According to news reports Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer has refused to take Regional Contribution Agreement (RCA) funds from Hopewell Township.
This is a new tack for our Mayor. He's previously vigorously defended the acceptance of RCA's as a way for urban centers to provide better housing and home ownership opportunities for residents.
Granted, of late, he's been moderating his stance to say that RCA's are not good, but that New Jersey's cities need some form of funding (from the state) in order to provide for the housing needs of its residents. Mr. Palmer has begun to advocate for a change in the funding mechanism but until now he's not refused to accept any RCA's offered the City of Trenton.
What Mayor Palmer has always seemed to ignore is that by accepting RCA's, urban centers get to house the working class who are priced out of the suburbs where the jobs are.
Now, because the State of NJ has approved the move of Capital Health Systems Mercer Campus to Hopewell Township, Doug Palmer has found a new religion.
No longer will Trenton accept Hopewell's RCA's. No, the Mayor, feels it would be wrong to allow Hopewell to shrug off their responsibility for providing affordable housing, especially since it will be needed for the workers at the relocated Capital Health Systems Mercer Campus.
Funny thing, as I recall, the Management at Capital Health Systems have always declared they would provide transportation for their Trenton dwelling employees to their new facility (whether in Lawrence or Hopewell). Now Mayor Palmer is on the one hand "hoping" that CHS will take care of their current employees while at the same time declaring that Hopewell will need to be prepared for the influx of employees looking to follow their jobs there.
Mayor Palmer needs to serious up and get a grip. He's been wrong on RCA's and his "conversion" is cheapened by his constant pot shot taking at Capital Health System. It's about time for our Mayor to stop posing and start acting like the leader he purports to be.
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