Marketing Trenton: Are You Nuts?

Welcome everyone to the day after the day before.

I just finished watching L.A.Parker's video of the mob scene on Hamilton Avenue as the polls closed. If anyone outside Trenton reads the Trentonian today they will see what I viewed! Is this what we want a potential market prospect to see? What kind of opinion are they going to get of this city?

Tony Mack won the election for Mayor with a significant sixty two percent of the vote. But even before the polls had closed, Trenton police were setting up metal barricades on Hamilton Avenue to contain an angry mob of Tony Mack workers as they converged on one local store. Many of them had worked for over ten hours and had been issued food vouchers instead of cash. In what has become Trenton tradition, they chose to "act out" their frustrations.

I have only lived in this city since the late 1990's. I hesitated to come here because my car insurance and other costs would be higher. I decided to take a chance because I was alone, trying to support myself, and became one of the first residents in my new senior affordable-housing apartment building.

Some of my hesitation to move to Trenton was the result of what I read and been told of the city's crime and racial unrest. I liked my job, which was close to Trenton, and I liked the people I met.

I thought that the city had turned a positive corner. I applauded the election of Doug Palmer and watched the city hold its head high for the first time in years. There was hope. Everyone wanted to see the city rise above obvious limitations and be true to its historical significance.

Here we are a decade later. Has this city learned anything? When someone who is considering this area for investment, business or personal, they will conclude that this is a city that has not been able to haul itself out of its own sewage...so how in heaven's name, can you expect to make a case for Governor Christie to support new efforts?

Mayor Tony Mack has got his work cut out for him. Running a campaign and getting elected is not even the half of it. I do think Tony is gritty and street-wise enough to communicate with the elements who are in his way. I hope he has the foresight and flexibility to go after the new goals that have to be set.

Our new Mayor Mack must work on a marketing strategy with a much broader appeal. This city was founded and grounded in history. It grew out of its industry. We must put special interests in their own special little boxes and reach out to the rest of the world.

Whew.

Trenton rocks!

ps: Good video, L.A.