By TAPinto West Orange Staff
PublishedSeptember 13, 2024 at 4:51 PM
TAPinto West Orange is featuring town council candidate profiles. They will be posted as the candidates respond to our queries.
TAPinto: Why are you running for the West Orange Town Council?
Jonathan Redwine: I’m running for Town Council because West Orange needs principled, proactive leadership to address fiscal issues and quality of life issues we all know have existed for a long time. We need to reduce our use of fossil fuels and transition to renewable energy sources. We need to create safe and secure public spaces. We need to better manage our golf course and recycling center -- resources that West Orange owns. And we need to set specific goals around these issues and other priorities as part of a clear, responsible fiscal plan focused on the long-term well-being of our residents.
Right now, West Orange does not do a good enough job planning, and we do not create budget projections and goals. As a result, our municipal government is constantly scrambling to triage issues as they arise, but fails to plan for any of them.
If elected, I will work with all elected officials and township employees to formulate three- and five-year budget plans that prioritize transition from fossil fuels, preservation and expansion of our tree canopy, improvement of our public spaces, and setting goals for revenue generation from assets that we own - including the 12+ acre recycling center and Rock Spring Golf Club.
TAPinto: What are your professional qualifications?
Redwine: I’m an attorney who practiced in New York City for about 20 years after graduating from Emory Law School in 2001. I started my career in the Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where I investigated and prosecuted financial crimes. I next worked for a large insurance company for about a year conducting internal investigations, and then moved to work for a large international law firm, conducting internal investigations and representing individuals and companies before federal and state prosecutors’ offices. I then worked the remainder of my career for the New York Stock Exchange and its parent company as regulatory counsel, representing securities exchanges before the SEC and other regulatory bodies.
I retired in 2021 so that I could dedicate my energy to critical issues and causes and to make a difference in my community.
I’ve been involved in local and regional politics for about eight years since I helped my wife, Elizabeth, to found Essex Rising, a local political activist organization that helped work to elect Mikie Sherrill to the U.S. House of Representatives and Cindy Matute Brown to West Orange Town Council in 2018. More recently I have served our town as the Chair of the Sustainability Committee and for the last few months have been on the Environmental Commission, working to oppose the proposed development at West Essex Highlands as they threaten to flatten a forest in order to build almost 500 rental units.
TAPinto: Have you volunteered for West Orange before?
Redwine: Yes, I have been extensively involved around West Orange town government for several years now.
Currently I serve on the town’s Environmental Commission and am Chair of the Sustainability Committee. In our committee we are quantifying West Orange’s carbon footprint so that the town may set goals for fossil fuel reductions and conversion to alternative energy sources.
Earlier this summer I was appointed to the Essex County Environmental Commission.
I am on the Board of the West Orange Scholarship Committee, which awards more than $100,000 worth of scholarships to graduating seniors of West Orange High School each year. In 2024 the Committee awarded a record $163,500 to graduating seniors bound for colleges and universities of all kinds. That incredible organization has been supporting students from West Orange for 100 years.
After the remnants of Hurricane Ida caused a landslide adjacent to the Ron Jolyn apartment complex on Northfield Avenue, I led an effort to raise $10,000 to help families displaced from their homes to buy groceries and help with incidental expenses while getting back on their feet.
I served on the Zoning Board of Adjustment for almost four years, hearing property owners’ request for variance or exemption from zoning laws.
When the New Jersey cannabis laws were changing, I served on the town’s cannabis committee alongside the Chief of Police, two council members, and other private citizens to create a reasonable application process to protect our town and ensure that we can benefit from additional tax revenue that this industry promises to municipalities.
TAPinto: What are your objectives?
Redwine: I aim to improve the way our town is governed so that we can set and achieve goals to support our priorities. Too often in our town we see half-baked announcements that seem never to come to fruition, or proposals that appear to be “done deals,” not for real discussion or debate, but seem to be concluded in the back room rather than in the light of day -– the West Orange library move comes to mind. This needs to change.
We need real public discussion about major proposals that impact public spaces and our quality of life. We need plans that are developed through healthy, open debate, with clear goals and timelines so that our officials can be held accountable.
TAPinto: How long have you lived in West Orange?
Redwine: My wife and I moved to West Orange in Spring of 2004, very soon after our first child was born. He is now a junior in college and followed by a now 18 year-old college freshman, and two 16 year-old West Orange High School juniors.
TAPinto: Do you have a campaign slogan?
Redwine: Yes, my slogan encapsulates what I think our town needs more of: Principled Leadership For West Orange.
TAPinto: What are your hobbies?
Redwine: Since the pandemic I have gotten very interested in sailing and am always looking for opportunities to be on the water. I also enjoy swimming at the JCC and going for walks around our neighborhood. In the winter I love skiing with my kids and extended family, and we all love to travel.
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