Mayor and Opponents are both wrong on Residency
Trenton’s Mayor Palmer and his opponents are both wrong (“Group calls for keeping city residency rule”, April 1).   Residency is a bankrupt idea that ill-serves our city.  

Notes on the 2008 Trenton Budget
Budgeting is among the most important tasks an organization undertakes. However, it appears as though the city of Trenton has let the process become stagnant. As a result the city has failed to make significant progress towards revitalization and has foisted a tax rate increase on its citizen every year since I've been here. With City Council's encouragement, I have prepared a set of review notes to help them debate the budget with the administration. The documents are in Word and Excel respectively. Notes on the 2008 Budget. Copy of the 2008 Budget w/ Dan's analysis

Trenton's property tax threatens to overwhelm us
This Letter to Editor appeared in the Trenton Times on January 24, 2008. It compares the rising Trenton property tax to the sub-prime debacle and predicts dire consequences for Trentonians if we have to start paying for our own schools.

Dan's Vision for Trenton
It's up to those of us who think and write about Trenton to offer our best thoughts about how to turn the city around. I offer this paper to those in a position to seek and win political office. It's a guide to creating a sensible strategy that will get our economy going in the next few years.

Dennis Threatens Zac
The news is out that Trenton Assistant Business Administrator Dennis Gonzalez is threatening to sue local civic activist Zac Chester because Mr. Chester questioned his and the administration’s effectiveness in stimulating the city’s economic development.  It’s likely the sign of an administration that’s not only ineffective, but is also, after 17 years, becoming tired and frustrated.

More Crime in Trenton
A follow-up to my last article on crime in Trenton including my very own crime photo.

Thank You Mr. Mayor
My Letter to the Trenton Times Editor concerning Mayor Palmer's reversal of opininion on taking RCA money. It was a decision, no doubt enlightened by the opportunity to "stick it" to Capital Health Systems and their plan to move to Hopewell.

Crime in Trenton
I get asked about crime in Trenton all the time. Here's an excerpt of a reply I sent recently that give my perspective on the subject.

State must help or get out of Trenton's way
Downtown Trenton is awash in a virtual sea of surface and deck parking owned or operated by the state. Yet potential apartment dwellers and condominium buyers thirst for a place to park their vehicles overnight, and finding none, must look elsewhere for a place to live.
Trenton Speaks in the January 2007 Trenton Downtowner .

Pulling homes out from under them
Eminent Domain for the sake of fostering private development is becoming one of the big social issues of the day. If not curbed by voters, our elected politicians will be unable to resist the temptation to fatten their wallets and power base by trading in average property owners for big developers. This is happening right under our noses in Trenton and thus my Letter to the Editor in the 6/9/2006 Trenton Times.

Vote out incumbents
The Leewood Village debacle was such a large and shaping issue over the last few years that I felt the story should be retold, if not in 200 words or less. This Letter to the Editor in the Trenton Times was published 4/30/06. Someday this story will make a great TV movie of a community that fought off a disastrous development plan

Trenton's Bad Grammar Candidates
Say what you want about a candidate, but when they consistently use poor grammar they make the people they represent look foolish.

Trenton's Candidate Cabal Rears its ugly head
It was too much to hope that Mayor Palmer's cabal of Council candidates would run independent campaigns. Instead, they are once again pledged to be Palmer's rubber stamp council as evidenced by Manny Segura's campaign literature proudly announcing the agreement.

Cyber Candidates Ease Voters Lives
In response to the absence of candidate web sites and the insistence by Cordelia Statton and Manny Segura that the Internet should not play a role in the relationship between elected officials and voters, I wrote this article. This Letter to the Editor in the Trenton Times was published 3/24/06.

Mack Misses Larger Picture
In the Times article "Candidate questions efforts to promote Trenton Marriott", 1/31/06, Tony Mack demonstrates a disturbing lack of business acumen. This Letter to the Editor in the Trenton Times was published 2/23/06.

Carlucci and Coston run for Council
Jim Carlucci and Jim Coston are the cream of the crop running for Trenton city council. Both have the common sense, communication skills and confidence to change council's dynamic from a rubber stamp to a force for progress.

Our rights going up in smoke
Here's my Letter to the Trenton Times, published 1/18/06 decrying the legislature and governor's misguided passage of a state smoking ban. Prohibition was just as bad an idea 90 years ago as it is today.

Investing in Trenton
There are two types of investor in the Trenton real estate market, developers and speculators. I'm a big fan of the developer and am reserving a special place in real estate hell for the speculator. A developer buys a piece of property and invests real money, let's say more than 20% of the value, into improving it. Through their efforts they raise the value of properties surrounding their own thereby creating a multiplying effect. ...

30 in 3 sounds to good to be true and it is
Here's my article debunking Doug Forresters 30 in 3 property tax plan. Make no mistake about it though, this doesn't mean I'm voting for Corzine. Corzine doesn't really have a plan and he's proven himself to be a left wing liberal with his vote against Judge Roberts for the Supreme Court. I would prefer to have a Governor with a dumb tax plan than one with an unprincipled voting record.

The Map to Cool Trenton
There is a part of Trenton that you can almost rate as being cool. I've written a little travelogue which appears in the August 2005 edition of the Trenton Downtowner. I hope you'll take it as a visitors guide to our Capitol city.

Plan for Lamberton Historic District (Big File)
The city has hired a consultant to develop a plan for the Lamberton Historic District. I've been involved with the Lamberton Historic District Committee (LHDC) for over a year now trying to help the neighborhood protect itself from a variety of governmental attacks including a massive low income housing project and most recently being literally bulldozed to make room for a new development. It's amazing what mischief government can unleash until you see it happening to you.

After much complaint from the neighborhood this plan has been prepared. The consultants didn't release it directly to the LHDC but they did put it on the city's web site. It's here as part of my civic section.

Here's a link to the LHDC's goals for the neighborhood.

A Republican on Racism
This is a copy of my Op Ed piece on a Republican approach to Racism. It appeared in the May 23, 2003 edition of the Trenton Times.

Urban Republicans must overcome Lott
This is a copy of a Trenton Times article (December 22, 2002) I wrote. This article lays out positions on inner city issues that Republicans should adopt in order be of service to the cause of urban revitalization.

The case against affordable housing in Trenton
This article was published in the Trenton Downtowner in September 2002. The article is somewhat controversial but makes a fact based argument against the production of more "affordable" housing in Trenton.

Drive-ins Trentonians can drive to
Michelle and I have enjoyed finding a couple of drive-ins near Allentown, PA. This article describes them and their features as of Labor Day, 2002.

Links
A few links to some friends.
Trenton Film Festival
The Trenton Film Society is putting on screenings and seminars throughout the year and a festival in the spring.

Hari Hawkins
Hari makes custom cabinetry and does photography.
Trenton Downtowner
The local monthly paper.
Republican Basics
A book that lays out the foundations for moderated Republican ideals.