It’s not often that I agree with the Trentonian, but earlier this month the paper hit the mark with a Page 3 Editorial about the Trenton High School – Sherman Avenue Campus, grade forgery scandal. The editorial addressed comments from education officials that, because of tenure rules, there may be little that can be done to the administrators involved with the grade tampering. The editorial called for criminal charges to be filed against the persons involved. I agree completely with this stance. This is a case of Tampering With Records, of Forgery, and should be seen as Official Misconduct! If these administrators want tenure, then they can have it behind bars.

Silent throughout the scandal has been Mayor Palmer. Sure, sure he put on his “how pathetic, I am so appalled” face for a few days, but then disappeared from the issue. Why is this? As the sole appointing authority of the school board the success and failure of the school system falls squarely on his shoulders. Were these administrator’s asked to, or even coerced into, changing the grades to paint a brighter picture? After all it was re-election season. One thing is for sure; indictments would bring the truth out. Shift the worry from being sued, to going to jail and see who starts singing. Read the rest of this entry »

The other day I was reading a story about the escaped gang member. You know, the Blood member charged with two murders and one shooting who walked out of court a free man. At first I was surprised to read that authorities expected to the guy to remain local. The reason was that fugitives tend to remain in areas they frequent. This caused something to click in my head… gang members; areas they frequent. Something about the areas that gang members frequent nagged at me. Then I remembered what it was. In July of 2005, City Council passed ordinance 05-88. (Read: Gang Loitering Ordinance)

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The other evening I was driving through the Chambersburg section. It was a little past dusk. As I drove around I locked my car doors. If I didn’t know better I would have thought I was in a “Bad” neighborhood. It seemed like everywhere there were groups of 5 or-so people standing in the shadows. Even in the comfort and safety of my locked car I was worried. I could not imagine what my state of mind would have been if I were walking the streets.

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Today I read the Trentonian, with interest, about the progress of City Council’s special investigation committee. Unfortunately, I wasn’t moved by what I read. In fact I felt a wave of apathy sweeping over me. This was not because I don’t care about the Sherman Campus grade scandal, or the education of Trenton’s youth. No, it was because of the cast of characters involved with the Trentonian’s story. The author was the man often seen as the city’s Press Agent (for the record I had to strongly resist the urge to say “shill”). That’s right folks, L.A. Parker covered the story. Included were direct quotes from two people rumored to be positioning themselves to run for Mayor. There was Council President and Palmer-Slate member Paul “Where’d the money go” Pintella and Annette “where’s my rubber stamp” Lartigue. Pintella and Lartigue certainly have never been considered independent thinkers while on Council. They are mere rubber stamps for the Mayor. Of course, to add credibility to the committee there is newcomer and free-thinker Jim Coston. Ironically, Coston wasn’t even mentioned. Was he even present? (I doubt that he was absent) Either way L.A. Parker saw no reason to waste ink on a firebrand like Coston.

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Recently there have been discussions on the Times Forum of what the future may hold for Trenton. Few dispute that serious changes in leadership are needed for the city. The sooner the better. Trenton has momentum. Unfortunately, its negative momentum. The downward spiral will take years to reverse, if even possible. The Mayor takes pride in isolated redevelopment projects but is neglecting large, established neighborhoods. This is akin to fixing a leaky faucet on a sinking ship.

Where is the largest concentration of working middle class housing in Trenton? The answer is Chambersburg, Franklin Park and Villa Park sections. This is where the battles to stabilize Trenton need to happen. Reverse gentrification is occurring in these areas and each step backwards compounds the problem almost exponentially.

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Trenton is now “settling” on employees. The best employees available are limited to a pool of people who are willing to live in Trenton for 15 years. This is unacceptable. A business can not, and should not, be run in this manner. Trenton should not hold its employees hostage, nor should it limit the quality of its employees to those found in only 7 square miles. It is time to revamp the Residency Rule. Why should only a few elitists enjoy non-Residency?

The City’s residency rule is a hot-button topic. Most people have an opinion when it comes to who is supposed to work and live in Trenton. For the handful of readers who don’t know, Trenton’s residency rule requires all employees to live in the city when they are hired and to continue living in Trenton for 15 years. Teachers, Police Officers and Firepersons are exempt from this mandate due to NJ law. There are also ways of skirting the rule (legitimate and illegitimately), but this current rant won’t address the enforcement of the rule.

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There are rumors circulating on the Internet that the next City Clerk of Trenton will be Cordelia Staton. Personally, I don’t envision Staton being appointed to the position. The biggest reason is the large gap her appointment would cause on the Palmer-Council. Appointing Staton would mean a special election to fill her council seat. The likelihood of another “rubber stamp” filling the seat is slim. The frontrunners would be Jim Carlucci, Kathy McBride and Alex Bethea; none of who are apt to be controlled by Palmer. For this reason appointing Staton as City Clerk could be the best thing that happens to the residents of Trenton.

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Trenton’s #1 non-Resident spokesman has finally come out of the closet. Yes, that’s right. Trentonian columnist, and champion of everything Doug Palmer, recently admitted that he is not a Trenton resident. Gasp!

All this time Mr. Parker has pontificated about what the city needs to do to get back on track. About how residents need to get involved with their own neighborhoods and government. About how the residents need to support Hissoner through thick and thin and especially during the unwarranted and unsubstantiated attacks by those blue devils that don’t live in the city. You know who I mean, Trenton’s police officers. Also disregarded are the teachers, but Mr. Parker seems to take more pride in vilifying our police than any other group. All this wisdom and guidance came, unsolicited, from a non-resident. The nerve of the man! Shame on him for expressing his opinion while not living in Trenton.
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Sorry for the empty days, but I was out of Town for woefully too short of a period.

The only thing to support the claim that crime has indeed dropped to record levels is credibility. Credibility is the one thing the current administration does not have. Recall that the School Grade Scandal was a falsehood contrived in the mind of a disgruntled teacher. Recall that the Marriott Hotel was a thriving entity and the naysayers were people who had their own agenda. We now know the truth to be different, albeit many months – or years – later.

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Is the current leadership of the Trenton Police Department (TPD) what Trenton really needs? I think its time to thank Director Santiago for all his efforts and let him go. He has become as effective as a four-term mayor.

The photo in both papers today of the sleeping Captain only goes to demonstrate that the TPD is in dire straits. The men and women in blue are heralding both the photographer and the person who created the web page as heroes. Anybody who does not read the Times Forum (link on the left) should do so. It’s been quite busy the past two days. Reading the comments about the Captain and Police Director it quickly becomes apparent that there are major morale issues inside the TPD. It seems that most of the officers of TPD are happy that the Captain was exposed sleeping, despite the statewide (and possible national) embarrassment that is being suffered.

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What has happened to the Trenton Police Department? Over the past two days I don’t know which story to be more concerned about.

1. Crime Stats not reflecting reality
2. More Police needed to lower Overtime
3. Morale inside the Department (i.e. Sleeping Captain exposed [again]

It is a lot to talk about, so I will do a double post today:

• Black Eye for TPD
• Hey! Where’d all the crime go?

So far July has been a bad month for the city administration. The normally press savvy Mayor and Police Director don’t seem to have things under control. Granted, it has been a tough week for them!

First there was Mayor Palmer comparing the call for more cops to a knee-jerk reaction. He sure has a way of downplaying matters that others have put a good deal of thought into. I believe the mayor made this comment about the letter sent by Jim Carlucci, the chairman of the East District (formerly Charlie Sector) citizens group. In the letter Carlucci explained that the organization (of residents) decided to back the ordinance raising the number of police officers. Was this a knee-jerk reaction by the Carlucci crew? No it wasn’t. It just so happens that a couple years ago Jim Carlucci sent a similar letter to the Mayor asking for more police officers to be hired.

The only knee-jerk reaction in this case was Palmer’s instant attempt to discredit the idea as misguided and misinformed.

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Recently Mayor Palmer released news of ongoing discussions with Helene Fuld and St. Francis medical centers. It turns out that Palmer is now championing Fuld as a teaching hospital and hoping to have St. Francis move to the area of the Hughes Justice Complex. Of course the question that needs to be asked is, are these sincere efforts or damage control for losing Mercer Hospital?

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