Nothing was delivered

Nothing was delivered
And I tell this truth to you,
Not out of spite or anger
But simply because it's true.

Now, I hope you won't object to this,

Giving back all of what you owe,
The fewer words you have to waste on this,
The sooner you can go.

That pretty much sums up last night's city council meeting.

The anticipated appearance of secretary to the mayor Anthony Roberts to answer questions about the President Obama bust didn't happen.

It seems as though (per Council President Holly-Ward) Mr. Roberts never acknowledged the council's invitation to appear. Nor did Roberts acknowledge the Business Administrator's inquiries about whether he would appear.

And then the secretary to the mayor "called off sick."

Nothing is better, nothing is best,

Take care of yourself and get plenty of rest.

No opportunity to explain how contributions were solicited; how the foundry (in St. Louis) was chosen; who gave the secretary to the mayor the authority to approve a purchase order for the base. 

Nothing was delivered

But I can't say I sympathize
With what your fate is going to be,
Yes, for telling all those lies.

The other big draw tonight was the introduction of a (revised) ordinance to reduce the mayor's salary.

Now you must provide some answers

For what you sold has not been received,
And the sooner you come up with them,
The sooner you can leave.

 

As you will recall, the last attempt was stymied when East Ward Councilwoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, who voted in favor of the ordinance the first time, voted against it at second reading and against an override of the mayor's veto.

Reynolds-Jackson's arguments were a mishmash of things and she kept saying it needed to be reworked to clarify the language. She cited state Senator Shirley Turner's public comments AND introduction of a motion to amend the NJ constitution to call for the suspension of pay for indicted officials.

Although the East Ward representative never came forward with any revisions of her own, the ordinance was reworked to reflect her concerns and directly quotes Senator Turner.  Reynolds-Jackson still voted against the new version.

Nothing is better, nothing is best,

Take heed of this and get plenty rest. (Now you know)

The regular business of council was the review and adoption of the items on tonight's docket.

The purpose of docket review is to go over the items before the governing body. That is the time when questions are asked, explanations given (by the administration) so that the council members understand what they are acting on and why it is before them.

It has been a hallmark of the Mack administration, through all of the BA's, the short tenure of the Chief of Staff, and the various and sundry acting department heads, that there is seldom anyone present to offer explanations or illuminations to council on docket items. Without proper back up and/or explanations, there is no reason for council to act. This is how things are let go until the last possible moment. Or later.

This is how the city runs out of toilet paper.

Tonight, yet again, there was no one present to answer any questions that the governing body might have. No one, that is, except for Superintendent of the Sewer Authority Joe McIntyre.

Three items were pulled from the docket because there was no one present to answer questions. Three items that will be postponed until...?

Nothing was delivered

And it's up to you to say
Just what you had in mind
When you made ev'rybody pay.

One of the items pulled was a change order to an existing contract with Hatch Mott MacDonald.  HMD is listed as a contributor to the Obama bust. There are two other companies currently doing business with the city that are listed as contributors.

Councilman Zac Chester raised the question of whether these donations towards the bust violate the city's Pay-to-Play ordinance. He had asked this last month and had not received an answer. Tonight he was told by attorney Peter Cohen that the matter had not yet been reviewed.

No, nothing was delivered,

Yes, 'n' someone must explain
That as long as it takes to do this
Then that's how long that you'll remain.
 
The question was put to us earlier, "Just what did council accomplish last night?"

As with so many meetings over the past two and a half years, the bare minimum was done.

Nothing is better, nothing is best,

Take heed of this and get plenty rest.

State of the City

Palmer heads to Chicago to meet with Team Obama while Trenton slides deeper into depression.

Picking up with last week's denied rumors of an early departure, the Trentonian's L.A. Parker reports Doug Palmer is winging to Chicago to talk urban policy with the President-elect's transition team.

Palmer is quoted in the article as saying, "This is not a job interview."

At the same time, West Ward Councilwoman Annette Lartigue is rumored to be ready to announce her intention to run for the Mayor's seat. Council President Paul Pintella is also allegedly eyeing a run for Mayor. Which makes it hard to believe Palmer's consistent denials that he's job hunting and hoping for an early out from his fifth term as Trenton's mayor.

But such denials are not out of character for the sultan of spin. For years, we've been treated to rosy portraits of Trenton's rebirth in Palmer's annual state of the city addresses which always include promises of great development projects and (last year) more cops on the street.

However, this year's fiscal mess; the layoffs and demotions of city employees (none from the Mayor's office!); and the loss of the Santiago residency case seem to have made Palmer fore go the pomp and irrelevance of the big State of City show and reception afterwards.

Instead, the Palmer machine has tried to place the blame for the city's shortcomings elsewhere while dressing up the Mayoral resume.

We said it last week and we say it again and will continue to say it. While Palmer cannot take sole blame for each and everyone of Trenton's woes, his failed policies and increasing arrogance have contributed significantly to the city's problems. He is not capable of serving in a higher capacity in any elected or appointed position and he certainly is not welcome to continue on here in Trenton.

That, friends, is the true state of the city.

A letter to the President-elect

Dear President Elect Obama,

The rumors and whispers in Trenton are once again suggesting that our long-time Mayor, Douglas H. Palmer, is leaving after the first of the year for one of the many appointments in your administration.

As much as many of us would like to see Mr. Palmer leave here, we do not think he deserves or is really qualified for any position of greater significance. We would hope that you and your staff would not be fooled by the superficial qualities of the expensive suits and crafted resume designed to project the image of a ground-breaking, competent leader.

As a government official Mr. Palmer has been neither effective nor particularly forward thinking. He has presided over a marked decline in New Jersey’s capital city: the population has decreased, the percentage of owner-occupied housing units has decreased, and the per capita income is shamefully low. While at the same time the neighboring communities have grown and prospered (at least in comparison).

The Palmer years have been marked by increased dependence upon financial contributions from the state and federal governments to make ends meet. In fact, some calculate that 80% of the city’s operating cash comes from taxpayers who do not reside in the city.

At the same time, the city owned water utility that serves outlying municipalities as well as Trenton was generating enough of a surplus that Palmer used some of the money to plug holes in the general budget. That is until some of the other towns served by the utility cried foul with the Board of Public Utilities. The Palmer response: raise Trenton water rates to parity with suburban rates so he no longer had to seek state approval of rates and oversight of how the money was spent.

When that didn’t silence the critics a plan was hatched to sell off the suburban water distribution infrastructure, claiming it was too expensive for the city to continue to maintain. Of course, if some of the surplus generated by the utility over the years had been used to maintain and improve the system, it would have been more valuable and perhaps rates could have been stabilized, etc. But then the money wouldn’t have been there for Palmer’s pet personnel and perks.

All the while, Mr. Palmer spent lavishly on cars and drivers for himself, multiple take home cars for city employees who do little more than commute to and from city hall from within the 7.5 square miles of land Trenton occupies, and well-compensated consultants, aides, and special assistants.

Palmer also gave carte blanche to an arrogant and extravagant Police Director who wasted millions of dollars on unneeded horse patrols, new badges, and two new police district buildings. When citizens filed a court challenge to the Police Director’s non-resident status, Palmer wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars unsuccessfully defending his declared right to issue a residency waiver. Not learning the lesson handed down by one superior and three appellate court judges, Palmer turned around and appointed a new police director who also does not meet the same standards of residency that the city administration has itself set in past cases when they’ve removed city employees for non-compliance. This has of course generated another law suit.

And this is typical of the Palmer belief that he is always right. His treatment of subordinates who disagree with him is well documented. In fact, many people pursued and dismissed by the city for non-compliance with its own residency ordinance were treated thusly because they had in some way crossed, disagreed with or displeased Mr. Palmer. The ego is large and the skin incredibly thin for person supposedly dedicated to public service.

When the smile and false charm fail to get Doug Palmer what he wants, he resorts to bullying and strong arm tactics. He has berated private citizens and city council members who’ve publically disagreed with him (so much for lively debate). He uses appointments and public acknowledgement to curry favor and yanks them away when crossed.

Without the healthy campaign bank accounts raised by virtue of his incumbency, (expecting sizable donations from his department directors as well as local developers, businesses, etc.), Palmer would not have been re-elected to a third and most certainly a fourth term. His ability to motivate people and build an organization or movement based purely on personality has waned. He’s never been such a great thinker and change agent that people would follow his lead; nor has he been able to generate much political capital within the Democratic Party beyond that which is attached to his holding public office.

Mr. Palmer hitched his aspirations to higher visibility and greater power to the hopes of Senator Clinton’s political campaign yet he couldn’t even deliver his hometown to her vote tally. Once you became the party’s nominee, he was all about supporting you.

Ask yourself, what had changed? The ability to lift Doug Palmer out of the dark abyss of nearly two decades of a failed administration had passed from Ms. Clinton to you.

We urge you to look long and hard at the real Doug Palmer and not the flashy, pre-packaged, version. Do not trust this man with any sort of important position or responsibility. His capabilities start and end with a big smile and expensive wardrobe.

If you really want to do us a favor, you can take him out of Trenton by investigating his mismanagement of public funds and manhandling of the public trust for the past 18 plus years.

That would be the best thing your team could do for Trenton, NJ