The procurement process for the City's public contracts is a mask that very few residents in our midst would readily admit that they have a lay-person's understanding of. In effect this City awards contracts large and small without even the most minimal of public scrutiny or input.
Only Trenton's elite political powers would claim the rights to, or privileges of partaking in and comprehending this process of doling out public dollars to private entities with no interest in the advancement of this City. Procurement in this town can be compared to a mask of deception which hides the fact that Trenton has tremendous resources much of which has not significantly benefited the residents .
Understanding how the partakers divvy-up the City's coffers is a strange lesson in the semantics of the "Golden Rule" - those who possess the gold rule...!!! And so it is with that knowledge and the understanding that Trenton's non-participating minions would rather squabble over social services crumbs and minority set-asides that the partakers divvy-up the pie and leave the table with a larger slice that they have actually earned.
As most Trentonians realize that commercial interlopers want to make us believe that we will never understand how municipal bonds are floated or how to maintain and upgrade our city's infrastructure, we slowly drift to the alternative reality that we are responsible for ourselves. Thus we must continue to develop and upgrade our professional craft/skills; become literate in public financing and management; endeavor our institutions to utilize innovative organizational strategies and most of all, reach-out for dialog with the partakers in a meaningful way to share the municipal pie.
The reality of achieving equity for all in the awarding of public contacts will probably be always illusive. But obviously the current procurement process in this City is unsustainable in this horrendous economic environment. Many new local contractors are young individuals with strong ties to this City and they are unable to compete with the "old boy" networks.
Hence, new trade fraternities/organizations that are driven by keen professionalism and adherence to industry standards must be developed as competition for the old boys or any other networks that are so infused into any procurement process in all areas. Most important, it is contingent on City Hall to recognize that competition for the old boys is very healthy for the city coffers and will truly unveil the mask of the public contracts procurement process in Trenton.
