In his recent State of the City address Port Jervis Mayor, Russell Potter, trumpeted accomplishments that were as full of hot air as they were not his to claim. But then, having won the most recent election by only a handful of votes, what more could be expected from a do nothing mayor?
Among the “achievements” Potter cited were new and owner changed businesses that, according to a news account, “have decided to invest in the city.” This article further stated Mayor Potter claimed that “despite the recession, many new projects continued and were completed.” Other advancements the mayor cited were paving streets, a grocery store that allows citizens without transportation to do shopping in the city, a community garden, completion of the Port Jervis to Matamoras bridge project and “continuing remediation projects at the Roundhouse and Statewide Oil sites.”
Exactly how Potter can possibly try to take ownership of those actions remains a complete mystery.
For example, Port Jervis had little to nothing to do with the completion of the Matamoras/Port Jervis bridge project. If anything, Mayor Potter and the city failed to make sure that traffic across the bridge traveled in both directions rather than one way only from the city to its Pennsylvania neighbor thus making the always present excessive traffic in the Tri-State area even more congested than it normally is. Why didn’t Mayor Potter take some meaningful action instead of waiting for the states of New York and Pennsylvania to complete a job in a timely manner that was their responsibility?
As for businesses reportedly “investing” in the city, Mayor Potter apparently chose to ignore the fact that it is very likely more businesses have either failed or left the city than have started anew or remain under new ownership. If that’s a sign of progress then the numerous empty storefronts in Port Jervis must be a bountiful mirage.
While having a grocery store in Port Jervis, a city of almost 9,000 people, is a good thing, one needs to wonder why there is such poor, if any, public transportation that would take the elderly, impoverished, and people without a means of otherwise getting to other nearby available shopping on their own?.
Remediation of sites bearing toxic wastes is likewise commendable but how much credit can the Mayor really take for that happening? Isn’t that a function of State and Federal environmental agencies? Moreover, what is the progress of that work and why hasn’t the Mayor issued a press release to let the public know how things are going with those projects? Is the Mayor hiding something that he doesn’t want the public to know?
As for paving, that alleged achievement is more laughable than the starting of a public garden. Street paving is something that takes place on a routine basis and a public garden, though also laudable, is not something especially worthy of being included in a state of the city address. Including mention of such an item only shows how deeply Mayor Potter needed to dig at the bottom of the barrel in order to come up with something to include in his speech.
Until Mayor Potter can tell the public that the decrepit “Port Jervis Plaza” eyesore is going to be demolished or that yield to pedestrian cones are placed in crosswalks or that the Delaware River will be utilized now rather than if an expensive “white water park” comes to fruition or when visitors to Port Jervis have a place to stay the night rather than spending their money someplace else because there is no where in the city where they can lay their heads, then anything that comes out of his mouth with these regards is hogwash, plain and simple.
Just because a thing is said doesn’t make it so.
Perhaps Mayor Potter thinks Port Jervis residents are fools but it seems that more than likely if anyone is a fool, it is the mayor himself and it is only a matter of time before the public realizes that his feeble words speak much louder than his so-called deeds.
