The Ruins of Trenton

Tonight City Council will have an item on the docket that is indicative of the status of regional gravy train that Trenton has reached under the leadership of Mayor Douglas H. Palmer.

The city's anointed gang czar, Barry Colicelli, is set to be awarded a $91,000 contract by City Council tonight, to allow him to continue the stellar work he has done of late in combating Trenton's thousands of armed gang members.

This is probably like no other contract being awarded to any firm seeking municipal work anywhere in New Jersey, with Trenton's residents ponying up not only the $91,000 for the contract itself - and a questionable work product - but the usage of a city vehicle for work in the city, and for the commute back to sunny Brielle, New Jersey.

This is probably a no-bid contract as well - despite the shady, gray legal area where no-bid government contracts reside - allowing the city's administration to continue to peddle influence and corruption in return for the tax dollars of Trenton's mostly poverty-stricken residents.

Is this really the best person to be handing the reins of our anti-gang initiatives, given the way the problem has spiraled out of control over the last five or so years?

Is it really a coincidence that this man happened to be Police Director Joseph Santiago's right-hand man in Newark, where Mr. Colicelli was a Police Captain?

Contracts like that slated to be given to Mr. Colicelli are given out weekly at 319 E. State Street, to Camden County law firms, urban redevelopment companies with conflict-of-interest problems, and political agents like Robert Torricelli.

Maybe when all that ends, Trenton can get its finances back on track, without selling off every single asset in a pre-Palmer departure fire sale.