The Trenton Times published the following opinion piece on November 22, 2013. To read the full op-ed, click here.
Opinion: Trenton vacant property auctions provide opportunity for residents, city
By Times of Trenton guest opinion column
on November 22, 2013 at 5:59 AM, updated November 22, 2013 at 6:19 AMBy Brian X. McCrone
I went into it with little money.
But it was exciting: the prospect of buying a piece of land — and maybe a “fixer-upper” that comes with it — for next to nothing at a public auction at Trenton City Hall.
There were 25 of us spread out in the wooden chairs of City Council’s ornate chambers last week who paid the $53 fee required to bid on 19 city-owned properties. The starting bids on most were $300 and $500. A few others opened at $1,500, which signified: “includes structure with a roof not already caved in.”
The only starting bid higher than that was $10,000 for the long-abandoned firehouse at the corner of Pennington Avenue and North Willow Street. It went for $23,000 to Jeyakumar Aiyathurai, who owns numerous other properties throughout the city.
In the end, I didn’t put my money on the line. The reason was twofold: Four of the six properties I initially deemed worthy of my money and effort turned out to be utter disaster zones when I visited them, possibly worth less than nothing when I factored in the necessary demolition cost; and the other two actually were bid on heavily.