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We aired yesterday - the Press
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Asbury Park's lightning rod
If Asbury Park Councilman James Keady were being graded on his
ability to alienate people, he'd be doing "A" work this marking
period.
First, he irritated fellow council members by joining
union workers protesting the use of nonunion workers in some of the
beachfront redevelopment projects. Two weeks ago, following the
fatal shooting of 18-year-old Tylik Pugh, he told a New York City
television station that Asbury Park was home to 200 members of the
Bloods gang — a comment that prompted the city's Urban Enterprise
Zone board of directors to ask him to resign his council seat and,
for good measure, to leave town.
Now, he has incurred the
wrath of the city school board for touring Asbury Park High and
meeting with students there without getting permission from the
acting superintendent. Keady says his visit was blessed by the
building principal.
The issue here shouldn't be Keady, but
trying to solve the problems Keady has demonstrated he is concerned
enough about to reach out directly to the kids in the community. He
should be applauded for taking the initiative to try to better
understand the city's youth and the dynamics of youth violence.
Instead of sending out letters criticizing him, the school board
should be encouraging every other council member and community
leader to follow his lead.
Keady says he obtained valuable
information from the students. "I thought, and still do think, that
the solutions lie with them," he said. So do we. Community leaders
need to engage those students, as well as their parents and
guardians, in an ongoing conversation. That will be much easier to
do if the council and school board can do a better job of conversing
amongst themselves. | 