Council majority means $650,000 in savings

Action by a resurgent group of City Council members has saved the City of Trenton hundreds of thousands of dollars through the voting down of questionable initiatives coming out of the Douglas H. Palmer administration, an astute online poster pointed out Saturday on one the city's online forums.

There was the non-renewal of a $200,000 contract to Barry Colicelli, a city gang czar who failed to document what he was actually doing for the city, and the voting down of a $200,000 contract to get new handguns for police officers, despite an offer from the current supplier to provide new weapons for free.

Between those and the voting down of a $250,000 contract for citywide wireless internet that Mayor Palmer originally claimed would be free for the city, the strong group of four councilmen have managed to save $650,000 worth of city dollars, despite the best efforts of administration officials and their allies on council.

Next time you see councilmen Milford Bethea, Jim Coston, Gino Meline, or Manny Segura, give them a pat on the back and a "thank you" for all they have to done to safeguard city dollars from misuse on harebrained programs or policies.

Apparently they see that this city is in a budget crisis, despite the actions of a minority of those on council and the administration, who have taken an attitude of superiority over the interests of the common folk of Trenton.

Luckily for us, a majority of those on council continue to fight for the interests of the people who elected them, unlike their counterparts that seem to have fallen deeper and deeper into the pockets of Mayor Palmer.

Hopefully that reality will translate into an easier time in the 2010 election, in getting public officials who have no business working for the people out of positions of power in the government. Only then will things have the potential to improve dramatically here in Trenton.

A waste of city resources

Trenton police officers guarding the often-empty house of Mayor Douglas H. Palmer frequently decline to leave their post to address other public safety emergencies, say neighbors and law enforcement sources.

One police official said recently that the officer detailed to protect the Hiltonia house of Mayor Palmer refused to leave their post, to assist at a crime scene where a man had been murdered and an increasingly volatile crowd was gathering.

A close neighbor of the mayor’s Buckingham Avenue residence returned home in the nighttime to find a would-be burglar stalking through their yard. But the officer nearby, guarding the mayor’s house, refused to leave their post and instead called for backup from police dispatchers, they said.

This is just one way that the system of having law enforcement officials guard Mayor Palmer’s house puts a serious drain on a police department dealing with an ever-escalating crime problem.

Let’s not forget about the two full-time detectives – taking home around $70,000 a year – who are never on the streets, and instead are chauffeuring around the mayor like some warped, modernized “Driving Ms. Daisy.”

All the while, children in the city are being shot down in heinous acts of violence, while administration officials cry about budget shortages and the inability to properly staff police units.

Recently it was revealed that the reason for the protection detail’s creation was that a deranged man, suffering from severe mental illness, approached the mayor during a funeral years ago and struck him in the face.

It hardly seems reasonable that such an incident justifies the dedication of hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary and benefits to the mayor’s protection, in case another mentally deranged man gets close enough to throw a punch. This city has bigger things to worry about.

Lawyers, guns, and money

Trenton City Council's majority of responsible representatives voted down another hackneyed city appropriation Thursday.

The now-dead appropriation was the controversial $200,000 city contract that would have supplied the Trenton Police Department with 425 new Springfield handguns, at the same time as the current weapon supplier, Glock, has officially offered to replace all of the department's current guns for free.

Once again councilmen Milford Bethea, Jim Coston, Gino Melone, and Manny Segura rebuked the misguided initiatives of Mayor Douglas H. Palmer and his minions on City Council. That group now finds itself in the minority, with less than the four votes necessary to have any chance of getting Palmer initiatives passed.

This new day of Trenton legislative politics is certainly timely.

Remember, Trenton is in the midst of a budget crisis that threatens every city department's budget with the potential of cuts and layoffs, for the first time in the 18-year tenure of Mayor Douglas H. Palmer.

But, like clockwork, City Council members Paul Pintella, Annette Lartigue, and Cordelia Staton rose to support the Palmer and former Police Director Joseph Santiago-endorsed plan to spend $200,000 on unnecessary new weapons.

Luckily the other four, stronger council members saw through the dog-and-pony show-presentations, evasive statements, and excessively vague answers to council questions thrown their way by Mr. Santiago and other Palmer officials, and voted in the financial interest of the people who elected them.

Ms. Lartigue - a mayoral candidate - continued her habit of delaying City Council votes through the repetitive questioning of administration officials, and saying odd things about getting a Web site for "official" council information.

It has become a common perception among council observers that these antics happen with what seems to be an eye to delaying administration initiatives from failing, at the hands of the four councilmen.

On Thursday Ms. Lartigue asked numerous questions of Business Administrator Jane Feigenbaum and Nothing-Special Counsel Joe Alacqua, but neither apparently neither Palmer shill wanted to lie on the record, so they told the truth.

Yes, they said, an offer for free guns was made, and yes, City Council does have the ability to vote no on the contract and reject the bids, without fear of litigation, as had been constantly hypothesized by Ms. Lartigue.

People really ought to consider this peculiar habit of some on council - in delaying beneficial legislative action from going forward when it's against the will of Mayor Palmer - especially when voting in the May 2010 mayoral election, in which Ms. Lartigue will be a candidate.

Being long on words and short on action is hardly a good quality in a mayor.

But anyway, be sure to let the new council majority what you think of their new-found legislative wisdom. It could change the very face of Trenton.

A welcome sight

Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer took time out of his busy national schedule Wednesday to make an appearance in his hometown and place of office, to take part in a march of solidarity for Qua-Daishia Hopkins, the 10-year-old Trentonian who lost her life to senseless gang-related violence in recent weeks.

This was a step in the right direction for Trenton, and the city’s mayor, as the city continues to deal with gang violence that plagues many of the city’s neighborhoods since taking hold here during Mayor Palmer’s tenure.

These days, the capital city does not see its longtime executive for extended periods of time, as Mayor Palmer travels across the county supporting the faltering campaign of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and attending functions as the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Therefore it was a welcome sight to see one person in yesterday’s march who has the power to have a significant calming effect on the social problems that claimed the life of another young lady last night, on West State Street, not far from the statehouse.

Perhaps this signals a new era where Mayor Palmer will spend more time here in Trenton to try and make a bigger difference in the life-changing and life-threatening problems that have now taken the lives of two young Trentonians in a short period of time.

Some other suggestions include getting more police out on the street, killing plans to disband the police department’s Vice unit, and getting those officers wasting away behind desks and working late-night shifts back into positions where their prolific police skills can be put to better use.

Perhaps the permanent detail of officers assigned to Mayor Palmer’s protection unit can be redistributed, to be used instead in the protection of the city’s most vulnerable class of people: its residents.

Maybe the hiring of 50 additional officers that was so trumpeted by City Council members and Mayor Palmer himself can be expedited, and more New Jersey State Police can do their own patrols in the city’s worst neighborhoods.

Most of all, let’s get a mayor who is frequently absent from his own city to spend some more time here, and show everyone that he is truly dedicated to his constituents, and not presidential candidates or groups of mayors from the nation’s larger and more problem-free cities.

Trenton needs this.

Distressed city aid gets more attention

A state aid program for so-called distressed cities that has come under increased scrutiny from New Jersey lawmakers in recent months was the subject of legislation introduced in both houses of the state legislature Monday.

The measure - introduced by Sen. Phil Haines, Assemblywoman Dawn Addiego, and Assemblyman Scott Rudder - would require municipalities receiving aid out of the program to complete detailed reports outlining exactly how the state aid dollars would be spent.

Towns getting the dollars would also have to stop receiving the aid after three consecutive years, unless some sort of fiscal emergency exists.

"The state needs to do a better job of tracking how this money is being spent so that we can ensure tax dollars are not being wasted," said Sen. Haines, R-Burlington, in a statement. "This bill ensures that this program is a short-term fix for towns that truly need the aid - not an annual hand-out to just a few politically connected municipalities."

In the 2006-2007 budget over $190 million was doled out to a list that included many of the state's largest cities, including Camden, Paterson, Union City, Harrison, Trenton, Ewing, and Asbury Park. Gov. Jon Corzine proposes to spend $145.3 million on the distressed city aid in this year's budget, according to administration documents.

The biggest gripe about the program has been a lack of financial accountability in the program, according to some lawmakers, who say the moneys should come with strict oversight and restricted uses.

The City of Trenton received some of the aid recently, although Mayor Douglas H. Palmer refused to recognize Trenton as a city in fiscal distress, as one might consider when reflecting on the city's current financial situation.

One-time gimmicks like the sale of Trenton Water Works infrastructure and the sale of the city's interest in a power generation operation have temporarily shored up the city's finances, but more fiscal problems in the coming years loom because of a lack of comprehensive financial reform.

Like many say, Trenton's finances could come crashing down any day now.

Trenton Water Works mismanagement: Part 1

The Ruins of Trenton has already shown how suburban residents are truly dreaming, in being content to live outside of Trenton and be convinced they are not affected by the shenanigans that go on here.

But this, the first in a three-part series, elaborates on just one way that shows how these people are being duped into thinking that Trenton's misguided administration holds no consequences for them, financial or otherwise.

Trenton's water utility serves not only the 84,000 or so residents living here in T-Town, but also tens of thousands living outside of our borders, who get Trenton water pumped to them through an extensive system of piping, pumping stations, and other water infrastructure.

What those tens of thousands living in the various Mercer County townships don't realize though is that through their water bill payments they are actually subsidizing multiple other Trenton city departments that have little or nothing to do with the purification and provision of drinking water.

Despite the existence of state statutes regulating the use of money generated from water utilities that pump retail water to other municipalities, this city's government uses the Trenton Water Works as some sort of gold-generating cow to shore up sagging finances, say former and current Water Works employees.

For sure, revenue generated from a municipally-owned utility can be reinjected back into the host municipality's general budget funds, but only up to a number equal to 5 percent of that fiscal year's total expenditures. For the average Trenton fiscal year, that means that the maximum allowable amount of cash that can be taken from the water utility and plugged back into the city budget is somewhere around $1.5 million, out of a usual $30 million worth spent on water utility costs.

But in 2007 the City of Trenton took around $6 million out of the water utility, for a variety of costs, services, and employment positions that have nothing to do with the water utility. And not only are people in Trenton paying this secret tax on top of their regular property bills, but so are those living in the surrounding municipalities receiving water from Trenton's Water Works.

The proof is for anyone with a disciplined eye to see. Budget documents from the city's water utility show disbursements made out to city departments for services that were never actually provided to the water utility.

The administrative office of the Department of Public Works actually secures somewhere between 70 to 80 percent of its funding from the water utility revenue, say utility employees, despite the fact that Public Works does not in any way, shape, or form do 80 percent of its work for the water utility.

The Fire Department budget actually got $250,000 worth of funds from the water utility in a recent budget, for services that water employees say were never rendered. So did the Department of Public Works, which got $250,0000, and the streets division of the same department, according to the same water workers.

Apparently there are even city employees on the water utility payroll who don't even work there, in some kind of employment scheme that allows the City of Trenton to make people being billed for water pay for employment positions that have nothing to do with the provision of the substance, sources say.

They said that one year city spokesman Kent Ashworth actually got paid out of the water budget, and out of the pocket of city and township water customers.

What is really bad for the city is that looming hearings to be held by the state Board of Public Utilities on the pending $100 million sale of Trenton water infrastructure outside of the city borders could be a perfect scene for township residents and officials to bring all of these concerns up, after they fell on deaf ears a few years ago.

Conincidentally, water workers say this is a bad deal for the city, in that it will cost Trenton millions in revenues over many years all traded for a one-shot influx of $100 million into a city government that couldn't even manage a bodega.

Should a state entity decide to step in, they could potentially make the City of Trenton pay back all of that stolen water funding, resulting in an even worse financial situation for city taxpayers already facing one year of massive property tax increases.

What a mess this is.

Smear campaign continues

Trentonian columnist L.A. Parker used several column-inches in his newspaper Monday to lend a hand in Mayor Douglas H. Palmer's all-out assault on the Mack family here in Trenton.

Citing anonymous sources, Mr. Parker wrote that Raphiel Mack - brother of mayoral candidate, Mercer County freeholder, and ex-Palmer friend Tony Mack - has an arrest record including several assaults, although the article seems to say that none of the arrests resulted in convictions.

The piece comes after Raphiel was suspended from the Trenton school district after an incident in which he allegedly broke the arm of a young student during instruction, although Raphiel has yet to go to trial.

While there may have been some validity to writing a piece about the arrest history of a district employee now facing charges stemming from the alleged injury of a young Trenton student, Mr. Parker also used the column to gratuitously link Raphiel to his brother Tony, who fell out of favor with Mayor Palmer and has been suffering the consequences ever since.

The repetition of linking Raphiel to his brother Tony certainly looks like some attempt to further compromise the Mack family name in Trenton, and judging from Mr. Parker's close relationship with Mayor Palmer, it could be that there is some sort of Palmer-endorsed public relations campaign being waged following Raphiel's recent arrest.

Mayor Palmer has a long history with Tony Mack, who at one time was the heir-apparent to Trenton's longtime mayor. That changed when Mayor Palmer decided to run for the mayor's seat in 2006, after telling Tony he was free to run and take over the reins of power at 319 E. State Street, according to court documents.

People familiar with the situation said that Tony refused to exit the mayoral campaign, which launched a feud between the two men that continues to this day. That feud resulted in the costly liquidation of Trenton's recycling program, which Tony directed.

This allegedly "green" city government announced that the program was to be disbanded, and that the administration had coincidentally found positions elsewhere in the city government for every recycling employee, that is, except for Tony.

The city still feels the consequences of what certainly appeared to be a politically-motivated decision to this day.

Trenton loses hundreds of thousands of potential dollars in lost recycling revenue and pays roughly $500,000 a year for outside recycling services. The so-called environmentally-friendly Palmer administration does not even recycle at city facilities, according to city employees, in what looks like a cost-cutting measure designed to reduce the expenses incurred from having outsourced city recycling operations, because of what one judge saw as a political vendetta.

In fact, there are reports that hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of revenue-generating recycling equipment purchased for Tony Mack's use a few years ago sit unused in a warehouse somewhere, after the city never took delivery of the goods after disbanding the recycling program.

You gotta hand it to Mayor Palmer.

He certainly knows how to play all-out hardball, with little regard for the good of his name or the good of his city.

Capital games

Misinformation continues to thrive here in Trenton, New Jersey.

Probably the largest infestation of the illness exists down the street from where these words are being typed, at the New Jersey Statehouse.

But, instead of turning left down State Street, one looking for massive amounts misinformation could also turn right, and head down to City Hall at 319 E. State Street, or even better, down towards Perry Street, to the Trentonian.

Drivel written there and published this weekend missed the point on the City of Trenton's gun quandary, just as West Ward Councilwoman Annette Lartigue missed the point when asking questions of former Police Director Joseph Santiago during City Council's Tuesday session.

She asked him if he had any special, hidden interests in ensuring the passage of a resolution handing a $200,000 city contract to Lawmen Supply Co. of Egg Harbor City for the provision of 425 new Springfield handguns to the Trenton Police Department, citing anonymous Internet writing as the source of the questions. Remember, the Springfield plan came at a time when current handgun provider Glock has offered to replace all the city's current weapons at no cost, instead of the switch to Springfield.

The line of questioning between Ms. Lartigue and Mr. Santiago - who had a private conversation for a couple of minutes before the incident began - caused the former director to utter his now infamous line about suing City Council members, or asking them to "take it outside."

It was a pretty interesting moment for sure, but now it just looks like some sort of distraction between a bombastic city official whose job is on the chopping block and an overly vocal mayoral candidate who is sometimes short on actual legislative action.

Ms. Lartigue's line of questioning - like this weekend's Trentonian article - seems to have only served to misinform or distract from the issue at hand in this gun question.

What is actually at question is whether or not the City of Trenton should pursue the new weapons at the cost of $200,000 when the current supplier, Glock, has offered to replace all of the current weapons with new ones for free, and not if Mr. Santiago has some sort of hidden agendas in the matter.

Trenton is currently facing a major budget crisis, so the question is about if this is really an appropriate time to spend what seems like thousands of unnecessary dollars on new weapons that are not even regarded as markedly better over the current guns.

The Trentonian said the swap would cost $25,000, but that's false as well, just like the column's assertion that the $200,000 expenditure has already been approved.

That $25,000 only comes in with a trade-in for .45 caliber Glocks, which is not even really on the table at this point. And the fact that the expenditure was downplayed by Mr. Santiago and the Trentonian as being a capital expenditure - thus taking years to pay off - shows that some people here have no respect for city taxpayers, who have to pay off the sum of money regardless, whether in one year or 20.

Does Trenton really need these new weapons, at the cost of $200,000, when the current provider of perfectly good weapons is offering to replace all of the department's weapons for free?

Let your city representatives know what you think before Tuesday's meeting.

Other development delays caused by Palmer

Some delays experienced by developers in Trenton occurred when city Mayor Douglas H. Palmer tried to get his wife a piece of the development action, according to sources in development companies in the city.

Lucky enough for those companies, the delays that come after refusing to get involved with developer Cristiana Foglio-Palmer eventually ended. The specific development was able to move forward, albeit with much delay and lost revenue.

It's too bad that a mayor who frequently vocalizes about the imagined progress made in his hometown would be willing to mortgage the success of projects with the potential to contribute to that progress, only to play hardball with developers who decline to get involved with his wife.

Mayor Palmer also requests for significant campaign donations from developers, with negative responses usually resulting in a similar application of brakes to the specific piece of development, according to the same development people.

That system of paying tribute has also resulted in significant delays for those developers, but delays aren't mecessarily the only result, depending on the developer.

For people like Bob Torricelli, those campaign contributions seem to indicate a higher likelihood of getting lucrative city appropriations down the road, despite any inconsistent record with development in Trenton.

Several Torricelli-related developments in the city that have received significant financial assistance from the city continue to languish in various stages of construction or planning.

Just think of it as the topsy-turvy environment of economic development in New Jersey's capital city.

Enact a vehicle ordinance now

Trenton City Council needs to move now to end the practice of allowing municipal employees, city contractors, and police to use city vehicles for all types of non-city business.

Councilman Jim Coston actually proposed such a measure sometime last year, but Special Counsel Joe Alacqua apparently received orders from higher-ups Palmer administration officials to nix the proposal, however possible.

Mr. Alacqua did this by providing questionable legal advice, in telling City Council the absurd statement that such matters as controlling municipal vehicles - and the gasoline going into them - was a purely administrative function, to be regulated by Mayor Douglas H. Palmer and his administration officials.

Now that Hamilton Township has joined the ranks of so many other New Jersey towns and passed an ordinance controlling the use of municipal vehicles, such a position as that taken by Mr. Alacqua is obviously false.

City Council could save the City of Trenton millions of dollars in gasoline and wear and tear on city vehicles by mandating that those vehicles be used solely for city business within city limits at all times, period.

Police living outside of the city can commute back and forth in their own cars and pick up their police vehicles at designated places throughout the city, like near the department's several precincts. Arguments from the administration that doing so would cost more because of the security necessary for such lots is absurd, when the majority of municipal vehicles already sit in lots when not in use.

Vehicles provided to city employees - who are still legally required to live in Trenton - should be even more tightly controlled, by only being cleared for use during official city business, and only within city limits except under special circumstances.

With $4 a gallon gas soon to be a reality and the city descending deeper and deeper into a budget crisis, now is the time to regulate this perpetual drain on city resources, and that means Mayor Palmer's car use too.

Any potential ordinance should also go as far as ending the practice of having detectives earning $70,000 a year carting the mayor around town in a city car as if he were a czar, sultan, or even a governor.

The mayor gets to use that vehicle when many city police and other employees are forced to use a fleet of aging, worn out vehicles that only gets worse with each passing day.

Let's get serious Trentonians.

The urban welfare system

An occupying force of federal, state, county, and local police has descended upon some of Trenton’s worst areas like some sort of crime-suffocating blanket, following the fire-bombing murder of one of the city’s youngest and most innocent citizens.

While the outcry and ensuing response are much appreciated here in Trenton, the reality is that this particular situation punctuates the need for Trenton’s own government, own police force, and own people to seriously get cracking and start changing the conditions of places like Walnut Avenue.

And that’s because the people whose law enforcement agencies have now descended into the urban ghettos of Trenton are quite happy with allowing the social and economic issues that cause incidents like the death of Qua’Daishia Hopkins to continue, unabated.

The conditions of neighborhoods like Walnut Avenue and other areas of Trenton are a total disgrace to this city, and the rest of the state. They are even a disgrace to humanity, but it is simply a fact of life that many people subscribing to the NIMBYism that is endemic to this society could simply care less about what goes on in Trenton’s blighted neighborhoods and broken social circles.

What is truly sick about all of this is that people living outside of New Jersey’s cities are actually content to pay hundreds of millions of dollars directly out of their pockets to keep these problems out of their sight, out of their mind.

They don’t see it, so it becomes acceptable for these adverse conditions to exist in that continual state of festering that nearly always results when problems are merely allowed to exist instead of taking the comprehensive action to eliminate them once and for all.

Every year somewhere around $450 million of outside dollars are hand-delivered to the officials of Trenton, to make up the gigantic gap between the level of services Trenton’s ratables can support through taxes versus the amount of services needed to tend to Trenton’s array of problems.

Surely that $450 million a year would be better dedicated to a decade’s worth of economic redevelopment, so that maybe one day Trenton can get off of the welfare line and onto the road of self-sufficiency.

But judging from the continued existence of this system of economic hand-outs, it seems that the state outside of Trenton is quite content to pay a massive annual fee to keep the problems of Trenton safely within the borders of Trenton, even if the cost in human lives snuffed out by poverty-bred death continues to exist at an unacceptable level.

In these conditions Trenton’s municipal government – the Palmer administration – exists as a kind of Vichy government endorsed by the outside world to rule over the chaos that lives in Trenton’s seven square miles.

Just as it is endorsed by the outside world that has continued to support the current social and economic climate in the state capital, the municipal government has become a product of that climate and likely relies on its continued existence to maintain its stranglehold on municipal power.

It follows then that this current government needs to go before the current conditions can be changed significantly. Trenton’s government – coming from a broken system – has come to rely on that same system for its lifeblood, and only when those in their current position of power are out can Trenton move on, as a city, without reference to what those obviously misguided outsiders would prefer.

Santiago talks guns, council member talks blogs

Former Police Director Joseph Santiago made a repeat appearance before City Council Tuesday night to rehash the city's current gun quandary, in which a Santiago-led faction of police are seeking $200,000 worth of city dollars for the purchase of new handguns, despite an offer from the current gun supplier to replace all of the department's weapons for free.

Mr. Santiago shed more light on that offer Tuesday, saying a police captain unaffiliated with the weapons team clamoring for the new Springfield handguns contacted Glock and received a verbal offer from the firm. That was later backed up with a written offer, outlining an official proposal to replace all of the current weapons at no cost to the city, he said.

Councilwoman Annette Lartigue said she was concerned that with the bid having gone out and Lawmen Supply Company of Egg Harbor City having responded, the city would be open to some sort of litigation stemming from any City Council decision to reject that bid and opt instead for the no-cost Glock offer.

"We're going to pay for the guns anyway," said Ms. Lartigue. "We're gonna get sued."

City Attorney Denise Lyles did not provide any information on Ms. Lartigue's concerns, but legal sources contacted Tuesday night said that City Council members face no adverse consequences in rejecting the one measure and seeking the Glock offer instead.

Ms. Lartigue called for the second Santiago presentation last Thursday, when council was actually set to vote on the $200,000 resolution to get the Springfields. The council will now likely vote on the measure next week, according to council members.

It was said that calling for the second presentation was actually a stalling action after the resolution appeared headed for failure, with a majority of the council ready to vote no.

At one point Tuesday's meeting saw a tense exchange that had audience members casting sideways glances. It happened after Ms. Lartigue began questioning the former police director about whether or not he had some sort of interest or hidden agenda to get the money for the new guns.

She cited Web postings as the source of the allegations, but Mr. Santiago took offense to the line of questions, as evidence of similar suspicions on the part of council members. Mr. Santiago answered no to all of the questions, and then detailed his planned response to any allegations of hidden interests in the new weapons from the city's elected representatives.

"I'll sue you, or we can take it outside," Mr. Santiago said.

He also said he "didn't know when this council went off the rails", and alleged that council members listened to what people were writing on anonymous blogs rather than what administration officials were telling them.

Apparently Trenton's growing Web community has been getting to some council members and administration officials, judging from Mr. Santiago's comments and that Tuesday's meeting had Ms. Lartigue calling for council to create its own Web site.

Ms. Lartigue said she was concerned about some of the information that was getting out to the public about council activities.

Lofton to appear before council

Superintendent of Trenton Public Schools Rodney Lofton is scheduled to come before City Council tonight for a little bit of legislative inquiry regarding the district's budget and numerous incidents that have continued to mar the reputation of the city's schools.

Possible discussion topics could include rumors about another grade-fixing scandal brewing in some school, the recent alleged assault of a student and the ensuing cover up of the incident by school officials, or maybe the continued suspension of a principal at one of the city's Daylight/Twilight institutions.

While this type of legislative inquiry is welcomed as a sign of City Council doing its job as the legislative branch of city government, isn't it time to begin questioning the Board of Education in all these matters?

The board - appointed by Mayor Douglas H. Palmer - has failed to gather any responsibility in many of the aforementioned scandals, instead heaping blame on school administrators, teachers, and even previous superintendents.

This board represents the deliberative and legislative branch of the city's public schools, and its members need to work better at making sure the rules are being followed, instead of allowing incident after incident not only damage the reputation of the district, but severely harm the prospects of Trenton's youth in attendance at these schools.

When the original grade-tampering scandal at the Sherman Avenue annex blew up, principals and the former superintendent were quickly dragged out and blamed for all that went on, but it is also the responsibility of the board to ensure that all that goes on at these school annexes, additions, and addendums actually follows the rules.

As the problems at these schools continue, administrators and superintendents come and go, but the only constant is the majority of the members of the Board of Education.

Next time something serious happens, Trentonians ought to question the people on those board, who do not seem to be the most accountable group of public officials, even among the officials of Trenton.

Despite their being appointed by Mayor Palmer, they should remain accountable to the residents of this city and the children whose futures they have such a profound effect upon. Many of Trenton's kids already face an uphill battle in getting a good education and succeeding in life, and it's unfair to allow the stupidity or bad intentions of district officials to make that battle worse.

James avoids second corruption trial, faces 10 to 15 years in prison

U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Chris Christie announced Monday that he will not pursue charges in court against former Newark Mayor Sharpe James stemming from Mr. James’ alleged use of city money for frivolous expenses.

Mr. Christie said a guilty verdict in that case – following Mr. James' conviction earlier this year for helping a mistress secure cheap Newark land for later profitable sales - would not result in further jail time for Mr. James, while costing taxpayers thousands of additional dollars to prosecute.

“We believe that justice was served on the day the jury convicted the former mayor on all of the corruption charges against him and, as a consequence, by the significant prison term that he likely faces,” said Mr. Christie in a statement, according to PolitickerNJ.com.

The second court case would have revolved around Mr. James’ use of nearly $60,000 in city funds on lavish expenditures, including restaurant bills, pornographic movies, and outrageous vacations with numerous friends of the opposite sex.

But a conviction in connection with those allegations would not really add onto the conviction in the earlier trial, which means that Mr. James, 72, faces more than a decade in prison.

Mr. James was a good friend and supporter of former Trenton Police Director Joseph Santiago, who is awaiting an Appellate Division hearing in June that could mean the end of his tenure as head police administrator in Trenton.

Other James cronies in Trenton include current Communications Director Irving Bradley, and former gang czar Barry Colicelli, who was ousted by Trenton City Council earlier this year after his invoices failed to provide a record of what exactly Mr. Colicelli was doing for the city, in return for a lucrative city contract.

Perhaps Trenton’s residents would be well served if Mr. Christie came to the state capital and verified that records of Trenton's city government, which surely receives hundreds of thousands in federal dollars for crime-related and other efforts, are all in order.

Considering the amount of Sharpe James garbage floating around down here, it may be worth a look.

Juan for sale, only $60,000

Palmer machine supporter Juan Martinez once again stuck his foot in his mouth with comments made to the Times of Trenton Sunday, in an article about the failure of Mercer County Waterfront Park to bring economic development to contiguous areas of South Trenton.

"Until the next election, nothing's going to happen in the South Ward," Mr. Martinez said to the Times. "We can't get a project going on down here. The city comes up with some beautiful plans, and we don't know what happens."

Mr. Martinez seems to be suggesting that the prospects of South Trenton's economic redevelopment might improve with some kind of change in the city government in the 2010 election, likely a change that would involve the end of current South Ward Councilman Jim Coston's exit from his seat on council.

The fact of the matter is that any blame for the lack of economic development in the city falls squarely on Mayor Palmer and his economic development team, who consistently fail to pursue appropriate projects and instead pursue pie-in-the-sky schemes that nearly never work out.

Mr. Coston likely sees that trend for what it is.

That's probably why he challenged the recent Champale site development after the city and project developer bludgeoned city residents with botched eminent domain efforts and other actions, all of which failed to bring development to the South Ward, and instead only brought feelings of bad will and controversy.

Mr. Martinez's comments are simply out of touch with reality, and it bears consideration that this man used to be a big Palmer detractor, who actually made a habit out of calling the mayor out and clashing with the city's longtime executive.

That all changed when Mr. Martinez was given some sort of do-nothing community liaison job with Trenton's public school district, with a $60,000 salary, sometime in the last year or so.

Ever since then Mr. Martinez has been singing the praises of Mayor Palmer. He takes the Palmer line on anything, from economic development to lending support to efforts in keeping Police Director Joseph Santiago on the job, despite the director's breaking of the city's residency ordinance in living outside of Trenton.

Of course the Palmer line includes hating on Mr. Coston, who has helped bring a lot more accountability to Trenton's city government in being part of the recent mini-renaissance that has been going on in City Council chambers. There city representatives have begun to awaken to the constant trickery and evil being perpetrated by Mayor Palmer and company.

That accomplishment seems to have earned the young councilman the hatred of Mayor Palmer and others in the administration, in a group that now includes Mr. Martinez.

So when people read Mr. Martinez's lame attempts at linking Mr. Coston to a lack of economic development in the city, please remember, this man sold his soul for a mere $60,000.

His comments probably shouldn't carry much weight with anyone, and and especially not with those living in Trenton.