Joining East Orange City Councilman Ted Green, center right, and local businessman and community activist Kevin Taylor, center left, are 5th Ward Councilwoman Alicia Holman, Shane Adams, Beatrice Carter, former 1st Ward Councilwoman Andrea McPhatter, Muzzemil Mohammed Stevens and others on Sunday, Sept. 24, at the Unity in the Community End of Season Cookout that took place at Taylor’s home in the city’s 5th Ward.
EAST ORANGE, NJ — Local businessman Kevin Taylor opened his home on North Arlington Avenue in the city’s 5th Ward to the public on Sunday, Sept. 24, to host the Unity in the Community End of Season Cookout, featuring East Orange City Council Chairman and 3rd Ward Councilman Ted Green and members of his Green Team in 2017 slate, including 5th Ward Councilwoman Alicia Holman.
“She’s running to represent the ‘Mighty’ 5th Ward’ for the fourth time,” said Green of Holman on Sunday, Sept. 24. Green won the Democratic mayoral primary in June. The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 7.
“We’re all here assembled today to support a very good friend of mine: East Orange grown, East Orange’s own. We started this thing called politics a long, long, long time ago,” said Holman on Sunday, Sept. 24. “Ted Green is running for mayor, has ran for mayor, has won the June primary. … East Orange City Council is supporting Ted Green. All of you, which is why you are here, I hope, is supporting Ted Green. Green in ’17. Long, long overdue.”
Taylor, who has previously for mayor himself, said he put his ego aside and decided not to run against Green in order to promote unity in the community.
“You all know me and I appreciated you all coming out to my home. I didn’t run, but I ain’t going nowhere,” said Taylor on Sunday, Sept. 24. “I’ve been running against this machine for a very long time. At some point, we have to find a way to come together, so that we can really start to make changes in East Orange. … I would have run again, but I believed in Ted. He’s a good man, a soldier.”
According to Khalfani Alleyne, who challenged 2nd Ward Councilman Romal Bullock in the Democratic primary and lost, the focus is on the entire East Orange Democratic Committee coming together behind Green and his teammates to help them “cross the finish line strong” on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
“Nothing else says ‘unity in the community’ more than a cookout at Kevin Taylor’s house for Ted Green in 2017. You gotta love it,” said Alleyne, who works for Orange Township, on Sunday, Sept. 24. “What it’s really about is young brothers coming together from all walks an all parts of this city and really trying to advance this city forward. That’s really what it’s all about, at the end of every day.”
Green said he is grateful for Alleyne and the support he’s receiving from others, too.
“I am very honored to be here and I always say it’s a privilege to be not only a part of the process but from a city that has groomed me and nurtured me,” said Green. “I cannot have done what I’m doing without all of you who have somehow given me this opportunity. I’ve never forgotten how I’ve got here, so I’m very grateful and I’m grateful to Kevin for opening up his doors. We are one community and one city and we have always been that way. We’re working together … for the betterment of East Orange.”
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