Trenton’s Mayor Eric E. Jackson starts the interview with an understatement, “There’s a lot of work to do.” Jackson is referring to crime—a major problem both on the street and in political offices, including that of his predecessor Tony Mack, who will be serving nearly five years for corruption.
“We know that crime is the overarching priority that we have to face with a good plan. It’s our priority,” Jackson says.
But addressing crime is just one of the urgent matters that Jackson faces in a city that has a litany of recent woes and disappointments, many generated by other elected officials.
“People hurt,” Jackson says. “They’re looking for transparent leadership from city hall. It’s a time for healing and the city to come together, for one vision to bring the city forward.”
It is easy for Jackson to personify the voice of the city—it is his too.
Jackson was born on Aug. 12, 1958 at the St. Francis Medical Center on Hamilton Avenue, he said as he spoke about his background, experiences and his reason for running for mayor. “I grew up in the Wilbur section on Euclid Avenue. I literally lived six doors down for the El Bethel Baptist Church,” says Jackson, the fifth of seven siblings.
Jackson’s late father, Otto, worked as cylinder operator at Mercer Oxygen and Supply on Fifth Avenue in Ewing. His job was to put gas in tanks used by hospitals and ambulatory care facilities.
His mother, Gladys, who still lives on Euclid Avenue, “worked in retail for the greater part of her career. People remember her from Kushner’s Men’s clothing store on East State Street and Olden Avenue. And Silk’s Pharmacy, and then later when it became Eckerd Drugs. Before going to Silk’s, she worked for Gary Reese at Suit World in downtown Trenton,” he says.
While Jackson originally attended the Trenton Public Schools, he says that he wanted more. “I asked my mother to consider letting me go somewhere else for a challenge. I focused on the academic college bound program, but thought I could be challenged more to do more. She jumped on it and asked what school I wanted to go to. I selected the Hun School,” he says, adding that he named the school only because he had heard about it and thought it had a good reputation.
Jackson says that to make private school a reality, “My mom worked very hard. She is a very progressive woman and had countless meetings with the headmaster and the staff. She was bold and told him that it would be good for the school to have me there. She couldn’t pay a lot, but she worked out a financial arrangement. Dr. (Paul R.) Chesebro was gracious to allow me to come there with minimal contributions from my family.”
Jackson graduated from Hun in 1976 and went on to get a business degree at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Looking at his late teens and early 20s, he says, “I was in academics. The Hun school required the student to participate in recreation or scholastic activity. I was on the basketball team for half-a-minute. I studied and focused on my school work. At an early age I was working on helping out at my local church. My focus was on my family and church.”
The Jackson family had originally attended St. Paul A.M.E. Church on North Willow Street, but the future mayor joined El Bethel Baptist Church, which was under the leadership of the influential Reverend John A. Gaines Sr., who was eulogized as Trenton’s Pastor. “I joined that church. It was there that I garnered a strong spiritual foundation and leadership acumen. I became a trustee in my early 20s and become an ordained deacon,” Jackson says.
Today he worships and serves at Calvary Missionary Baptist Church on East State Street, several blocks from both city hall and the street where he grew up.
Jackson says all but eight years of his life have been spent in Trenton. After college he took a job with Citibank at its headquarters in Maryland. “I stayed there for a number of years. Since the mid ’80s I have been back,” Jackson says, who was employed as director of operations and personnel for the nonprofit Henry J. Austin Center.
He says he returned to Trenton for several reasons. “My family was here. I had a great and strong family foundation and came home to pursue opportunities.” He also had a child. “I met my first wife in college. We were married for a couple of years and had our only son, Adrian. The marriage part didn’t work out for us. (She and I) remain friends today.”
He is now married, for seven years, to Trenton native Denise Johnson Jackson.
On the topic of his wife’s thoughts on his decision to enter politics and mount two bids for mayor, including a defeat four years ago, Jackson says, “She actually likes it. When I lost in 2010 she was my major supporter. She said ‘keep you head up.’ She was extremely encouraging and remains that today.”
Jackson says that his involvement with city hall came from his interaction with members of Mayor Douglas Palmer’s administration. “Wendy Long Harris was the director of health and human service, and we collaborated on projects between the (Austin) center and the City of Trenton. At one point she thought it would be a good idea to come to the city hall.”
Since then Jackson has had a 17-year career with the City of Trenton, supervising the division of health accounts, serving as head of economic opportunities, and then serving as director of public works.
“When Mayor Mack came in, I stayed on. He asked me to serve as an assistant business administrator. Then l was asked by (acting business manager) William Guhl to take a position with the (Trenton) Water Works as billing supervisor and oversee billing and customer service. I was there maybe a year and a quarter.”
Under both the Palmer and Mack administrations, the Trenton Water Works was a center of controversy. Palmer promoted selling the revenue-generating entity to a private company and did not fill vacancies. Mack appointed people to run the entity, resulting in charges of cronyism, incompetence and improprieties.
Jackson left the Trenton administration to serve as director of public works and urban development for the City of Plainfield and had been on leave during the election.
Jackson says that his decision to run for mayor “was not a lifelong dream. I wanted to contribute to my society and make my family proud. I found myself in government and was asked to work in the city. I wanted to be challenged to do more and learn. I learned how government worked. I thought I would rather be a business administration. Others came to me and said that you would provide more leadership. I prayed on it, and my wife prayed on it.”
He says that his third place showing in the 2010 election encouraged him to run again in 2014.
The man who has never held an elected office looks back to when he was growing up and recalls the “very strong legacy” of Mayor Arthur Holland, a respected leader who held office for 26 years. “He was a mayor who was much beloved by the citizens. You called him and he would lend a hand. No matter what your race or background was. He was the people’s mayor. His impact and legacy is something that I want to embrace. I want to make sure that I am a mayor who is accessible to all people. I want to be a mayor who will equally touch people, and residents will have access to me. I will be a mayor for the people. “
After several years of malaise in the city, people want to see positive change. Some citizens fear that Jackson, who served as director of public works under the Palmer and Mack administrations, may continue business as usual. “Same Old Same Old,” noted a prominently placed billboard.
“My record is clear and documented. There was never a question of improprieties in my department. My record chronicles the improvement to the department, the technologies, and empowering people to do their work. For those who characterize this administration as Palmer II, I will say, ‘That is wrong. This is the Eric Jackson administration, and that brand will show through,’” he says.
About the task ahead, Jackson says, “It is a time of healing and transition as well. It’s time to turn from a cloudy history to a bright future for the City of Trenton.” Bright or cloudy, the reality is that it is a new season in the capital city, and there is a lot of work ahead.
Mayor Eric Jackson,
