When you become a mayor, you take on a lot of
responsibility, no matter how big or small the city
or town you serve. For all of us fortunate enough
to serve the public in this position, I think the
most important of our responsibilities is to make
life better for the kids in our communities.
There are many ways to do this—ceremonial and
substantive, traditional and innovative, listening
and leading. Our opportunities to help children are
frequent and diverse, and they go far beyond public
relations activities. Just name an issue we have to
deal with as mayors, and I’ll tell you how, with
respect to that issue, there are ways to improve a
child’s life.
Take, for example, protecting the environment and
supporting open space. A child’s health—now and in
the future—depends on having clean air to breathe,
clean water to drink, and someplace safe to play
with friends. (See Haddon Township Mayor William
Park’s article on page 8.) Supporting new
development and new businesses can help children,
too—because it results in the creation of jobs,
which, in turn, provide parents with financial
opportunities. Better schools and libraries broaden
a child’s horizon for life. Home ownership
opportunities can help working families apply their
hard-earned dollars to owning rather than renting a
home. And, of course, keeping our streets safe for
children is of paramount importance, as is the
provision of healthy enrichment programs that fill
the crucial after-school hours with wholesome
activities.
Today, with the negative cultural influences of
drugs and gangs looming, we don’t have the option of
failing our kids. They need us now more than ever
before.
I have viewed not only my job as Mayor of the City
of
Trenton,
but my role as President of the New Jersey
Conference of Mayors, as an opportunity to help our
kids. Since becoming President of NJCM last April,
I’m proud to say our organization has stepped up its
advocacy of children’s issues on a number of fronts,
and we will continue to do so long after my
presidency. Most recently, we were joined by the
United States Conference of Mayors in hosting a very
successful Anti-Gang Initiatives Conference last
December in my home city of
Trenton.
The need for this conference was obvious.
Nationwide, many cities last year reported sharp
increases in homicides—even as overall crime
dropped. The analysts report a chilling pattern:
petty disputes that used to be settled by fist
fights now end with gunshots. To gang members,
human life is cheap. Parents will tell you that,
before they can afford to worry about whether or not
their kids are getting state-of-the-art computer
technology in the classrooms, or whether there are
recreational opportunities exposing them to the
arts, they have to make sure their kids are safe.
Because of the urgency of this problem, I was
determined that our conference offer practical
solutions to it. We wanted people to leave our
conference and go home and do something about
gangs in their communities. We were very fortunate
to be joined by specialists in their fields from all
around the country, and around the state; and I
believe their shared perspectives no doubt gave the
many mayors, police personnel, school leaders,
social service providers, and faith-based leaders in
attendance some practical tools to begin addressing
the problem of gang violence.
The key to successfully confronting gangs, in my
view, is to treat them as a multi-layered
phenomenon, not solely a police problem. Yes, they
can be curtailed somewhat by police intelligence and
interdiction, but more is needed. Social service
agencies can have an impact through health treatment
and job development, prosecutors can play a critical
role by paying special attention to repeat and
violent offenders, and schools, recreation leaders,
and faith-based institutions can protect children’s
futures through enrichment activities, leadership
development, mentoring and counseling. These and
other anti-gang initiatives in a community must be
integrated; for prevention, intervention, and
enforcement to work, the staff in every agency
involved must be on the same page.
And here we have come full circle. The work we do
across the spectrum of local government—providing
recreational and home ownership opportunities,
better schools, well-maintained parks, creating
jobs—will give working families the support they
need to raise their children with healthy options.
We will talk about these options at our upcoming 43rd
Annual Conference, to be held April 20-21 at the Taj
Mahal in Atlantic City. Please take the time now to
register for this important gathering of New
Jersey’s leading mayors.
