Hawkins becomes mayor of the City of Orange

Judge Michelle Hollar-Gregory swears in Mayor Eldridge Hawkins, left, as Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) looks on. 

ORANGE - The son of a former beauty queen and crusading Civil Rights attorney, Eldridge Hawkins, Jr., took the oath of office today as Mayor of the City of Orange in a well-attended and star-studded ceremony in the Middle School auditorium.

"On Day One of our new administration, I don’t say to you, 'Just watch what I can do in City Hall,'" the new mayor challenged the crowd. "Instead, I say, 'Get involved in every way that you can.' Together we will create new ways for you to participate in the building of a better and more prosperous Orange.

"And I say, 'Come with me to City Hall, and together, we’re going to turn our city around!' The future is now!"

Elected two months ago to replace the now convicted Mayor Mims Hackett, Hawkins literally walked up a red carpet rolled out onto the concrete in front of the school, and faced a sea of Orange residents and luminaries that included singing star Dionne Warwick.

His sister, Hillary, sang the National Anthem.

"This is a young man not even half my age, who is stepping up and being a role model for all of our other young people," Gov. Jon Corzine said of the 29-year old West Orange police officer.

Gov. Jon Corzine

Backing Hawkins up on-stage were Corzine, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex).U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) in Orange today.

Codey was especially happy.

"You’ve got two governors and a U.S. senator here, Eldridge, you must be doing something right," Codey told the new mayor.

It was the senate president and former governor who along with his former Assembly colleague, Eldridge Hawkins, Sr., engineered the younger Hawkins’s nearly $100,000 campaign victory over At-Large Councilman Donald Page and a field of four other candidates.

"It’s great to come home," said the only Orange native in the history of New Jersey governors. "I spent many a day in this auditorium. Unfortunately, it was for detention."

Codey praised the new mayor for his work ethic and humility.

"He never talks down to anyone," Codey said of Hawkins. "With him, everyone is at the same level."

Hawkins, in the weeks since the people elected him on May 13, has held town hall meetings and solicited ideas for how to help restore Orange pride in the wake of Hackett's conviction on corruption charges.

"I have been inspired, energized, and deeply moved by the large attendance at these meetings, the wonderful... suggestions we have received, and the fierce determination of citizens to get involved and cooperate with each other to make our city better," he said.

In the valley neighborhood of the South Ward, where the mayor resides, 34 hat-making factories once provided the 2.2-square mile city with an economic engine that is no more.

In his speech to the people of Orange, Hawkins promised to attract new tax-paying businesses, and help existing businesses grow and thrive. In the valley neighborhood, where the mayor resides, 34 hat-making factories once provided the 2.2-square mile city with an economic engine that is no more.

"We will redevelop abandoned and underutilized buildings," said the mayor. "In doing this we will model ourselves after cities such as Newark that have successfully begun to reinvent themselves. We will aggressively market the City of Orange by launching a major initiative to show businesses the enormous advantages of locating here." 

Also attending the inaugural were Newark Mayor Cory Booker, East Orange Mayor Robert Bowser, Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex), Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-South Orange), Newark council President Mildred Crump, and Newark Councilman Ronald C. Rice.

Running a law and order campaign enhanced by a barrage of mail and steady drum beat of shoe leather, Hawkins's victory over Page ultimately hinged on the GOTV efforts conducted by Codey ally Neil Cohen and Hawkins, Sr.

Page campaign manager Michael Vieira admits he and Page probably took Orange’s seven senior citizen high-rises for granted. A long-serving councilman, Page had always been strong with seniors, but Hawkins, Sr., and Cohen targeted each senior voter and worked them with floor captains who aggressively got out the vote on Election Day.

Page had also tried to convince Zoning Board Chair Janice Morrell to run with him, but Morrell instead ran for mayor against Page and Hawkins, and further divided the vote in the senior community.

Former Orange Councilman Ben Jones in the audience with Nicole Williams.

Nicole Williams, who supported Page for mayor, said she has been impressed so far with Hawkins’s decision to hold town hall meetings as the mayor-elect. The meetings, said Williams, have been successful and well-attended.

Superior Court Judge Michelle Hollar-Gregory swore Hawkins into office with Codey joining the new mayor’s family at center stage.

"I'm very proud of my son," said the senior Hawkins. "I can't change his diapers anymore and I can't tell him what to do anymore."

The governing body also received three newly sworn-in councilmembers-at-large: Elroy Corbitt, Rayfield Morton, and Donna K. Williams, who joined Council President Lisa Perkins, councilwoman Tency Eason, Councilman Hassan Abdul-Rasheed and Councilman Ed Marable, Jr.

Morton, who ran on a ticket with vanquished mayoral candidate Page, said he would not have been standing before the crowd without the former at-large councilman, whom he asked to stand and be recognized. 

But Page was not present.

Williams thanked her own ally and another unsuccessful mayoral candidate, Eason.

Following the swearing-in ceremony, which was emceed by Municipal Clerk Dwight Mitchell, the council conducted its reorganization meeting on stage with Hawkins to the immediate left of Perkins, in the seat of power.