Edgewood Mayoral Candidate: Ed Cook

Ed Cook is the Democrat running for the position as mayor of during the Nov. 8 election. The newly elected mayor will finish the last two years of former .

Here’s what he had to say about his qualifications as the election quickly approaches:

What is your past involvement in the commmunity?

I had been active on the and . We moved here in ‘88 and got involved shortly afterward because there is a real community feel to the place. Every time we drove through, we saw people walking their dogs, working in their yards, and I kept saying, 'That’s what we want.' We heard about the foundation and I started volunteering and liked it a lot, and liked the sense of community.

I was then asked to fill a two-year vacancy that had occurred on Council several years ago. Since then, I have been on and off council three separate times depending on what the needs were.

Why run for mayor now?

We have two years to really work on finding someone whose passion is becoming mayor. We have a good, solid community here, and working on council, I know from talking to other council people from various communities—everything is not always functional. Some community councils are dysfunctional and things don’t get done, but we work really, really hard to ensure that would not happen to us. We clearly have different opinions, but we come to a consensus and move forward. We all, at the end of the day, thought what we had done was the best for the borough, given what we have.

How would you bring to the after a year of instability in the mayor slot?

I know a lot of the people who are on council, I know the borough manager well, and was involved in the initial hiring of the . I know the majority of the police officers, and I am still active in the community with the Edgewood Garden Club and the Edgewood Foundation. 

I am one of six boys and I have learned to listen with three older and two younger—to a range of ideas. I know how to help build consensus and I get along well with most people, and I work well with the chief. Our mayor in Edgewood has limited power because the direct power is with council, so it’s a matter of working well with council, which I have demonstrated my ability to do, and I enjoy it. I seem to get along well with most people.

That’s the thing I like about Edgewood—we don’t have to be partisan here. At the end of the day, it’s about what is best for the borough.

What are the main issues you would deal with as mayor?

That would be the police force and making sure they have what is required to be safe themselves at a crime scene, and ensuring the safety of residents. With that in mind, we have constraints budget-wise, so it’s balancing the two. But the chief has demonstarted an ability to do that and from what I have seen on council, they certainly respect any kind of request the mayor or chief has ever made of them in order to serve the citizens of Edgewood better.

The other things that are important is that the mayor is the most visible governmental person. A lot of people know who the mayor is and with my involvement in community outings and the garden club, I am certainly out and about like that. I am a strng advocate of the urban forest and When we did the tree survey I jumped on that because it is important.

What sets you apart from the other candidate, Ruth Pickering?

I have worked with Ruth and our styles are just different. I go in, and I am able and willing to listen to other sides and enjoy working with them. I like our current police officers and all of the people involved in the community and it’s just a different style.