“Lastly, we are pleased to announce that the department has updated its account and control procedures in order to better monitor spending and revenue.” [Emphasis mine - KM]

From the  Trentonian, June 11, 2013:

In a testy budget hearing Monday [...]]]> From a City of Trenton Press Release, dated September 24, 2012, titled “Trenton’s Recreation Department Moves Forward”:

“Lastly, we are pleased to announce that the department has updated its account and control procedures in order to better monitor spending and revenue.” [Emphasis mine - KM]

From the  Trentonian, June 11, 2013:

In a testy budget hearing Monday night, officials questioned mayoral aide Anthony Roberts why the June 29 and 30 event was scheduled after Mayor Mack gave his word at a meeting that the Heritage Days Festival would be cancelled this year.

“He changed his mind,” Roberts said laughing.

This type of rhetoric only added fuel to the fire.

“Mr. Roberts please, you’re being offensive,” Councilwoman Marge Caldwell-Wilson responded. “We’re talking about a budget, we’re not talking about the mayor changing his mind.” [Emphasis mine - KM]

So much for all those “account and control procedures!” If these financial “controls” can be overruled by a person under indictment for extortion, then they don’t exactly control much, do they?

City Council heard a budget presentation the other evening from Fuckup Without Portfolio Anthony Roberts, who explained and defended the Administration’s program requests for the Department of Recreation, Natural Resources and Culture covering the upcoming Fiscal Year beginning July 1.

I won’t review that presentation here. There are excellent accounts on both the From the Front Stoop blog, and the Trenton Times, as well as David Foster’s Trentonian piece, quoted above.

I will just add two observations. Notably missing from the City’s budget request, and apparently from discussion the other night (at least as reported by the two city newspapers) was any mention of a funding request for the Mayor’s Zombie Library Learning Centers. In the September 2012 press release defending the Administration’s spending priorities, the Indicted Occupant of Trenton’s Mayor’s Office specifically mentioned the request for support for the four neighborhood zombie libraries.  They did not come up for discussion on Tuesday night, nor is there any mention of them on the latest Press Release, issued last night, defending this year’s program requests.

Odd, that. Is the funding request for these zombies being made from another department? Has it been quietly dropped as an Administration priority? Or is it just buried elsewhere in the city’s budget request, hidden away despite all those spiffy updated account and control procedures? Hmmm?

And second, despite all the attention given the Department of Recreation, and how supposedly important its programs are to this Administration, we have never seen a Director appointed to head the department, not even on an “Acting” basis. The Indicted Occupant has always assumed personal responsibility for the Recreation Portfolio for himself, and has periodically relied on associates such as FWP Roberts and Trenton Water Works employee Paul Harris to handle much of the day-to-day work, as long as it hasn’t been, let’s say, day-and-date sensitive.

The IO went as far last year as to proclaim that “The Buck Stops Here!” when it came to his responsibility for Recreation. In that August 30 2012 document, the IO also emphasized as he did in the September 24 release all of the new controls and procedures for the Department, touting “[C]hanges that will produce a more accountable and transparent process.”

But accountability and transparency fly out the window when the IO can just “change his mind” and indulge his every whim.

It is crazy that City Council continues to give the benefit of the doubt to the IO, Anthony Roberts and the rest of them. Time and time again, the Administration, in public statement, press release or written document, makes a great show of financial rectitude  and responsibility. Only to then go ahead and do what they want, in defiance of City Council, the State or whomever.

It makes no sense for the City to fund Heritage Days yet again this year. Council specifically declined to authorize the Festival in the FY 2013 budget, but the Mayor is going ahead anyway. Despite the fact that whatever revenues were generated from last year’s Festival have never been satisfactorily accounted for, here we go again.

Would Trenton’s Fire Department hire an accused arsonist? Would the Police Department hire an accused thief? Why is the City of Trenton allowing Tony Mack to produce Heritage Days and handle the revenue?

It is totally baffling to me how Tony Mack and Anthony Roberts continue to be entrusted with any part of the Recreation Department. I don’t know why City Council or the State Department of Community Affairs haven’t insisted on appointing a permanent and qualified Director to run the Recreation Department and take it out of the hands of those guys.

Tony Mack and Anthony Roberts can’t be trusted with this Department any longer.

Because They Are Liars. That’s Why.

“Council President Phyllis Holly-Ward said Mayor Tony Mack gave his word that [...]]]> As I mentioned yesterday, in Thursday’s Council meeting the esteemed Members wailed, gnashed their teeth, and rent their garments over unauthorized spending of $40,000 on the part of the Administration for this year’s Heritage Days Festival announced for June 29 and 30.

“Council President Phyllis Holly-Ward said Mayor Tony Mack gave his word that he would remove the annual party from the budget. “It’s his defiant way. It was not supposed to happen. If you can’t keep your word, you’ll work with zero if it’s up to me,’” she blustered, according to the Trentonian account today by David Foster.

This was right before she admitted, “There’s nothing that we can do to actually stop him,” referring to the Indicted Occupant.

We’ve been down this road before, all throughout the term of this Administration.  We have heard stern talk, outrage and expressions of resolve from these guys before, only to see words followed up with a singular lack of any corrective or disciplinary action.

For years now we have read several similar accounts of Administration budget shenanigans,  condemned by Council to no apparent effect. For one example, here are excerpts from a Times article by Erin Duffy from August of last year:

In the midst of an FBI probe of Mayor Tony Mack’s administration, examples of city money spent on unapproved work and contracts continue to crop up. Work is done by companies without a contract certified by council or items are paid for out of accounts that had been budgeted no money.

Council President Phyllis Holly-Ward said council members have long been uneasy with some of the contracting methods employed by city officials, but last month’s FBI raid on City Hall has shed more light on a city government that is not playing by the rules.

“A blind person could see it. We just didn’t know how to put our finger on it to pin it down,” she said…

None of the more than $50,000 in repairs and equipment purchases for four library branches that were recently repurposed as “learning centers” was approved by council. The centers are overseen by mayoral aide Anthony Roberts.

“This is the mayor making a decision, and him and Mr. Roberts moving forward with no accountability,” Councilman Zachary Chester said…

At the same time, business administrator Sam Hutchinson said his department has been working to clamp down on unauthorized spending.

“We certainly have closer and more monitoring and oversight of expenditures in all departments and for the most part it’s working,” Hutchinson said Tuesday [August 7, 2012. Emphasis mine - KM].

Mr. Hutchinson’s comments about his department’s monitoring and oversight and how “for the most part it’s working” followed up even earlier comments he made about his fiscal resolve. During a June 2012 budget workshop, Mr. Hutchinson talked about new processes and controls.

Hutchinson said he was in the midst of establishing new spending controls to cut down on careless spending and increase accountability in public works and other departments. For example, an account for equipment maintenance in the public property division was $29,000 over budget and used not for maintenance, but to purchase equipment like snow blowers and fire extinguishers, [City Budget Director Elana] Chan said.

A new program would require Hutchinson’s office to be notified when any purchase or task orders over $1,000 — or cumulative purchase orders for one vendor or company — are submitted.

“I agree totally that in many areas, even small control and accountability have been lacking, lacking and perhaps even nonexistent,” he said. “But we are taking steps to make overall operations, not just public works, more accountable and to ensure integrity in the process. Whether it’s $10, $1,000 or $10,000, it matters.” [Emphasis mine - KM]

But not, apparently, if it’s $40,000, which is what we are told this month’s Heritage Days will cost us. In that case, I suppose, it doesn’t matter.

Look, here we are: three years into an Administration that is nakedly incompetent and corrupt in nearly everything it does. Yet, our City Council still doesn’t know “how to put our finger on it to pin it down,” as Ms. Holly-Ward put it, last year.

It is still “the mayor making a decision, and him and Mr. Roberts moving forward with no accountability,” as Mr. Chester put it, last year.

And it is still obvious that after introducing his “spending controls” and doing “more monitoring and oversight of expenditures in all departments,” whatever Sam Hutchinson said he was doing a year ago for the most part hasn’t worked.

Why are we in this exact same spot again?

Why are we wringing our hands at an unauthorized $40,000 for Heritage Days after screaming about $12,000 spent illegally for last year’s National Night Out?

Why does approval of $450,000 for additional Fire Department overtime create headlines again after “Increased overtime, lingering employee vacancies and budget overdraws on everything from tools and equipment to mops and Christmas decorations drew questions from City Council during last night’s [May 31, 2012] look at the fiscal year 2012 budget?”

Is Mr. Hutchinson useless at this point?

Is City Council incapable of learning from the past, and condemned to make the same mistakes, over and over and over? Are the members unable to exercise the many powers available to them as the governing body of this City?

I know, I know. Silly questions. I am just as sick of asking them again and again as no doubt you are of reading them time after time, after time. But at least you don’t have to pay for the privilege of reading my columns!

However, you do pay each and every time Mack and Roberts get away with things.

And you pay for each and every lesson Council and Sam Hutchinson fail to learn on the job.

Three years in, it’s now looking as if we will continue to pay and pay, until the day each and every one of them are long, long gone.

That day can’t come too soon for me.

So, City Council is gobsmacked at Wednesday’s announcement that Trenton’s Heritage Days will be produced again this year at a cost to the City’s taxpayers of $40,000?

(2) The Council may, for cause, remove any municipal [...]]]> I’ll keep this short, because I have said it before, and I will – probably – have to say it again.

So, City Council is gobsmacked at Wednesday’s announcement that Trenton’s Heritage Days will be produced again this year at a cost to the City’s taxpayers of $40,000?

(2) The Council may, for cause, remove any municipal officer other than the Mayor or a member of Council.  – Trenton City Ordinance Section 2-9 A. (2)

According to the Trentonian article by David Foster, “Council President Phyllis Holly-Ward said Mayor Tony Mack gave his word that he would remove the annual party from the budget… ‘There’s nothing that we can do to actually stop him,’ Holly-Ward said.

(2) The Council may, for cause, remove any municipal officer other than the Mayor or a member of Council.  – Trenton City Ordinance Section 2-9 A. (2)

“‘We don’t need a party, the councilman [George Muschal] said. ‘We spend thousands of dollars on somebody singing — pick them up in a limousine. This is craziness.’ The former city police officer of 40 years also worries about safety. ‘When you get eight shootings in a weekend, it’s going to worry anyone,’ Muschal said. ‘This is not acceptable.’”

(2) The Council may, for cause, remove any municipal officer other than the Mayor or a member of Council.  – Trenton City Ordinance Section 2-9 A. (2)

“[Mayoral Aide and Fuckup Without Portfolio Anthony] Roberts said that Heritage Days did not need state approval because it is not a new event. He claims the party must go on.”

(2) The Council may, for cause, remove any municipal officer other than the Mayor or a member of Council.  – Trenton City Ordinance Section 2-9 A. (2)

And this was discussed at the same meeting at which Council authorized $450,000 in additional overtime to Trenton’s Fire Department.

What’s another $40,000 when “the party must go on,” am I right?

(2) The Council may, for cause, remove any municipal officer other than the Mayor or a member of Council.  – Trenton City Ordinance Section 2-9 A. (2)

So, Councilmembers, how long are you going to continue to act all gobsmacked with your mouths hanging open every bloody time this Administration continues to brazenly get away with wasting our money on unauthorized boondoggles?

How long before you actually do something about it???

(2) The Council may, for cause, remove any municipal officer other than the Mayor or a member of Council.  – Trenton City Ordinance Section 2-9 A. (2)

As such stories tend [...]]]> I’d say that Rob Ford would fit right in to Trenton. As the Mayor of our homonym-sister metropolis in the Great White North, Mr. Ford has been the center of a scandal in the town he governs after allegations arose two weeks ago claiming he’d been recorded on video smoking crack cocaine.

As such stories tend to do, this one has spread internationally. Even though these allegations have yet to be proven, the Mayor is facing calls to resign. He’s unfazed by the hubbub, and is looking at the bright side of things. Over the weekend, he was asked by a local radio host if the allegations against him were hurting the image of Toronto. His reply: “No. It’s whatever people perceive it as. Any time you can get Toronto on the map. I think people have to come to the city and see what we have to offer. And we have great arts and culture, great theatres, great restaurants, great sporting teams. I encourage everyone to come to Toronto.”

“Any time you can get Toronto on the map.” That’s a man who can make lemonade out of lemons. Finding opportunity in unlikely places sounds just like what we are seeing in Trenton. If the gig in Toronto doesn’t work out, perhaps Mr. Ford could find something down here, as a cheerleader for the Lafayette Yard Hotel perhaps! Or maybe, for the latest buzzword, “heritage tourism” for Trenton.

His kind of enthusiasm is shared by many in the local Trenton business community. Just this morning, a letter in the Trenton Times by Philip Kirschner, president of the NJ Business and Industry Association, reveals that he is one of the few remaining individuals in this town who still believes that the hotel can do Great Things for Trenton. “The hotel provides the city with a firm foundation for revitalizating surrounding neighborhoods,” Kirschner claims in his letter.

However, just to show that he is not smoking the same figurative crack as Mr. Ford is accused of, Kirschner “is fully aware of the many challenges facing Trenton.” But he feels that closing the hotel now would “send the worst possible signal to potential investors about the future of Trenton… It could become a large symbol of urban blight.”

You really think so, Mr. Kirschner? A symbol of urban blight? There are several “symbols” of such blight all around Trenton; I provided a short tour of a representative sample a year ago; most of them are still there. The Hotel would be in good company were it to close.

However, I’m rather more concerned with the actual substance of urban blight and misery that exists in massive quantity throughout the City of Trenton. Violent crime is uncontrolled in the City: we had our 14th murder over the weekend, and the third in just nine days. As the weather heats up going into the summer, it’s almost a lock that they won’t be the last.

And those just represent the most serious, visible, and media-worthy of crimes. There’s a lot going on in this town that isn’t even worthy of note, and considered “normal,” I guess. On Sunday morning, for example, at around 2:10 AM, my daughters and I were awakened from sound sleep by the unmistakable sound of about a half dozen gunshots almost right outside our house. We called the police, who showed up around ten minutes later to investigate. Nothing and no one found that night as confirmed to me later in the day, although it took hours for the adrenaline to wear off with us.

It was just a commonplace  incident not worthy of any note or record in the Trenton we have these days, although it has certainly raised the anxiety level in our household, as it has no doubt in many other hundreds if not thousands of households in the city who’ve lived with similar incidents. Michael Walker reports in an op-ed piece in today’s Trentonian that Trenton police dispatchers have received over 46,000 calls for service this year alone since January 1. 96 of those calls were for actual shootings, and the aforementioned 14 murders.

That comes to over 300 calls to the police every day, many of which are no doubt similar reports of gunshots or other peace-disturbing mayhem. Seems to me that’s one clear tangible sign of “urban blight” that won’t be addressed by any likely resolution of the ongoing hotel saga!

But, hey! Anything that gets Trenton on the map, right?

It is looking more and more likely that the required number of votes will be found to approve $3 Million Dollars in bonding authority to provide enough funding to allow the hotel to perform some renovations and transition to a new hotel brand “flag.” And it seems that all parties are agreed that the endgame for this latest effort will be to keep the hotel open and viable enough so that it may potentially attract a serious buyer for the property who will take it off the public teat. At the end of that process, one way or the other we’ll be paying for this mistake for many, many years more.

But truthfully, after the other night, after huddling with my daughters and trying to calm them – and myself – down after quite a fright, I just can’t get that excited this week about the drama of something as frivolous and irrelevant to the future fortunes of our city as this damned hotel.

And I find it now even harder to comprehend how a City Council will seriously consider and will probably approve $3 Million for  hotel, while it also voted against $2.17 Million to fund 12 additional police officers for three years to gain a Federal grant.

To be fair to individual Council members, there were 3 who voted against both cops and hotel: Members Chester, Holly-Ward and Muschal. Alex Bethea voted for the cops and against the hotel (who’d have thunk it?). Kathy MBride missed the cop vote and favored the hotel. They at least can point to a certain logical consistency on those issues.

But two Council members, Marge Caldwell-Wilson and Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, took (to me, anyway!) the undefendable, inexplicable position of voting against the police grant and in favor of the hotel bonds. Their votes, for now at least, kept the hotel alive and did nothing to address the public safety situation. I just for the life of me cannot understand how one could come to that kind of skewed civic priority.

If this town can’t do something about fixing an environment that produces 46,000 calls for police service and buries 14 of its own in little over five months, in a city a little of only around  80,000 souls nothing else will matter.

Nothing.

This cheerleading meeting – not even [...]]]> The MIDJersey (as they style themselves) Chamber of Commerce held a meeting yesterday at Waterfront Park in Trenton to, in the words of Bridget Clerkin of the Trenton Times this morning, “show their support for keeping the [Lafayette Yard] hotel open, calling the city-owned facility essential for revitalizing the area.”

This cheerleading meeting – not even held at the Hotel the Chamber was looking to support – was filled with the usual claims for the hotel that we’ve heard for the dozen years the hotel has been in operation. “‘Everyone knows there are some major concerns with the city, but having a hotel is like filling a pothole,’ said Phil Kirschner, president of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association. ‘It provides a foundation to build other things on here. Without a hotel, it would be very difficult to jump-start the economy.’”

This is, of course, the usual claim for the hotel: that it will be the catalyst to boost revitalization in Trenton’s downtown, a claim that has been definitively denied by the operators of the hotel itself. I will draw your attention, once again, to the February 2013  Historical Financial Review prepared by the Lafayette Yard Community Development Corporation (LYCDC), in which the failure of the hotel is attributed to the lack of development and revitalization in Trenton’s downtown. Despite Mr. Kirschner’s statement, the Hotel has admitted that it is Downtown that can help the hotel, not the other way around!

Every time that someone promises that it will be the Hotel; or the Ballpark; or the Arena; or Thomas Edison State College’s new building that will be the catalyst for private redevelopment, I will point to this same LYCDC report – again and again -  as admission that none of these things, whatever value they may have in themselves, will kick-start redevelopment or revitalization. To claim otherwise is a lie.

Chamber President and former Mercer County Executive Robert Prunetti, who was crucially involved in the development and construction of Waterfront Park and the Sun Bank Arena, wanted to let the public know that he was on the case in trying to salvage the hotel. His main effort so far appears to be putting our money where his mouth is. Wearing another of his hats as a member of the Capital City Redevelopment Corporation, he has met several times with staffers in Governor Christie’s office, where “Prunetti brought up the idea of sharing the financial burden of the hotel with the county and the state.” That kind of “financial burden-sharing, of course, usually means taxpayer money.

“‘We think that ultimately, the hotel should be a private endeavor, but that can’t happen overnight,’ Prunetti said. ‘It will have to transition to being privately owned in some form.’”

Hey, never mind that it’s been over a dozen years that this hotel has been a money pit for the citizens of Trenton. Now is the time to start a transition, to “some form” of private ownership. Eventually.

Trenton City Council member Phyllis Holly-Ward had some choice and frank words for the assembled Chamber members. “Where have you been? Where were you at? Did the idea of closing the hotel scare you enough to do something now?”

Well, Councilwoman, I can tell you where the Chamber has been, or rather hasn’t been, at least in 2013. With very, very rare exceptions, it hasn’t been in Trenton. Below is a list from the Chamber’s Calendar of Events for 2013, as listed in their own monthly publication

January 8            Evening Networking         HOB Tavern, Bordentown

January 9           Chapter Breakfast               Osteria Proccacini, Pennington

January 17         State of Mercer County    Stone Terrace, Hamilton

January 23        Workshop                               Holiday Inn, East Windsor

January 29        Evening Networking          Cranbury Golf Club

January 31        “Walk to Washington”       Washington, DC

February 5        Chapter Luncheon              Nottingham Ballroom, Hamilton

February 6        Chapter Breakfast               Rider University, Lawrenceville

February 6        Young Professionals Connective    Sun Bank Arena, Trenton

February 12     Chapter Breakfast              NJ Manufacturers, Ewing

February 21     Power Luncheon                Hyatt Regency Princeton, West Windsor

March 6              Breakfast Workshop         Ventura Wealth Management, Ewing

March 7             Chapter Workshop            Grainger, Robbinsville

March 14           Power Luncheon               Westin Princeton, West Windsor

March 21           MIDJersey C of C Discovers Cuba!     Villa Romanza, Yardville

April 4               Chapter Breakfast                Roma Bank, Robbinsville

April 9              Chapter Luncheon               Mountain View Country Club, Ewing

April 11            Cross-County Economic Symposium   Hyatt Regency Princeton

April 23           Chapter Luncheon               Hopewell Valley Vineyards, Hopewell

April 24           Chapter Luncheon              Jester’s Café, Bordentown

April 26           “Stand Against Racism”   MID-Jersey Chamber, Hamilton

May 1                Evening Networking          Bucks County Playhouse, New Hope

May 7               “Planning for the Next Superstorm”        Hamilton YMCA

May 8               Chapter Luncheon              Holiday Inn, East Windsor

May 9               “Uncover Your Element”      Stone Terrace, Hamilton

May 10             Excel Workshop                   MIDJersey Chamber, Hamilton

May 14             Chapter Breakfast                Holiday Inn, Princeton

May 15             Chapter Luncheon              The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville

May 22             Discover Cuba Informational Session       MIDJersey Chamber, Hamilton

May 23            Power Luncheon                  Trenton Country Club, Ewing

May 29            Chapter Evening Networking     Hopewell Valley Golf Club, Hopewell

May 31            PowerPoint Workshop       MIDJersey Chamber, Hamilton

June 5            2013 Expo                                Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton

July 8             2013 Golf and Tennis Classic   Trenton Country Club, Ewing

So, I ask you, how seriously should we take the MIDJersey Chamber of Commerce’s expression of support for the Lafayette Yard Hotel, when out of 34 events in their 2013 calendar – not counting yesterday’s event – NOT ONE event has been held at the Hotel, and ONLY ONE in the City of Trenton?

How seriously can we take the Chamber’s support for Trenton? Not at all.

Mr. Prunetti said yesterday, “I can assure you, we’re behind the effort to save the hotel. We don’t know what the solution is, but we’re behind your effort.”

I don’t know what the solution is, either. At this point, I don’t know if the hotel has any other solution other than a swift sale process to private ownership.

But I know what the solution is NOT. It is NOT a Chamber of Commerce that is “behind” the City’s effort. It has to include a Chamber that is IN FRONT of this issue, and IN FRONT of efforts to invest in and revitalize this City.

With the Chamber’s member companies’ OWN money, and the money of other private investors, and not just the money of City and State taxpayers. It can be the role of the City, and the County, and the State to work to help create an environment conducive to investment and welcoming to existing and new business. But we have vividly seen the limited and mixed results that direct public investment in projects like the Hotel, and the Ballpark, and the Arena can generate on their own.

As long as the efforts of the Chamber consist primarily of one-off publicity stunts like yesterday’s meeting; as long as the conversations of people like Mr. Prunetti talk only about “sharing the financial burden of the hotel with the county and the state;” as long as organizations like the Chamber and its members can’t even see fit to produce some of their events in Trenton; then all this talk such as we heard yesterday isn’t worth one damned dime to this City.

“If we assembled a little too late, we’re here now,” Prunetti said yesterday.

“A little too late.” No shit!

Thanks for Nothing.

And yet, at the same time:

“[I]t is up to the city to fund transition costs for the city-owned hotel.”

Do you sense a [...]]]>

“[Director of the office of Local Government Services of the NJ State Department of Community Affairs (DCA)] Tom Neff made it abundantly clear that the DCA is not interested in seeing the hotel close.”

And yet, at the same time:

“[I]t is up to the city to fund transition costs for the city-owned hotel.”

Do you sense a certain… contradiction between those two statements? That, dear reader, is the sound of The State of New Jersey, passing the buck.

From today’s story, linked above, by Jenna Pizzi in the Trenton Times, or the David Foster piece in the Trentonian, it is possible to discern a 180-degree turn from the State regarding its position on the decision facing the City of Trenton to continue its operation of the taxpayer-owned Lafayette Yard Hotel.

Last week, in a dramatic announcement made by the City’s Business Administrator Sam Hutchinson, the State unexpectedly intervened in City Council’s deliberation on whether to approve the next installment, $200,000, of a projected minimum $3 Million of costs to both renovate the Hotel and transition to a new brand and new management.

The public statements of four Council members before last Thursday’s meeting suggested that a majority would likely vote against the additional subsidy of the struggling hotel.  But Mr. Hutchinson’s deus ex machina revelation that New Jersey “will not sign off on any more cash infusions for the West Lafayette Street Marriott hotel until the state sees a concrete plan to fund an estimated $3 million transition to new management and renovation and real evidence that the hotel’s flagging fortunes can be turned around” stopped that discussion cold. The resolution to appropriate $200,000 was pulled from Council’s docket until the City could meet with DCA to get further information on the State’s position. That meeting was yesterday. According to accounts of the session discussed in the newspapers this morning, the State walked back its resistance to any further immediate City action to fund the hotel, and walked it waaaay back.

Last week, the State’s announcement was so forceful that Councilwoman Kathy McBride considered it no less than a takeover of the City by the State: “Tom Neff is the mayor of the city of Trenton and that is the bottom line,” McBride said. Yesterday, the message was very different. According to mayoral aide and Fuckup Without Portfolio Anthony Roberts, the decision to fund at least this next $200,000 is of course “within the purview of the city to fund.”

Which puts the responsibility of funding this next installment squarely on the City and its poor taxpayers. Again.

What accounts for the State’s abrupt U-turn? It’s an election year, is my explanation.

I think someone in the State House higher in the pecking order than Tom Neff saw last week’s headlines about the State’s intervention, and decided that would open the State to too much exposure (or “blame” if you’d prefer to avoid beating around the bush) to the responsibility for what was shaping up to be a probable decision to close the hotel.

As Roberts quoted Tom Neff at the beginning of this article, the state made it “abundantly clear” it would like the hotel to remain open. God forbid that the State’s fingerprints be found on any decision to close the place! Not during an election, and not so soon after the State rolled snake-eyes on its quarter-billion dollar bet on the Revel casino resort in Atlantic City. Not when the State’s investment in the troubled Xanadu complex looks shaky.

Sure, New Jersey’s stake of nearly $30 Million in Lafayette Yard is a lot smaller than Revel and Xanadu, but our hotel is a lot, lot closer to the State House! It would be extremely easy for news cameras to pan from “Closed” or “For Sale” signs on the hotel right over to the Capitol. Bad optics, as they say in the business. It would not be good for Governor Christie’s reputation as a serious, no-nonsense manager to be too closely associated with another real estate deal gone bad.

Also, I’m sure it occurred to someone on West State Street that certain members of Trenton’s Council would have been more than happy to deflect  the blame for their vote to close the hotel on to the State. After all, they’ve done it before.

Remember back in 2011, during the controversy about the City’s efforts to sign a contract to Lynx Technology, in a dicey and ultimately unsuccessful effort to move all of the city’s IT services to a company apparently unprepared to handle them, West Ward member Zachary Chester publicly based his initial vote to approve the deal based on the facts that Lynx was “the lowest bidder, gave a presentation that showed they are capable of doing the required work, and was found acceptable for consideration by the (state) Department of Community Affairs. No other factors influenced my decision. [Emphasis mine - KM]”

Councilwoman Phyllis Holly-Ward was more succinct in her reasoning. Speaking about the same decision to vote for the Lynx deal in 2011, said simply, “I will also let the State make my decision.”

Given all of this, It seems very possible to me that someone in the State House much more politically attuned to things than a professional career bureaucrat like Tom Neff, said something like, “Neff, we can’t be too closely connected with any decision to close Lafayette Yard. For Pete’s sake, don’t block Trenton from making any decisi0n on its own. Don’t put up another dime of state funds, whatever you do! Sound encouraging. Say we want to see the hotel remain open. Let that idiot mayor and his people know we won’t stand in their way. Tell them, ‘it’s within the purview of the city to fund’ the damned place. Yeah, that’ll work! At least it will push off the problem until after the election. If we’re lucky, it’ll keep the hotel open until after 2016. Then it’ll be someone else’s problem. Good man, Neff. Keep the lid on the whole thing.”

Yeah, that is all to credible a scenario to me. The thing is, had Mr. Neff and DCA not done a thing last week to intervene, I think Council would have voted against the money. There would have been no State involvement in that decision. Sure the State would have been part of the aftermath of any decision to close the hotel. There are still an awful lot of bills to pay, and at least $9 Million in state loans unsecured by any collateral but the hotel itself, worth only a fraction of the outstanding debt on the place. But that kind of situation would have been easier for the State to deal with, cleaning up after the Trenton Council’s own decision.

Now, it’s a lot more complicated  for the State. DCA stepped right into the middle of the mess last week. The State now owns its share of any and all further actions to either close the hotel, or keep it open. DCA will have to make sure that, should the hotel remain open, the hotel’s Board will have to be more carefully appointed and trained for its duties. The State may have to place one or two of its own people as members of the Board to make sure its interests are represented. And, despite its reluctance, state taxpayers may end up pouring even more money into the place.

I still think that a majority of Council members may vote against any more City money for Lafayette Yard. But a vote to do so is now much more difficult for each member, now that the State has weighed in by making it “abundantly clear that the DCA is not interested in seeing the hotel close.”

It would have been much, much easier for those Council members to vote as they had publicly said they would vote, before DCA opened its mouth. The State’s announcement last week, and its reversal this week, make it a lot harder for Council. This morning’s news reveals a clumsy attempt of New Jersey to pass the buck back to the City of Trenton, after it overplayed its hand.

Too late.

We already have a number of announced candidates for mayor, however. So far, four  individuals – [...]]]> From now until next January, auditions are open for candidates to be Trenton’s next mayor. January 2014 is, of course, the earliest that candidates can actually start to circulate nominating petitions and collect enough signatures for the May 6 election.

We already have a number of announced candidates for mayor, however. So far, four  individuals – James Golden, Patrick Hall, Eric Jackson, and Walker Worthy – have all made formal announcements of their candidacy, and have formalized their intentions by filing at least some of the required forms and reports with the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). A fifth, Paul Perez-Barroso, has announced his candidacy, but has neglected to file any ELEC paperwork. There are others who are rumored to be considering their candidacies, but no others have announced and/or filed. The Current Occupant of Trenton’s Mayor’s Office continues to be coy about his intentions to stand for re-election. But I for one consider him to be irrelevant as a serious candidate for 2014.

These five people have all announced in typical fashion – the usual press conference attended by family and supporters, featuring the routine prepared statement featuring personal biography and professional career details, and the required vague recitation of promises and goals for their candidacies and future terms of office. Afterwards, they may have set up web pages and/or Facebook pages, Twitter feeds; and begun to write Op-ed pieces or Letters to the Editors of the local papers.

As of May 10, 2013, that is as far as these candidates have gone. After their initial announcements, we’ve heard almost nothing of substance about any municipal issue of importance from any of the formal announced candidates. It’s not as if there’s nothing going on in Trenton.

Even though the election is a year away and formal campaigns not yet swinging into gear, I wonder why I am not hearing more, and in more detail, from the five announced candidates. It’s easier than ever to get one’s thoughts and opinions out into the ether: Facebook; blogs (ahem!); Twitter; even Comments to the online publication of newspaper stories; all are almost instantaneous, and possibly even better for candidates, free, vehicles for moving one’s opinions and positions into the public conversation. What I have noticed up until now is that none of the candidates are using any of these or similar to participate much in discussions of the issues they will face should they be elected.

Let’s start with Patrick Hall. He was the first person to enter the race. He announced his candidacy about 10 months ago, and set up a website at the same time. But since then, he’s been invisible. His website has seemingly been untouched since last July. He’s issued no press releases, his Facebook page features his campaign logo and lots of pictures, but no position statements. A Google search of “Patrick Hall Trenton” brings up references to his original announcement, his website, and an occasional note of a public appearance. But I can find nothing where he comments on news items or makes statements on policies he would support or oppose as mayor. Nearly a year into his candidacy, he is still a cipher, and has squandered the time he enjoyed as the only formal candidate by doing nothing with it.

Walker Worthy, the Deputy Mercer County Clerk announced his candidacy last month, and held a press conference/supporters’ rally at the Trenton Marriott. So far, his candidacy seems to be focusing on rallying supporters within the county’s and city’s politically active Democrats. He as of yet has no website, and his Facebook page features his picture and campaign slogan: “Worthy to Serve, Prepared to Lead.”

What he is apparently not yet prepared to do is tell voters what he thinks about the issues.

Former Trenton Police Director James Golden also announced his campaign last month at the Marriott, with prepared remarks that are posted on his Facebook page. In part it states, “[M]my campaign is going to be all about direction. It’s going to be: Trenton Forward! Trenton Forward! is not a sound bite – it’s a mindset, a way of doing things, and our anthem to move this city in a grossly different direction…I’m running for mayor of Trenton because I care too much about this city to see it go backwards…I’m running for mayor because it’s time we’ve tackled crime with a real plan and not pixie dust…I’m running for mayor because it’s time we start creating jobs, and not case files for the US Attorney’s Office..And I’m running for mayor because it’s time we restore integrity, public trust and ethics to city government.“

Occasionally we have heard Mr. Golden at City Council sessions making statements on specific issues, and he has also on occasion contributed some thoughts in Facebook discussions. He has started to circulate some position papers on some issues, however those are not yet widely or openly discussed or expanded upon. So far we have not publicly heard any sustained or comprehensive ideas or proposals that he believes will take “Trenton Forward.”

Paul Perez-Barroso made a big splash last month with his campaign promise, “Make me the mayor today, and tomorrow you will have 105 police officers back on duty.” He took some grief for that promise among one group of Facebookers, attempted to engage his critics and respond, also on Facebook. When faced with more questions and comments, he retreated and cut off further comment. Since early April, he has had no presence online or in the news. His campaign kick-off event was first announced to be held at City Hall, but was moved to a private Mill Hill residence at the last moment.

Alone among the other declared candidates, Mr. Perez-Barroso has so far failed to file the required documents with ELEC. For someone whose primary self-presented credentials are those of a savvy businessman and executive, this is a telling omission. It’s a mixed message to the public when a candidate plays up his work with the US Export-Import Bank and the National Science Foundation, then neglects the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Former Trenton Director of Public Works Eric Jackson only formally announced his candidacy this week, although he has been frequently mentioned in the press for months as a likely candidate. He filed his candidacy with ELEC last month, but as of today has filed none of the required quarterly financial reports for his campaign that has been informally running since last fall at least.

Mr. Jackson is the sole candidate to have published a public article staking out a specific position on a current issue. In January of this year, he submitted a brief op-ed piece to The Times supporting the Thomas Edison State College proposal to re-develop the Glen Cairn Arms site. I disagreed with his position, but was appreciative that he took the time and made the effort to engage on a specific important public issue of the sort he’d face as Mayor. I hoped to see more of this, not only from him but from all the others.

Which is why his Letter to the Editor in yesterday’s Times was so disappointing. Meant to accompany his formal campaign announcement, it reads as so bland and generic to have been cribbed from a standard manual, like “Campaigning for Dummies.” There is nothing in his letter that could not have been written for any other community in this nation. For example, a slightly edited excerpt:

“It is out of this belief and love for the city of [INSERT NAME HERE] that I announce my candidacy for the office of mayor. This will be a campaign that will invite everyone who is interested in making the city of [INSERT NAME HERE] great once again. Over the course of the campaign, you will hear about my plans for the future for this great city. More important, I want to hear from you, the public, about what you want the future of [INSERT NAME HERE] to be.”

Can the bar possibly be set any lower?

All of these guys have announced their candidacies real early. We have a year before the next regularly-scheduled elections. Part of the reason they’ve announced so soon is to be ready should there be a special election this year occasioned by an involuntary vacancy in the office.

The window for that happening in 2013 is fast closing, and in my opinion is not happening. But if there is a remote possibility of it occurring, I think that would give these candidates more reason, not less, to make their campaigns specific, detailed and comprehensive. So far, to a one, that is not happening.

In open auditions, a candidate doesn’t have much opportunity to make an impression. You have to start strong with your best material and your best presentation from the first second.

If you don’t, before you know it, you hear, “Thank you. Next!”

The clock is ticking, guys. Who’s up for it?

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”

It’s too bad we seem to have neither within the Administration of the City of Trenton. Leadership is WAAAAYYY too much to ask for, I know.  [...]]]> The author, teacher and management guru Peter Drucker once defined the difference between Management and Leadership. He said,

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”

It’s too bad we seem to have neither within the Administration of the City of Trenton. Leadership is WAAAAYYY too much to ask for, I know.  I’d settle for some good, basic, competent management, but even that seems in scant supply these days. The Administration just does not have the knack of doing things right.

Case in point: this article in today’s Trenton Times by Erin Duffy, reporting that the Administration and the Indicted Occupant of Trenton’s Mayor’s Office “are fighting to overturn a state Civil Service Commission ruling that ordered a Mack confidante be laid off and replaced by a former security guard who lost his job two years ago.” The case in question is that of laid-off City Park Ranger Michael Morris. Last month the NJ Civil Service Commission agreed with Mr. Morris that he was laid off to make room for a loyal supporter of the IO (and there aren’t too many of those left around!), Robert “Chico” Mendez. The Commission ordered that Morris be reinstated and Mendez let go.

Of course, the Administration ignored the ruling. Mr. Mendez is still on the city payroll. Mr. Morris should also be back on the payroll, per the Commission’s order, but that hasn’t happened. Today we read in Ms. Duffy’s article that the City will file an appeal to the April Civil Service ruling.

Here’s the part about not even being able to do things right. The City intends to appeal the Civil Service Commission’s ruling even though the City failed to make a case in the original hearing! In the Times article by Alex Zdan last month announcing the ruling, we read “The Civil Service decision shows the city did not respond to ‘numerous opportunities and requests’ to submit any response to fight the case.” [Emphasis mine - KM]

When given multiple opportunities to do so during the original case before the Commission, the City did not take any action, produced not one document to support its position, and apparently offered not one argument why Mr. Morris should not have gotten his job back.

Now, since the City doesn’t like the result, it will appeal. On what basis? I don’t know.

I am not familiar with the mechanisms the Civil Service Commission engages to hear these matters, so I found this Q&A page on the Civil Service Commission’s home on the State’s website, which discusses the appeals process. One section reads,

In General: What if I Disagree with the Civil Service Commission Decision on My Appeal (Any Appeal)?

You may file a request with the Civil Service Commission for reconsideration of its decision [N.J.A.C. 4A:2-1.6] within 45 days of receiving it. You must show one of two things: new evidence or additional information not previously presented to the Civil Service Commission which would change the result of the appeal, plus the reason that this evidence was not presented earlier; or that the Civil Service Commission decision was a clear, material error. All copies of correspondence and other documents that you provide to the Civil Service Commission must also be provided to all other parties in the appeal.

Instead of a request for reconsideration, or following receipt of a Commission decision in a request for reconsideration, you may file a Notice of Appeal with the Superior Court, Appellate Division, within 45 days. [Emphasis mine. - KM]

The Times article this morning is unclear (probably because the Administration is itself confused about it) whether the City will appeal back to the Commission, or whether it will take the case right to Superior Court.

But I would imagine that in either venue the City will have a hard time if it tries to introduce new material or make any new arguments. I can just hear a Commissioner, or a Judge, asking, “So, why exactly did the City fail to introduce this evidence earlier? Why did the City fail to make any argument in the first hearing? Hmmmmm????”

I can hear those question in my mind, but for the life of me I cannot conceive of how the City will reply!

The City has totally fucked up the Michael Morris situation. He should never have been laid off. Mr. Mendez should never have been hired in his place. Morris should be reinstated. Mendez should be let go. The City didn’t even try to make any argument before the Civil Service Commission. That failure, plus the strength of Morris’ case, meant the City lost.

Now the City will spend even more time, and spend even more money, in pursuit of a ruling it will never get. The Commission knows it. The media know it. Mr. Morris and his lawyers know it. The City’s own outside lawyers probably know it. You know it. But the Administration refuses to acknowledge it. And so this farce will continue for at least several weeks or months more, toward a conclusion that really is in no doubt.

In the grand scheme of things in this City, this is one small matter. But the fact that the Administration cannot even get this small matter right is typical of the utter non-existence of any semblance of sound management in City Hall.

They just can’t do things right.

With this inability, it is too much to ask that anything akin to Leadership for this town be exhibited by the Administration. Sure enough, we will not read about that in another Times piece this morning. This article, also by Ms. Duffy, narrates how in the aftermath of City Council’s meeting Tuesday in which Council failed to approve the latest funding request from the managing board of the Lafayette Yard Hotel, the City is now looking to meet with the State’s Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to discuss the future of the hotel.

What the article describes to me is an administration in panic mode about the hotel. Council, or at least a 4-person majority, seems to be dead set against approving any more city funding for the loss-making property. DCA announced on Tuesday that it opposes any more funding until they see “a clear, concrete, written plan spelling out how the hotel will become profitable and find the estimated $3 million needed for a renovation.” Such plan being nowhere in sight.

The City’s Business Administrator Sam Hutchinson is quoted today as saying the City has no ability to come up with the needed $3 Million to renovate and upgrade the hotel. And the State, as discussed in this space over the last few days, is already paying off $18 Million in Bonds it issued for the hotel, as well as holding another $9 Million in loans directly to the hotel. I don’t think the State will be a likely source for any additional financing, either, after dumping $27 Million and counting into the place.

About the only likely role I see for the State is with assisting in closing the hotel, preparing the property for sale to a commercial party, and assisting in helping the City to deal with the financial fallout of paying off the remaining bills and long-term debt.

Although the State probably doesn’t prefer to see the hotel close for even a little while, memories of the Quarter-Billion dollar investment it made with the failed Revel casino and the ongoing problems with the Xanadu project are still fresh in the public mind, and will likely make the State of New Jersey a little leery of getting involved with another hotel project.

A display of Leadership at this moment, on this issue, would mean the IO standing up and saying, “The City tried to make the hotel work. But after a dozen years and more, in a good economy and bad, it is just not working. It would be irresponsible for this Administration and this City to add to an already intolerable burden of debt and put one more dollar into a municipally-owned hotel. Therefore, I am asking City Council to withhold any further appropriations to the hotel, and I also request the Lafayette Yard Hotel Board to cease operations as soon as practical, wind up remaining obligations, and seek the best possible terms for a sale. I will ask the State to assist us in this process.”

Of course, we will never hear that from the Indicted Occupant. He doesn’t have it in him. The other night, when Councilwoman Kathy McBride called him “a figurehead,” she unwittingly hit the nail right on the head. Since the day he took office, and certainly well before he was indicted on federal criminal charges, he has been somewhat more than a figurehead:  he has indeed personally taken actions and made policies, but those have almost all been foolish, malicious, wasteful, or all three. Some may have been criminal, as we may find out later this summer.

But overall, the man has presided over three years of drift, decline and decay. He has been a figurehead, content to smile and wave at numerous ribbon-cuttings, dedications, and photo opportunities, while the city around him spirals further downwards.

I can’t wait for him to be gone. But, in the midst of all these problems, those who would replace him, and who have openly declared their candidacies for next year’s elections, are mostly all silent themselves on these matters. More on that in the next post.