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The Citizens for Asbury Park City Council candidates say they will remain active in the hopes of unifying a divide that exists between the east and west side neighborhoods.

Comprised of community leader and Zoning Board of Adjustment member Daniel Harris, and Board of Education members Kenneth Saunders Jr and Stephen Williams, the three challenged Asbury Together incumbents Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn, Yvonne Clayton and Eileen Chapman the three out five seats up for grabs.

The final Monmouth County Clerk’s Election Division website shows incumbent Asbury Together ticket kept control of the City Council for another four years by a near 2 to 1 margin by 11,116 voters.

On Tuesday night, top ticket vote getter Kenneth Saunders Jr, vice president of the Board of Education said, “I want to congratulate the incumbents on a well run race. I also want to let everyone know I will remain active in the city. I will do my best to be an aide for all the people of Asbury Park.”

Sharing his disappointment, Saunders said, “It’s not how I thought it would be, not just this campaign, but I am a little disheartened for Asbury Park as a whole.”  I’ll continue to try to do good things on the school board and will work with the City Council to help with some of the issues we have in the city, like joblessness and blighted properties.”

For community leader Dan Harris, the focus shifts to revisiting the current form of government implemented just two years ago.

“I would really like to get the city to revisit the charter commission study in order to reorganize the government,” Harris said Wednesday morning. “What I see right now in Asbury Park is that you can get one group in power but still here on the west side there is no one representing this side of town. There are five people dictating what this side of town is doing.”

Harris said a ward system would prove to be better representation for the needs of the diverse community.

“We have concerns for homeless people walking the streets and while we do have a recreation program, there is still a disconnect. What happened in the national election; Asbury Park is a  microcosm of that, but we will keep working and we will make sure the city is held responsible.”

Harris said his volunteer work at The Center, an Hiv/AIDS support facility, opened his eyes to the needs of people who find themselves homeless.

“We need to spend less time focusing on the waterfront and focus on something we have more control over like development in the southwest quadrant.  We need to make those vacant properties available to people from the city so we can grow from the inside. Economic growth will come with the Springwood Avenue redevelopment but we can use people in town who want to do that, black people especially.

“We need to give people a chance to invest in their own community and that would immediately help fix the blighted community and stop absentee property owners who are ghetto landlords,” Harris said. “Children are living in those blighted homes without proper heat and that bothers me. Last night, we did not make a move to bring the two sides of Asbury Park together. I think we need a ward system. I don’t think the government can move forward with everyone shaking their heads together at the same time at the same thought.”

For Board member Stephen Williams, the overall election results were a disappointment but he also said he’ll remain active throughout the whole community.

“This campaign is just a way to try to strengthen what we are already doing, Williams said Wednesday afternoon. “We didn’t do this to make a move because it was presidential election or because there were three seats open. It was a move to bring light and awareness to the whole city. I believe that to be true in Danny [Harris] and Kenneth [Saunders].

“We didn’t get enough numbers out,” Williams said. “They [Asbury Together] ran a clean race and a strong race. They stuck to their facts and we stuck to our facts and I believe we did shed some lights on some of the issues in our city. We met a lot of good people that care about Asbury Park as a whole. A problem is a problem and an issue is an issue. You win elections and you lose elections, it’s cool, I’m a good sport. I took a few hours to process because the national election was gut wrenching but it speaks to the issues. Our economy is right now and I want to see where it goes to in 2 years.”

The final Asbury Park City Council tallies from the Monmouth County Clerk’s Election Division website:

Amy Quinn 2,385

Yvonne Clayton 2,377

Eileen Chapman 2,281

Daniel Harris 1,374

Stephen Williams 1,264

Kenneth E Saunders Jr 1,409

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