'The seed of Orange'

ORANGE - The city at its summit straddles a ridge in the western hill country of Essex County, where affordable housing high-rises loom over residential twoPlanning Board chairman Dwight Holmes and his wife, Beverly. and three stories and churches, the public library, the Elks Lodge and Main Street, packed into 2.2-square miles with an elevated train track cutting along the edge of the valley and Highway 280 splitting the city in half.

Orange lost its once formidable industrial base on the south side over four decades ago, and now it’s trying to shake off the after-effects of its mayor’s tumble from power.

None of Mims Hackett’s would-be successors disagrees that the Abbott District town needs redevelopment, and all six of them are willing to work with the Berg Development Corporation, its partners and other developers to see the fruition of commercial and residential projects.

Each candidate promises to equip the city’s 108-member police department with the training and tools to stem gang violence, and speaks about restoring town pride with promises of new beginnings, appeals to unity and varying evocations of the city’s past.

Unless prompted, no one speaks in any sustained way about the mayor - nailed on bribery charges last year as part of a statewide sting and on the verge now of making his plea in federal court.

Among the field of candidates in this May 13 contest in a city with 10,649 registered voters, Dwight Holmes makes the case that he’s the only one born in Orange, and best suited to take charge of the $53 million Orange City budget in a political atmosphere in which residents and elected officials alike are still staggering.

"How do you rebuild a city?" he asks. "You start with the seed of Orange. I am that seed of Orange."

His sincerity delivering that line in the context of a debate is muffled by laughter in the audience from old-time Orange residents who think maybe he’s laying it on thick, and when he’s asked about it later Holmes laughs and doesn’t deny maybe that’s the case.

But the candidate, who was born in Orange Memorial Hospital, grew up in the projects and went on to become a star high school track and football athlete before serving in the military, coming home, marrying and starting his own family in his city, says his experience here gives him a special perspective.

A teacher’s aide in the school system and a Love of Jesus congregant, Holmes coaches football and serves as chair of the planning board, and insists his unfailingly positive outlook and activism are built on what he knew growing up and how he was taught by earlier coaches, teachers and leaders.

"I want to reach out to every citizen, renters as well as homeowners," he says. "I want to give this city back to the community. I want to be a mayor you can reach out and touch. When I grew up in Orange, there were businesses that sponsored different sports teams, and we need to bring back that spirit."

He’s a longshot candidate. Many observers see him as the longest shot of the bunch.

When asked at a debate whom he would back if he had to suddenly depart the race, rival Eldridge Hawkins jokes, "Dwight. He dresses nice."

The answer is the politically safe one from a presumed frontrunner, as Holmes by comparison has raised very little money, occupies no campaign headquarters outside of his own home, and only abruptly entered the race on the day of the filing deadline.

Of the young man with no elected experience, people - and not just partisan troublemakers in rival campaigns - say despite his roots in Orange, Holmes is not as well known as some of the others.

But Holmes has relatives in all of the city’s wards, the advantage of a wife at his side campaigning with him, church connections, and apparently no significant political enemies.

Some of his rivals are either retired or taking time off from work to focus more seriously on their campaigns down the stretch of this season, while Holmes says he’s campaigning when he can, every time he makes contact with a parent on his way to and from school.