Former Trenton residents offer the same tales of blight and misery [L.A. PARKER COLUMN]

A Hamilton Twp. resident offered this script during a conversation at Oktoberfest in Hamilton.

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“My wife grew up on the first block of Franklin St. Sometimes if we’re in Trenton, I ask if she wants to drive by her old house. It’s always ‘no’ because she doesn’t want to see how bad the street is,” he said. (It’s bad).

Many former city residents who exited for better schools, cleaner neighborhoods, safer streets, homogeneity, etc., admit similar dread of seeing their once sparkling streets lined by well-maintained properties, now casualties of blight and trash that velcros curbs.

This garbage outside a Franklin St. restaurant underscores a need for inspections and enforcement.
(L.A. Parker /The Trentonian)

A curb scene familiar to many streets of Trenton.
(L.A. Parker /The Trentonian)

An alien starship must have abducted a Trenton resident just as she neared a trash can in George Page Park.
(L.A. Parker /The Trentonian)

Hetzel Field park area represents a lack of maintenance by City of Trenton departments. Amazing how city enforces no alcohol rules in Cadwalader Park but not here.
(L.A. Parker /The Trentonian)

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This garbage outside a Franklin St. restaurant underscores a need for inspections and enforcement.
(L.A. Parker /The Trentonian)

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It’s unbelievable that being clean represents a major challenge for Trenton residents. Forget irked, it pisses me off when people open car doors and drop food or trash onto the street. And, seeing trash lying next to a receptacle makes blood boil.

A friend said she would love to know why people toss diapers in the streets, even expressed a desire to ask one of the poop chuckers. Yeah, go ahead and ask then watch a mother say. ‘Why don’t you mind your mother (expletive) business you (expletive)?’

Yeah, best not to ask then face projectile vomiting.

Trenton lacks standards, enforcement, and leaders willing to speak truth and demand better. As a shamed Bud (John Travolta) in the film “Urban Cowboy” reveals — “(My aunt) says we live like pigs.”

Of course, it’s not everyone but this capital city fights an image, a perception of being dirty, violent, and in need of an education overhaul. Trenton needs people in roles of leadership to tell every resident that we will not accept behaviors that contribute to deterioration of our communities.

By the way, the conversation included a historical remembrance that many Caucasians resided in North Trenton, including Donnelly Homes. They lived there temporarily, worked hard and saved enough money to purchase homes.

Donnelly Homes and other projects enforced time limits, making these residences stopovers en route to the next phase of the American Dream of buying a home.

While strict enforcement represents the lone way to improve quality of life issues, back in the day most residents exhibited a sense of pride about their streets and communities.

Trenton revitalization demands championing a constant clean and green initiative.

L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Find him on Twitter @LAParker6 or email him at [email protected].