BRIDGEPORT — Republican mayoral candidate Howard “Randy” Bennett is a lifelong Bridgeport resident, who now owns the Ward 1 home he grew up in.
For 25 years, he has worked at what is now New Era Technology, a West Chester-based audiovisual and teleconferencing company.
Bennett graduated Upper Merion Area High School, then attended Montgomery County Community College before receiving audiovisual training at the Art institute of Philadelphia.
Bennett ran for Bridgeport Borough Council in 2015 and served for one term. He was asked to return to council to finish out former councilwoman and current mayoral candidate Beth Jacksier’s term after she stepped down due to residency requirements in 2019.
He cited the Bridgeport 5K and the Bridgeport Carnival as important events he helped bring to the borough during his tenure.
“I’ve been involved all my life, starting as a teenager with the park and rec department and then (I) just stayed involved with the community through volunteer efforts,” Bennett said.
“In a town like Bridgeport you agree on 90 percent of the stuff. It’s not a battle of the DC beltway or at least it shouldn’t be.”
“I feel at this point that I’d better serve the community as an advocate for residents and businesses. I feel my strength at this point would be to tout the advantages of Bridgeport to prospective businesses and residents versus creating new ordinances and being on that end of the political spectrum.”
Bennett said his number one issue is public safety. He would like to see a more visible police department in terms of patrolling and the perception of safety in the borough improved.
“That’s not to say that we aren’t safe,” says Bennett. “But like many communities close to the suburbs we’ve seen a slight uptick in crime, a slight uptick in homelessness. I like the outreach programs but I’d also like to make sure that we’re keeping a safe community for the residents and the business owners.”
“When you’re adding 250 homes to the riverfront, which is full steam ahead, and you have some commercial properties opening in that mixed used district, the key to filling them with the best people is to make sure we have a safe environment for people to live and work.”
Bennett said he saw the exploration of the possible absorption of the Bridgeport Police Department by Upper Merion PD (which council considered in 2018) as a fiscal issue that will inevitably resurface every few years.
Although he initially supported the conversation to gauge the feasibility of regionalizing the police, Bennett says he concluded early on when the numbers came back that Bridgeport needed its own police department in the borough.
“We have a good, solid core of police officers… The financial end of it is not going to get less expensive. I can’t see a situation or logistical reason that would support consolidation or merging with Upper Merion for our police services, “said Bennett.
He said he couldn’t recall a formal discussion on a possible sale of the borough’s sewer system while on council, which makes Bridgeport an outlier to many neighboring municipalizes.
“You’d lose control of the mileage rate, but you also lose the responsibility of maintenance,” Bennett said. “It’s another one those things where the answer could be obvious but you have to entertain the conversation just to learn what the facts of the proposal would be.”
When it comes to parks and recreation — a subject near and dear to Bennett’s heart —he says he’d like to see the return of Bridgeport’s summer camp program for children following its suspension due to low attendance and a COVID-19-induced hiatus.
Bennett noted the various leagues Bridgeport Memorial Park and Chiccino Athletic Field have attracted in recent years, including girls’ softball, fast pitch, and adult leagues.
Bennett, who is a member of the Community Fund (which runs and partially owns the borough’s parks) touted the group’s civic engagement, including putting on the popular Festive Lights fireworks and implementing the borough’s veteran banner program.
“Experience counts and words and actions matter,” Bennett said in summing up his pitch to voters. “I have a lifetime of dedication to the borough.”
“I’m on the record for the things I’ve done on council with a bipartisan group of candidates…and I’ve done so with the acknowledgement that things have to evolve and change without dismissing the history that we have. That’s why my slogan is ‘Focused on the future, respectful of our past.’ because I believe in both.
“I believe you can evolve but celebrate the history all that same time.”
