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How NOT To Do Things The Right Way, Lesson #1217

This morning’s class shall examine the latest case study – one of hundreds – provided by the City of Trenton.

What little economic activity there is in this city is provided by three main types of players: Government, whether Federal, State, County or City (in other words, Your Tax Dollars at Play); Non-Profits, chiefly religious or secular charitable; and small business, chiefly owner-operated storefronts, small restaurants, small (by the measure of other enterprises in the business elsewhere) real estate developers, and the like. That’s pretty much it.

In a City where the unemployment rate and poverty rate and crime rate and overall misery rate all sky-high, a rational person would think that Job One for a municipal administration would be to foster and sustain the initiatives that are in place, help them thrive and grow.

Lord knows we need more commercial economic development in this City. But that is unfortunately one of the many, many things at which the Administration of Mayor Tony F. Mack is utterly, totally inept. So we should all hope that what is left, government and non-profit initiatives, would be recognized by the Macker Machers as at least being able to provide some help and salve to the sad citizens of this town as we wait out the days until something else can give us hope.

Sadly, the last couple of weeks have given proof that even our non-profit groups  are not immune from being attacked and torn down by this Administration.

We have seen several of the city’s long-standing cultural institutions – Passage Theater, Trenton Artworks, and the Trenton Free Public Library – under threat of displacement or perhaps eviction from their homes in city-owned buildings after the City has made spurious claims about their tenure or unspecified problems with granting leases.

We have seen the eviction of William McLaughlin’s Team Hope boxing program evicted from its city-owned home at a former firehouse on South Broad Street – a property that had been restored and made habitable by McLaughlin’s significant investment of his own sweat and his own money – after a highly-suspicious claim of drug activity made by an associate with his own dirty laundry and an ax to grind.

And today, we read the incredible story of  of a food bank – a program that literally gives food to over 400 hungry people every day! – now itself closed down and homeless because of needless problems with the City over permitting problems and other interference by city operatives.

I won’t repeat many of the details in Matt Fair’s excellent article, other than to say that the article describes a city effort that – instead of recognizing problems with permitting and other procedures and cooperatively seeking solutions for the food bank operators – actively created more problems and frustrations for the charitable program. Two examples, as cited by North Ward Council rep Marge Caldwell-Wilson in the Times: 1 ) the food bank, in operation for several years with some funding from the city’s Weed and Seed program, sought a permit last summer to continue operations, but was told  that permits longer than 90 days would not be granted (making any planning and further fundraising very difficult if not impossible); and 2) the city’s operative from the recreation department, Lisa Whitaker, required approval of all program volunteers. Imagine that: city approval required for Volunteers working on a private non-profit charitable program. Whatever for? On what basis would approval be granted or denied? On what basis do they dare to presume to interfere like that with a small neighborhood charity?

Of course, these are just allegations, one side of a case. However, when the Times asked soon-to-be-former-“Acting” Business Administrator Anthony Roberts for his side of the story, Mr. Roberts responded via email and put up a major brick wall: “Under the agreement for city-leased property, it is the discretion of the city to stop a lease at anytime. The agreement in question did not follow the procedures for entering into an arrangement with the city. We are unable to discuss this matter further at this time.”

Translation: “We can do what we want, when we want. Why should we help a long-standing program navigate through city regulations when they run into problems? Who cares about them, anyway? Stop asking questions! I won’t answer them anyway. Suck on it.”

As I said in the headline, this is another example How NOT To Do Things The Right Way. We know the Administration has been useless in so many things. Now we see a pattern of disdain, malign neglect and outright interference when it comes to private, non-profit and charitable programs whose only goal is to make the lives of the people of this city a little better, a little kinder; with Art, Culture, Learning, and sometimes Food for the Hungry.

You may have noticed I used a somewhat cumbersome phrase to refer to Ms. Whitaker, “city operative.” That’s because after I read Mr. Fair’s article, and its many references to her, I didn’t know how else to refer to her.

It seems the City doesn’t quote know how to characterize her, either. “Acting” Public Works Director Harold Hall – who has been de facto running the Recreation Department since Mayor Mack has never hired a Rec Directror since he took office – told City Hall last week, according to the Times article, that Ms. Whitaker has been “actively running the recreation program for the city.” Mr. Roberts, meanwhile in the same email quoted above, told Matt Fair “Lisa Whittaker is a consultant for the recreation department and volunteers her time to help out in the recreation department during the day.” [My emphasis. – KM]

OK, let me get this straight: she “runs” the rec programs according to Hall, and she does so as both a “consultant” and “volunteer” according to Mr. Roberts. Fair further reports that she is on a contract – OK, sounds like a consultant – for 20 hours a week, but has billed as much as 42 hours a week. Hmm, sounds like a fulltime employee.

I don’t get it. I am confused.

What is her status: employee, consultant, volunteer?

How did she come to be “running” Recreation?

What is a person “running” Recreation doing messing with a Food Program?

How did Ms. Whitaker get her job? According to the Times, she left her job as a State Corrections officer in 2009 as the result of a pretrial intervention agreement made after she was indicted on charges that she smuggled contraband into a State Prison. According to Mr. Fair, part of the agreement was that she forfeit public employment.

Does that agreement to forfeit public employment affect her employment/volunteer work/consultant arrangement with the City of Trenton?

Does the State Department of Community Affairs know about Ms. Whitaker?

Who is Lisa Whitaker? Who in the Administration got her this work?

The Recreation Department is the subject of many serious allegations. A major lawsuit against the city by former employee Maria Richardson makes several serious claims of malfeasance and corruption against the department and its supervisors, including Mr. Hall.

And West Ward Councilman Zachary Chester has proposed a Council investigation of the department, prompted by these and other charges. It seems to me very much needed, as soon as possible.

What a mess.

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