A politician's Dream 

Suppose you were a politician. Whose own bad management of the city budget resulted in a situation where you had to raise taxes by an astonishing amount, and you could blame it all on someone else. Would you do it? In common language it’s called the "ol' mis-direction", divert attention away from yourself, by claiming others "forced" you into it.

Suppose you had created a situation, by delaying the budget, then complain, "there is no time left" to consider anything else but a one- shot "deal" to privatize part of the water infrastructure by out-sourcing its ownership. On the North-side we call it "the Bum-Rush", that is to push something through before anyone has time to react.

Suppose you and the other politicians on city council had already spent the money that they in fact, did not have, then counted on a one-shot deal to fill the hole that they themselves had created in the first place, and then say - it was someone else's responsibility if it failed. Now that would be sweet!

It's like breaking wind- then pointing at someone else.Suppose you could focus all the negative attention on the very people would had the courage to stand-up to you to say "no, let the people themselves decide", and make them the villains. Would you use that political ploy?  You could spin your attempts to bully and intimidate them with lawsuits, the full power of city hall and your political machine, as the actions of a heroic politician trying to save the city. It would be sheer political poetry.Instead of genuinely trying to find a better solution, you claim that "there is no other way". You could demand that these concerned citizens fix the problem themselves - when you know that it's the politician's responsibility to do that, the whole time. You could claim that your hands are clean when the private company you've cut a deal with, deploys an outfit known for their "dirty-tricks" to conduct a "push-poll" to persuade the public to OK the deal, even use the City's public address system to send out political messages. In fact, you could run a full blown political campaign against five conscientious citizens exercising their constitutional right to petition their government. You could blame the DCA, the Petitioners, and the economy, everyone else - except yourself. It would be a politicians dream. It would be akin to Goliath the giant, claiming "a great victory" over a boy with a sling-shot.

Suppose with all the attention being paid to water infrastructure sale, the most egregious feature of the deal slipped by without anybody noticing. The impending tax-lien bond sale, which we’ve been told, we must hurry-up and do, is the means by which poor people already behind on their property taxes, are dispossessed of their homes. The impact of this scandalous, but legal practice, falls mainly on Trenton's economically fragile minority communities, the elderly and working poor with little means to redeem their property when tax-liens are piled on top of their tax bills when they fall behind. The city makes- up for this uncollected tax money by selling these tax-lien bonds at exorbitant interest rates to guarantee their sale. Now, the politician can brag about his high tax collection rate, the lien-buyers make money, the city makes money, the lawyers make a lot of money by acting as Bond Counselors to sell the tax-lien bonds but the most vulnerable, already struggling people, lose their homes to foreclosure when they can't pay their back-taxes plus these heavy liens. The result of this dastardly practice is that the City of Trenton itself becomes the biggest Slum-Lord around. When it gets enough properties together, it can sell them to a developer at a reduced price. The tax-lien bond buyers are paid-off when the properties are sold to the developer, so everybody makes out - except the working class home-owner who worked their lives away to buy a home that may have been in their family for generations and can't buy another house because they now they have a foreclosure on their credit record and can't get another mortgage. It’s a true re-distribution of wealth from the poor to the rich without anybody noticing and somebody else taking the fall. Yes, it would be a politicians dream - but the people’s nightmare. 

The one saving grace in all of this is that people are smarter than many politicians think. They may not know what’s going on behind the scenes, but their instincts and common sense are very good. It makes them suspicious when a politician pushes a little too hard for a deal with a private company. They can see through things when they begin to ask themselves - who benefits from all of this? The politicians still don't get it. The people want a change from the old political games, because they are sick of it. They are paying attention now, they have a renewed sense of their power and it's time to wake-up from a politician's dream. Keep public water!

Water regulation, not privatization

More than 25 years ago, Ronald Reagan started the push for privatization and deregulation that continued under George W. Bush.  It led to deteriorating infrastructure, inadequate health care and the downfall of our economy.

The proposed sale of Trenwon Water Works to New Jersey American Water, a private company, isn't the change we need; it's Reaganomics. We should have learned our lesson -- such assets must be publicly owned, particularly those that involve basic human needs, including the right to clean water, medical care, education and social security.

With economic stimulus money available for water resources, Mercer County reisdents should insist that money go toward improving water quality with state-of-the-art technology of a well-regulated public water system. Residents just recieved a quarterly bill reflecting a 40 percent rate incerease that was done in part to make the sale more attracitve to the American Water Company. Price-gouging cannot be tolerated, particularly at a time when people are losing their jobs. Amercan Water has a national track record of charging exhorbitant water rates. The reason our water has historically been cheaper than the state average is because we haven't been paying American Water bills.

Trenton residents who ciruclate petitions to put the sale of the Trenton Water Works to a public vote should be supported by suburban residents. Newark reisdents were successful in preventing the sale of their water system. I ask readers to contact their elected officals to urge them to oppose the sale of Trenton Water Works.

-- ROBIN WILLIAMS, Lawrence

Times of Trenton, Monday, March 9, 2009