Now you see it

Vacant and abandoned properties have been a burden on the city of Trenton for decades.

This building, near the intersection of Market and Jackson Streets in Mill Hill has sat vacant for over twenty years. The owner wants to make it a multiple unit dwelling...which is against the current zoning for the area. Until he can get his way, he has vowed to let it sit.

Meanwhile, the same property owner maintains a business and rents apartments in the building to the left of it. And he completed renovation of a couple of other nearby properties with financial assistance from the State of New Jersey and the Trenton Downtown Association, even though he removed the original facade and left those buildings boarded and vacant for several years in the interim.

At no time has the City ever approached this property owner with demands to put this highly visible building back to productive use. And when the neighborhood association has raised the issue of this eyesore, it has been all but ignored.

A few years ago, the Palmer Administration announced it was compiling a list of all the underutilized buildings and lots in the city with an eye towards using the State of New Jersey's Abandoned Property Act to get them onto the tax roles and into productive use.

The act was signed into law in January 2004 and to date, the city hasn't published a list of properties.

An election cycle has come and gone and no list has been provided.

Various community groups and leaders have continued to ask for this list, only to be told that the Department of Housing and Economic Development is "working on it" and it should be ready "soon."

So we wait.

And buildings like these, abandoned so long that the boards are literally falling off the windows, deteriorate further with each passing month.

Well, we're waiting no more. Thanks to the efforts of the Trenton Council of Civic Association (TCCA) the community is taking an inventory of the vacant lots and abandoned properties around the city so that a list can be presented to the city.

While citizen action is to be encouraged and applauded, it is pretty telling that it is only through this type of citizen action that things might get done.

Why can't the city of Trenton come up with a list of these properties on its own?

Every workday, there are scores of Public Works, Water, Police, Fire, and Inspections employees traveling all around town. What would it take for them to take a minute and jot down an address of an abandoned property and turn it in to a central place?

That's the very method the TCCA is employing. Each neighborhood group has been asked to inventory their home turf and send the information (street address and basic description like "empty house" or "vacant lot") to TCCA President Patricia Stewart. (You can email your list to phstew517@gmail.com)

Mrs. Stewart and the TCCA are to be applauded.

Trenton's Administration is to be booed.

Once again, the taxpayers are voluntarily doing the work the public servants are paid to do.

Go figure.

It starts here

Yesterday the residents of the Cadwalader Heights neighborhood held a very successful house tour. Although they have held house tours before, this one was extra special as it marked the 100 years since the fist home was built there.

Through hard work, cooperation and solid promotion they attracted nearly 1000 people to their homes and neighborhood. Similar events have been held in the Berkeley Square and Mill Hill neighborhoods. And the Contemporary Club's popular "Four Views of Trenton" tours have been drawing people to town for over twenty years.

The majority of attendees for these events come from outside of Trenton. Proof that people will indeed visit Trenton for well organized and promoted events and will pay to do so.

But that's not the only good thing about these events.

Writing in an op ed piece in the Times last Wednesday, long time Cadwalader Heights resident Carol Nicholson offered the following "simple recipe:"

...if you want to live in a neighborhood that lasts for 100 years -- take control of your community, don't leave it to politicians, bureaucrats or violent gangs. Know your neighbors, help each other and organize. Even the most informal grouping is a legitimate voice....

Civic pride starts at one's doorstep, continues through our respective neighborhoods and finds its way right up to the steps of City Hall. The neighborhoods that are the most stable are the neighborhoods that have developed into effective communities working together for the benefit of all. Similarly, municipalities around the country, of all sizes, only succeed when the residents work together for the common good.

It is indeed a "simple recipe" and yet so many of Trenton's neighborhoods seem to be lacking in this regard. While there are many civic organizations on the books some are poorly organized and/or suffer from low participation. Even the Trenton Council of Civic Associations (TCCA), which should serve as an umbrella organization for all the neighborhood groups, is not immune to the malaise.

At any given meeting, you can count on seeing the same few neighborhoods represented with a smattering of drop-ins from other groups around town. It has even been reported that some public officials advise against participating in TCCA activities because "it is only people from North and West Wards" who attend or that the organization has become "political."

Well, "duh!"

First of all, the meetings are open to and attended by representatives from civic groups city wide. If people from specific neighborhoods or wards don't attend, it is not by design or intent. It is because of self-exclusion.

Secondly, the TCCA is no more or less "political" than any other organization concerned with improving the quality of life in our city.

While some may point to various projects and proposals as indications of a Trenton revival, they are but window dressing. No more effective at depicting a halt in Trenton's decline than the infamous "kitties and curtains" plywood panels that were applied to the many vacant properties around town a few years back.

The City's successes have been and will continue to be measured neighborhood by neighborhood. It starts with a statement of boundaries: "I am concerned with my house; my block; my neighborhood."

It continues with a commitment to take the necessary steps that will result in incremental improvements each and every day.

This is how it was done in Mill Hill, Berkeley Square, Cadwalader Heights and other neighborhoods.

"Take control of your community," states Doctor Nicholson. "Don't leave it to politicians, bureaucrats or violent gangs."

Take control of your city.