Acting Housing and Economic Development Director pick has poor track record.

Carmen Natal Melendez was recently elevated from the position of aide to Mayor Tony Mack to acting Director of Housing and Economic Development.

What, you might wonder, are Ms. Melendez’s qualifications to hold such a pivotal position in the Mack administration?

• She was amongst a handful of Latinos who came out in support of Mayor Mack during the 2010 campaign. (Juan Martinez and his brother, Robert Menendez, were two others).
• Her husband, Cesar Melendez, made two contributions to the Mack campaign in May of 2010: $600 on May 7 and $2600 on May 12.  (That totals $3200 which is over the personal limit of $2600…but maybe it was intended to be split between Carmen and Cesar, thus not breaching the limit).

So Carmen has a personal relationship with the Mayor. What else has she got?

• Well, she does have a real estate license.  She apparently didn’t have one for awhile, but was re-licensed in September of 2010 and is listed as working for Paladino Realty and Auction of Lambertville, NJ.
• Her partnership with fellow realtor Albin Garcia is defunct. The firm’s real estate license was deemed inactive in April of 2004, more than a year before it expired. (For comparison, Garcia has maintained a broker of record license since 2006)
• Striking out on her own, Carmen created Melendez Realty Services LLC in March 2004. Her last annual report was filed in January 2005 and the state REVOKED its corporate standing in October of 2008 for failure to file annual reports for two consecutive years (2006 and 2007).
• In the meantime, she created Melendez Realty LLC. The original filing was done in November of 2007 but was REVOKED in June 2010 for not filing annual report for two consecutive years (2008 and 2009).
• She’s obviously had trouble keeping up with the requirements of operating a business.  But there is more.
• An online search reveals some $57,596.25 in outstanding liens and judgments against her. Some date back to 1996.

So we ask you, dear readers, is this woman qualified to lead the all important housing and economic development arm of city government?

We think not.

He just doesn't learn

Latest Mack appointments more of same.

In a classic attempt to circumvent the news cycle, the Mack administration announced late Friday afternoon the "new" administrative lineup.  The changes of note were the appointments of Harold Hall and Carmen Melendez as acting directors of Public Works and Housing and Economic Development respectively.  Walter Denson was moved from the latter department and made acting Law Director/City Attorney.

While all indications are that Mr. Denson is competent and capable, he is by his own admission not experienced in municipal law. Still, he at least has the credentials as an attorney and some track record of success in his background.

The same cannot be said for Mr. Hall or Ms. Melendez.

Mr. Hall, you remember, was collecting overtime and paid comp time as a Division Director (Public Property).  He's also the person ultimately responsible for overseeing the the payroll for the Park Rangers like Mr. Robert Mendez, Mr. Russ Wilson, and the mysterious Mr. James Moses...all of whom seemed to have doctored their time cards, been paid overtime they didn't earn, and/or went on the city payroll before they were given DCA approval.

According to a statement by the DCA's Lisa Ryan and reported in today's Times, Hall's promotion to acting Director of Public Works will not get state approval "since the Division previously requested the mayor demote or fire him.”

Good for the DCA!  They must be completely exhausted from dealing with the petulant Mayor.

If the elevation of Mr. Hall isn't bad enough, there is the story of Ms. Melendez.

Like Hall, she's a long-time ally of the Mayor who was given a nearly $50,000 per year aide's position shortly after Mack took office last year.  Of course, we are to believe that this position had nothing to do with the $3,200 in campaign contributions Ms. Melendez's husband Cesar made to the Mack campaign in May of 2010.

But that is not the real problem with Carmen's bump up to acting director.

Mayor Mack is proposing putting Ms. Melendez in charge of the department responsible for improving the city's economic outlook through creative and effective development.  This is the same key position he tried to fill last year with convicted felon Carleton Badger. 

I guess the Mayor assumes the public has forgotten that ill-advised move and is trying to foist another crony with questionable credentials on us as directory of Housing and Economic Development. Ms. Melendez, while having no convictions on criminal charges in her background (that we know of), has been far from a stellar success.

Besides some failed Real Estate Agency partnerships that have failed, Ms. Melendez appears to have 10's of thousands of dollars worth of judgements and liens outstanding against her. 

Another Mack appointee with dubious finances and a questionable background.

Isn't this where we came in a year ago?