Amy Inman, the Democratic candidate for Hamilton mayor, speaks during the Mid-Jersey Chamber of Commerce’s mayoral candidates forum Oct. 8, 2015 at the Rose Garden in Hamilton. (Photo by Winfield Wetherbee.)
Amy Inman, 40, is the Democratic candidate for mayor of Hamilton Township. Originially picked to run for council, Inman became the mayoral candidate in July when Jill Moyer dropped out of the race. It is Inman’s first run for political office.
Inman works as an interior designer and owns Bordentown City-based Cabinets by Amy and Lauren. She has a bachelor’s in literature from St. John’s University in New York and an associate’s in interior design from The Art Institute of Philadelphia. Inman has two children—Giovanni, 9, and Lucia, 8—and a Siberian Husky named Ramona. She has been married to her husband, Peter Dabbene, for 17 years. (Dabbene, a writer, pens a monthly column for the Hamilton Post.) Inman has been involved with the PTA, and has volunteered for the homeless picnic, homeless movie night and to help Bromley fire victims, among her community service.
The Post’s Rob Anthes sat down with Inman Oct. 12 at her business in Bordentown to find out more about her and her platform. An abridged transcript follows:
Your candidacy was unexpected. This is your first run for political office. You operate a business, but Hamilton Township is a more complex entity. Do you think you’re really prepared to run the municipal government?
Amy Inman: Yes, I am prepared. The mayor has run around calling me the replacement candidate, but she’s actually the replacement mayor, if you look at the history of what happened.
I’ve always been a leader in everything that I do. I take on a task no matter how big or how difficult it is, and I figure out a way to accomplish the task. Whether that’s independently or by surrounding myself with people who are capable. I’ve broken through in the construction industry as a woman. I’m one of the only women who own a kitchen and bath business in Mercer or Burlington counties. I think that speaks volumes for the amount of drive I have.
Hamilton is much bigger than my company, but no one knows what it’s like to be the mayor until they’re actually the mayor. So, there will be a bit of a learning curve, but there was for Kelly Yaede as well. I have an understanding of politics, and my heart is in the right direction as far as serving the people of Hamilton.
One of the other things that really irritates me is that she walks around, and she calls herself the CEO of Hamilton. I made it a point to say that Hamilton is not a corporation, it’s a community. That’s forgotten. There are hearts. There are lives. There are people who are involved in this.
I have two children in public schools, so I’m very concerned about the fact that our mayor had no idea the playgrounds were closed on the first day of school. I think that shows she’s either completely oblivious about what’s going on, or she’s negligent. That’s unfair to us as taxpayers. Even though the Board of Ed and the municipal government are separate entities, there should be communication between the two. She has not been a good communicator to township residents, on any front.
You mentioned the playgrounds. They have been at the forefront of this campaign. Do they really deserve to be front and center in a mayoral race? Are school playgrounds the biggest issue in Hamilton right now?
AI: No, I think heroin is the biggest issue facing Hamilton Township, but I think the playgrounds are a symptom of the decline of the township. I think having 15 playgrounds closed is a very big symptom of a bigger problem—the lack of communication, the lack of funding, the lack of initiative. Those are all major issues in Hamilton.
The playgrounds definitely deserve a lot of attention because it shows the mayor is negligent or oblivious.
You brought your husband here from New York. Your two children are going to school here. Why is Hamilton the place you’ve chosen to raise your family?
AI: I pretty much grew up in Hamilton. I went to St. Anthony’s and McCorristin High School. My parents moved to Hamilton when I was 15. It really was a great community, and it has the potential to continue being a great community.
When I was growing up here, all of the shopping centers were filled. People aspired to move to Hamilton. Unfortunately, when I’m dropping my kids off in the morning and I talk to parents, their aspirations are to move out of Hamilton. I think the reason is because of the symptoms of a declining community, such as the playgrounds, such as the vacant shopping centers and the lack of vision for what this town can be. I have a vision for what this town can be. It includes big anchors, and that will solidify this town and make it a destination place again.
I like Hamilton because the community is relatively inexpensive. However, it does need a lot of improvement. It’s an aging community, and it needs a lot of improvement.
Your plan for big anchors are to improve the Arts and Culture District and to develop a transit village around the Hamilton train station. You’ve spent a lot of time laying out your plan for those. What happens if they don’t come to fruition? What if Mayor Yaede is right, and developers don’t want to touch the area around the train station? Is there a Plan B?
AI: Plan B is, No. 1, we have to start working on the 800 vacant homes [in the township], and they’re bank owned. It’s a matter of raising the fines and citations on those vacant homes, and issuing them and following up on them and calling every bank and understanding why we aren’t selling these homes, why aren’t we leasing them. Part of Plan B is community involvement. It’s going after the vacant shopping centers, and calling their owners relentlessly and finding out why we can’t get people to fill those shopping centers. Three, we need a larger police presence. I’ve already said I would eliminate the press secretary position and hire two more police officers.
I think there is a greater role for the community to play. It would be a volunteer and activism role. We used to have greenhouses in town where we would grow our own plants and plant them all over town. The town looked beautiful. We don’t do that anymore.
I also want to comb through the top cabinet members and all of their salaries—when I look at those it just aggravates me—and create a more efficient government. Our government is inefficient. Our township workers have been without a contract for three years. The morale is incredibly low, and I think that morale is pretty consistent across the township—the workers, the civilians.
I think that’s all consistent with Plan A. I really do think we’ll be successful with Plan A. New Jersey Transit wanted that transit village so badly, and I think they’re waiting for new leadership to bring it back in. Once we have that, there’s no stopping us. It’s going to blow up, how many people are going to be here.
If you’re elected mayor, what’s your plan for transition? Would you keep any of the current township directors?
AI: I would definitely would need to go through and see how effective each of those directors are. Initially, I would say no. They’ve been power, in these leadership positions, for many years, going back to the last, corrupt administration.
I certainly know the economic development director would be different because I feel that the person who holds that position [Michael Angarone] is not qualified to hold that position. The state of business in the township is evident of that. There’s been nothing new coming into the township. So I know for a fact that position changes. I know for a fact the press secretary position is eliminated because we can hire two new police with that salary.
As far as everyone else, I want to interview. I want a new interview from the person who holds it, as well as new people who are excited to create change and positive things in Hamilton.
You’d be able to hire two police officers on the mayoral aide salary?
AI: I believe so. I believe he makes around $100,000, and two police officers right out of the academy make $45,000 to $50,000.
An issue that has come up not because of the campaign but during the campaign is fire district consolidation. Where do you stand?
AI: Most importantly, there needs to be leadership. I need clearer answers about what the best plan is for Hamilton, and I haven’t been given them from anyone. I’m setting up meetings with commissioners and with captains to get the details on each scenario that could possibly affect Hamilton. It’s a reactive move the Mayor had going to the state. Why do we want Chris Christie making a decision about our firefighters instead of the community making the decision about our firefighters? She’s been completely silent on this issue until I called her out at the forum [Oct. 8], and all of a sudden, she’s going to Chris Christie to make the decisions for Hamilton Township.
She should have been at that fire consolidation meeting [Oct. 5]. She didn’t show up. As a leader, she needs to sit down and found out what the options are, and tell the people what the options are. Not necessarily take a stance what is best because it is our right to decide. That’s what I would do. I would gather all of the information. I would hold a town hall meeting, which is what I’ve been doing throughout the campaign. Hamilton’s too big. The communication is not there for 90,000 people to access.
What about your stance on fire consolidation?
AI: I’m totally for a consolidated fire district. What we have now is antiquated. It doesn’t make sense. And it’s costing the taxpayers $450,000 to have 45 fire commissioners, which I think is obscene. Any consolidation is better than what we have now. We just have to figure which plan is better. Is the municipal plan better or is the district plan better?
During the Oct. 8 mayoral forum, you accused the current administration of keeping taxes flat by playing with surplus and taking on debt. What would you do differently?
AI: A lot of this is hinged on efficient government, which currently we’re not running. It’s hinged on what we can bring in on economic development, which what the current administration is proposing is not going to help us. The tax rate was stable this year because it was an election year. During her first year in office, she raised taxes. We have a lot of things we’re facing as far as road decline and the schools, which of course is a different budget. Combing through the government and finding the inefficiencies is No. 1. No. 2 is the economic development. It has to bring in more of a stable base for Hamilton. I think it’s 70 percent is coming off of taxpayers to run this government. That’s seems like it’s too much to me.
What you’ve talked about is a cycle, regardless of the party. The mayor comes in, and the first year, taxes increase. In an election year, taxes stay flat. So, if you win, do you think you’d be able to keep taxes flat your first year?
AI: Unfortunately, I don’t know what I’m facing going in. I would say that I would able to keep them flat initially, until I’m able to figure out what exactly we’re working with. Then, hopefully, we’ll be able to keep them flat, but we have to see exactly what the issues are that we’re facing.
I mean, $93-million in debt? That’s a big egg.
You’re a small business owner, and one of the criticisms of you is that you did not locate your business in Hamilton Township. You said that was because of safety concerns. Is that really the reason?
AI: I went with several realtors to several different locations to look at retail spaces. For the price they were charging, I could not afford to be in Hamilton. No. 2, my average cabinet sale is $25,000. I cannot bring clients into a vacant shopping center, and assure them I could be safe with $25,000 of their money. A lot of it is presentation. My whole entire world is presentation. I don’t think anyone in their right mind would feel safe alone, at night, in a vacant shopping center. I can’t be the only business in the shopping center, and have people trust they’re going feel safe or think I’m a prosperous business. Yeah, it has a lot to do with safety and presentation. It’s not that I didn’t look. I certainly did.
At the beginning of the interview, you said you thought the heroin epidemic was the biggest problem facing Hamilton. Can a mayor make a difference?
AI: Definitely. We had more Narcan deployments than any other community in Mercer County. That’s just what the police deployed. That doesn’t include EMTs. That doesn’t include the ER. We have a health crisis on our hands.
There’s a lot of shame entangled with the heroin crisis, and one of the things the mayor needs to do is to take the shame away from families, and help them get help. One of the proposals I’ve offered creates no burden on the taxpayer and probably would relieve a burden on the taxpayer. It’s called Project SAVE. It is being instituted in Gloucester Township, New Jersey. It allows a police officer to call on a recovery group like Recovery Advocates of America or City of Angels, and come in and do an intervention instead of an arrest. It’d allow those people to go for treatment instead of getting tied up in the municipal court system, which is costing us a lot of money annually. That is an initiative the Mayor needs to take from me and run with right now. It’s free. It’s a golden nugget. Nobody is responsible for it moneywise. It’s a volunteer organization that comes in and takes that problem off our hands.
We should be talking about this. It’s a real problem. It’s an ugly problem, but it’s a real problem. It’s a health crisis. It’s affecting middle schoolers. It’s affecting high schooler, grandmothers, parents. It’s affecting everyone.
What do you think voters need to know about you to make an informed decision on Election Day?
AI: I’m not a career politician. I’m an active community member. I volunteer. That is how I ended up in politics, I was looking for volunteer opportunities. I volunteered to help feed homeless people. I volunteered my time in the Bromley section after the fire, distributing shower curtains, pots and pans, to people who were left with nothing. When I realized the voids we have in Hamilton, that’s what inspired me to want to do this. I know I can make a difference, and I know that I want to help. My initiative throughout my life, as far as doing things that people said I shouldn’t do or couldn’t do, is a good reason for me to be a leader of this community. I can take an obstacle and figure out a way through it.
Government by its nature is obstructive. There are checks and balances. You’d be working with a council that will be at the very least majority Republican. How would you deal with that?
AI: I’m not the type of person who can’t work well with others.
I have a way of communicating with people that is currently lacking in the administration. If the ideas are good enough and they’re rational enough and they’re proven to bring in positive changes, then they’re going to want to work with me. I’ve had great conversations with Ed Gore, with Dennis Pone, with Kevin Meara. I think I could very easily work with them as far as getting changes in Hamilton. We all want that. I think everyone sees what’s happening in Hamilton. Everyone sees a certain amount of decline that needs to be tackled.
The biggest item on your economic development platform is a transit village. The Republicans came into power in 2005 partly because of their vocal opposition to the housing development by the train station. So, how are you going to convince them a transit village is now a good idea?
AI: We now have a proven record of the success of transit villages. I can clearly illustrate that on paper, numerically, and show this is an effective way to bring economic development to our community. It’s also important to point out that we are being superseded by Bordentown City, Ewing and Princeton Junction. And the reason those three communities have chosen to do this is because it’s proven to bring economic development to a community.
Congoleum is huge part of the areaaround the train station, and what happens to it is out of municipal government’s control. You can have meetings with them, but they decide what happens to that site. How would you handle that uncertainty? How would you work with developers knowing that uncertainty is there?
AI: I believe the Mayor had said she wanted to see a mini transit village over there. I would illustrate to them that no one is going to get off a train after an hour and half of commuting, and choose to walk across a highway [Sloan Avenue] instead of going 100 feet to their car. If they plan on doing some mixed-use, mini transit village over there, I can pretty much assure you it will fail.
What I feel needs to go there leads into our Arts District, and that is a performing arts center. It’s a big opportunity for the owner of that property to create something that is really going to generate a lot of revenue for this town and for them. We have millions of square footage of vacant mixed-use space. That needs to really be presented to them. Maybe they just aren’t thinking about something bigger, and maybe something bigger needs to be presented to them.
How do you plan on enticing to Hamilton the things you’re envisioning for the Arts and Culture District—art galleries and designers and architects and performing arts centers?
AI: It’s part of a long-term plan. I don’t think we can entice people to pop up and open a gallery because there’s nothing there right now. What we need to do is get our anchors in place. If there’s a transit village, there’s a reason to come to Hamilton. If there’s a performing arts center, there’s even more of a reason to come to Hamilton. The next item of development is an Architecture and Design Building. Currently, as a designer in this community, the only place I can go for fabric, for items like that, is New York or Philadelphia. If we created something so big in Central Jersey, it’s so easily accessible for anyone to get to, from Red Bank to Newark to Collingswood. It’s closer, and it would be a great thing. Once you have those things in place, people will see this is an area worth investing in. The galleries will open, and the eateries.
Speaking idealistically, I would love to see a piazza where all of those things sprout up, and you have community area to hang out and play and eat and shop and grow your mind.
How would the township pay for all these ideas?
AI: As far as the transit village, there’s money there for us. We just have to get them to call us back. There was money previously. Unfortunately, when we ran New Jersey Transit out of town, the money disappeared. Private investors and free money that’s available through the government, through grants, through New Jersey Transit. That’s the first initiative for the transit village.
For the performing arts center, hopefully there would be people interested in investing in that privately. And I’m sure there would. I think when they see the possibility. Again, when you have the data and the information to bring to them as far as successful scenarios, I don’t think you’ll have an issue finding private investors.
The township already uses private investors, though, for things like the Independence Day fireworks and Septemberfest. Where are we going to find willing private investors to support a transit village and a performing arts center?
AI: I think they’re thinking too small. When I first mentioned corporate sponsors to fix our playgrounds, the reaction from a school board member was, “Well, you know, we called Hamilton Honda. But they’ve given so much to us.”
I’m not talking about calling Hamilton Honda. I’m talking about calling Honda itself, and getting them to sponsor things. I think that, yes, we need those small businesses and small business owners who are going to fund our fireworks and our Septemberfest and our Fall Harvest. But we need to think bigger than that for this type of an investment. We need to prove to them why it would beneficial for them to invest in Hamilton. That’s the role of the economic developer. That’s what we have not seen in the last three years, and before that because I believe he was in that position in the Bencivengo administration as well.
Why is it worth it for a corporation like Honda to invest in Hamilton Township?
AI: Because we have 90,000 residents. That’s 90,000 potential Honda drivers. Because we’re the 9th largest municipality in all of New Jersey. Because this is a smart growth plan instead of a pop-up, retail establishment. That is very beneficial to them.
We’ve focused a lot on the business end of your platform. What else is there to highlight?
AI: Communication. It is my goal as mayor to host town hall meetings in every single community in Hamilton. We have 17 elementary schools in very diverse economic areas. My goal is to have town hall meetings in the elementary schools once a month, so I can communicate with the people of that exact community, what their needs are.
In hosting these forums throughout this campaign, we have discovered the youth in Hamilton want a youth center. This was one of my favorite meetings we had because the room was divided, half were senior citizens and the other half were students from the GALRE classes at Nottingham. The kids said they wanted a youth center. A senior citizens said, “We have one of the most amazing senior centers; it closes at 6 p.m. Wouldn’t it be great if we could transfer the service over?” This came from people in our community. It didn’t come from me. The ideas are out there. People want to work together. Just by having open discussions, that’s how you learn those great ideas.
Communication, for me, that’s my mantra. Everything can be solved if just know what’s going on in the community. You’re not going to know what’s going on with 90,000 residents if you’re not going out to them. This idea of taking the door off the office is total gimmick. What has she done to go out to the communities and find out what the issues are? Nothing. In this day and age, when information comes to us, that’s what people expect. I’m going to go to the community, and listen.
People are busy. How are you going to get them to attend your town hall meetings?
AI: People come to my open forums, so they already want to have an active involvement. You’re not going to reach everyone. But if they’re video recorded and posted on the website, then people can access them.
You’re right. People are very busy. I have two kids. I have a husband. I have a dog. I have a business. But I still manage to get to those people. So, it’s a matter of will. The people who want to participate are going to participate. The people who can’t aren’t going to be able to. But at least we can record it, and they can see it.
One of the things Mayor Yaede has emphasized as a highlight of her tenure is communication. They’ve launched a township Twitter feed. They’ve bolstered their presence on Facebook. They just launched an account on Instagram. They have an email blast list. Would you continue all that?
AI: Absolutely, you have to have multiple levels of reaching people. I think those are great ways to reach people.
I’ve actually criticized the police because I don’t think they’ve put enough information out there on Facebook. The Trenton Police, they have a wonderful program they’ve initiated. They highlight a police officer on Facebook. They tell you who they are, their background, and kind of making them a recognizable community member, which is portraying them in a positive light. That’s an awesome thing. I think we should do that with Hamilton Police officers.
I saw something that warmed my heart the other day. I was driving past Hamilton West, and there was a police cruiser there. There were four kids around the cruiser, and they were laughing and joking with the police officer. I pulled up and said, “This has got to be one of the best sights I’ve seen in a long time.” That’s what I’d like to see more of. There’s such a wall. A lot of it seems to be because we don’t have the capacity to patrol areas. But there’s a wall between the community and the police. They don’t know them. They’re not active with them. I feel like we’re missing something there.
I don’t think there’s enough information out there on Facebook. I don’t do Instagram, so I don’t know anything about that, but it should be out there since a lot of other people do. Twitter, the same thing. I would definitely keep those. I think they are great. We should expand on that. But I also think we need to get out in the communities and let people see there is a leader around, not just someone you plug into on your phone.
You just mentioned communication and the police. The lack of communication has been a critique of the Hamilton Police for a long time. It spans political parties and mayoral administrations. What would you do differently to change that?
AI: Well, establishing a relationship with the PBA president is No. 1. Establishing a good relationship with the chief. And maybe the reason why the communication has been lacking with the police department is because of the leadership that’s been power in the police department. Maybe it’s time for a change.
Maybe they’re stuck. Maybe they don’t know how to talk to other people. Maybe if they’re presented an idea, they’ll say, “That’s a great idea. Why didn’t I think of that?”
I don’t have all of the answers or all of the ideas. I get them from listening to people or seeing them on Facebook. The Trenton Police Department, the last year, they’ve really had a push to interact with the community. They sponsor these Thanksgiving football games. They sponsor a basketball tournament at the holiday time. They are being very proactive to get the police and the community to like each other. I think we can do a lot more of that in Hamilton.
,
