Election 2023: David Cassidy, Candidate For Red Bank Council

RED BANK, NJ — Voters in Red Bank go to the polls May 9 for the first-ever nonpartisan election for Mayor and Borough Council.

The mayor and council positions are all up for election in May as part of the borough's charter change to a nonpartisan Council/Manager form of government, approved by a wide margin of residents in last November's election. The new government will be seated in July.

There are 13 council candidates and two candidates running for mayor. There is a field of two teams, running as Red Bank's Ready and Red Bank Together, and one independent candidate, running under the designation Dedicated to Representing Red Bank.

Voters may vote for up to six candidates for council and up to one candidate for mayor.

Leading up to the election, profiles of all candidates who responded to a Patch questionnaire will be published. Responses were requested to be returned by April 16, and these profiles reflect issues as of that date. For those who did not yet respond, the dates of those responses will be noted in future stories.

Candidates were asked about their background and experience and their positions on two big issues in the borough - cannabis business regulation and short-term rentals, as well as their vision for the borough.

Today, council candidate David Cassidy of the Red Bank's Ready team is featured.

Cassidy is a Planning Board member and longtime Red Bank Fire Department member.

Candidates provided their own answers to the following questions, with editing for style only:

• Name: David Cassidy
• Address: 79 McLaren St.
• Position sought: Red Bank Council
• Are you an incumbent or have you been involved in other positions in borough or school government?: I am not an incumbent. I have served on the Planning Board for six years and with the Red Bank Fire Department for 15 years. I am currently the captain of the Hook & Ladder and was named Red Bank’s 2022 Firefighter of the Year.
• Campaign website: redbanksready.com
• Background: I am married with a 12-year-old son. My wife and I moved to Red Bank in 2008 upon purchasing our home. Professionally, I am a documentary filmmaker, having earned a Peabody Award, four Emmy Nominations, and a host of other accolades for our nationally broadcast work. I also produce documentary podcasts and serve as a professor of Practice with Wake Forest University’s graduate Documentary Film Program where I teach Law & Ethics in Documentary and Documentary Storytelling & Producing.
• Educationally, I have a BS and MAMC from the University of Florida, and have been studying for my law degree part-time at Seton Hall University School of Law. I am now completing my third year of part-time legal studies and will complete that degree in Spring 2024.

1. Why are you seeking office or seeking re-election? Is there a particular issue or concern that you want to see improved in Red Bank that sparks your desire to govern?

I believe in service, I have a proven record of serving the Red Bank community and believe it will translate to the Borough Council.

Further, I am disappointed by the lack of transparency and proper process by the current Borough Council majority. This is literally the most basic matter for elected officials and, still, residents feel mislead, kept in the dark and disrespected. My pledge to Red Bank residents is this: you might not always agree with how I vote on an issue but you will be heard and respected in the process.

As to specific issues, support for our first responders, particularly our volunteer firefighters, is critical. The volunteer fire department is 150 years old and provides an essential service. We need elected officials who are proactive in meeting the needs of the department, not those who only do what is right when called out publicly as happened at the recent (April 12) budget introduction.

The health and safety of our first responders should never be turned into a political issue, that the department even had to appear in council chambers is too much. But the current council majority repeatedly ignored the requests of the volunteers, and that should not happen. If elected, I will ensure, as Councilwoman (Kate) Triggiano has, that we are working hard for those individuals.

2. The short-term rental ordinance recently adopted by the Council brought out lots of opinion from the public, pro and con. What is your position on the adopted ordinance? If you are an incumbent, why did you vote for or against it?

A municipality has a right to regulate, however, there is such a thing as overreach and that is what took place with that ordinance.

There was one problem property in Red Bank. It needed to be regulated, but instead of addressing the limited issue the current majority created the most restrictive ordinance they could. They took the property rights from those who lived in the very homes they were renting. This was a complete overreach and in my opinion a taking of those homeowners' property rights.

This ordinance needs to be reevaluated to at least lift the restriction on owner-occupied short term rentals. The current majority claimed this was to make Red Bank affordable, however, by eliminating owner-occupied short term rentals they took a revenue stream away from people who relied on that income to meet their mortgages and make Red Bank affordable to their family.

Not every ordinance needs to work in extremes; there are middle grounds. Unfortunately this amounts to a restriction on property rights that exceeds what I am comfortable imposing on residents.

3. Another issue facing the borough is how cannabis sales or production is regulated. The recently adopted ordinance provides more regulation, but do you feel it addresses concerns both of the public and the businesses seeking approval?

I am the only official elected or appointed who voted against the original ordinance. I appreciate being on a slate of people that differ with me, it is crucial for functional government to have differences of opinion. I pled for restrictions from the beginning.

I had two current council members promise to meet with me as a member of the Planning Board and they failed to follow through. We need government that will address issues up front and not attempt to lead from behind, as we are seeing with the current council majority.

My issue is this: This ordinance that I opposed has been on the books since July 2021, around 19 months. A hallmark of good government is consistency and reliability. In reliance of the ordinance that Mr. (Michael) Ballard and Mr. (Ed) Zipprich supported, people invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to plan businesses. To pull the rug out from under them is horrible governance.

There is a way to balance the needs of the community with those who relied on this ordinance, but the current amended ordinance is drawn in an arbitrary manner that doesn’t take into account those reliance interests. We need an amended ordinance that meets the concerns of people like me and of those who relied on that ordinance.

Other candidates in the May 9 election

Here is the ballot lineup for mayor and council, chosen in a random drawing last month.

Mayor:

• First position, Billy Portman, Red Bank's Ready
• Second position, Tim Hogan, Red Bank Together

Council:

• First position, Red Bank Together
• Second position, Suzanne "Sue" Viscomi (Dedicated to Representing Red Bank)
• Third position, Red Bank's Ready

Click on the links below to read more about the candidates from past stories. Click on individual names that are highlighted to read their candidate profiles, as they are published during the three weeks before the election:

Red Bank Together: Leading the team is mayoral candidate Tim Hogan, Riverview Medical Center president, along with incumbent Borough Council candidates Michael Ballard, Jacqueline Sturdivant and John Jackson. Rounding out the team is Sean Murphy, a Red Bank Zoning Board member; Linda Hill, and Erin Fleming.

Suzanne Viscomi: Viscomi, a Red Bank school board member, is running independently, with the designation Dedicated to Representing Red Bank.

Red Bank's Ready: Mayor Billy Portman for mayor leads the team. Running for council seats are current Councilmember Kate Triggiano; Ben Forest of the Red Bank school board; former Charter Study Commission Chairperson Nancy Facey-Blackwood; and David Cassidy, Laura Jannone, and Kristina Bonatakis.