Re-Inventing Trenton

Before the takeover of GM, I would have said there is nothing that frightens me more than government health insurance.

The economic downturn and subsequent entry of the federal government in to a wide variety of private businesses left me searching for a way to think about this. I picked up my old copy of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” and began re-reading. [Read more →]

I come from a family of teachers. My mother, father, both sets of grandparents, brother and aunts are all teachers. You can imagine the fun family discussions we have when I suggest that the NEA (National Education Association) is bad for them.

I’m well aware that many Republicans have strong opposition to the NEA. But at its root, the NEA is just another union. There is a natural conflict between unions and management as unions attempt to take control away from managers. The Republican party generally shares the sensibilities of managers and therefore doesn’t get much support from the union movement including the NEA.

However I do support a person’s right to form a union and to bargain collectively. It’s a free country.

The education unions just have it all wrong.

My mother and I were having a particularly heated discussion about the NEA when I finally asked her, “You’ve been in the NEA for many years now and you’re still complaining, so how’s it been working for you”. This has pretty much stopped the argument.

Opposition to school-choice has been a central position of the NEA for years. This policy position is bad for students, teachers and even unions.

Of course students are better off through the discipline of competition among schools. One only has to observe the desperate measures parents of children in underperforming districts, like Trenton, will take to sneak their kids into better systems. School systems won’t crumble either, they’ll just get smaller or maybe larger depending on how they perform. What I really want to concentrate on is the argument that choice is good for teachers.

Consider the logic:
If you are negotiating with an employer and it’s the only employer in town, then you have very little leverage because quitting is not an option for you. You would much prefer to have several employers bidding for your valuable services. While there are a small number of private and charter schools operating today, there is essentially only one employer of K-12 teachers since schools are supported by the state.

Naturally you as an employee would unionize in order to increase your bargaining position against this monolithic employer. However, you would also hope like mad that another employer would come into town. In non-governmental industries this almost always happens because a competitor knows it can poach poorly paid employees. This drives up salaries.

Even unions themselves are better off with competition. Think about the AFL-CIO’s negotiations with the auto manufacturers. They pick the most vulnerable company and target it for negotiation thereby setting the contract standard for the industry.

School-choice has been a hot topic for many years and is a key difference between Democratic and Urban Republican viewpoints. Because choice is good for both teachers and the inner-city students they serve, the Democratic agenda is out of touch with the needs of urban America.

Saving Trenton from its crazy self

The idea of the state having to take over Trenton has come up recently. However, many citizens, even when faced with the evidence that Trenton clearly can’t take care of itself, suggest that the state would do an even worse job. They have a point; even with its broad financial resources the state clearly hasn’t fixed Camden.

So, let’s imagine for a moment that state oversight is a bad option. We already know that we can’t run the city ourselves. What then are the remaining options? [Read more →]

With one act of enlightened self interest, Trentonians can spawn a new industry

It’s an industry without the risk of the car business. It attracts sought after  middle class workers. And, it’s inherently good for the community.

What’s this wonder industry? And more importantly what do we need to do to attract it?

Education can be Trenton’s next great economic engine, all we have to do is break the monopoly government has on it. [Read more →]

I wish it didn’t take brinksmanship to force constructive dialogue in Trenton.

Everyone agrees (I hope) that we need a rethink about Trenton’s financial health. Everyone also agrees (I hope) that there is a price at which selling the suburban portions of the Trenton Water Works is a good idea.

And, let there be no doubt that it’s too late to patch this year’s budget. Without drastic action we’re facing catastrophic disaster from a tax hike that will drive away investment, force foreclosures and thereby further reduce city revenue.

My hope is that the administration and petitioners can reach an agreement that commits the city to budgeting, openness and planning reforms that address our structural problems. I also hope that they can reach an agreement to allow the sale to move forward and, as stipulated in the City Council’s resolution, use only $20M of the proceeds to fix budget gaps. The remaining $60M should pay down long term debt principal.

Emotions are running high on both sides, for all of our sakes, let’s hope and pray cool heads prevail.

A Modest Proposal to fix the budget and still keep the Water Works

In “Invest the Trenton Water Works proceeds in the future not the past” I argued that the proceeds from the sale of the Water Works should not be applied directly to the 2010 and 2011 budgets. I allowed that it was too late to fix the 2009 budget and therefore $20M of the proceeds should be used to patch this year’s gaping budget hole.

If a group of Trenton citizens have their way, the sale will be delayed until a public vote can be taken and it’s not certain at all that the public will go along with the administration’s plan. We’d be left with a huge problem. Therefore, we’d better come up with plan B for patching the 2009 budget. [Read more →]

That the suburban portion of the Trenton Water Works will be sold seems to be a foregone conclusion. This is a good thing.

Running a water company for Ewing, Hopewell and other towns isn’t core to the business of running Trenton. It’s safe to say that we have more pressing concerns than whether or not our neighbors to the north have good water pressure. Continuing to run TWW would stretch our already thin and getting thinner, management resources.

Those that argue against the sale need to consider the big picture.

[Read more →]

Of the five major ways to foster urban revitalization;

1. Facilitating high end real estate development,
2. Supporting the arts and culture,
3. Cleaning up the joint,
4. Squashing the gangs, and
5. Creating a reason for Trenton to be here,

Only “Cleaning up the joint” can be done inexpensively.

Visitors to Trenton often comment that the city looks “run down” and dirty. Residents agree. [Read more →]

It’s useful to honestly measure the things that make a city attractive to its current and future residents. Clean streets, low crime rate, diverse retail options, value for the housing dollar and jobs are obvious elements of attractiveness. A thoughtful city planner or economist would measure these things, understand their impact on revitalization and then target spending to get the biggest bang for the buck. [Read more →]

If you ask a Trentonian about their number one city issue, crime will probably come up. Yet we don’t really seem to have any clue about its measurable affects on our city or how to manage them.

Previously, I wrote about the cause and effect of a city’s crime level and it’s immigration level ( How Crime Affects Trenton). However, this is a very small part of the story. First, we have to agree on what it is about a city that we’d like to improve. In general, the best measure of a city’s health is its per capita income. Cities with high crime rates have low per capita incomes and vice-a-versa (The Economics of Crime).

[Read more →]