Police Chief Ed Santiago was reinstated yesterday by order of Superior Court Judge John Pisansky, who ruled the City's case was without merit. One observer remarked, "If I were to be vulgar and politically incorrect, I would say the judge bitch-slapped the City, but I'm not and I won't." Neither are we, and neither will we...
The rebuke is the stuff of this morning's news, which you can find on CLIPPINGS. You will want to pay particular attention to Bernice's perspective. There will be a lot of speculation about what this means for the position of chiefs of police statewide. But for Plainfield the more important questions may be what this means to the reorganization announced by Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs on March 22...and what the Mayor's misadventure will cost the taxpayers since the Chief is now seeking monetary damages. But of course you knew that?...
...one fallout of the Chief's being put on leave was the spotlight put on the Administration's attempt to promote the wife of PBA president Andre Crawford to a position in the 9-1-1 staff for which the Chief said she was not qualified. Word in the street is that Mrs. Crawford will not get the position after all, and that the job will be posted as civil service regulations require...
If you go anywhere near the Senior Center, better wear your heat-resistant firefighting outfit. The Seniors are on the warpath, and they are not shy about telling anyone why. First is the issue of the proposed new Senior Center, with the Administration lurching from one mishandled communications opportunity to another...and then there is the outrage over what is perceived as an unprecedented attempt by the Administration to control programming at the Center...
...the specific flashpoint coming over a proposed school board candidates forum. Seniors issued invitations to all the candidates for a standard-issue candidate forum, just as they have done countless times before. Only this time, they report, they have been told their forum will not be allowed...on the orders of Mayor Robinson-Briggs...
As for the proposed new Senior Center, the Administration has introduced the watchword of increasing ratables and brought to the table, so sources on the Seniors' construction advisory committee say, a concept of building an age-restricted apartment tower on the East Front Street site, with parking on the ground floor and space on the second floor for the Senior Center. As an idea, it certainly deserves to be scrutinized...
However, one senior with a sharp eye for detail has already pointed out that the most similar example to this in recent times was the mixed-use conversion of the old Tepper's building into the Horizons project, which has a 30-year tax abatement -- so much for the "ratables" argument... and of course we'll need more ratables if the taxpayers have to shell out for monetary damages to the Chief...
...a few other flies in the ointment include the $300,000+ already spent on plans for a Senior Center which would be thrown into the discard pile, and the fact that the East Front Street property was assembled in part with funds from the Freeholders and HUD's community development block grants for the specific purpose of acquiring the land to build a center. Question: Will the City have to return those funds if we don't keep the promises which were the basis of the funding?...
Sorely Missed Department, Communications Division: A good number of the forty or so mid-level managers have mentioned to me how much they already miss the monthly Executive Team meetings that Norton Bonaparte initiated when he was city administrator. It was a simple idea, a monthly meeting of department and division heads in which progress was noted on long-term initiatives and general management issues were discussed. The process led to better communications throughout the administration, as well as to opportunities to collaborate which might not have been apparent without the interaction. Continuation is not currently on the administration's agenda...
Charlotte DeFilippo, got her BIG story in the Ledger this past Sunday, and it's a good one. But it took days of nudging from me before the Ledger finally posted it online on Wednesday. You can check it out here...but you would have wanted to look at the print edition anyway, if only for the priceless photo of the Union County Dem chairperson holding court at her King Street home...most interesting thing, NO minority people at the fabled table....
Reading the fine print: Council Agendas. Has anyone else noticed some of the fine print in Clerk Wyatt's agendas recently? Under the various listings for 'communications received,' there is a newly noticed comment: None submitted by agenda deadline. (It used to read just 'none submitted.') And then the public comment section contains the following: "The amount of discussion on any single subject...will be limited to three (3) minutes." Am I reading this right? The entire time allotted to public comment on a single subject is three (3) minutes? Also noted: Corporation Counsel recenlty had an item for more money for tax appeal counsel -- but without a dollar amount? Was this just an oversight?
With my ear to the ground, my shoulder to the wheel, and keeping an eye on the fine print, I'm signing off for now...
[Tomorrow: More on The Ray and Dan Show.]
-- Dan Damon
Keyword: H.I.T.S.
1 comment:
Yes, my understanding is that HUD funds designated for a specific community use cannot then be used for commercial redevelopment. Newark has gotten into trouble with the feds for this reason--buying up redevelopment zone property with HUD money and then trying to use it for the sports arena project--they were ordered to return more than half that $6.5 million money ($3.9 million). You remember the infamous Harold Lucas of NHA directorship and plasma TV fame? Talk to him about misuse of federal funds--if this is what our current mayor and council have in mind, the city is in deep doo doo.
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