The Trenton Times published the following opinion piece on June 6, 2013. To read the full article, click here.
Opinion: Stop ‘continued use of taxpayer funds to prop up the Trenton Marriott Hotel’
By Times of Trenton guest opinion column
on June 06, 2013 at 6:04 AM, updated June 06, 2013 at 4:38 PMIn “The Cause: The Fight for American Liberalism from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama,” Eric Alterman wrote this about FDR: “Despite Americans’ historical aversion toward the trappings of a powerful central government, Roosevelt managed to provide an example for future generations to create collective initiatives aimed at social amelioration.”
As a dyed-in-the wool liberal, I strongly favor FDR’s pro-active role for government. But just because I believe that government can do good things does not mean I support each and every proposal for government involvement.
I do not support the continued use of taxpayer funds to prop up the Trenton Marriott Hotel, for example. According to The Times’ “Showing support for saving city-owned hotel” (May 17), the hotel is slated to “shut its doors June 15 unless it receives an injection of funds from a skeptical city council.”
In the story, Phil Kirschner, president of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, suggests that a hotel “ provides a foundation to build other things on here. Without a hotel, it would be very difficult to jump-start the economy.” To bolster his case, Mr. Kirschner said “many people had doubted that the Trenton Thunder minor league baseball team, which plays at the county-owned ballpark, would be successful, but the park now attracts nearly half-a-million visitors a year.”
Hotels, arenas, baseball stadiums, even ones that attract “nearly half-a-million visitors a year,” are not necessities or economic catalysts that jump-start local economies. Ask the owners of the restaurants that moved from Chambersburg to the county’s outer-ring communities whether their businesses benefited from Waterfront Park or the Marriott Hotel.
According to The Atlantic, economist Victor Matheson, who has studied the economic impact of stadium construction for decades, has concluded that “the basic idea is that sports stadiums typically aren’t a good tool for economic development.”
The private sector, not government, should build sports stadiums and hotels. It’s not the role of government. While there is no easy answer when it comes to what to do with the debt-ridden Trenton Marriott, I agree with Thomas Neff, the director of the division of local finances at the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, who understands the dire fiscal condition the city faces. He recommends the city get out of the hotel business and sell its assets as soon as possible.
The council had no choice but to provide another $3.2 million to cover short-term transitional costs to convert the hotel from a Marriott to a Wyndham Hotel and keep it open for the time being. Going dark was not a good option. However, the council needs to recognize that this could be just the tip of the transitional cost iceberg. And this doesn’t address the project’s almost $30 million long-term debt.
The hotel is a white elephant that the city needs to sell as soon as it can to the highest bidder. It needs to be realistic and recognize that, at least in the short run, there is very little likelihood that new management will be able to substantially reduce the monthly deficit and increase the value of the property.
I realize this approach is not ideal. Selling the facility will, in all likelihood, result in many of the 84 employees losing their jobs. However, the bleeding must be stanched to save the patient — the city and its taxpayers.
Likewise, West Windsor should not spend $53,000 in public funds to stem further decay of the Grover farm house. The house should be demolished and the property preserved as open space, as was the intent when it was purchased for $3.2 million with Green Acres funding in 1994. Issuing bonds to undertake the necessary repairs and then rent the house to a caretaker to repay the bonds seems like a lot of wheel-spinning with no real upside and substantial potential township liability. This recommendation should not be interpreted as slighting the reputation of Thomas Roy Grover, who earned two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star for valor in Vietnam.
His memory was fittingly acknowledged when the Thomas R. Grover Middle School was named in his honor. His heroism should inspire each of us every day.
West Windsor has done a terrific job preserving its farming past by developing and maintaining the Schenck Farmstead on Southfield Road. Almost $700,000 of taxpayer money has been spent renovating the barn, carriage house, schoolhouse and farmhouse. The farmstead features rooms decorated in various periods, a one-room schoolhouse and public restrooms. It is a truly remarkable project.
Restoring the Grover homestead as a reminder of the town’s agricultural past is redundant and will hardly be accomplished with $53,000. Like the Trenton Marriott, it will become a pit requiring more and more taxpayer funds. The West Windsor council should not authorize the use of public funds to restore the Grover House.
Government must simultaneously address the deficit and the increasing needs of growing ranks of the poor brought about by the Great Recession. Government must be smart. Assuming the role of the private sector and funding redundant projects is not smart.
Irwin S. Stoolmacher is president of the Stoolmacher Consulting Group.