TRENTON'S MAYOR CLAIMS IT IS ALL ABOUT PUBLIC SAFETY
Setting aside the fact that he acted in violation of the City's residency ordinance by granting a residency waiver to Police Director Santiago, the Mayor claimed that the Feinberg ruling is jeopardizing the public safety of Trenton residents.
Right.
The loss of experienced, dedicated professionals under Santiago's heavy handed management didn't jeopardize our public safety?
The ever-increasing police overtime budgets for the first four years of Santiago's tenure that resulted in a physically and emotionally exhausted police force didn't jeopardize public safety?
And what about the money spent on worthless video surveillance cameras, redesigned badges, and multiple numbers of high-end vehicles for Santiago cronies to drive to and from work (while our street cops and detectives had to "make do" with an aging and decrepit fleet)? Did any of that improve public safety?
Let's not forget the money wasted on the mounted patrol units. Yes, they look pretty standing around on the street corners downtown on a nice day, but what about the cost of stabling, feeding, transporting, providing veterinary care? This improved public safety how?
The Mayor needs to drop any and all thoughts of appealing Feinberg's decision.
He needs to bid farewell to Joe Santiago (and Irv Bradley), and get back to running this city FOR THE PEOPLE!
If he's not willing to do that, then let's put him and Santiago each on one of those horses and send them off on their respective journey to their homes in the north lands.
With the two of them out of the way maybe we can start to feel safe again.
2 comments:
I took Rutgers/Mercer County's Master Gardener course in 2005-06, and part of the deal to get my certification was that I had to volunteer at the county compost facility (now known as the Mercer Educational Gardens, which is a much more accurate name, even though there is A LOT of composting happening there, still). Anyway, it's in Hopewell, and while I enjoy a beautiful drive, there is no direct, quick way from Trenton to get there. It was a drag to make that half-hour drive very regularly just to bring a bucket of my produce scraps, and turn my pile of compost, which took all of 10 minutes or so.
The reason I'm babbling is because the Trenton horses are stabled at the same site. I liked to look at the horses while I was there, and think they're an attractive addition to Trenton's downtown. But they're totally extraneous, and it just floors me that officers must make that trip to Hopewell -- with gas-guzzling trailer in tow -- TWICE A DAY.
Chrissy, you are so right. Extraneous, indeed!
And it's not just the cost of the fuel, tack, feed, stables, etc.
What about the man hours spent loading and un-loading, washing and brushing the horses, driving to and from? This is time when we could have those police personnel on the street, "protecting and serving."
It would be interesting to hear from some of the horse cops about this. But we know that in this climate, they cannot afford to speak up if they wish to keep their jobs.
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