The Ruins of Trenton

Maybe it could be called "ironic" when a mayor and his underlings, who aren't doing enough to curb violence, murder, and mayhem in their own city, travel to another murder-ridden city and talk publicly about how people aren't doing enough about murder in American cities.

That's exactly what Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer did yesterday, according to Andrew Kitchenman of the Times of Trenton, who reported that Trenton's absentee duo of Mayor Palmer and ousted Police Director Joseph Santiago actually showed up in homicide-ridden Philadelphia of all places to talk about crime and public safety at a U.S. Conference of Mayors event.

"We need moral outrage, because if al Qaeda murdered 50 people a day in this country, we would have federal resources to do something about it," said Mayor Palmer, according to the Times.

See, the U.S. Conference of Mayors is that organization that Mayor Palmer has devoted more of his time to than his own hometown of Trenton. The mayors group is also the place where the mayor touts all of his nonexistent urban programs, like "Youthstat".

Murder and violence is certainly a funny speaking subject for two men who have been conspicuously absent from the City of Trenton, as North Trenton and East Trenton continue to suffer through a prolonged and violent summer crime wave.

Apparently Mayor Palmer can't handle the responsibility of trying to guide one of the nation's smaller cities out of its longtime economic and social slumber. If that's truly the case, then the residents will be glad to look for better, less costly, and more effective leadership that cares to actually spend time addressing problems, rather than blaming the federal government and the rest of the country.

It could happen in less than two years.