On to more important things.

A few weeks ago, Trenton made two uneconomic decisions right in the thick of the election.

1. It approved the receipt of HOPE VI funding to replace Miller Homes, and
2. It approved a tax abatement for Escher Street SRO, a halfway house

Both decisions are emblematic of the path Trenton has been following for the past 20 years and both run counter to the focus on economic recovery most of our candidates espoused.

In 2004, the South Trenton neighborhood comprising the Lamberton Historic District fought against HOPE VI funding which would have replaced one housing project, Kearney Homes, with another. They hoped for better and they’ve gotten it with a 100% market rate development from Ryan Homes.

In the course of that battle two astonishing observations were made concerning the agenda of the Trenton Housing Authority and the City administrations.

1. When asked whether an economic impact analysis of the project had been done, neither the City nor the THA had done one. They had no idea whether the project would be economically good or bad. At one point in the meetings between the neighborhood and THA, I asked about this and a THA official suggested that I prepare the analysis for them. It was a flippant comment, but I went ahead and did it. Sure enough, that project would have been a drain on the city.
2. THA set up meetings with citizens to get input on the project. About ¾ of the way through one of these sessions, several of us realized that no one from THA was actually capturing notes from the input they were supposedly getting from the 100 or so neighbors in the room. It was a rude awakening to the callousness of bureaucrats towards the communities they serve.

I don’t imagine the neighborhood around Miller Homes was nearly as organized as the Lamberton group (I certainly haven’t heard about them). So I doubt there was anybody to raise issues about HOPE VI this time around. And I am sure that no one in the current administration or city council asked for an economic impact analysis. Going forward, let’s please do better.

The abatement on Escher Street SRO was even more ironic. All through the campaign, candidates including the three on the current city council have bemoaned Trenton’s structural deficit and the high number of non-tax-paying non-profit owned buildings in Trenton. They were talking about buildings exactly like the halfway house which had had a previous abatement but had ran out. When it came time to do something about it, city council folded. They passed the abatement measure in the same session where they were forced by the state to actually pass a budget which represented the failed policies of the past. Their actions didn’t measure up to their words when they granted an extension on Escher Street thereby extending Trenton’s structural deficit.

The problem with both of these decisions is that they ignore the basic economics of our city. Trenton is awash in costs for the poor and has no tax base to support those costs. We all know that our per capita income and therefore our ratables are very low, dangerously low.  And yet these two projects add to overall structural deficit.

A HOPE VI project will generate far more costs in the form of school, police, inspections, recreation and social services costs than it will ever generate in the form of property taxes.  As politically difficult as it sounds, the project will be an additional drain on the city.  This is the challenge that a politician faces in Trenton. We can no longer afford to do the cuddly, feel good thing.  We have to make hard choices, and our current council and administration failed to do it with Miller Homes.

The halfway house is even worse. I’m sure the home would have had to close. But presumably it would relocate to a community better able to subsidize its existence. We need halfway houses in this world, unfortunately Trenton can’t afford them at this time. Perhaps, when we’re healthier.

I point all this out to illustrate the kind of difficult decisions our next government faces.  We, as citizens, need to understand that we can’t afford to do everything we might want and that economic analysis can help us separate the good from the bad.  We’re like airline passengers that have lost pressurization in the cabin.  We need to put our oxygen mask on first before we worry about saving everybody else.   

Most importantly, we need to focus ourselves, as well as Council, on economic recovery and away from racial politics.

So I was thinking about what I do for a living, and that I am a municipal public employee… and how I see so much waste everywhere. I also really dislike the perception that we are all just lazy bastards. So how do we really change the City of Trenton employee image and while we are at it, how can we change the image of Trenton? Us, how can we do it as well???  I did some research and wrote this up…

It’s just a few days away now — Election Day. Regardless of who is elected Mayor on June 15, the City of Trenton will close one chapter of its history and begin a new one.
Hopefully the new administration will bring new ideas to the challenges we face as Trentonians: challenges that are economic, challenges that are sometimes uncomfortable, and even though in some cases we will flat out disagree with policy, we hope that the greater good is served.

It has always been a mantra of mine that we are a service-driven industry but, what does that really mean? Those of us that work for the City of Trenton probably feel that we know our job, our role and the responsibilities that come with it. But maybe it might be a good idea to have a refresher course and take the lead from some great groups. At the Disney Company, they recognize that a key element in creating the best environment for engaged employees is great leadership. Leaders take responsibility for creating a vibrant employee experience, understanding that their own behavior and vision drives the creation of a work environment in which employees can be fully engaged. This is needed in the City of Trenton, from all employees.

We also need to take a look at what some folks believe is a sound business plan for public service employees:

• Improved effectiveness – more oriented to identifying and producing results.
• Greater service orientation – developing a culture in which the delivery of an outstanding service to the public is accepted as the norm.
• Improved accountability – performance must be effectively managed, measured, and failure to meet standards should be recognized and dealt with
• Improved financial accountability – the competent management of resources according to a strong “value for money” ethos as a hallmark of the public service. The public needs to see their money is not wasted
• Improved flexibility – a greater ability to work in teams across traditional departmental lines. Especially now with little funds and shrinking departments.

These are just a few things we can do as employees and hopefully  be part of an engaged municipal government. We will all be part of the team that works on behalf of Trenton, from paying our taxes on time, the upkeep of our home or business, to sweeping the street in front of our home – and it is up to all of us to work with the new leadership to tackle those challenges.

However, I live in Trenton and own enough property so that high taxes and declining value could be a substantial economic blow.  I am not alone in this precarious situation.  Every home and building owner in Trenton is at risk as our city’s budget comes closer to falling into the financial abyss.

I’ve listened to the candidates and just don’t hear a serious “by the numbers” explanation of how they think we can rescue ourselves.  Instead, I hear a lot of blame being laid on the State.

I also know that many of our candidates have been in public life for many years but have never jumped up and down screaming about the fact that we were so dependent on the State.  Even now, several of the candidates are asking for votes so they can do more for the poor citizens of Trenton.  We’re sinking, as a city, and yet there are candidates talking about new social programs.

There are candidates who either believe or know that citizens want to hear, “that fixing the schools will revitalize Trenton”.  That notion is absurd and tells me that I’m listening to a “Know Nothing”  politician.  In order to magically fix the schools, we’d have to start with the young kids and put them into some magical environment that hasn’t even been invented, wait 12 years, and then perhaps we’d have a graduation rate worth bragging about.  It could be decades before Trenton’s schools are better than surrounding suburbs.  Nobody moves to a city for the schools that are “almost as good”.  Trenton schools need to be “as good, or better”, but we can’t make that happen in time to save our city.

We need a no-nonsense, and dare I say pragmatic (another word for Republican) approach to our problem.  We need a “Bull in the China shop” much like Chris Christie has become for NJ.  We need to do the opposite of what we’ve been doing in Trenton for the past 20 years.

We don’t need balance, we need imbalance.  Trenton has gone out of its way to be attractive to the poor for quite some time and has done little to attract middle class and high income residents.  We’re going to have to change that balance.  We’re actually going to have to find a way to appeal to people with disposable income and lots of them.

As I look at the candidates and at myself,  I’ve come to the conclusion that I have something to offer Trenton.  As a Management Consultant, my job is often to help organizations improve and to do the best things first.  We help our clients manage by the numbers.  As a volunteer in Trenton, I find myself drawn towards the challenging problem of urban revitalization.  It’s one of the great challenges of our time and I want to be a part of meeting that challenge.  ReinventTrenton.com is all about that as is TrentonLofts.com and FixTrentonsBudget.com.

Running for mayor is a thankless job and being mayor would involve some personal and financial pain for me and Michelle (Michelle doesn’t like the idea).  However, if voters look around and decide they just can’t tie their futures to any of the existing candidates and would prefer to take the opposite approach, I will serve.  Probably only for one term, but I’d serve long enough to give the opposite approach a chance to take shape.

I understand that many Trentonians have been fed a diet of rhetoric on revitalization over the years and I’ve written quite a bit to debunk much of it. But, just so there aren’t any surprises, a few of the ingredients a Dodson administration include are listed below.  If you can’t depart with the notion that these sacred cows need to be cast out, then don’t vote for me:

• Create and institutionalize a meaningful budget process
• Reassess on a 5 year cycle and adjust our tax rate accordingly
• Lift the residency requirement for all city workers (we need the best minds possible on the case)
• Call in outside law enforcement support to augment our police
• Reinvent our city processes to enable our staff to have a bigger impact for less
• Make every aspect of Trenton the MOST business and development friendly in the US
• No support at all for subsidized, deed restricted, housing
• Negotiate a fair deal with the State, to gradually get us off of state aid
• Lobby, maybe through the US Justice Dept., for integration of schools in Mercer County and NJ (that equates to busing)

For those that have read my blog over the years, none of this is new.  I just want to make it clear that my firm belief is that protecting the above “sacred cows” is in the way of Trenton’s progress.  Adopting the above is the “opposite” of what we’ve been doing and the “opposite” of the positions for many of the current candidates.

In the end, it’s the voters choice. If called I’d serve and would love the challenge.

The Hispanic vote, if there is such a block, could be split three ways. Carlos Avilla is likely the front runner in this group having received Coston’s endorsement and picking up some organization support. Carlos is a nice guy but seems to want to please everybody and will therefore please nobody at all.

In the Jersey St. debate he quoted President Kennedy’s speech about not asking what your country can do for you, and thirty minutes later proceeded to pander to a single mother by telling her what he and the city could do for her. Which is it Carlos?

His economic policy is no different than Trenton’s failed approach for the last 20 years. He has shown bad economic judgment in several choices of videos to feature on his web site. None of his guest speakers have prescribed sensible approaches to urban revitalization. My fear about Carlos is that while he says he’ll seek out good ideas, he won’t recognize them when they’re right in front of him.

Evelyn Deleon, as I’ve written before, seems a nice and earnest person but simply has a difficult time expressing herself and staying on point. This was evident both in the first candidate debate on Jersey St., then on LA Parker’s radio debate and in her posting on reinventtrenton.com. Deliberations in City Council must be held with both clear thinking and clear speech. Evelyn doesn’t meet this qualification.

Juan Martinez was on the wrong side of the failed Leewood Development project that would have destroyed the character of South Trenton long after the incumbent politicians withdrew their support. Juan’s ideas about economic development are rooted in the 70s making him the dangerous choice for the South Ward.

George Muschal just doesn’t seem to have his head in the game. He doesn’t come across as the kind of innovative thinker we need on Council. His low point was when he expressed his displeasure over my questioning him about the city budget. He didn’t appear to have any awareness about the budget and questioned the veracity of my assertions about it. I can’t abide this kind of ignorance about the most important issue in our city.

Now for the tough part.

Pat Stewart is well known to me and is a person whom I respect. I’ve discussed the city and its revitalization many times with Pat and find that her views are basically sound. Pat would be a safe choice for the South Ward Council seat. She understands the workings of city government and would be a vote of reason.

However Stewart has failed to do two things critical for a councilperson in 2010. She has not posted a web site. A simple web presence is an important way to communicate a candidate’s views and to maintain transparency. Furthermore she’s failed to communicate a vibrant vision for Trenton.  We need vision from the South Ward as it’s quite possible we won’t get it from the other wards or city hall. I won’t be disappointed with having Pat on Council but I can’t endorse her.

This brings me to my endorsement of Paul Harris. I know more people who’ve been rubbed the wrong way by Paul than support him so I definitely feel like I’m out on a limb with my support. However, I have talked with Paul about his views and have come to believe that we share a basic philosophy.

• Trentonians are responsible for fixing their own fiscal mess.
• We can be a great city and can be Mercer County’s downtown.
• Residential development is the path to revitalization and the city has no business holding on to vacant property.
• Crime fighting should be part of a broader economic development strategy.

Paul is bright, earnest and energetic. He’s ambitious and quite frankly I think that’s what bothers folks. Paul will need to temper this but I am sure the ambition to make Trenton great again is what’s needed in government. His vision is for us to be a “shining city on the hill” not a last resort for the people with no choices. He will welcome new residents with disposable income rather than reject them out of jealousy.

The politicians who ramble on about how much they will do for you aren’t the kind of councilpersons we need now. We need someone who understands Council, the budget and the big picture on revitalization. We don’t need another social worker on Council rather we need to understand that Trenton must compete in a competitive world. We need thoughtful people who can think for themselves. We need a person who is using the web effectively to communicate with his constituents. We need energy directed at the right things, not candidates that are wedded to the social programs that have dominated urban politics throughout Trenton’s decline.

Paul Harris has the endorsement and support of ReinventTrenton.com.

]]> http://livingonthenet.com/wordpress/the-south-ward-council-election-is-no-time-for-politics-of-the-past/feed 7 http://livingonthenet.com/wordpress/managing-the-trenton-brand http://livingonthenet.com/wordpress/managing-the-trenton-brand#comments Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:12:35 +0000 admin http://livingonthenet.com/wordpress/?p=44 The July 18^th edition of Trenton’s Urban Studies group had Alan Mallach as its guest speaker. Mr. Mallach has been studying cities for 40 years and works today as a consultant and author on the subject. He was formerly Trenton’s Economic Development director back in the 90s.

The upshot of Mr Mallach’s comments was that a small city like like Trenton, should have as its objective, to increase the numbers of higher income residents. Increasing downtown residency is an important part of this prescription.

It was refreshing to hear Mr. Mallach talk with a dispassionate view towards assessing the challenges and likely remedies in revitalization. In fact, he pointed out that the efforts of most traditional community activists weren’t really aligned with an ultimate goal of quickly increasing the city’s per capita income.

At a point in the conversation I realized what Alan sounded like. He talked as if he were a brand manager for Trenton.

A brand manager is the quarterback for a product.  She does the analysis to figure out what needs to be done and then calls the plays for manufacturing, distribution and sales. A good brand strategy segments the market in order to more exactly reach customers with targeted products.

Mallach pointed out that this is the opposite of what happens in a city like Trenton. Departments work in silos and therefore are unlikely that to work in some concerted strategy to achieve a marketing objective, like revitalizing a city.

When pressed, Mallach pointed to Baltimore as an example of a city that’s breaking this mould.

My take on this is that a useful reorganization for the city is to treat Trenton as a brand and its various neighborhoods, including downtown as sub-brands. A brand management team, and this should include formal civic associations, should be part of developing strategy for the brand and its sub-brands.

The big implication on our city government organization would be for the Economic Development team to be calling the shots at the behest of a revitalization oriented Mayor. Inspections, public works and even police should be aligning their operations to meet the priorities set by an Economic Development department tasked to build-up Trenton’s neighborhoods.

Good things will happen to Trenton if we can shape our neighborhoods to attract residents who have choices about where to live. This was another Mallach prediction.

However, it doesn’t do any good to crow about how wonderful we are unless we really are wonderful. But if we don’t have product to sell (available housing stock) all the marketing in the world won’t help.

There is much we can do to help ourselves create product that will appeal to the higher income resident

• One of Mallach’s suggestions is to forego inspections rigor (ala SOHO in the 60s) to enable speedy occupancy of commercial space
• Another (Dan) thought is to develop a program to match buyers with custom redevelopers able to convert abandoned properties into purchasable homes
• Yet another is to charge a fee or extra tax on the owners of vacant properties (to encourage turnover)
• Finally, we can provide tax incentives to investors that convert multi-unit houses back to single-family

The Mallach discussion gave me hope that the world of urban economic development could generate people with the right mindset to manage the revitalization process on the basis of rational economic analysis.

I’ve taken the opportunity to restate the debate here.  It’s a useful discussion for policymakers and I thank Jim Coston for being the kind of Councilman that is open to challenging his own assumptions.

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Mr. Coston’s June 17^th blog on income distribution (southtrenton.com)

I had the opportunity to discuss Trenton with its resident sociologist last week. The census is a once a decade endeavor. The 2000 data is out of date. It will get updated next year.

In the mean time, some very insightful and statistically sound community surveys have taken place. Their results are startling.

Within the past few years, Trenton’s upper class, those defined as making greater than $75,000/year, has risen by 60%. This is due in some part to the State’s Live Where You Work program. It may also be due to a societal shift toward urban living. This is, by and large, good news for Trenton. It raises our average educational level. It increases the amount of disposable income in the City. Good news for the most part.

However, there was bad news. Trenton’s middle class continues to shrink. The families earning between $30,000 and $75,000 decreased by a high percentage. Increasing property taxes, concerns about public education and other housing opportunities account for some of this decline.

The danger moving forward is that Trenton will become stratified between the upper class and the lower class, the haves and the have nots.

Trenton‘s overall population has dropped. The 2000 census put us at 85,000. The community survey posited 75,000. The South Ward is the only ward in the city with population growth; this growth is concentrated in children under the age of 7. The rest of the city is shrinking.

A declining population means less $ for schools, less federal $ for the City and less voting power.

Is there a mechanism to change these trends? Excellent question. The primary task, I suspect, for the next administration will be to build up Trenton’s middle class. The middle class enables mixed income neighborhoods. The middle class is invested in public schools and education. Trenton needs to become a place where the middle class wants to live.

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Dan’s reaction to the blog was as follows

Jim, Your “class” analysis from June 17^th is a bit skewed.

I understand that you use $75K as the line between middle and upper class with tongue in cheek.  However, the distinction between what upper class really means “is” the point.

What spread or average of economic power amongst its citizens, does Trenton actually need in order to be a functioning city?

• This is difficult math and I’ve been working on it for the past several weeks without conclusion.
• However, we can presume that “average” per capita income for the state of NJ is a good guess.
• I’ve written about this before when I posited the goal of being as wealthy Clifton, NJ (a very average city).

http://www.trentonspace.com/1editorialbody.lasso?-token.folder=comm/2004/08/01&-token.story=41397.112115&-token.subpub=

I came to the conclusion that Trenton would have to absorb 16.5 x the population of relatively affluent Lambertville in order to get near the NJ average.  When I wrote the article, Lambertville had a per capita income of around $35K which translates into about $80K in per household income.

The reality is that Trenton doesn’t have “any” rich people (not really rich anyway) and very few ( under 20) real upper income citizens using the Obama definition of $250K/year.  An average NJ city would have a population distribution that includes all income ranges not just the poor and middle class.  In fact, according to the data below, we lag NJ and Clifton substantially in incomes over $100K and severely in incomes over $200K.

Source: 2007 Household Income,  US Census, American Factfinder

As you well know, our tax basis is strained by both a lack of property value (which is driven by incomes) and an over-demand for services (which is driven by low income).

Therefore, as politically incorrect as it may seem, we don’t need more $35K households with kids (who consume services such as schools), we need more wealthy $200K households with no kids.  Its these folks with lots of disposable income that keep restaurants, shops, arts institutions and other non-profits afloat.  There’s a reason Trenton has only one, sort of nice, restaurant.

Until we can admit to ourselves the simple truth of this math, we’ll continue roll around in the muck of being a poor city and a ward of the state.

Mr. Coston wondered, with the above analysis in hand

“If Trenton doesn’t actually have retail that would benefit from upper class residents, what’s the point?”

It’s true Trenton doesn’t have retail establishments (restaurants, shops, car dealerships) that cater to the middle or upper classes.

Dan’s counter-argument is as follows

It’s a chicken and egg.

I’ve long posited that in the urban revitalization chicken and egg contest, residential folks have to come first.  This is because both retail and commercial businesses make sounder economic decisions.  Will I find customers there?  Will I find skilled workers there or will my employees enjoy working there.

Residents have many more drivers many of which aren’t rational (some are).  For instance: “It’s near the train”,  “It’s inexpensive”,  “It’s near Aunt Mildred”,  “Other gay people live there”.

In a world where we have to make money bets and you can’t just say, “I’ll bet on both the chicken and the egg to come first”,  I bet on the resident.  I think you do too.  If that logic is true, then we need to bet on high income resident that drive new retail.

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Mr Coston also argued that we don’t need to worry about school aged children

“since Trenton doesn’t really pay for our own school costs then I shouldn’t worry about the mix of children and adults we attract to Trenton.”

Dan’s counter-argument on school cost is

We need to think about an  future Trenton that pays its fair share of school costs.  My central thesis is that we in Trenton should strive to pay our own way like most other cities. If we don’t, then our children’s education will be supported on the whim of state legislators.

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Mr Coston and Dan both want to see an analysis of disposable income by income range. It should show the impact of disposable income on retail vitality. We agreed that a better understanding of this dynamic would highlight the relative importance of attracting one income group over another to Trenton.

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With just a bit more effort I found the data that Jim and I were looking for. It’s at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

BLS takes survey data over a large population (these are US numbers) and breakdown spending by type.

• BLS tells us that higher income residents (>$150K) spend 5-7 times as much as lower / middle income (<$70K)
• The biggest differences are in important retail categories such as: restaurants, clothing stores, furniture, entertainment.
• Importantly, contributions are also about 7 times higher for the >$150K income range.

My central point in all of this is that retail spending is greatly affected by income level and in dramatic disproportion to the per capita cost of services.

Comparing the highest income bracket household (>$150K) to the lower end (<$70K):

• Higher income have twice as many children (.9 vs. .5)
• Higher income spend 4 times as much on non-grocery retail ($38.7K vs. $9.7K) retail sales translate into property tax of storefronts and quality of life.
• Higher income pay 5 times as much in property tax

Of course, Trenton population isn’t necessarily the same as the US.  If Trenton can target high income households without children we come out way ahead in terms of municipal and school budget impact.

There’s no reason to think Trenton can’t attract higher income residents without public school children

• I can tell you that of all the new Trenton Ferry residents (I can only guess at their incomes) none have children.
• The household size in relatively affluent Mill Hill (which is actually middle class)  is much lower than average Trenton (~2 vs. 2.75)  (2000 US Census)

Therefore targeting high(er) income in Trenton appears to pay off.

]]> http://livingonthenet.com/wordpress/councilman-coston-and-dan-debate-the-role-of-income-distribution-on-revitatilization/feed 1 http://livingonthenet.com/wordpress/buying-out-trenton http://livingonthenet.com/wordpress/buying-out-trenton#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:57:30 +0000 admin http://livingonthenet.com/wordpress/?p=39

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?

Let me “modestly” suggest an idea sure to offend everyone.

I’m proposing a corporate buy-out of Trenton.

That’s right; the city of Trenton will sell all of its assets and rights to a corporate entity set up to make a profit from running the city.

I know. I know. But before you go diving into the comments section to write a nastigram, hear me out.

First off, I know this probably isn’t legal and there’s no precedent in modern America. However, there have been lots of times in the history of civilization when we’ve created new precedents to meet a need. We can change laws can’t we? Clearly this new “Trenton” won’t be governed by the Faulkner Act. We’ll simply have to write some new rules.

To make this work we’re going to need to be able allow the managing corporation to do several things:

1) Receive assets from the city such as roads, parks and buildings. Setting a price is the main issue. Cities are non-profits and therefore are essentially worthless to an investor. Therefore the assets of the city are fundamentally worthless. And who would the proceeds of the sale go to anyway? The state? The Mayor? They don’t own the city. Neither do the citizens, really. But more important than the money that changes hands is the alignment of interests. Therefore, I suggest that rather than force the issue of a cash transaction, the corporation issue stock to pay for the city, and give that stock directly to land owners in the city. Ten percent of the stock will be reserved for the management team to incent them, but 90% goes to land owners so that if the city prospers, they do too.

2) The corporation must have the ability to levy a fee to property owners within the city limits and to create various usage fees. While certainly this may smack of providing a license to steal, it’s not much different than today’s system. The big difference is that should the management team abuse their power they can be fired. A new board of directors is elected every year by the shareholders (as opposed to every four years) and that board can simply fire the management team. Furthermore, to the extent the city makes a profit from the return on its shares, those returns go to shareholders anyway either in the form of dividends or re-investment in the city.

3) The corporation must have the power to enforce laws. This is tough. However, it is not without precedent that non-governmental entities enforce laws within a jurisdiction. University campuses are good examples as are large housing developments. Neighborhood associations are often given the right to enforce standards and we can enforce similar rights in Trenton Inc.

I’m sure there are many issues to work out, but the question is can we use corporate governance to better align the interest of the city’s management with that of its citizens? It can’t get much worse than it already is.

A corporation would have quite a few advantages:

• Decisions will be made faster. Discretion to act within defined budget limits can be given to managers and not require approval of a city council. There would be no council. In fact, the oversight function will be vested in a board of directors that meets quarterly and then has limited latitude to micro-manage. Rather the board will set corporate policy, approve large deals, approve executive compensation and hire and fire the CEO. It’s hard to do business in Trenton or with Trenton today, a corporation focused on the bottom line can’t stand for that. With that in mind we’ll find a way to make the inspections process easier, sell abandoned property in 5 days rather than 5 years and fix broken signs the first time a resident calls it in, not the 10^th.

• The management team will be rewarded for success and penalized for failure. This stands in contrast to today’s system which only penalizes when things spin wildly out of control and provides no upside when things go well. An increase in economic vitality or ratables should lead to bonuses for the management team. A decline might get you fired.

• Property owners will be incented to do the right thing. You can be sure that a board of directors made up of property owners will be quick to punish those who fail to maintain or develop their property. This does not happen today. It’s only when Trenton reaches its best use for all its properties that shareholders will start to see dividends. You’d think this would be obvious already, but perhaps making the linkage between investment and return clearer will help.

The concept of corporate takeover for cities is no joke; rather it should illustrate several points. Citizen interests are not aligned with those of our government leaders. This is a result of our form of government which should be changed. And finally, we need a top to bottom overhaul of the way we think about running our city.

There are many things to work out and several important issues I haven’t addressed. Should schools be free? It’s a fair question. Should renters get a vote? The corporation isn’t a democracy so I don’t see why, but again it’s a fair question. Would the corporation force the State out of town? Tempting isn’t it.

The fact is that all Trentonians do have a large financial or quality of life interest in the management of our city. We’re not getting our tax money’s worth out of it and haven’t for a long time. In my mind, we’re due for some structural change. I invite a citizen petition to change Trenton’s charter to allow for a form of government more in line with a modern city.

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.

We spend $290M on education annually in Trenton. This is a vast amount of money that’s spent on entrenched interests with no motivation or legal ability to grow and attract students from beyond the city’s boundaries. Creating a voucher system to allow parental choice, will change the educational and business landscape in Trenton and NJ.

Rather than perpetuating a stagnant bureaucracy that rules over teacher contracts and poor schools, let’s open it up and grow a network of independent schools. New independent schools will fight to serve our children, will work to attract suburban kids to the city and will provide options for the teaching profession.

Trenton’s first salvo in to what I hope will be a growth business is the River City School in downtown. The school’s central premise is that an urban environment can be a classroom for teaching. There’s merit in this kind of thinking.

A downtown Trenton school has direct access to the civics lesson that is state government. It is the ultimate classroom for the history of the American Revolution. Within close distance to the downtown location is a textbook of business history. And nearby are lessons in biology, geology and environmental science. 

Education happens when its brought to life for kids. Who doesn’t remember the field trips of their early school days. The new school will provide many such valuable learning experiences within walking distance from the classroom.

River City School will be funded through tuition set to a very low $10,000 through the efforts of a core group of volunteers. My deep hope is that a portion of the $16,000 we spend per student in Trenton can be used in the form of vouchers to help parents pay for their children to go to River City.

Moreover, I hope for the sake of our kids and for Trenton’s economy that we can unlock economic power of the $16,000 per student we spend to start up other independent schools that will attract more children to Trenton.

A vibrant market for education in Trenton will attract education workers to our city, will attract young scholars from throughout the region and will provide an attractive reason for parents to move back in to the city.

Link to River City School’s web site

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.

Larges sections of Trenton are awash in litter; street signs are missing or turned the wrong way; and, buildings are in disrepair and dirty. However, it’s the litter that is most noticeable.

There must be some sociological reason why Trentonians like to drop chicken bones on the sidewalk and discard fast food bags in the gutter. I don’t profess to understand it and perhaps we could employ a sociologist to help us understand. Meanwhile, there are straightforward tactics we can use to lessen our litter burden.

We need a full scale frontal attack on the trash

To develop and manage this attack, we can form a small group of citizens (let’s call it Clean Trenton) to provide leadership to neighborhood associations, the city’s public works department and other organizations that might help. Schools, universities, foundations, historical societies and other volunteer organizations can play important roles.

A well organized “Clean Trenton” program will

• Evaluate the problem areas
• Create a wide scale program
• Measure success
• Repeat

To evaluate the problem, a Clean Trenton organization should seek university help.

A university public policy program will find value in its students designing an urban anti-litter campaign. Such a program will need to develop a methodology for measuring the degree of a trash problem on a per block basis and for evaluating the causes of the problem. Local high schools will want their students to be involved in helping to carry out the creative analytics involved in such an evaluation program.

The university / high school evaluation effort will tell Trentonians

• Which blocks and neighborhoods are the cleanest
• What are the sources of the problem
• Where should tactical litter prevention efforts be targeted

We’ll need to create a wide scale program to clean up the city

Clean Trenton will need to involve as many citizens as possible but should center on strengthening neighborhood associations. Trenton has a large network of neighborhood associations that struggle with varying degrees of success to rally their residents to constructive action. Clean Trenton can be a new rallying cry that will only bolster community spirit.

The city’s public works department will also play an important role. Clean Trenton, with the support of the university and school research team, will be able to advise the city on changes in operations that may help stem the litter issue. Relatively inexpensive measures such as more litter baskets ($20,000) on the streets and residential trash-cans ($200,000) may be recommended.

The program will also need to engage retail and commercial businesses, landlords and state government. It will need a public relations component and outreach to build on the already good relationship between sanitation workers and the public. Other efforts to clean buildings, maintain vacant land ,and straighten out street signs might be part of the program. Grants, awards and other recognition may also be in order.

Finally, we need a goal. The evaluation and measurement effort should benchmark Trenton against other cities. There is no reason we can’t strive to have the cleanest city in America. This is a tall order but one that will speak volumes towards making Trenton an attractive place to live.

We’ll need to continuously measure our success.

A sustainable Clean Trenton program will need help in measuring the cleanliness of the city. The most likely way to institutionalize this effort is for it to become a regular part of a local school program based on the original university evaluation method.

Such an ongoing measurement program will serve to teach students about:

• Economics & statistics
• The scientific process
• Sociology
• Civic involvement

By publicizing the results of our efforts, we will create a linkage between our hard work and its impact on property values. This empirical evidence will help home buyers and businesses decide which areas of the city are worthy of new investment. Over the years it is likely that neighborhoods, streets and blocks will want to vie for the honor of cleanest and most improved.

I’m sure there are deep seated reasons that cause a person to throw a chicken bone on the sidewalk. Hopefully a large scale effort to involve citizens in cleaning the city will eventually touch that person and help them to find a wastebasket for their trash.

However, there may be a secret ingredient to revitalization success that economists don’t measure.

• There must be a reason Cleveland has rebounded while Detroit remains a basket case or why Chattanooga has had a successful re-birth while Camden continues to fail
• There has to be a spark that starts even the most planned of revitalizations.
• Money and analysis can’t be the only ingredient in a re-birth

What is the intangible missing ingredient that helps a city succeed?

With little supporting evidence, I suggest that a loving community spirit will be a big part of making Trenton an attractive place to live.

This revelation came in the most unexpected and tragic of ways. My 19 month old son passed away unexpectedly on December 20^th. He was a perfect child: happy, fearless and out-going. Those that knew him comment that he lit up a room and was generous with hugs even to people he’d recently met.

In many ways he was Trenton to us. We took him out to dinner at Settimo Ciello and the Trenton CC. He’s been to Art All Night, Trenton2Nite and Patriots Week. He was part of the Mill Hill baby boom and an instigator of the city’s growing mommy network. He is even multiracial, like our city. His death has devastated his parents but also affected the lives of neighbors in Trenton and the surrounding area.

In the days leading up to his memorial service on Dec. 23^rd and at the service itself, we were overwhelmed with the showing of support for our little boy.

What we were feeling was an outpouring of community spirit. We knew most of the people at the service from working on community endeavors like Passage Theatre, the City Museum, Leadership Trenton, The Trenton Film Society, Junior League, Child Placement Review Board, Artworks and neighborhood associations. Others we know from being active in the city’s political discourse and not always on the same side of the argument.

This week we’ve heard words of support from The Mayor and City Councilpersons, we had quick and compassionate help from the police, EMTs and staff at Mercer Hospital. We’ve heard words of encouragement from Alexander’s daycare, tenants and our pest control company. Most of all we’ve had staunch support from friends in the community. These are the same people who steadfastly support Trenton and its institutions.

Their support and love stems from a common thread; that being involvement and spirit for their community. Their support showed a true capacity for compassion. My friend, developer Michael Goldstein, commented the next day that Alexander’s service reinforced his belief that though Trenton is small city, it can absolutely feel like a community.

This brings us back to Alexander. Several speakers at the service pointed out that one of the lessons from his life was that he loved people and didn’t sweat the small stuff. I can’t help thinking that if we, as community spirited Trentonians, could work harder at attacking issues with love in our hearts and a focus on the big things, we’d really get the ball rolling. I know I could do more to foster such a cooperative spirit.

Our community events would be easier to put together, our political discourse would be more civil and our institutions easier to run. We’d be more trusting of each other and more open to newcomers and visitors. A community spirited Trenton with a true sense of loving cooperation and perspective would surely be one of the most attractive places to live in the country.