, and that’s a direct answer to your question, I just believe that anything that’s done for the community – anything – these things should benefit the entire community or the entirety of the community should be the focal point.

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?

Well, a lot of things. I don’t know that there’s a great divide. I think there is a divide that people don’t understand who is on the opposite side of the tracks. Because, technically speaking, I live on Fifth Avenue, and you have people on Fifth Avenue who are renters, as well as on Fourth or Third or Second and so on down. But, they have the same ambitions for their children as those on the West Side and the leadership has to take the lead and say, ‘We’re all in the same boat here.’ If you bring that forth under that definition and that understanding there will be no divide. Now, you have some issues over there with kids developing gangs and whatnot, and it’s not only in this side or that side of the community, throughout the country you have that problem. White gangs and Asian gangs and Hispanic gangs, so , in answer to your question I think the development of the community on the East Side is OK, but it has to take into account the entire community.

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?

Well I’m about tired of PILOTs. I’m about tired of them. I sat on the first planning board and, the tax abatements, I saw some that I thought should not be in there the way it was configured. I’m not enamored by PILOT programs. In fact, iStar and Hovnanian made a tax abatement for 30 years. One of those two meetings I went to I reemed about that. It’s going to take them 30 years? To do all you have to do in Asbury Park? It’s not Tuscon, AZ. It’s not that big. I don’t like that program, I don’t like it at all. I think it’s too much of a giveaway. Really, I think people come in here with a Monopoly mentality, you take the boardwalk and I’ll take Park Ave. I don’t like that attitude. But, you see again, when you’ve got that dye cast from 2005, that’s why people have come to Asbury Park with that attitude. You know, and when you have a community as diverse as this, and you have at one point or another those who think people in the community are ignorant, have no desire for their families, everybody does drugs, everyone’s got a gun and they are killing each other, and that is their attitude that is cast out here just by knowing that. You come to the table with that understanding, which is incorrect. I get tired of that.

What makes your angriest about Asbury Park?

Lack of transparency. We are deliberately set aside. It bothers me because that is the way it is set up. As I told someone, one of the planning board meetings I was at, I said, ‘You know, the dye has been cast as to how to do business with Asbury Park.’ Back in 2005 when our city manager was Terry Wheldon. Terry, his day job was mayor of Ocean Township, his night job was city manager. At the time, I was on the school board, I just can tell a liar when I hear one, you know? If you were to query anyone who was on the planning board at the time – I was – I reemed him every chance I got because everything out of his mouth was a lie. So, what happened was, eventually he got busted in Ocean Township as a mayor for money laundering and income tax evasion, all kinds of stuff, because he was bribing people and they were bribing him and all the time he was doing that he was also city manager of Asbury Park, and the first person he brought to the table, and being on the planning board at that time, the structure that Henry Vaccaro and Mr. Carabetta set up was, anyone you bring to the table has to have redeveloper experience. Through Terry’s initiatives they brought someone to the table that had no experience at all. All they had was money. Cash. So, the question is a good question I just think that you have to go back and undo that standard.

What makes you happiest about Asbury Park?

The diversity of the community, because you never hear of all the things we went through in the 1970s. You rarely ever hear hate crimes taking place in Asbury Park. As diverse as it is. African American. Haitian. Jamaican. Italian. Jewish. Chinese. Korean. I mean, you could just keep going. You don’t hear that. I say Amen. People are focused on their immediate experience and their immediate needs. Their family, find a job, providing for your family, keeping it on a good level. That type of thing, so that’s what you have. Because when I came from New York , it was me and my sister in the back seat of the car, an old Buick convertible. They [my parents] said, ‘we’re going somewhere,’ and we said ‘where are we going,’ and they said, ‘wait and see,’ and we came to Asbury Park. Now, at that time my father had found a house, he used his VA bill to get a house, 1014 First Avenue, and it was just as it is now. People were gay, people were not gay, people were straight, the whole nine. That, I think, pleased me the most because you have that diversity.

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