NOVEMBER 2019
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Ensuring Trenton’s water works
Unrest in the ranks Officers file lawsuit against town and chief alleging illegal ticket quotas
New interim director discusses Sept. boil advisory and the future of TWW
By BiLL sANseRViNO
bsanservino@communitynews.org
By ROB ANThes
ranthes@communitynews.org
It has been an eventful first few weeks on the job for Steven J. Picco. The new interim director of Trenton Water Works, Picco assumed his position Sept. 16. He dealt with his first crisis just 11 days later when a mechanical failure caused chlorine levels in the water to drop and a boilwater advisory to be issued. TWW uses chlorine to disinfect the drinking water. The advisory lasted 30 hours, but Picco says TWW will carry the lessons learned in that twoday span for much longer. Picco replaced Dr. ShingFu Hsueh as head of the utility after Hsueh resigned suddenly in early September. Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora had handpicked Hsueh to correct long-standing issues at TWW, one of the state’s largest water utilities. While Hsueh accomplished plenty in his year on the job, he also left behind plenty for Picco to handle. Picco, 71, is no stranger to TWW or Mercer County. He grew up locally, living in Hamilton, Ewing and Trenton. He See TWW, Page 10
Lawrence residents Heather Camp (left), her daughter, Samira Mangat, and Martha Friend hold a banner at an anti-bias vigil held at Lawrence town hall on Oct. 23. Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
Taking a stand against racism Residents gather at town hall to decry bias incident at LHS football game By BiLL sANseRViNO
bsanservino@communitynews.org
Lawrence Township residents came together at a candlelight vigil Oct. 23 to show solidarity against racisim in response to a bias incident that happened in town the previous weekend. Some 70 people gathered in front of town hall to participate in an event that was organized by township manager Kevin
Nerwinski, who said he was acting as a township resident and not in his official capacity. The purpose of the vigil was to show that Lawrence Township is not a racist community, as was depicted by some news outlets and on social media following a bias incident at the Lawrence High School football game against Steinert on Friday, Oct. 18. The incident wound up making national headlines. “I know that when you heard about the incident that occurred on Friday evening at the high school, it stopped most of you in tracks,” Nerwinski said at the vigil. “It jarred your sense community, your sense of peace, it
caused you to feel a range of emotions that included anger, outrage, sadness, frustration and hopelessness. It is what I felt. It was at that moment I just wanted to do something.” According to police, two 17-year-old Lawrence Township males, who are students at Lawrence High School, bullied a group of Lawrence middle school girls in the stands. Police said that the girls are black and the suspects are of Indian descent. The teens allegedly called the girls the n-word and one of the boys urinated on them. The 17-year-olds were arrested the following day by township See VIGIL, Page 6
Rank and file officers in the Lawrence Township Police Department have filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the township and police Chief Brian Caloiaro that paints a picture of dissent, infighting and low morale within the department. The lawsuit alleges that department brass instituted ticket quotas, which are illegal in New Jersey, in order to make up for declining court revenues. The action also states that the township devised a scheme to make money off of impounding cars and to require that vehicles be impounded whenever possible. Township manager Kevin Nerwinski, in a post on his blog (lawrencetownshipnjmanagerkpn.blogspot.com) said the township has done nothing illegal and that department officials were just trying to get the officers to do their jobs. He said that some of the officers were writing significantly less tickets because they were unhappy with their job situation. “The Township will defend this civil action because in my opinion it is without merit,” he said in his post on Oct. 9, which he said would be the only comment he would make regarding the lawsuit. He did not respond to a subsequent email request on Oct. 11 by The Gazette to be See POLICE, Page 7
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