Objection!

In a recent article by Times reporter Alex Zdan, readers were treated to tidbits from the transcripts of the Grand Jury proceedings that resulted in the indictment of Stanley “Muscles” Davis and others.

Davis, you will recall, pleaded guilty in a scheme where the Trenton Water Works employee would do private plumbing work while on the city clock, using city equipment and materials.

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office conducted an investigation and sting operation that resulted in an undercover officer paying Davis for doing work on a Home Avenue residence.  Davis and two others were arrested in December of 2010. The Grand Jury heard testimony later that month and into January 2011.

Zdan reports that the transcripts of the Grand Jury proceedings reveal the jurors asking questions about the possibility of indicting Mayor Tony Mack, Davis’s half-brother, as part of the case.

Shortly after taking office in July of 2010, Mack made changes to the overtime rules at the water utility that would allow Davis to work more hours and raise his income. This change also provided Davis with the opportunity to access more of these potential installations done on city time with city resources while receiving direct payment from the homeowners.

While rumors of this scheme began circulating in the summer of 2010, the Mayor chose to do nothing about it.

At one point, Councilman George Muschal recounted in testimony before the Grand Jury that he approached the Mayor about the allegations against Davis. The Mayor’s reported response was,

“George, my brother is a career criminal. If he gets caught, it’s on him. It’s not on me. You got to remember, I’m the mayor of Trenton. I’m Teflon. I can’t be touched.”

With all of this, Assistant Prosecutor Jim Scott warned the jury off of indicting the Mayor.

Zdan’s article includes the following quotes from Scott:

“If there are two plausible explanations that could exist, you should give the target of your investigation the benefit of the doubt and not return an indictment” Scott said, according to the transcript from the Jan. 14, 2011 hearing.

“But I would submit to you at this point that there is insufficient evidence to prosecute the mayor at this point,” Scott told the grand jurors.

Scott told the jurors that Mack’s lack of action on those complaints was “the closest call” that could lead to an indictment, but that inaction could be attributed to the “amount of issues that were facing the mayor” shortly after he took office.

“In this particular case, I would submit to you that Mayor Mack has a tremendous amount on his plate,” Scott said, according to the transcript. “He inherited an administration where there was complete turnover. And the budget issues that the city of Trenton faces are enormous.”

INHERITED AN ADMINISTRATION WHERE THERE WAS COMPLETE TURNOVER?!?!?

Objection!

Upon taking office on July 1, 2010, Mayor Tony F. Mack knowingly and deliberately dismissed key personnel who had experience in running the city. Even IF, and it is a huge IF, the Mayor was intent on remaking the administration, common sense would call for a gradual transition in order to guarantee the continued smooth operation of city functions.

The mayor did not INHERIT a vacant administration. He caused it.

Further, the mayor had at his side a seasoned and knowledgeable acting Business Administrator in the person of William Guhl. Guhl, who was volunteering to help get the Mack administration off on the right foot, left one month into the term. Why? Because the mayor would not heed the sage advice being given to him.

For Assistant Prosecutor Scott to suggest that the problem of turnover in the city administration was “inherited” is just plain wrong.

 

Sound familiar?

The trials and tribulations Trenton has been through for the past several years often make us feel like we are the only city to experience so many severe problems. 

Although extreme, many of the city’s financial problems and the actions of Trenton officials fit two patterns seen in many small and very poor local governments. First, events in Trenton demonstrate a perfect storm of structural insolvency, low internal capacity, poor political leadership, and bad financial choices that often occur in such governments. The city’s structural insolvency, which is extreme by any standards, developed over many years of decline in its economic base. This trend is difficult for any city government to change as its causes and solutions are often beyond the direct control of its officials, and maintaining financial condition in this situation through fiscal policies and practices implemented by that government alone can be close to impossible. However, the story of Trenton clearly demonstrates how officials’ policies and practices can exacerbate current structural deficits and lead to more serious financial trouble.

To some extent, the city’s bad financial choices and poor leadership can be attributed to their

governance system, which is more inherently political than many other types of systems found in

suburban governments. Its history of machine-style politics based on an aldermanic structure with separate wards promotes a very political approach to policy making that is most often associated with older and larger central cities.

Sometimes, though, we can take comfort in knowing "we are not alone." Yesterday, we wrote about the HBO series "The Wire" and its relevance to not only Baltimore, Maryland, where the show was set and filmed, but to Trenton and other post-industrial cities.

Another, not flattering, comparison that comes to mind is with the hard-luck city of East St. Louis, Illinois. East St. Louis has been experiencing severe financial distress and drastic population loss for decades. It is just now about to emerge from under a quarter of a century of oversight from the State of Illinois. But, truth be told, East St. Louis' fiscal issues can be traced back over more than a century.

In 2008, Rebecca Hendrick wrote a five page paper on "The Story of the City of East St. Louis." She quickly and succinctly sums up the fiscal follies and failures of the city.

She ends the piece this way:

“Although extreme, many of the city’s financial problems and the actions of East St. Louis officials fit two patterns seen in many small and very poor local governments. First, events in East St. Louis demonstrate a perfect storm of structural insolvency, low internal capacity, poor political leadership, and bad financial choices that often occur in such governments. The city’s structural insolvency, which is extreme by any standards, developed over many years of decline in its economic base. This trend is difficult for any city government to change as its causes and solutions are often beyond the direct control of its officials, and maintaining financial condition in this situation through fiscal policies and practices implemented by that government alone can be close to impossible. However, the story of East St. Louis clearly demonstrates how officials’ policies and practices can exacerbate current structural deficits and lead to more serious financial trouble.”

 

“To some extent, the city’s bad financial choices and poor leadership can be attributed to their

governance system, which is more inherently political than many other types of systems found in

suburban governments. Although the city has a council-manager form statutorily, its history of machine-style politics based on an aldermanic structure with separate wards promotes a very political approach to policy making that most often associated with older and larger central cities (Theising, 2003).”

Sound familiar?

It should.

The italicized paragraphs above are the same passage with "Trenton" substituted for "East St. Louis." In addition, the opening clause "Although the city has a council-manager form statutorily" was removed from the "Trenton" version because it was not correct.

Everything else that Ms. Hendrick wrote about East St. Louis could just as accurately describe Trenton.

We're not the only city that is in trouble. Let's look around and see what we can learn from our mistakes as well as those of other towns and cities.

What we have been doing has not been working too well, maybe we need to start thinking about making some changes.

A reading by Pastor Coston

David Simon’s “The Wire” is regarded as one of the best TV dramas ever produced. The series, which ran for five seasons on HBO from 2002 through 2008, realistically depicted urban life in Baltimore.  Its examination of government, the drug trade, broken education systems and the media had universal application to post-industrial cities along the eastern seaboard and beyond.

During and since its run, many people have drawn comparisons between Simon’s Baltimore and contemporary Trenton.  This matchup was brought to mind again in a recent note received from former City Councilman and Baptist Minister Jim Coston.

Coston had dropped a quick line to inform us of a recently published book: Corners in the City of God: Theology, Philosophy and the Wire. This collection of essays edited by Jonathan Tran and Myles Wentz compares and contrasts real life experiences of the various writers with the storylines and settings depicted in the TV series. Coston contributed the opening chapter of the book. {And per the good Reverend, he is not receiving anything more than a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for his submission} 

In “The Church in the Wire”, the writer reveals that he was a late convert to the show who became hooked after repeated urgings from friends to watch it.  His essay talks about the absence of the Church in Simon’s Baltimore and by extension, the absence of the Church as a positive force in America’s cities. Coston’s own experiences as an activist and pastor of a local church contrast sharply with the norm in Trenton and the norm as depicted in the show.

Coston references the political presence of the urban churches and their spiritual absence. In a footnote he explains the Leewood Village debacle that would have displaced hundreds of South Ward families for the benefit of a private developer and the politically connected pastors and their economic development corporation.

It’s a good piece. Good enough to have us reading more essays in the collection. And good enough to give us more to think about as the city faces its next silly season as the municipal election cycle comes around next spring.

Too bad Jim Coston isn't in Trenton anymore. This would have been a great book for his Urban Studies group to work through.

The rise and fall of Chambersburg's famed restaurant district

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on something I wrote a few months ago. Last August, a younger friend had emailed me asking if “the food in Chambersburgwas ever actually good?”

Here is a slightly reworked and expanded version of what I wrote back to him in response:

When evaluating "Chambersburg" of old, a few things must be kept in mind.

1. Range.

There was a wide variety of restaurants, everything from the workingman's bar with a dining room that served heaping portions of basic, comfort-type dishes to "nice" family-style restaurants, to high-end places with top notch service and quality (and top prices!).

2. Menu.

It bears remembering there weren't as many chains and but more "Mom and Pop" establishments to choose from. The food offered may have been more Italian-American than purely Italian, but there was a care in preparation and pride in the quality of ingredients that elevated it above the norm.

Veal/chicken/eggplant parmigiana are examples of dishes that might not be the epitome of high Italian cuisine but when prepared with a good, house made sauce and prime ingredients sliced and breaded and fried to order, the results were more than satisfying.

The American culture had not yet turned into the "foodie nation" we are today. Few of us knew about regional American cuisine, let alone the breadth and width of "exotics" like Italian (or Greek, Jewish, Polish, etc.). You knew what you grew up with and judged everything against that.

While I was obviously exposed to Italian cooking and dishes when growing up, we ate "macaroni" and the "sauce (my family didn't use the "gravy" term much) was red except for Christmas Eve when we had aglio e olio with anchovies.

My mother, a non-Italian Midwesterner, was probably the first to make "lasagna" in our family, but my Italian Grandfather’s sisters taught my Jewish grandmother to make ravioli from scratch and that was the only kind I ate for the first ten years of my life or so. It wasn’t until Porfirio's opened and offered quality, local product at reasonable prices that we stopped eating homemade ravioli and put Grandmom out of business!

3. Custom.

A good part of the high rating the Chambersburgof old received was based upon the presentation of the meal. No matter what level restaurant, there were touch stones to old world hospitality that go well beyond the abondonza of all you can eat pasta at Olive Garden. When you dined in Chambersburg, whether at Ceasare's or Diamond's, there was pride in what was put on your table and how it was presented.

When I was a kid, Marsilio's was the restaurant where I was introduced to eating in courses. The food was always good but it wasn’t as stylish as it became in the last decade before the Roebling Avenue site closed. Even if the dishes were served family style, the fact that the salad came out, then the pasta, then our entrees set the pace. The anticipation (for me) added to the enjoyment. It was the same up and down the price range of restaurants.

4. Mystique.

For non-Italians, the accessibility of this "exotic" cuisine and good service so close to home made it special.

Add to that the sense of being treated "differently" as a regular at places like Crecco's or getting your own “pitcher” at the later incarnation of Marsilio’s. In the really successful restaurants everybody was made to feel "special" (some just more so than others) and welcome.

So, yes, I think Chambersburg's reputation was deserved. I believe the old stories of people jumping on the train from DC just to come to Trentonfor a fine Italian meal. Why wouldn’t they? We used to drive to Baltimore just to get some steamed crabs and then come home. So what happened?

Chain restaurants have, in my opinion, taken the once authentic (or Americanized-authentic) and homogenized and standardized the quality out of Italian and other cuisines. They have succeeded by providing the "same experience nationwide" for a public too averse to taking a chance on a non-brand name dining experience. These are the kind of people who will forego the potential of experiencing a Tattoni's white chicken cacciatore or roast pork and instead choose a Caraba's or Macaroni Grill or Olive Garden meal; the same people who will stand on line to eat at McDonald's in Rome.

With their portion controlled, commissary assembled range of products; chain restaurants have created an economical dining option with ample nearby (and usually free) parking. They play into the mall mentality of the suburban clientele. Their sterile and soulless menu options offer up synthetic cultural adventures to the tract home and McMansion set.

But to be fair, the demise of Trenton’s Chambersburg is not just the fault of chains.

The restaurant business is tough. It takes many long hard hours to source, procure, produce and serve better than average meals. You need a dedicated staff. In the early days, that staff was mostly family. A generation or two down the line and the dedication to carrying on the family business wanes. The parents retire; the kids don’t want to carry on. The business closes.

For those few restaurants that did manage to continue on past the second or third generation there were other problems.

As the middle class flowed out of the city, the once loyal, Trenton-resident clientele diminished. It was less enticing to travel back to the city for a nice night out when all those options existed along Route 1 and elsewhere.

The ups and downs of the economy contributed as well. Marginal operations failing to attract new customers to replace their aging and dispersed regulars began to close.

The sagging fortunes of a mismanaged city and the demographic changes of the neighborhood kept the suburban customers away. The old line restaurants closed and/or moved out. The city’s famed restaurant district lost its luster and the critical mass needed to make it thrive.

The problem is simply that, for the reasons outlined above, the restaurants no longer had a customer base that would support them in their traditional locations. If the customers kept coming, the restaurants would have stayed.
The announcement that Rossi's is going to close the Trenton location after 80 years and move to Hamilton marks the death of the "old Chambersburg".

It will be interesting to see how well the Trenton restaurant diaspora will do and for how long.

And what of the new Latino eateries that have opened in the wake of the departure of the Italians, will they evolve to the point where there will be a new, vibrant Chambersburg restaurant district that will attract not only locals but diners from the suburbs and beyond?