WEST WARD SHOWDOWN
Trenton council race pits experience against change agents
TRENTON » Established West Ward Councilman Zachary Chester hopes to win re-election on account of his experience, but three challengers are seeking to unseat him in the May 8 contest, saying the residents need new leadership at City Hall.
The West Ward comprises upscale neighborhoods like Hiltonia and depressed residential communities off Stuyvesant Avenue, a microcosm of haves and havenots. All four candidates for West Ward council have expressed a vision for improving everyone’s quality of life, but Chester says he is best equipped to deliver, citing his working knowledge and understanding of municipal government.
The challengers Atalaya Armstrong, Shirley Gaines and Robin Vaughn, however, are no pushovers as they campaign for change in what has proven to be a spirited 2018 election season.
Zachary Chester
Chester is seeking reelection to a third term, asking voters to give him four more years in office as the West Ward representative. He first got elected in 2010, cruised to re-election four years later and wants to keep the momentum going.
“I’ve decided to run for a third term to complete the work that has been started,” Chester said in a recent interview with The Trentonian. “There’s still some work that needs to be done at Cadwalader Park, so I am seeking a third term to continue that work.”
Other projects that Chester wants to see through to completion include the demolition of properties on Stuyvesant Avenue, redevelopment along Humboldt Street and Church Street and West Ward road improvements, he said.
Considering the city will have a new mayor and at least four new councilmembers sworn into office July 1, “I am asking West Ward voters to vote for experience,” Chester said, “a councilman who has been there for two terms and will be able to help guide the new mayor on the needs and the projects that are going on in the West Ward.”
Chester, if re-elected, said he would push the new mayoral administration to do what current Mayor Eric Jackson has not: designate the entire City of Trenton as a redevelopment zone to spur revitalization in depressed neighborhoods.
“If the City of Trenton — the entire city — is designated as a redevelopment zone,” he said, “now you give the opportunity for large developers to come into the city and smaller developers to come into the city” to more easily renovate rundown properties.
Chester, who serves as City Council president in addition to representing the West Ward, said his three challengers are unaware of his accomplishments of service and accused them of being unfamiliar with the limited powers of a councilmember.
“The work that has been done speaks for itself,” he said. “All of my challengers are looking at what wasn’t done but not taking a look at what is being done and what has been done because they have not been in this process. They are learning what is being accomplished and what is going on by hearing from me at the forums.”
One-third of the Trenton Police force was laid off in 2011 as the capital city suffered from steep financial cutbacks engineered by then-Gov. Chris Christie. If re-elected to a third term, Chester said he would advocate for “full funding” from the state government that would allow the city to return to “a full police force of the 395 police officers we used to have.”
Trenton currently has about 250 officers on the force. If the city had 395 cops, the city would return to using the police ministations on Hermitage Avenue in the West Ward and Greenwood Avenue in East Ward as full-fledged police buildings, Chester said.
Chester promised to communicate better with his constituents if re-elected. “In my third term,” he said, “I plan to ask residents for their email addresses and their cellphone numbers so that text messages and emails can go out to those residents.”
Atalaya Armstrong
Armstrong sees shortcomings with the current politicians at City Hall and sees herself as a problemsolver with the skills to make things better.
“We lack good government,” she said in an interview with The Trentonian. “There has been no communication with the current councilman who is seated. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I believe I can bring professionalism back. I believe I can communicate and collaborate with the residents of the West Ward so we can foster change.”
Armstrong, a married mother of three, expressed deep disappointment in the city’s current leadership.
“I am a homeowner,” she said. “Our taxes are very high. We don’t really get anything in return for paying those high taxes. The streets are horrible.”
If elected to represent the West Ward, Armstrong said she would work to “build upon the homeownership to attract more people to come into West Trenton” and would strive to “save more of the historic buildings we have in Trenton, and foster historic tourism to the city.”
The former Higbee Street School at 20 Bellevue Ave. is one of the historic properties that must be saved, Armstrong said. “It is run down. It is dilapidated. It is also owned by the city. There are grants the city could apply for to save this building,” which was built in 1857.
Armstrong is a lifelong Trenton resident who served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children and families and served as an active PTA member, she said, adding she wants to “meet the needs of Trentonians” as a public servant.
“I want to be held accountable,” she said. “That is something we don’t see now with our elected officials.” She also vowed to be “transparent” and promised she would “definitely involve the community every step of the way” if elected to City Council.
Shirley Gaines
Gaines declares herself to be the right candidate to “help build up the West Ward.”
“West Ward residents are working-class and smart educated people. If they give you your vote they want to see results, and if they don’t see results they want to see change,” she said in a recent interview with The
Trentonian. “I am really concerned because people moved to the West Ward to improve their quality of life. In the West Ward, we are like the suburbs of the city. We need leadership.”
Gaines is a Trenton police chaplain and said her “whole life is one of service,” adding, “I am not a selfish leader.” If elected to a fouryear term, Gaines said she would actively communi-
cate with residents so that they are aware of noteworthy developments and issues of concern.
“The water crisis,” Gaines said, “West Ward residents weren’t aware of that water crisis. At the end of my four years, I would like the residents to say I appreciated them and I showed it by keeping them informed and engaged.”
Gaines, who has been married for 37 years with “two wonderful sons that are my heart,” said her “primary focus is becoming a change agent for the West Ward. It is time for change and it is time for betterment for the West Ward, and I am confident I am the one to step up to the plate and do it.”
While the West Ward boasts some of the safest neighborhoods in this 7.5-square-mile capital city, “Crime is going on everywhere,” Gaines said. “There are good people who live in the whole entire West Ward. Some of them are just facing difficulty. I am out there in those areas, Stuyvesant. I am out there on a regular basis.”
Robin Vaughn
Vaughn, an economist by profession, said she is running an economics-based campaign to “make sure the West Ward returns to its affluence.” She wants to support local businesses by creating a safe and prosperous environment for local shopping while attracting new investors and entrepreneurs into the capital city.
As one of the three challengers, Vaughn is perhaps the most explicit in criticizing incumbent Councilman Chester’s record of service.
“Zach served eight years, two terms, two mayors and clearly not successfully,” she said. “I am not happy as a resident, and that is why I have taken up the cause to run. I am not happy with the tax increases and the taxes don’t align with the level of services we have been receiving.”
“I do believe it is time for the West Ward to move forward with a new leader, someone who really understands and listens, and I just want to have their best interests in mind,” Vaughn said. “I am not being run by an outsider. I am a resident here. I am running my own campaign. I am not serving any special interests, only the interests of the residents here.”
From Glen Afton and Hiltonia to Cadwalader Heights and Berkeley Square, the West Ward has thriving neighborhoods coexisting in near proximity to troubled areas around Oakland Park Apartments, a housing complex formerly known as Roger Gardens.
“We still have very beautiful communities, beautiful homes,” Vaughn said of the West Ward. “We have the highest percentage of residents who are homeowners. I just want to over the next four years not only gauge the residents of the West Ward but also the business owners who operate here. I want to give them a safe space to do their business and to grow their business. I want to support the existing businesses and work to attract new business owners.”
“One of my main priorities is to grow the revenue base,” she added, “and look to identify other revenue sources in the West Ward other than tax revenue.”
The upshot
In the end, West Ward voters will decide whether they want Zachary Chester to continue representing them over the next four years. With three challengers seeking to unseat him, Chester could have a difficult time winning over 50 percent of the vote in the May 8 election.
If none of the West Ward council candidates receives over 50 percent of the vote on Tuesday, the candidates who finish first and second will have to compete in a June 12 runoff.
Chester is running confident, but his challengers have each articulated strong arguments for change.
“My opponents don’t understand that many of the things they are saying they are going to do, many of the things they can’t do,” Chester said. “There are laws. There are procedures. There are things that you have to do. I went in thinking I was going to change the City of Trenton, and some things have changed, but that change does not come as quick as many of my challengers think it is going to come. It’s going to take time.”