By Sunayana Prabhu
RED BANK – Memone Crystian, former chairperson of the Red Bank Housing Authority (RBHA), has accused Mayor Billy Portman and Deputy Mayor Kate Triggiano of using “political allegiance” to appoint two members to the commission.
The allegations, refuted by Triggiano and a few council members, were made during the borough council’s first regular meeting Jan. 11.
“There is no room for politics when it comes to affordable housing in Red Bank,” Crystian said, confronting the council about its decision to appoint Melissa Moore and Diem Jones to the RBHA during the reorganization meeting Jan. 1.
Crystian said she found it “ironic” that two “supporters of the Portman-Triggiano campaign” were appointed to the commission.
“I am not the campaign supporter of Portman, and most definitely not Kate Triggiano, but that did not impede my ability to serve the marginalized communities of Red Bank” and work with the mayor and council, said Crystian, who previously served as director of Parks and Recreation and is currently on the Red Bank Regional Board of Education.
“Your act is politics at its worst. And truly, I know, this is Kate Triggiano using her influence for vengeance and personal gain,” she said.
The RBHA administers two federally funded programs in the borough, public housing and housing choice vouchers. The housing program serves low-income residents with 90 subsidized housing units at two sites: Evergreen Terrace, with 50 units dedicated to elderly and disabled individuals, and Montgomery Terrace, with 40 units serving families.
The RBHA is overseen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Five commissioners are appointed by the mayor and council for five-year terms. Council member David Cassidy currently serves as the council liaison.
Crystian said she learned she was not reappointed to the commission around midday Dec. 31, 2023, the day her term expired. According to Crystian, Portman made the decision against the recommendation of RBHA’s executive director Lisa Richardson and Cassidy, who said he was also officially notified that day.
Cassidy said he supports the appointment of Moore, a resident of Cedar Crossing, another affordable housing community in the borough. “I do believe that putting a stakeholder” on the commission was important, he said. “We had a number of people from Cedar Crossing come through here. We were asked to give a voice on that council and that’s what we did.”
The vice-chair of RBHA, Alpha Reynolds-Lewis, said she now serves as the unsolicited de-facto chair of the RBHA, a substantial responsibility and a result she was not happy with. “You didn’t consult me” for the position, she said.
Reynolds-Lewis questioned the council about the eligibility of both appointees, asking Portman whether he reviewed the attendance records of the commissioners before the appointments were made. Reynolds-Lewis claims Jones, reappointed to the RBHA, has a house in town but “is not even in the state.”
Portman said the matter “did not come up” in the council’s discussions.
“I will tell you that there were actual, real concerns that led to that reappointment not being made,” Triggiano said of Crystian. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to be talking about that right up here because I respect Memone and I don’t really think that’s proper, but to say that anybody up here would do something because it wouldn’t help the town or do something because of a personal reason, is not true,” Triggiano said.
According to Reynolds-Lewis, Moore now presides on the boards of the RBHA and Cedar Crossing, a potential conflict of interest. She said the board of Cedar Crossing has, in the past, “disparaged the housing authority.” She noted the RBHA serves as Cedar Crossing’s property manager and the boards “have a very tenuous relationship.”
Reynolds-Lewis asked borough attorney Greg Cannon for clarification on the conflict which he declined to provide on privacy grounds.
Triggiano said, if such a conflict does exist, the council will “find somebody that’s suitable and appoint that individual.”
Some of the council members came to Triggiano’s defense at the Thursday meeting. “Kate Triggiano is a person of integrity and I value her,” Cassidy said. He noted that Crystian’s “disappointment” at not being reappointed to the commission is “justified,” but, “I don’t think that the opinion expressed was what was warranted. I think that she (Triggiano) has done too much for this town and for people selflessly to warrant that.”
Council member Nancy Facey-Blackwood backed Cassidy, reiterating that Triggiano “is a person of integrity. I’ve seen her take action for people, all the people in town, and there’s not one day when she’s not walking around town trying to help people.”
Council member Laura Jannone said, “I respect Kate Triggiano. I enjoy working with her and I don’t think that she’s political.”
Other Borough Business
In other borough business, Broadwalk, the seasonal pedestrian plaza that has opened every summer since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic on Broad Street from West Front Street to White Street, will be back for a fifth year. The council unanimously approved the introduction of an ordinance at the meeting to designate that portion of Broad Street as a seasonal pedestrian mall. According to the ordinance, Broadwalk will be closed to vehicular traffic 24 hours a day, seven days a week beginning the Monday following the second Sunday in May until Sept. 30 every year.
Broadwalk started off as an emergency measure to help businesses survive the COVID 19 pandemic. The seasonal event has helped “Red Bank businesses and Red Bank in general to compete with beach towns,” Tommy Handley, events marketing manager, Red Bank RiverCenter said thanking the council that by making Broadwalk permanent, the council “will have erased uncertainty allowing our downtown businesses a much greater opportunity to plan for the warm weather months.”
The council also introduced an ordinance to permanently close Emanuel Court, a one-lane alleyway located between JJ Delicacies and Rita’s Italian Ice, off W. Front Street and English Plaza, to vehicular traffic, making it a pedestrian plaza year-round.
The article originally appeared in the January 18 – January 24, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
