Water works sale would be a washout

Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer's comments in The Times and Trentonian of Feb. 26 show that our city executive has lost all sight of his duty to protect the interests of the residents.

His shortsighted plan to sell off a revenue-generating asset, the Trenton Water Works, to plug re curring budget shortfalls makes it plain to see that he cares little about the future of the city, a future that will likely no longer include him or many of the officials who have pushed this deal. His threatened tax increase, well in excess of that allowable under New Jersey's tax cap law, is noth ing more than scare tactics from a desperate politician who has ad mittedly run out of Houdini-like tricks.

For the residents who love Trenton and plan on remaining in the city for many years to come, this deal represents the last in a long line of faulty initiatives that seek to smooth out the immediate future of self-serving politicians at the expense of all Trentonians.

I urge city residents to lend their support in collecting more signatures for the petition ("Petition might put Trenton water deal to a vote," Feb. 28) and getting out the vote in the event of a referendum, to ensure this abomination is defeated once and for all, for the benefit of the city.

I urge Gov. Jon Corzine to step in and put a stop to the kind of tax-increase threats that fly in the face of all he had said about protecting the wallets of taxpayers from excessive tax increases.

-- GREG FORESTER, Trenton

Times of Trenton, Tuesday, March 3, 2009