It seems that 2022 is just flying by. Before soon it will be election day with Trenton voters heading to the polls to elect a mayor and city council.

The last four years have been nothing less than a total waste of time, energy and resources. But most important a waste of hope. Hope for a better day for the residents of Trenton.

Every other day it seems someone new throws their hat into the race for council at the ward level or at-large. Although, that can be good in some respects.

No one has yet indicated they were officially seeking to run for mayor, yet there is still time. Trenton is a small city, geographically and in population, so a two or three year campaign for mayor and council would probably be overkill. Yet, with just nine months to go until election day, it would be extremely useful so that voters can make an informed decision based on present serious campaigns.

The residents and voters of Trenton do not need a popularity or beauty contest. What is needed is for serious people, running serious, well funded campaigns to present their proposals and visions to make Trenton a better place. Candidates should present well thought out position papers on their plans for a better tomorrow with sophisticated campaigns where ideas are floated and proposals offered.

The voters and residents of Trenton will be able to determine prior to the successful candidates taking office how they will serve in office by the way they run their campaigns. Time and resources invested into smart run campaigns rather than just swinging from the hip and spending their time making personality attacks instead of offering solid proposals to build Trenton are good indicators of what a candidate would do if elected.?

Having the title as the most dysfunctional city is not something to put on a bridge or hang flags for at city hall. Unfortunately, until things change Trenton gets to wear that hat.

Trenton can be better, must be better. However, for that to occur it will need men and women who will leave their personalities, their egos and their personal agendas at home in a box and present a public image of positive change for positive change.

Candidates are needed who will present detailed, bold solutions and approaches, to improve Trenton public schools, perhaps even to encourage and exhort the residents of Trenton to actively engage in their city government and their neighborhoods to remake Trenton in a new, exciting and wholesome image.

Robust, creative and sustainable approaches are needed to deal with Trenton’s violent crime. Last year and the year before, 40 people were murdered in Trenton. There should not need to be another 40 murders in 2022. While fourty people may not seem a lot when compared to Chicago where it seems 40 people are murdered each weekend, Trenton with only a little more than 80,000 residents makes it at the top of the list in terms of murders per residents for a small city. That too is not something to display on a bridge or hang on a banner from city hall.

Those who are considering running for municipal office in Trenton need to be serious and committed to a better Trenton. Just because you may currently occupy a seat as a member of Trenton's governing body does not mean you are entitled to remain in that position. If your agenda is a continuation of the last four years it would be preferred that you clean out your desk, open the door to your office and do as comedian Martin Lawrence would request you do, and that is to “Get to Steppin.” Trenton cannot continue four more years of what it has just gone through.

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