Mayor Funk's successor elected today
This article was posted with permission from Kelly Lyons, Editor-in-chief of The Review.
By Alison Wilson/The Review
Whoever is elected in todays mayoral election, taking former Mayor Vance A. Funk IIIs place, will have huge shoes to fill, said Council Member and Deputy Mayor Jerry Clifton.
Funk resigned from his position as mayor of Newark in September after serving for nine and a half years. His resignation was due to health problems relating to his blood pressure, he said. Despite ending his term before it expired, Funk was able to facilitate the success of numerous Newark projects throughout his mayoral career. During his service, Main Street was redeveloped, the Taste of Newark was implemented and the citys relationship with the university improved drastically, Funk said.
"I think that it is going to be hard for the next mayor to wear all the hats that Vance wore," Clifton said.
During the interim time between Funks resignation and the mayoral election, Clifton served as acting mayor for the city. He said he was sad to see Funk leave and would have preferred to continue working with him as he finished his term. However, he said he understands and respects Funks decision.
"Vance was a wealth of connections, and he had the support from a lot of people from various groups," Clifton said. "When Vance became mayor, his connections and his enthusiasm helped bring many new restaurants and business downtown."
Because of these changes and improvements, Main Street was awarded the title of one of Americas Great American Main Streets by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Council Member Stu Markham said. Additionally, with the Taste of Newark and other citywide events, Funk helped make Newark a regional destination and downtown an area for which residents and students can be proud, Clifton said.
Funk said the Taste of Newark helped make the city more visible than it ever was before. He said its an event that is fun for all the community membersstudents, faculty and residentsand also an attraction for visitors. In the years the event has occurred, it has raised over $650,000, and $300,000 were funneled into the universitys Hotel, Restaurant & Institutional Management program. The remainder was used to increase advertising of Newarks downtown.
Despite these successes, Funk said he is most proud of the relationship he reshaped between the university and the city.
"For the first time in 40 years, the city and the university started working together and helping each other as opposed to arguing," Funk said.
When he ran for mayor in 2003, he was interested in making the students more involved in the community, Funk said. He said about 50 HRIM students worked this years Taste of Newark event, as an example of how both parties have been collaborating. Funk, a university alumnus and past member of the universitys chapter of Theta Chi, also focused much of his efforts toward fraternities and sororities, getting them to participate in different community races and clean up the parks and the streets, he said.
"I love being around students, Funk said. Its where all the energy in the city comes from."
Not only did Funk enjoy spending time with students as mayor, but he also said he felt strongly about the university as an institution. He said he owes much of his success to his college professors for helping to lead him down the straight and narrow.
"I was one of those shaky students in my freshman and sophomore years," Funk said. "If it wasnt for the faculty here, who knows whether I wouldve graduated, let alone end up in a really good law school."
As a practicing lawyer, Funk said he did all the real estate work for the university for 35 years prior to becoming mayor.
But the stress of being mayor began to take a toll on Funks health. When Wawa approached the city council proposing to build a store across the street from city hall, residents reacted negatively to the idea, Funk said. His blood pressure was reaching the 180 to 200 range, and he said he knew he was getting too close to having another stroke, so he decided to step down.
Now that he is no longer mayor, Funk said he will miss his daily interaction with the people he worked with the most, as well as the occasions when he could meet and work with people outside the Newark community.
"Theres a certain amount of fun involved in being mayor," Funk said. "I have a whole room full of pictures of people Ive met, famous and otherwise, because of different things I did."
Despite his decision to resign from office, Funk said he is still very dedicated to the welfare of the city. He said he still wakes up early on Saturdays to clean any graffiti off Main Street, and on Sunday mornings, he picks up trash on Main Street.
Funk said he plans to remain involved and provide the council with any help when and if they need it.
"Im still here, and Im going to help out as much as I can, Funk said. I have a lot at stake because this is my dream and I want to make sure that nobody messes it up."
Funk was the "cheerleader for Newark" and set the standards high for the incoming mayor, Markham said. He said Funk is always visible, out and about around the city, talking to residents.
"Im hoping the next mayor has that kind of reach, somebody who has contacts in the community and then can add by continuing to reach out the faculty and students," Markham said.
Markham said the council should be working to strengthen this relationship, and he would like to see the city and school to continue working as a team.
"We all share the same space," Markham said. "We need to continue to have that dialogue even though we have different priorities and different constituencies were responsible to. If you put the university and city together cooperatingall the students, faculty and residentsI think the combination could be a pretty powerful group for making changes and really making the city enjoyable and a great place to live."
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