No accountability leaves Trenton under siege and dumped on
Pee and Pooping in the City of Trenton. Okay, such a title for future novel thoughts will never rival any Hunter S. Thompson work although recent public offerings, if you will, continued the drag of this capital city into an unimaginable quagmire.
An accompanying photo for this column captured the man in the street who recently gained more notoriety after dropping trousers on Hamilton Ave., and then pooping on a sidewalk which sent a city police officer driving off without arresting or calling any social services agency to get this guy some help.
Back to the photo. The guy on the right had just finished urinating against a building on Hamilton Ave. And, of course, weeds surrounded a fire hydrant and trash embraced the curb. Even wearing the rosiest of colored glasses this streetscape delivers a terrible image.
Perception matters which means one must stray beyond the happy homes and gardens of Mill Hill or the upper crusted residences of Hiltonia for a realitycheck view of hardscrabble Trenton. And, it’s not just in back alleys as the Hamilton Ave. pooper owns that corner for a panhandling job that keeps him intoxicated.
This guy stands yards away from Route 129 near Route 1 and the CURE Insurance Arena. His defecation occurs alongside a city gateway and police, city officials, clergy and others who have been alerted about his evident psychological and alcohol issues act as if his behavior and presence does nothing to Trenton’s struggling image.
“I’m speechless,” said a police officer friend. “Maybe I can call you later with something more than that. I’m sorry.”
Apology accepted although city law enforcement officers should have done more than allow this panhandler free reign. This latest photo of a man hunkered down, pants down and back up against a city police vehicle? Troubling.
“It’s disturbing. It’s disgusting,” South Ward Councilman George Muschal said. Muschal recalled a time as interim mayor when he challenged a man urinating in public.
“I got out of the car and grabbed him. So, I don’t understand why this police officer, and, mind you, I don’t have all the facts, did nothing to this guy. I don’t know how you watch a guy take a (crap) and then just leave. It’s heartbreaking that this man can crap on the sidewalk, kick motorists’ cars, walk around drunk in public and nobody touches him. This guy may as well be in charge. He runs the city.”
In July, Triumphant Life Community Church hosted a “Community Day” barbecue which included a visit by Mayor Reed Gusciora. The mayor stood armslength away from a conversation between Linda Gundy, a church member, and this columnist. We argued about the city’s inability to remove this man from his Hamilton Ave. spot.
Gundy wanted to know who should remove this man from his perch then received a rebuttal that named police, clergy or any of the city’s social services agencies that handle such matters.
Gusciora inquired about the whereabouts of this street panhandler. Two months later, this man has delivered a load of crap to the mayor’s doorstep, a big stink.
Yes, the Art All Night mass shooting in June delivered an unexpected blow to hopes for revitalization but that incident occurred as an unpredictable circumstance, despite all the Sunday-morning quarterbacking and second-guessing. This guy, on this corner? He’s someone that we can do something about, especially since his ailments appear to involve emotional, physical and spiritual complexities.
We act as nothing can be done about the weeds, garbage, athletic fields overgrown by grass, boarded houses, and the carte-blanche afforded absentee landlords. If that’s the case or mindset then everyone should just drop their pants and crap all over this city.
Monday afternoon, a man interrupted my golf practice as he walked across a Cadwalader Park athletic field, one of many unkempt city playing grounds tethered by weeds.
He pulled out his penis and urinated as he walked across the football field. His actions left me, well, speechless but did manage to send a Twitter message concerning the incident.
“We gotta start getting some of these people off the street,” Muschal said. “Couple weeks ago we had the street supervisor who left garbage laying in the street. What’s going on? There’s a lot of people working in Trenton that are not being held accountable. That’s the problem.”
L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Find him on Twitter @LAParker6 or email him at LAParker@Trentonian.com.