Kudos to Kevin Moriarty for posting the following on his blog:
Trenton Water Works Petition
After last week’s landmark ruling confirming the right of the people of Trenton to require the pending sale of the suburban assets of the Water Works, the City Clerk’s office yesterday concluded its work certifying the petitions.
The result of this work, which would have been performed a year ago put was put on hold pending the litigation, is that several signatures were excluded from the count. In order to approve the petition for referendum, 300 additional signatures will be required in the next 9 days. Actions to get those additional signatures are getting organized. If you would like to sign the petition, email any of the following people:
- mmcgrath@hiltonia.org
- algernon.ward@gmail.com
- jimmiec@aol.com
There are several other folks involved, but you should be able to get a response from one of these guys.
I will just add one note. The petition being circulated asks for either one of two things. The second is a ballot question asking whether the city Ordinance authorizing the sale, known as Ordinance 09-02, should be repealed.
However, the first item the petition asks is for City Council to itself repeal the Ordinance, making the referendum unnecessary. This Council could save the people of this city a lot of money and energy by just repealing 09-02. But, if they don’t, a clear majority of current Council candidates – including all of the At-Large candidates – are on record as opposing the deal.With all At-Large candidates opposing the deal, that’s three Council votes for repeal. I will be the fourth.
In the meantime, if you haven’t, please reach out to sign the petition, or please sign the petition if you are at one of the many locations this weekend where volunteers will be collecting signatures.
The Ruins of Trenton 
Ladies and Gentlemen, first let me take the opportunity to thank all of you for following the issues affecting your Capital City. Information is power and the beginning of the residents of our great City becoming engaged in the political and election process. I like many of you feel that the current City Budget process should have begun to be addressed many months ago. Review of the administration’s proposed Budget is one of City Councils most essential duties. The Council is our legislative branch of City Government and serves as a check and balance on the Mayor. Without throwing stones, I believe that it is clear that Council has failed to do its job when it comes to the budget process. How many budget workshops have there been this year? Was there ever a workshop where residents could offer their opinions?
The current budget year will expire in 64 days and we, the residents of Trenton are still in a position of uncertainty regarding our actual tax bills. When the people entrust an elected official by casting a vote for him or her, they expect us to do our best for all of them, in good times and in bad.
Sure the handling of the proposed sale of the Trenton Water Works outlying infrastructure should have been handled differently. I would never have waited for the Courts on this issue. My sense is that your Government should have held many, many public hearings, both in City Hall and directly in our communities to expose all of us to all of the facts and then listened to our thoughts and concerns. Then all of us would have been empowered to make an informed decision by way of casting our votes on this referendum. If this course was taken at the outset, we would have long since known the will of the people and been dealing with real numbers in the current and future budgets rather then speculation.
Yes the Governor’s current budgetary position has placed the City in a precarious position, but it is no reason for your elected representatives to fail to act. To the contrary, this has brought us as a City to a critical moment where leadership should be stepping forth and actually proposing solutions and leading us through these troubled times.
I stand ready to continue this conversation not only with all of you but with all of the candidates for Trenton’s elected offices, as well as Governor Christie, his Cabinet and staff, County Executive, Brian Hughes, the County Freeholders, our State Legislative bodies and representatives and yes our federal representatives in Congress and in the White House. Theses are critical times for us. I am committed to all of you, to do whatever it may take to bring the City of Trenton out of this temporary crisis and to once again lead all of us to a brighter future.
Whoever you support in our political races, continue to remain engaged, to discuss the issues, express your thoughts and ideas, and most of all participate in our great Democratic process by voting. I will continue to talk with all of you. Feel free to contact me to discuss your thoughts and concerns at Keith@HamiltonforMayor.com. On July 1, 2010, I will begin to lead us to a brighter future. I look forward to hearing from you and listening to your thoughts and concerns. I still have hope for a brighter tomorrow. I hope you do as well. Together we can lead Trenton to a brighter future. Thank you and God bless.
Sincerely,
Keith V. Hamilton
Mulling another mayoral run, Keith?
I invite all of you to come read and post about this race at http://trentonmayor2010.blogspot.com/.
Take our poll about who is the most qualified mayoral candidate. Real unfettered chatter about this race. ” Links to both Trenton papers, city hall and al major Trenton Blogs including this one.