Trenton needs warning amid full tilt toward blight
The popular television series “Lost In Space” included Robot B9 whose catchphrase “Danger, Will Robinson!” alerted a teen space traveler about impending safety concerns.
Trenton could use Robot B9 for an immediate alert about Chambersburg which has reached a tipping point regarding trash, bad tenants, deplorable slum landlords, weeds, violence, burglaries and a litany of other issues that move this once-proud Italian enclave toward a social tragedy.
A walk to the Ecuadorian Festival at Columbus Park on Sunday delivered a ground-level view of trash, including one home that showed a pile of items on the side of the house while garbage cans set out during the weekend when no waste collection occurs here, remained on the street.
Hey, Robot B9? You’re up and just one warning will suffice. “Warning Mayor Reed Gusciora, East Ward Councilman Joseph Harrison, and at-large representatives Jerell Blakeley, Santiago Rodriguez and Council President Kathy McBride.” Warning anyone willing to listen to another desperate cry for help before Chambersburg suffocates from discarded beer bottles, mattresses and damn shame.
This dirty nonsense continues because politicians fear pushback if someone spoke the obvious about serious drug addiction near Hudson St. and problematic alcohol binging throughout the Burg or absentee landlords allowed to turnover rentals without a sniff of inspection. No certificate of operation? No problem.
Smart people know that Trenton could witness immediate change if people cleaned up their act voluntarily or were forced into such action. If respectable maintenance requires fines for tenants and landlords then unleash inspections employees for a scorched earth initiative. Sure, being poor and latched to poverty delivers hardships but conversations with pridefilled people and others resurrected the international poverty mantra — you can live poor, but you don’t have to live dirty.
A dozen Parker family members in a two-bedroom farmhouse presented challenges although our parents cultivated a theme centered by pride. We were poor, probably did not even know that social identification, what with pots filled with beans and a piece of ham, fruits and vegetables in our garden or in peach groves just outside our backdoor, lakes packed with catfish and forests that delivered fowl for food, as well as pigs being raised for food supplements.
Our clothes were washed and shoes shined for school and church. School offered a chance to shine even brighter as teachers showed an interest in our lives and learning. Parents with eighth-grade education knew the road to success required classroom success. We wished what most of our peers hoped for — a walkaway from country life, an exodus from a world that appeared dusty and constrained.
Decades later, my heart yearns for that slowed life of childhood when people showcased pride whether they were second-generation Italians, Puerto Rican and Mexican families who worked shoulder-to-shoulder with us in the farm fields; people who cared about their presentation. Swapped stories with a wonderful Jewish friend offers such similarities regarding our upbringing with pride a centerpiece.
A leader of a local non-profit stopped me in the Trenton Free Public Library last week. Her face showed concern before she stumbled through an observation.
“Your articles always had a sense of hope but I’ve noticed a different tone lately. They’re not as positive,” she said.
Just tired of all the tip-toeing about weeds, trash and this constant fight for people to maintain a clean lifestyle. Actually, angry, too. And worried.
Okay, Robot B9. End this. “Warning, Trenton residents!”
L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Find him on Twitter @LAParker6 or email him at LAParker@Trentonian.com.