Tell the truth, Mayor Mack

Mayor prevaricates at opening of second learning center.

According to Carlos Avila's report in this morning's Trentonian, Mayor Tony Mack continues to blame the board of trustees of the Trenton Free Public Library for the branch closings two years ago.

“I have been working diligently to reopen all four of these buildings since the Trenton Free Public Library Board decided to close them in August of 2010,” he said.

That is his side of the story. And it is just plain wrong.

In a letter dated September 13, 2010, TFPL Trustee Virginia Dietrich writes:

"The over $1M reduction to this year's budget has had a devastating effect on our ability to provide neighborhood services. Your generous offer of an additional $350,000 funding would be a welcome addition to the $2.1M allocation the City has already committed for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. Unfortunately, it is not enough to cover the cost of your proposed plan for a 3-7 pm 5 day per week schedule at all four Branch locations. As we detailed in the budget sent to your office on August 20, 2010, the Library would need an additional $845,952 for a total allocation of $2,945,962 to implement your plan."

There it is, ladies and gentlemen, in plain English.

"Unfortunately, it is not enough to cover the cost of your proposed plan for a 3-7 pm 5 day per week schedule at all four Branch locations."

The question that needs to be asked by citizens, taxpayers, the governing body and the mayor's own administration is simply this:

If you cannot afford to fund the TFPL to provide the hours and services you want, how can you find the money (according to this report in the Times, now up to $75,000 per "learning center" per year from the $30,000 stated on April 30) to operate this parallel system of ersatz libraries?

Tell the truth, Mayor Mack.

Words

The Mayor’s Learning Center Library.

Well, we can’t really use the term “library.” There is no professional staff. No reference help. No resources.

“We cannot be a library, so just look at this as a publicbuilding with books.”

What difference does it make? It’s all just a bunch of words.

Words: Mayor Mack’s biggest nemesis.

He knows words. Sometimes he can actually pronounce them correctly. But he just doesn’t seem to be able to grasp their meaning; at least not when he is in public grasping for answers to questions.

Why do words have to be so mean?

For instance, the mayor stated yesterday during the ribboncutting for the new Learning Center in the old Skelton Library building that he’d received “…an email from someone at the state today saying they were concerned…”

“They sent out a letter asking us to reconsider or rethink opening a library.”

“$100,000 of a $2 million budget does not give you the right to dictate to us what we do with our building.”

The communication the mayor refers to here was not sent “from someone at the state” but rather from New Jersey Library Association ExecutiveDirector Patricia Tumulty. 

The NJLA doesn’t give the city any money towards its libraries. In fact, the NJLA, amongst other things, lobbies for increased financing from the state to the public libraries.

There is the “state” and there is the “state library association”. Two different entities, but it is all just words to the mayor. 

We got what he meant. “Keep your nose out of our business. I’ll do what I want.”

Similarly, Mayor Mack lashes out at the Board of Trustees ofthe Trenton Free Public Library for not letting him have his way.

“The library board,” he states, “had the same opportunity to come and join us in this effort as all the other volunteers had on this project. They had the same opportunity. For those who say they didn’t know about the committee, they didn’t know about what we wanted to do, it’s just untrue.”

Maybe Mayor Mack didn’t mean to say “it’s just untrue”. Maybe he meant to say, “it’s unfortunate that I didn’t let them know what I was going to do whether they participated or not.”

You see, here is how it really played out. 

The library, faced with budget cuts from the Mack administration, made the determination that it could no longer operate the four branch libraries.

There was some back-and-forth that included the mayor promising to deliver the funds needed to keep the branches open part-time several days a week.

On October 25, 2010, the mayor issued a press release inviting people to participate in a “community lead Library task force who will identify best practices for operating and maintaining our libraries and day to day operations immediately.”

So this press release, which we have only ever seen on thecity website and which appeared only a day or two before the infamous “Highlights of the first 100 Days” press release that was little more than a recounting of the mayors appointment calendar for the preceding three months, was issued but largely overlooked.  Was it ever distributed? Did the media pick up on it?

Well he issued an invitation in a press release. So we all “knew” about it and could have joined in.

Mayor Mack even repeated this last night at his South Ward Town Hall meeting (a very sparsely attended affair when you take away the members of the Mack cabinet, his posse and the three council people that were present).

Mack was questioned on the transparency of his government by one citizen in attendance. The mayor’s response was first to blame the newspapers for only printing negative stories and then to ask of a specific example of when his administration was not forthcoming with information.

“The library plan that was developed in secret” said the citizen.

The mayor again trotted out his explanation that nothing was done in secret. That everyone was invited to join this committee.

Mayor Mack has yet to offer any explanation for the lack of information available from the administration when requested via OPRA on two separate occasions.

He was invited to tell us what he was up to but chose not to participate.

Words.