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“Quiet. Quiet. He’s going to say something.”
“I’m pretty tired now. Think I’ll go home.”
And, so ended a wonderful film scene from Forrest Gump after he had attracted legions of fans and supporters while running throughout the United States. Gump had paced for three years, two months, 14 days and 16 hours. Followers waited for any sense of his running manifesto.
The superbly presented anticlimactic scene paralleled a recent Trenton City Council meeting after citizen Caroline Clark blistered members with criticism during a Public Comment portion of the April meeting.
Clark roiled City Council members about a Stacy Park project that included a no-bid contract funneled to Julio Mercedes, a friend of Business Administrator Maria Richardson. Mercedes collected almost $195,000, divided into payments of less than $44,000 for his part in clearing brush and trees from a Delaware River bank.
The chopped-up payments allowed an end-run that avoided state monitors on the lookout for shady deals and bad behavior. Clark identified the actions as corruption then asked her important statement.
“How it got cleared was illegal. A competent leader would have been able to clear the riverbank and to follow the law — those two things are not mutually exclusive. Clearly, Council was completely bypassed. So, what do you guys intend to do about that? You were sidelined and something illegal took place. So, what does Council intend to do?”
Quiet. Quiet. City Council President Yazminelly Gonzalez is going to speak. (Crickets). East Ward Councilman Joseph Harrison? West Ward Councilwoman Teska Frisby? South Ward Jenna Kettenburg? At-Large Councilwoman Crystal Feliciano? North Ward Councilwoman Jennifer Williams? Their tight lips make them accessories to these illegal acts being committed against justice and City of Trenton residents.
And, while the Department of Community Affairs allegedly alerted Trenton officials that members of City Council had to pass a resolution that represented the total amount of the deal with Julio Mercedes, that ship had sailed. Yes, while a steady hand and determination may allow an individual to force toothpaste back into a tube, it’s impossible to uncommit an illegal act.
At-large Councilwoman Jasi Edwards continued to show a semblance of leadership, responding to Clark.
“To the woman who spoke about Stacy Park and corruption in our government, we as Council had addressed that at our March 18th meeting,” Edwards informed. She directed Clark to a YouTube recording of that meeting.
“You’ll hear questions a couple of us had for the administration to get to the bottom of what happened with this particular project and requests that Council made because we did ask for things to be rectified. There were some things that were supposed to come before us for our approval.
“We have acknowledged that and spoken to the Administration. Hopefully, these things will come before Council very soon.”
L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Find him on Twitter @LAParker6 or email him at LAParker@Trentonian.com.
