A different take

South Trenton resident and Community Activist Juan Martinez sounded off in a recent Trentonian article about the tightening of the laws requiring New Jersey residents to legally register their vehicles within 60 days of moving here.

According to Mr. Martinez, enforcement of the auto registration laws is some sort of veiled, anti-Latino movement supported by certain racist/elitist factions within the community.

Thursday night's City Council meeting was well attended by a group speaking out against this law, (a state law by the way, not a city law) that they claim is unfairly aimed at Latino immigrants.

Before we choose sides and start pointing fingers, let's look at this situation realistically.

The effect of this "new" law is to close some technical loopholes in the prior law. It was already mandated that individuals who establish their principle residence in New Jersey must register their vehicles in this state within a given time frame. There was also somewhat vague language that granted what amounted to an unlimited grace period for people not residing here full-time.

Apparently, the old law was for all intents and purposes unenforceable. And since New Jersey has if not the single highest, one of the highest, automobile insurance rates in the country, many people took advantage of the legal loophole to register their car elsewhere to skirt the rules and save money.

So we got a new law.

The purpose of the old law was to guarantee that automobiles based and principally operated in New Jersey...the most densely populated state of the union, were properly registered, insured and inspected in an effort to increase the safety for all the residents of New Jersey.

Now we have a new law. I don't see that its purpose is any different plus it cleans up some messy language of the prior law.

Another fact: Trenton is a city that grew and was laid out well before the post-world war two advent of the automobile. Houses sit close together on narrow streets that don't provide anywhere near enough parking for the increasing number of cars in each household. It's a problem.

So when a resident comes home late and can't find a parking place convenient to his or her front stoop, he or she gets upset. And when the cars parked nearest his or her front door is registered out of state, he or she gets more upset.

(Convenient in this case would be a generalization referencing those one or two parking spots that are closest to one's own front door. The definition varies...especially for those who live on streets where there is no on-street parking allowed!)

Folks...we live in a city. Parking is at a premium. If you want convenient, plentiful, semi-private parking just footsteps from your front door, maybe an urban neighborhood is not for you.

(We, the people, created this mess. We moved our homes, schools, jobs, stores and amusements ever further into what used to be the state's farmland only to increase our dependency on automobiles to go to work or play. But that's a topic for another time.)

Compounding this issue is the decades of Regional Contribution Agreements (RCA's) that have allowed the suburbs to buy their way out of providing affordable housing within their borders. Jobs move out of the cities but the housing affordable to our lowest wage earners is concentrated more and more in these same cities. So how do these folks get to work?

Cars. Lots of cars.

So, aside from election year "stunting" by incumbents looking to prove they deserve yet another term in the State Legislature, some of the impetus for this tightening of the automobile registration law may have come from those who feel that there are too many vehicles belonging to transients and recent arrivals clogging up our streets.

But this "remedy" is not to be applied exclusively to immigrants. We can probably all count among our acquaintances people who drive out-of-state registered vehicles while their principal domicile is here in the Garden State.

Now let's not make any mistakes here. Anyone who thinks cracking down on the "illegally" registered cars with Pennsy tags is going to free up unlimited amounts of parking for fully compliant residents is delusional.

The majority of those vehicles will ultimately be registered "legally" in New Jersey and the parking shortage will remain.

What we may gain is an increase in compliance with all auto registration laws...including proper insurance and inspection of the vehicles that ply our roads.

Mr. Martinez and his friends fear that the new laws will ultimately rob working people of their mode of transportation to get to and from work.

He may be right in some cases. But instead of railing against the enforcement of the original intent of the auto registration laws, he might do better arguing for an end to the economic segregation caused by the RCA's that concentrate affordable housing in the old urban centers while the jobs flee to the suburbs. Then some of these cars might not be needed in the first place.

It is a tough issue. There are many who feel that these hard-working immigrants should be given what amounts to special treatment when it comes to following the laws of the land they have come to live and work in. What so many seem to fail to grasp is that by ignoring or waiving the “rules” we cheapen our quality of life and standard of living.

If this is truly a land of opportunity where hard working people, whether their immigration status is legal or not, can provide a better life for themselves, why would we want to diminish it by selecting what laws are acceptable to follow and which aren’t? Aren’t the laws of the land the rules we follow to keep the machinery of our society in working order?

Unfortunately there no doubt are some who do see this “new” law (which, again, is no different than the intent of the old law) as an opportunity to force people of a different ethnic or cultural background out of the area.

For many more, it is just a way to bring parity and fairness back to the table.

“Why do I have to register my car here, get it inspected, and pay high insurance premiums when my neighbor doesn’t?”

Critics of the “new” law speak of fairness but they are asking for favoritism and to be exempted from the law. Is that fair?

Generations of people from all over the world have come to this country and the vast majority of them have taken the time and made the effort to play by the established rules. Why is it now “unfair” to ask others to do the same?

With freedom and opportunity comes a responsibility to follow the rules. And as long as the rules are applied equally to all then there really is no reason to complain.

Head Scratching

We took our morning coffee out to the stoop the other day to enjoy the bright and balmy day. An obviously agitated neighbor wandered by.

Noting our friend's distress, we inquired as to why the scowl and this was the response:

I am tired of the crap that is allowed to take place in this city. NO ONE pays attention to red lights, crossing at the right place, parking regulations, speeding, noise violations, GARBAGE AND TRASH ACCUMULATION. When will it begin? If the police would ticket the sweeper violations, parking in the wrong direction, illegal parking around the post office, speeding, red lights and noise violations the courts may have a bit more work ( hello?!?!?!THAT'S WHAT THE DAMN FINE IS FOR!!!) but WE WOULD GENERATE MORE MONEY AND , this is the good part, people would begin to obey the law!

Warming to the topic, our friend continued:

As long as I am on the subject...what about how clean this city is...NOT? Drive anywhere outside the city of Trenton and turn around and come back. You can tell when you get to the city limits because of the trash on the side of the road around homes and disgusting street conditions. NO ONE F*****G CARES. At least when we HAD the bike race that route was cleaned....CLEAN AND SAFE. Dude, when you have company over to the house, if the place is trashed, your guests will not care either. If you have a nice home and company visits, they will use coasters and not trash the homestead. THE SAME IS TRUE FOR A CITY. CLEAN HOUSE; CLEAN CITY. It just upsets me.

"Friend" makes a good point. Tackling the basic "quality of life" issues sends a message and sets a tone. Enforcing the laws, collecting the fines and/or demanding community service from offenders are proven deterrents to not only these seemingly "minor" annoyances, but can actually help decrease more serious crime.

One other note, if we want consistent and effective enforcement of the laws, we have to be ready to suffer the consequences if/when we ourselves are cited for a lapse of adherence to the rules.

***

This morning's Times has an interesting article by Kevin Shea that catalogues the shortcomings of the City's oft-touted but obviously defective network of video surveillance cameras.

This is the same system that former TPD Officer Butch Osterman was suspended for criticizing publicly on his Trenton Facts website. After a prolonged suspension, Butch was "allowed" to make a plea, and transfer from TPD to the Mercer County Sheriff's department. Fortunately, Butch landed on his feet...or at least on his Segueway Scooter.

After reading Kevin Shea's article, am I the only person who thinks the Administration and Director Santiago in particular owe Mr. Osterman a very large and public formal apology?

Or are they going to seek retribution against Mr. Shea for speaking the same truth?
***

One of the canine residents of the neighborhood, Baron von Bark-Bark, and his human dodged yesterday's rain showers to take a walk along the dike in Morrisville. The Baron and friend got to thinking about how nice it is to be able to stroll from the Calhoun Street Bridge to the Lower (Trenton Makes) bridge along the red stone path atop the dike.

The walk affords great views of the Trenton skyline (where keen eyes can spot buildings built in the 18th through 21st centuries), not to mention easy observation of the river itself. There are almost always people out sitting and contemplating the water's flow; watching the various fowl that frequent the area; or just getting some exercise by walking or cycling along the path.

And there have been a steady stream of improvements to the area to make it more user friendly. Most recently noted is the installation of mini-pads of pavers that one assumes will be the location for a string of new benches along the dike.

Little Morrisville obviously understands that it's river frontage is an asset and is working to enhance it.

When will Trenton ever get to that point?