Mayor needs to invest in people before vacant properties
As Mayor Reed Gusciora presses forward with his 1,000 Homes in 1000 days initiative, an effort to deal with numerous vacant properties on the city’s landscape — and once identified as the most important issue in Trenton, no relief comes for neighborhoods wrapped by blight.
Gusciora says his efforts have delivered success, moved way ahead of schedule although regular drives onto Walnut Ave., a kind of ground zero for generational poverty, deterioration of both houses and spirits and violence, shows no relief for people drenched in distress.
A City press released noted that Gusciora has made “great progress in the first six months. As of December 31, 2018, 215 properties have been issued certificates of occupancy and have gone from vacant to occupied. This includes 169 rentals and 46 owner-occupied homes.”
“I’m proud to say that this first progress report from the end of the year puts us ahead of schedule with a rate exceeding one home per day,” said Mayor Reed Gusciora. “I want to thank everyone involved in this process of revitalizing Trenton, and I look forward to continued progress on this front.”
The statement related “The City has identified 2,314 properties as unoccupied. The city-owned homes are properties that were foreclosed on and are in the process of being auctioned off. Part of the process of restoring Trenton includes the community. For more information or to report a vacant property, please visit www.restoringtrenton.org.”
The removal of dilapidated houses remains crucial to the future of neighborhoods but no way this city moves forward without understanding that reclamation of lost souls and construction of young people buttressed by a successful education system matters more than A-frames.
An accompanying photo should show three young African-American men asleep inside the Trenton Transit Center. We can discuss abandoned houses for the next 1,000 days of our lifetime but the real issue in Trenton remains tied to education. Those young men on the bench need rescue although most people fail to see them as they hide in plain sight.
Of course, education officials skew numbers in an attempt to cover up a sad reality of inefficiency. City students skills regarding math and reading ability reflect significant deficiencies when matched against their learning peers.
Government leaders support a wild idea that the city’s new $155 million high school will save education when the smart money and minds should support early childhood education. If ninth graders enter Trenton Central High School reading at fifth-grade efficiency levels then our education system remains doomed.
Mayor Reed Gusciora displays a mindset that fixing the housing stock will move Trenton forward, almost negating the fact that our human stock needs attention. Man, a message that he intended to lift 100 lives, engage 1,000 students would deliver a better soundstage than this housing effort although blight should be removed from neighborhoods.
Some neighborhoods need immediate attention regarding demolition of houses that serve as eyesores and contribute to criminal activities.
Of course, many initiatives can impact the city, including yesterday’s event that witnessed Mayor Gusciora announce the Salvation Army as redeveloper of property at Titus Ave, Pennington Ave, and N. Warren Street.
A press release noted that “once completed, the Salvation Army’s larger facility will be able to offer new and expanded programs, including after-school and GED programs, parenting classes, cooking and music classes, a computer learning center, a community kitchen, and other resources aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty.”
Our mission must address education and unemployment, plus, requires that we engage three young men on a bench, two teenaged girls on a stoop and all individuals who deserve an opportunity to create successful lives.
Humans before houses.