The Ruins of Trenton

Having so many residents from Ewing, Hamilton, Hopewell, and Lawrence up in arms over the proposed $100 million sale of Trenton Water Works infrastructure outside of city limits provides a unique opportunity for city residents wishing for the city to progress to enlist outside assistance.

This issue is a perfect one to get residents living within the city and residents from outside the city to bond over a common issue, namely the actions of Trenton’s unaccountable city government.

An unaccountable and ineffective city government in Trenton has been allowed to exist long after normal political forces should have overtaken it, probably because of the chaotic social and economic nature of much of the city and the grip the current political machine has had on Trenton.

Complacent in that arrangement has been the voting public and political organizational people living outside the city. Many people seem to be content on letting Trenton’s condition worsen, in a sort of “out of sight, out of mind” attitude.

They have been accepting of an arrangement where Mayor Douglas Palmer and his people have been left free to run an increasingly crime-ridden and downtrodden Trenton.

Now those chickens are coming home to roost. Mayor Palmer’s push to sell the outlying water infrastructure to a for-profit company with a history of excessive rate hikes is a perfect example how people who think that what goes on in Trenton stays in Trenton are simply deluding themselves.

While community groups work to fight what looks like a severely costly arrangement, they should give serious thought to using their own political power and their checkbooks to ensure that the Palmer administration officials behind this deal are relieved of their ability to wreak havoc on other people’s lives.

Ensuring the next political administration is of a different and more accountable variety would result in a stronger Trenton, and a stronger Trenton means a much stronger, safer, and better Mercer County.