NOTE: I offered a public comment at last night’s Council meeting, the text of which is below. Most of it should be self-explanatory. But it will make very little sense if you don’t know what a “Consent Agenda” is. As the snapshot of last night’s agenda (below) shows, it’s procedure by which Council votes an entire list of Resolutions, up or down, at one time, with minimal or no discussion. My request last night was to separate out all of the Resolutions concerning Trenton Water Works, and consider them separately, for the reasons I stated to them.

As it turned out, Council declined to discuss my request. Councilman Alex Bethea responded to my note with comments and questions about items I did not mention last night, at all. Rather, he brought up items from this past January. Councilwoman Marge Caldwell-Wilson inadvertently confirmed the concern leading to my remarks when she admitted that she depends on the presentations of the Water Works and the Administration to guide her vote on technical matters.

Oh, well. It was worth making the effort last night. And, as I told them, their inaction is now on the record. An opportunity was given to them last night for Council to pro-actively demonstrate that they were paying close attention to every matter associated with the Water Works, to try to reassure Trenton’s residents as well as other County water customers about the management and safety of their home drinking water.

They failed to take the opportunity.

Good Evening, Council President and Council Members –

I am here to speak tonight about Resolution #18-112, Resolutions # 18-127 through -130, as well as Resolution 134. These are all business items concerning the Trenton Water Works.

Collectively, most of them seem routine and quite ordinary. With the exception of Resolution #18-112 (which has no direct quantifiable calculation attached to it), the total cost of these items is in the neighborhood of only around $300,000.

But we all know that nothing is routine with the Trenton Water Works these days. After years of decay, neglect and budget games, the condition of the Water Works has reached – I hope – its bottom. The City has contracted over $2 Million Dollars – with the amount increasing weekly, it seems like – with two private firms to provide operating professionals at TWW facilities over the next year.

In spite of that effort, there are still problems. Today’s mail brought another letter notifying customers of another water quality failure, from October of last year. Last week, a very temporary technical failure led to figurative alarm bells going off around the area. It ended up being no big deal, but in the aftermath of the last few years, can you blame anyone for having a short fuse when it comes to our water quality?

No, nothing is routine with the Water Works these days. Tonight, you are reviewing a number of items regarding the Water Works, perhaps the first set of multiple items since the operations contracts with the new vendors were approved. Perhaps the first batch since Council heard the extremely poorly-prepared and incomplete presentation on February 1 by the Water Works and the Director of Public Works.

You have these items scheduled to be acted upon as part of tonight’s Consent Agenda. I ask you this evening to sever these Resolutions from your Consent Agenda, in order to discuss, deliberate and decide them individually. Because there is nothing routine about the Water Works these days.

Most of you are running for re-election in May. Some are even running for a promotion to higher office. In either case, voters will be considering your candidacies based on your records, which includes your spoken. written and oversight record on the matter of the Water Works. I understand that at this week’s candidate forum the issue wasn’t discussed once. I find that entirely hard to believe, but what happened,  happened. Here and now, tonight, you are faced with your public service obligation as elected officials to consider these important matters, and to give us your rationale for your vote.

It is not enough to vote on these matters tonight as part of the Consent Agenda. It’s not enough to say you are voting them up or down because of what you have been told by the Public Works Director, or the Business Administrator, the Chief of Staff, the TWW Superintendent or even the Mayor. Each of those individuals have been repeatedly wrong, misleading, dissembling and uninformed, often at the same time. They have no credibility.

No, Mr. President and Council Members, such arguments won’t work tonight.

As you consider each of these measures, I want to hear each and every one of you making statements explaining WHY you support or oppose them. I want to hear your personal reasons, pro or con.

Such as, “Since February 1, I have seen the financial statements and organization charts of TWW, I believe and trust in them, and I believe these items tonight are reasonable and appropriate. I am in favor.”

Or, “I have met with TWW’s management and the new consultants from Wade Trim and Banc3. I have confidence in their day-to-day judgments and believe these items are fair and routine.”

Or, “I’ve seen and reviewed the quarterly status report sent by the City to the Department of Environmental Protection on March 8, and I am satisfied with the pace of improvement at the utility, for the following reason.”

Or, “I support competitive contracting at the Water Works as preferable over competitive bidding for these reasons.”

Or, “I don’t support paying this amount to Cash Cycle Solutions because customer billing in the last half of 2017 was horribly mis-managed.”

Please, express your approval or opposition to any or all of these, or whatever, while giving your reasons and not relying on the Administration for your position. They have no credibility on this matter left, at all.

Do you get what I am asking, Councilmembers? Tonight you have the obligation to go on the official record this evening, demonstrating your personal commitment to fixing the Water Works. And that means treating these Resolutions, and any and all that come in at least over the near future, as anything BUT routine. Because they have to do with the Water Works, and things there are not normal. This is your opportunity to demonstrate that you personally buy in to the process of fixing the Water Works for all its customers around Mercer County.

Your words, or your silence tonight, as I have said, will be on the record. Expect to hear your words and your actions on this matter, from tonight and other occasions, over the remainder of this campaign.

So, make them count, tonight.

This dais has been the source for a great deal of empty incendiary rhetoric lately about the Water Works, the City and its relationship with the previous State Administration. Let’s end that now, shall we? Show that you are taking seriously your individual obligation to participate in the rebuild of the utility by providing your due diligence and responsible oversight, while also making your individual argument for further public trust, for whatever office you seek.

Council members, time to walk the walk. Sever these items from your Consent Agenda, and let’s hear what you think about each of them, and why.

Walker Worthy’s first campaign for Mayor of Trenton in 2014 was notable for three things.

First, a rather mushy policy platform centering on an economic development plan for the City featuring the idea of a Trenton-based gambling casino. The less said about this plan, the better.

Second, an extremely close and somewhat inappropriate self-identification with the Mercer County Democratic Party, which gave him his boost in local politics and his long tenure at the County Clerk’s office. It was somewhat inappropriate in that Trenton’a elections are supposed to be non-partisan. And also kind of irrelevant. Trenton is such an overwhelmingly Democratic town, that specifically drawing attention to yourself as a Dem is actually pretty silly. Seen from one perspective, in was kind of cute in a junior high school, I’m-in-love-and-I-want-the-world-to-know-it kind of way, but also kind of embarrassing.

In the absence of any relevant local Trenton experience, ideas and general enthusiasm within his own candidacy, he transfused as much as he could from the local Party. To this person, at least, the result of his efforts to identify with the County Democrats made him look all the shallower as a potential Trenton mayor.

But, itt didn’t stop Mr. Worthy then, and doesn’t now (more on that below).

The third item Walker Worthy’s campaign four years ago was known for was a rather pathetic, late attempt to smear Eric Jackson. Mr. Jackson, then the leading candidate and eventual winner of that mayoral campaign (even though he is not a candidate for re-election this year, retiring after his only four-year term), was accused by Mr. Worthy of severe personal financial difficulties potentially compromising his potential term in office. This city had just seen the previous elected mayor, Tony Mack, convicted in Federal court of corruption charges including bribery. Mack’s fall from grace was at least in part caused by desperate personal finances which left him vulnerable to taking easy money under the table, which ended up coming from a federal sting operation.

Whatever Mr. Worthy’s intention in flinging that kind of mud on Eric Jackson – of whom it must be said, although his administration was a clear failure, no accusations were ever made against him of personal impropriety or of any misconduct driven by any adverse personal finances – it came across as a last-minute move of desperation on the part of a candidate who offered little on his own.

Despite the extreme shallowness of his ideas, his reliance on County connections, and his resort to dirty politics, Walker Worthy came in third in 2014. With the vacuum created by the withdrawal of Eric Jackson from this year’s election, Worthy got back in to the race, hoping to be more successful this time.

So far, we are seeing what looks like a rerun of his last campaign. First, where most people get past their junior high years and infatuations over the course of four years, Mr. Worthy is out of the gate once more wrapping himself in the embrace of the Mercer Democratic Party. As discussed in this space a short while ago, Worthy’s first argument for his candidacy is based on the depth of “relationships” he has with key people in county and state government, connections that will help Trenton make a better case directly to decision-makers who can send more resources to this poor town. As I wrote in that piece, I am not persuaded that a Walker candidacy built on the strength of his relationships being his leading attribute is that strong.

He’s continued to play up his “Democratic” credentials, for better and for worse. He tried, unsuccessfully, to include his party affiliation on his official ballot entry, a practice prohibited under State law.

He’s announced a big fundraising event, sponsored by prominent County Democratic figures – held outside the city of Trenton. This only reinforces the image he had 4 years ago as someone with no Trenton credentials, no Trenton credibility and no real feel for the town he seeks to govern.

He’s been quoted in the Trentonian as defending the Mercer Democrats, actually using the “M” word: “The Democratic machine did some really good things in Mercer County.”

Hey, first rule of Democratic Machine: you do not talk about Democratic Machine!!!

I mean, really! One uses words like “the Committee,” “the Organization,” or better yet, “the Party.” Machine?!?! You don’t use that word when you are on the inside! That reinforces all kinds of negative connotations, and frankly reveals the person using the word as politically inept and tone-deaf.

And now, so far by-passing the Policy and Ideas stuff, he’s gone right to mud-flinging. He name-checked the current mayor and two of his current opponents yesterday with criticism for their role in the recent Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) “debacle,” in which the City lost out on a potentially significant amount of state funding for local street and other transportation infrastructure, because the City failed to apply for the grant.

Hey, as I’ve written here, there is certainly plenty of blame to go around in connection with the TTF screw-up. Lord knows. Since Walker Worthy has been utterly silent on municipal issues and problems – from the end of his last campaign four years ago to the day he announced this current one – it strikes me, at least, that coming out of the block to immediately blame others instead of offering any solutions is kind of small and petty.

I tend to agree with Mark Matzen, identified in the Trentonian as the campaign manager for Councilman Duncan Harrison, one of the two other candidates blamed by Worthy, when he said to the paper, “It is sad that Mr. Worthy stooped so low to name calling when what we need are bold ideas to move our city forward. It’s a sign of a desperate campaign that seems to be going nowhere.”

I’m not quite ready to write off Walker Worthy’s campaign just quite yet. However, so far all he has done is wrap himself up with the party “machine” – remember, his word! – and throw mud at his opponents.

He has an opportunity now to become competitive, if he starts to present serious ideas, proposals and policies that would have a chance to help this city out of its mess.

But the window on that kind of opportunity is closing fast. If, after the Machine and the Mud we’ve seen so far, all he offers is more Mush, I think he’ll be done.

With official certification given by the Trenton City Clerk’s Office to all Mayoral and Council Candidates who have qualified for the May 8 ballot, there’s been no time  wasted announcing the first of what I hope will be several candidate Forums and Town Halls. The first is happening this Monday evening, sponsored by the Trenton Branch of the NAACP,  and will be held at the Auditorium of the Trenton Board of Education.  This is according to an announcement appearing on local bulletin boards yesterday.

Since they haven’t included any language in the announcement disclosing the connection, I hope that the organizers of Monday’s event will properly inform the audience of their current relationship with one of the  mayoral candidates, Alex Bethea.

That their may be some current relationship isn’t apparent from a casual reading of the Trenton NAACP Facebook page, in terms of any list of officers or committees  that I could find.

However, according to that Facebook page, the official mailing address of the Trenton Branch of the NAACP is listed as 117 Cadwalader Drive in the West Ward’s Hiltonia neighborhood. Which is the home address of Alex Bethea.

That Candidate Bethea is a former employee of the Board of Education is a fact that has been a central element to all of his political campaigns to date in the City, for city Council and now the Mayor’s office. It’s a major part of his resume that he is sure to play up on Monday night, as often as he can, I’d predict.

Appearing at a town hall event at the Board of Ed, sponsored by the Trenton NAACP, gives Alex Bethea a “home court advantage.” I suppose.

It’s always nice to have a home court advantage. But it’s only a fair advantage if all of the other players know under what rules the game will be played.

I hope and expect the Trenton Branch of the NAACP and the Board of Education to fully disclose and explain their connections with Mr. Bethea, so that Monday’s forum can be seen for what it should be: an open forum for all candidates, run by an entity acting as an honest broker, disinterested in the candidacy or candidacies of one or more specific candidates.

Trenton doesn’t need any electoral shenanigans this year.

As emailed to Trenton’s City Clerk’s Office, 3/8/2018:

Good Afternoon –

Below is a screengrab of the list of qualified Candidates for Mayor as Released by your Office.

In January of last year, the first preliminary assessments made during the property revaluation performed for the City of Trenton by Appraisal Systems Inc. (ASI) were made public. They didn’t look good for many homeowners then, and the final results bore out the trend glimpsed in the preliminary numbers. Citywide, on average residential properties stayed flat, although that total included massive valuations up and down throughout the city. Commercial property jumped on average a staggering 75%. Again, on both sides of that average, some properties went way in value, some way down. By the time these results were finalized and new tax bills were mailed, many home- and business-owners were slammed with increases of 50%, 100%, 200% and more. Several others saw bills dropped significantly.

A lot of people complained to the City, and to ASI, with varying results. After staying mostly silent on the matter, as usual, the outgoing Mayor proclaimed in August to David Foster of The Trentonian, “‘I’m really concerned about the revaluation,’ the first-term mayor said Friday in a phone interview. ‘I’m not a tax expert. I’m not a reval expert. But I’m bringing people in who are to meet directly with our community, our residents and our business owners to have a one-to-one dialogue in the next week or two.'”

Some community meetings were held, some homeowners saw their assessment appeals granted. Apart from that, nothing much happened.

As the preliminary results were revealed, I wrote a few pieces about how screwy the whole thing seemed to me. In the linked piece from late January, I looked at the results in other NJ towns of reassessments done by ASI, as context for showing how flawed the process in Trenton was.

I also sent a letter to City Council in January, appealing to them to review the valuations and throw the results out to start again with a fairer, more thorough process. The whole letter can be found here, but I just want to quote a part of it here. At one point, I appealed directly to a few individual Council members, whose own properties had significantly  increased in assessed value [Emphasis added by me]:

If these preliminary valuation increases in my neighborhood and others in the West Ward  are made permanent, and the remaining valuations do not result in a significant increase to the City’s total Net Valuation Taxable, the subsequent city property tax bills that I and my neighbors receive will be a disaster for the Ward and for the City of Trenton. Who will be able to afford tax increases of anywhere near 40%, 50% or more? Not me, nor most of my neighbors.

And, if I may speak directly to you, Councilmembers, not many of you, I would guess. Mr. Chester, your property increased in value by 55%. Mr. Harrison, yours by 43%. Mr. Bethea, yours by a relatively moderate 15%. Ms. Reynolds Jackson, you don’t live in the West Ward, but your East Ward property increased in value by nearly 67%!

Although certainly not a member of your body, I will hope that Mayor Jackson can empathize with these kinds of increases, even though his own property increased in valuation by a very minimal 2.4%, less than the rest of city as a whole, on average

Can any of you afford higher  tax bills anywhere near those kinds of rates? Remember, the City as a whole looks set to increase in value very little if at all. A rising tide of City wide property value increases will not allow you, or me, to absorb the pain of higher assessments by the benefit of a lower tax rate.

If the current results of the revaluation stand, the significant increases that seem to be concentrated in specific neighborhoods – Hiltonia on average increased by 32%, Cadwalader Heights by 39%, those neighborhoods and many of their homeowners will hurt.

It will be hard to absorb heavy tax increases. Foreclosure will likely rise, and resale values will collapse. Who will want to buy my house –  or yours, Mr. Chester, or yours, Mr. Harrison, or yours, Ms Reynolds-Jackson – and pay even more of Trenton’s notoriously high property taxes, from which we see so little value?

You won’t be surprised to hear that I only heard back from one Councilmember. And it wasn’t one of the ones I named above. It certainly wasn’t Zachary Chester, who pleaded in Council in January of this year, “[I]f you call me for potholes, call me for policy.” One can call him, or write him, often. But in my experience, he won’t respond.

I heard from only one Councilmember, once on this matter. Nothing ever since, from the other six Members.

Actually, I think I just received another answer from another Council person. She didn’t reply to me directly, but she took an action that speaks more loudly than words.

According to reporting by Trentonian reporter David Foster, on February 8 of this year, two days before she was appointed to fill a vacant State Assembly seat, former Trenton Councilwoman Verlina Reynolds Jackson quietly filed a tax appeal for her East Ward property. One year after being alerted that many, many homeowners and business owners – including her – were going to be paying brutally higher taxes; and after a full year of saying nothing and doing nothing about the situation, the newly-appointed Assembly member decided she was paying too much in taxes and filed an appeal. But not until she was safely off of Trenton’s City Council.

How do you like that, Trenton homeowners? Trenton business owners? She finally agrees that at least some of the increases – OK, perhaps just her own increase – was unfair. And so she appeals.

Adding this to the controversy over her new County job, referenced by Mr. Foster in his piece, the new Assembly member may have some questions to answer as she seeks election in her own right, first in a June primary, and later in the November general election. Many Trenton taxpayers who vote this year just might see her tax appeal as a cynical move to put Trenton behind her.  Voters in November might also recall the ease in which Mercer County conveniently hired her, and punish not only the Assemblymember, but those in the County who facilitated this.

What about the rest of us?

Well, if the first thing that the former Councilwoman did in anticipation of leaving her City office was to appeal her Trenton tax assessment as unfair, then the rest of us would just be chumps not to do the same.

Don’t be chumps.

File a tax repeal. Everyone. File a tax appeal.

In what is likely to be the Last Hurrah for Trenton’s Housing and Economic Development Department under the Eric Jackson Administration, City Council will tonight consider an Ordinance to create two new Entertainment Districts on the City.

Too bad the Administration is going about this in a totally ass backwards way. Oh, and illegal, too.

Housing and Economic Development Diana Rogers is extensively quoted in a David Foster article in the Trentonian, selling her vision for these two new districts:

“We are doing the entertainment districts primarily to begin to encourage economic development through entertainment in certain areas of the city,” Diana Rogers, the city’s housing and economic [sic], said Wednesday in a phone interview. “It’ll be an evolving process over a period of time but the idea is to begin to encourage the development of sort of destination areas in the city for both our visitors as well as residents to participate in entertainment venues.”

Mr. Foster goes on to report, “The city’s economic director said she has not received a response yet from any business about the plan.”

Hmm, I wonder why? What do businesses and developers know about this plan that Ms. Rogers and the Administration do not?

This won’t take long.

Here is a link to the Proposed Ordinance that Council will discuss this evening. It’s a very short text, let me show you the whole thing. It will be important to have read this while you read the next section.

In New Jersey, municipalities such as Trenton have the ability to designate areas within their towns by virtue of a law passed in 2007. It’s called “The Sports and Entertainment District Urban Revitalization Act,” (N.J.S.A. 34:1 B-190 and following) and you may read it here.

Because “Sports” and “Entertainment” can be such vague terms, and because the economic, social, and political conditions so important to consider, the NJ Legislature 11 years ago created a very careful process for towns to follow to help ensure that municipalities get it right when they make plans for such districts.

Trenton’s plan, as being presented to Council tonight, fails to follow that process. The Ordinance you see above fails to comply with the 2007 law.

Here’s the money quote for understanding why Ms. Rogers’ plan is so defective. It can be found in Section 193 of the state law. I’ve emphasized key phrases.

34:1B-193  Establishment of a sports and entertainment district.

4.   The governing body of any eligible municipality may, by ordinance, establish a sports and entertainment district in order to encourage and promote the development of a project within the district.  A sports and entertainment district shall consist of an area of the municipality designated in a project plan prepared by the developer.  The project plan shall be approved by municipal ordinance, duly adopted by the governing body.

The ordinance shall include or incorporate:

a.   a description of the proposed project, the anticipated period of construction, and a description and map of the proposed sports and entertainment district;

b.   an estimate of the amount of  tax revenues that are anticipated to be generated annually within the sports and entertainment district for that period of time covered by the project plan and an estimate of those revenues to be allocated to the project;

c.   an assessment of the economic benefits of the project, including a projection of the value of private investment that is anticipated to  be generated, directly or indirectly, in the sports and entertainment district as a result of the undertaking of the project or other proposed development within the sports and entertainment district;

d.   documentation as to the necessary approvals relating to the project;

e.   demonstration that at least $20 million in private investment has been committed to the project; and

f.   documentation that the district has been identified in the appropriate plan.

L.2007, c.30,s.4.

To summarize, in order to create a legal sports and entertainment district in a New Jersey Municipality, a town, among other things, must first have a viable project committed to by one or more developers, proof of adequate funding, the necessary approvals needed to begin the project, and analyses of the benefits such a district would provide including estimated tax revenue.

Trenton’s proposed Ordinance has none of these things. Oh, it does have two maps. Here’s one. Here’s the other.

The approach that Director Rogers and the Jackson Administration are taking to this idea is the “Field of Dreams” approach: Create the district, then developers, businesses and customers will flock to it.

That’s not how it works in New Jersey. This is a laughably poorly thought-out idea. You will see the City’s Law Director Walter Denson’s signature on the Ordinance above, attesting this as “Approved as to Form and Legality.”

It’s not even close to being legal.

You want to see a legal Ordinance for creating such a district? Read Millville’s. Here’s a taste.

Millville’s law has everything that Trenton’s does not. Such as:

• a Real Developer!
• a Real Plan!
• Real Funding!
• A Real Estimate of tax income!

Trenton’s proposal is slipshod, amateurish, and illegal under NJ law.

David Foster’s article on this plan concludes, “The director [Rogers] said the city has done research on other entertainment districts in the U.S. to “see how successful they’ve been.” Rogers said the city looked at places like Miami and Austin.”

Rather than look at Miami and Austin, I think they should looked more closely at Millville, New Jersey.

At the very least, this boondoggle (I was going to write “debacle,” but that term is taken) proves that we already have one entertainment district working full time in Trenton, and that is City Hall, 319 East State Street. With the Ringling Brothers Circus now gone, we have plenty of clowns to keep us amused.

In further development of a story that the outgoing mayor of Trenton has called a “debacle,” Isaac Avilucea at The Trentonian wrote a followup story that was posted online last night. In this piece, Mr. Avilucea linked to a July 24, 2017 letter sent to municipalities statewide by  Richard Hammer, then Commissioner of the NJ Department of Transportation. This letter solicited communities statewide to submit applications for local infrastructure projects to be funded through the State’s Transportation Trust Fund.

Trenton never submitted an application, and lost out on a participating in a program that is sending $3.7 Million Dollars to every other community in Mercer County.

As we all know, Mayor Jackson and his spokesperson Michael Huckabee Walker have attempted to pin the blame for missing this funding deadline on a single, still-unidentified City Employee who was supposed to have received the July 24 letter, and done nothing about it.

Mayor Jackson told a News12 New Jersey reporter that his Public Works Director Merkle Cherry “told me the employee would face immediate disciplinary consequences for that oversight and what I call a ‘debacle.’”

Huckabee Walker, when asked additional questions by Avilucea about the matter, “called the funding gaffe a ‘black and white’ issue, insisting officials are working to ‘clean up this employee’s mess. I don’t understand why you’re trying to make this situation more complicated than it is.'”

Well, Mr. Walker, the situation IS more complicated than it is.

Take a look at a section of City Council’s Docket for its September 7, 2017 meeting. Take a look at Item # 1o, in the “Communications and Petitions” section, Page 3 (and thanks to Jim Carlucci who suggested looking at Council Dockets from the summer):

Well! How about that!

The July letter, sent by the Transportation Department to the Mayor and the city’s “Municipal Engineer” (not a title we actually have in Trenton, which may explain, perhaps, how it got mislaid), was also copied to the Municipal Clerk.

The Clerk, in turn, included it on the formal Docket of a City Council meeting in September, for all the Council members to see and discuss and deliberate. Did any of the Members, who by the way include two mayoral candidates and a new State Assembly member, make any note or mention about this Letter and the funding it discussed?

Did anyone in the City who was on the Distribution List (excerpted below) for the Council docket see and make note of this State Letter?

I don’t know. I missed it, I can say that for sure. Apart from this email Distribution list, there are many other City officials – including the Mayor, Business Administrator, Chief of Staff, and all Department Heads – who regularly see these dockets. Several of the people who received this docket, by whatever means, may have even attended the Council meetings where this letter may have been discussed.

The outgoing Mayor actually had two chances to see this letter: because it was sent to him, and because he sees the Council Docket.

Did any of these people notice this letter? Did any of them discuss it with any colleagues? Did anyone recognize this letter as talking about a funding program that more or less happens every year, and that responding to this with a proposal is something that is regularly done?

Did ANYONE take ownership of this, after seeing this on the Council’s Docket?

I don’t know.

And I don’t know who in the City would know the answers to these questions.

But, just to throw a suggestion out there, wouldn’t you think that someone would want to find out the answers to these questions before scapegoating one lone employee and having him “face immediate disciplinary consequences?”

Perhaps this employee does have some responsibility for this failure, this “debacle.” Perhaps, and he or she should be held accountable for his or her role. Fair enough.

However, based on ALL the many different people who had a chance to see this letter from the State, and among ALL those with responsibility for the City’s project grants and financing, I will bet you that there are more than this one single scapegoated employee who need to be held accountable. Blame for this “debacle?” Plenty to go around!

Starting at the very top and working down from there.

Look. One thing to remember is that, when it comes to actions taken during his Administration of the City of Trenton, Eric Jackson lies.

The outgoing mayor has never truthfully leveled with the public about the many fuck-ups he has presided over, during the last four years. Why should he start telling the truth now?

In the aftermath of the latest “debacle” (good word, Jackson’s using it, it fits) over the City’s failure to secure funding from the NJ Transportation Trust Fund for local infrastructure maintenance because it had never submitted an application, the one-term mayor is apportioning blame for the snafu where he thinks it belongs: on a so-far unnamed lower-echelon City Employee. He didn’t speak to the local press about the matter, he made his accusation where it is sure to be seen statewide: on television to a News12 NJ reporter.

The one-and-done mayor made it clear that neither he nor his Public Director Merkle Cherry were to blame for this embarrassment. How was he so so sure? Because Mr. Cherry had told him so! Jackson told the News12 crew, “My public works director shared with me that it was a staffing oversight. I didn’t take that lightly nor did he … The director told me the employee would face immediate disciplinary consequences for that oversight and what I call a ‘debacle.’”

The average News12 viewer can be excused if they take the mayor’s words at face value, and believe his explanation that it was the fault of a lower-level employee. After all, what do they know about Trenton?

We know better. This incident reminds us pretty strongly of how the outgoing Mayor reacted to what was surely the biggest (we hope there will be none bigger!!) such scandal in his single Administration, the Great Payroll Heist.

Remember how he explained this to the Trenton Times? His story is worth quoting at some length.

Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson, speaking for the first time about the city’s payroll issues, said officials took immediate action after learning there was a problem.

The city’s payroll company, Innovative Payroll Service, withheld payroll taxes from employees’ paychecks, but never turned them over to the government.

The mayor would not specify the amount of money or whether both state and federal payroll taxes were involved — “We believe it’s just the one agency” — but said he first learned of the unpaid taxes several weeks ago.

“Staff internally reconciling, looking at recordkeeping documents said something looked awry and began to look further and said to their director, ‘Something doesn’t look right here. We’re finding some inconsistencies’ and they kept elevating,” Jackson said Thursday following an event at the Statehouse.

When it was brought to his attention, his administration double-checked to make sure there weren’t any omissions or mistakes made by employees before meeting with representatives from IPS. The city then alerted the authorities.

“We took immediate action to make sure that we knew what we knew and what we thought what was going wrong, so at that point, we went to law enforcement and we put it in their hands,” Jackson said.

We found out very soon after this article that just about everything the Mayor said was bullshit.

The City didn’t “take immediate action.” They ignored months and months of warning notices from the Internal Revenue Service and New Jersey’s Taxation Division. Oh, yeah, that was two agencies, in spite of what Jackson said. And it wasn’t “some inconsistencies,” it was FIVE MILLION DOLLARS of stolen tax deposit money. Most of what we heard from Jackson and other City officials about that scandal was wrong.

There’s another reason I bring this particular matter up in connection with the Trust Fund foul-up. Stay with me a little longer.

A year after The Great Payroll Heist, after staying radio silent about anything to do with this failure of city procedures and policies, I asked Eric Jackson in person what he and his Administration had done to make sure no screw-up like that ever happened again. His answer was mostly focused on improvements in financial controls and changing the procedures of making tax deposits. But he made it clear that throughout his Administration he and his Administration were improving communication and accountability so that workers, managers, department heads and he were communicating better and with more responsibility and accountability.

We see now how well that’s worked out!

In the aftermath of this latest (the last? Can we be brave/foolish enough to hope that is the last time??) foul-up, reading the defense that the soon-to-depart Mayor made to a reporter, we are left with considering a couple of competing scenarios.

One: Even with the improved communications standards introduced after The Great Payroll Heist, a lowly city employee failed to inform his supervisor of deadlines for entry of an application for a state grant we’ve applied for and received annually for many years.

Two: Despite telling me and my neighbors that he’d done so, Mayor Jackson never improved communications and accountability within City Hall, leaving everyone to blithely do their own thing until the next screw-up happened.

Three: The Mayor and/or the Public Works Director had been made aware of the deadline for the grant application – as suggested in yesterday’s Trentonian news piece by Isaac Avilucea linked above – but dropped the ball and are now shifting the blame downward.

If this last scenario is correct, then the letter to the Mayor sent by the State Department of Transportation last summer, as alleged by the unnamed City employee – and mayor-nominated scapegoat – Mr. Avilucea spoke to for his piece, should show up soon. If it, or anything like it exists, someone will surely have it and produce it publicly.

Regardless of which of the above scenarios (or none of them. This may be the result of something entirely different) may explain what really happened with the Trust Fund grant failure, Mr. Jackson’s enthusiasm in his very first, and so far only public comments, for blaming a low-ranking city employee strikes me as awfully petty. Great way to have the backs of your city employees, Mayor! I’m sure they’ll return the favor, if they ever have the chance.

In the meantime, I take Eric Jackson’s statement of outrage with a huge grain of salt. His soon-to-be completed single term in office has been notable for its repeated failures of leadership and communication from the top down. Whether it was The Great Payroll Heist, or the loss of federal HUD funding, or the critical staffing problems at the Trenton Water Works, Eric Jackson has never given us the true and complete story. What he has told us is usually after the fact (and only after revelations appear in print), incomplete, partially or outright wrong, and usually self-serving.

Eric Jackson’s reputation – earned, not given – over his entire term is is that he lies. We have no reason to believe he is telling the truth about this latest failure.

The news this morning that the City of Trenton will be missing out on a share of New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) revenues being made available for municipalities around the State. The reason we will be missing out on this income sharing, which for other towns in the 15th Legislative District will come to around $3.7 Million?

The City never applied for it.

That’s right.

Never. Applied. For It.

These funds, made possible by the massive gasoline sales tax increase passed by the State Legislature and signed by former Governor Christie two years ago, would have gone toward transportation-related infrastructure. Like street signs and paving. The City sure could use that money, as anyone driving in Trenton for the last couple of weeks can attest. There are potholes the size of Fiats out there. Careful, people.

The opportunity cost of this loss to the City is hard to figure. Since we didn’t apply, it’s hard to know what we would have received. Using rough figures, I calculated the $3.7 Million the rest of the District received, divided that by the 120,000 people who live in the District outside the City, then multiplied by 85,000 Trentonians. Quick and dirty. Based on that, I estimate the City is missing out on around a pro-rated $2.6 Million. Plus or minus.

No wonder the outgoing mayor and his public information officer Michael Huckabee Sanders were not willing to answer Trentonian reporter David Foster’s messages!

Coming as this news is, the week after City Council approved up to $2.068 Million in total expense for two engineering firms hired to provide manpower and consulting services to the struggling Trenton Water Works, this isn’t going to help Eric Jackson’s stats any.

As regular readers of this space (Thank You!) know, I’ve been keeping a running total of the additional costs paid by City Taxpayers for blunders either caused, or overseen, or neglected to catch, for the last 44 (give or take a week) months of the Eric Jackson Administration. I’ve calculated an “Earned Run Average,” comparing this Administration to the last couple of mayors as an inexact, but I hope informative, scorecard.

The last time we looked at updated averages, back in December, I found it difficult to quantify the damage the Jackson Administration had done to the Trenton Water Works. So the 2017 Year-end number was skewed by that choice. Back in July, the last time I gave Jackson a number, his ERA was a distinctly unhealthy 15.38.

With the latest “earned runs” of the Water Works contracts and the missing TTF application, I am sorry to have to tell you that Mr. Jackson’s number has gone further into negative territory. From last July’s 15.38, the last seven months – with the ongoing Water Works problems and now the Transportation Trust Fund screwup, Jackson’s average has ratcheted up again, to a career-ending 17.68.

The most that Jackson can expect at this late date is to coast through the next four months without any more major problems or embarrassments. The same dollar damages of $16.2 Million Dollars spread out over 48 full “innings”/months would drop the average by a full point.

Still pretty horrible, for sure. But finishing out his “game” with four straight error-free months would allow him to at least save some face, and hopefully allow the new Mayor, Administration, and Council to start their terms on the right foot. That would be nice, right?

However, if these next 4 months end up looking anything like the last 44, I’d say that Eric Jackson’s team will likely end up with even more runs scored against them. Which we, as always, will have to pay for.

Mercer County’s Deputy County Clerk Walker Worthy on Wednesday announced his second candidacy for Mayor. He also ran in 2014, finishing third. He and his political supporters believe he has a better chance this time around.

In his announcement speech, according to David Foster’s account in the Trentonian, Mr. Walker gave what appears to be the main argument for his candidacy:

“I’m the only candidate that the has the real relationships … that can help our city. I don’t want to hear I’m the county puppet. The city needs the county, the city needs the state, the city needs the federal government. We all need each other and we’re going to have to build our relationships so we can work together to build back this great city and I am prepared to lead.”

In this passage, I think we are hearing Mr. Worthy’s answer to the age-old question, “Are we a nation of laws, or a nation of men?” That is, what should be more important in our democracy, at all levels? That each and every person is equal under the law, and that the letter of the law determines and constrains how our government functions?

Or, that what is more important to the functions of public life is the complex web of personal relationships and personal reputations of those in power. In other words, it isn’t what you know (or what the law is) but who you know, how you know them, and how they know you.

This, says Mr., Worthy, is what should put him at the head of the table. It’s substantially similar to the pitch he gave us in 2014. In March of that year, I wrote about the candidate’s platform for that election. His website from back then is no longer online, so please bear with me when I selectively quote from a proposal that you can’t fully evaluate.

OK? With that said, here was one of the money quotes for his “Plan for Jobs & Economy:”

Use my experience and relationships with key state and county officials to create public/private partnerships and promote the benefit of doing business in Trenton.

Sounds like he’s saying the same thing in his campaign announcement this week, right?

Here was my take back then:

Hmm, Mr. Worthy only talks about his ”experience and relationships” with public officials in the state and county. OK, I will grant him that he might be able to leverage those connections into something of benefit to Trenton.

But relationships with public officials, as good as they might be, are only one-half of any possible “public/private partnerships.”

What kind of ”experience and relationships” does Mr. Worthy have with those in the private sector, and how might they be relevant to developing future opportunities in Trenton? If he has few or none in the private sector, then wouldn’t that require him to be dependent on those “key state and county officials” to gain him entree to the private sector? And will those officials have Trenton’s best interests in mind?

I doubt it. Mr. Worthy’s experience is substantial in public service, on the county level at least which explains why the Mercer Democratic establishment (most of whom reside outside of Trenton) is supporting him so strongly. But he has shown he has no depth of  ”experience and relationships” of the kind in the private sector that could benefit Trenton. So,

Fail.

I really don’t have much more to add to that. According to Mr. Foster’s Trentonian account, Worthy did not talk about private partnerships, or initiatives not involving the city, county, state and federal governments. He seems to have dropped that, at least for now.

I wasn’t persuaded by Mr. Worthy’s argument in 2014, and I am not persuaded this time, based on the coverage of Wednesday’s announcement.

In 2014, I wrote that the candidate needed to really explain HOW his “experience and relationships” could benefit Trenton. He didn’t in that campaign, and that is the challenge he faces this year as well.

What exactly does he mean when he says “We all need each other and we’re going to have to build our relationships so we can work together to build back this great city and I am prepared to lead?”

HOW will his belief in “building relationships” – the rule of men, not law – serve to do this?

And, specifically, how will his “relationships” with people such as many of the folks in attendance at his announcement – many of the same people who have been in and out of Trenton’s city government for the last 30 years – help to accomplish in Trenton what these same people have been unable to move forward for most of those last 30 years? Mr. Foster names some of those who I refer to.

The 2014 third place finisher was surrounded Wednesday during his mayoral announcement by former Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer, Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes, Mayor Eric Jackson’s mayoral aide Andrew Bobbitt, Trenton Democratic Committee Chairwoman Raissa Walker and former city Councilman Manny Segura.

These are among those whose “relationships” with Walker Worthy will help to rebuild Trenton if we elect him Mayor? If so, why haven’t they done it before now? What was stopping them then? Hey, if you liked the Hotel Fiasco and the way Trenton Water Works was allowed to deteriorate in the 1990’s and 2000’s, by all means give these guys another chance! Otherwise, no thanks!

I await more ideas and arguments for his candidacy from Mr. Worthy.

One final point. In 2014, Walker Worthy was new to the Trenton city scene. Yes, he’d been in the County Clerk’s office for years and active in Mercer County Democratic affairs. But no, he really didn’t have much of a voice or history of involvement in purely city matters or issues at that time. A lot of voters took that into account, and gave him a pass on that, in large part perhaps due to his being a newcomer to city affairs. He did finish third., after all.

However, in 2018 he is not a newcomer. We haven’t heard anything from Walker Worthy in the last 4 years. If, after the last election, he had any thought of running again, wouldn’t he have continued to be part of the civic conversation? It’s not as if nothing’s happened in four years, after all! Wouldn’t we expect to hear his opinions and positions from time to time, if he still wanted to be considered as a potential city leader?

I, for one, think so.

Perhaps he was constrained by his day job, his position in the County Clerk’s Office. Perhaps he, as did other Mercer County elected officials, stilled his voice so as not to embarrass or anger the current mayor and his Administration, who had been on good terms with the County? Perhaps he was being a good team player? If that’s the case, is that kind of person who we really as Trenton’s Mayor right now? After the failures of the last two Mayors?

I’ll leave those questions right there, for now. We still have a couple of months for him and the other candidates to make their case.

For now, we have Walker Worthy’s campaign announcement, leaning heavily on the value and utility of his political “relationships.”

How much are political “relationships” really worth, to a city such as Trenton? How much will those “relationships” really help improve the lives of its citizens? Will “relationships” make up for poorly written grant proposals? Will “relationships” offset flawed property revaluations? Will “relationships” be more important than competent, ethical and professional stewardship of valuable public assets and resources? Will “relationships” end pink water and lead notices in our drinking water?

The answers to those questions may determine the fate of Mr. Worthy’s candidacy this year.