H.I.T.S.: HEARD IN THE STREET. . .
Work is getting under way on the renovation of the City Hall parking lot. Well, let's say the start of the start is under way. The lot is blocked off, and work on correcting a drainage problem is the first order of business. Does anyone know if this project was approved by the Historic Preservation Commission? I know it's pro forma and I'm sure it was, but the Administration seemed surprised that the parking lot needed approval from this body -- since City Hall is a part of the civic historic district.
In any event, the 50 or so worker bee spaces not being available, employees have to hustle for other arrangements. The top dogs have been shifted to the front of the building along Watchung Avenue, where "Emergency - No Parking on ___" signs have been affixed to the meters. Unseen: any arrangement for handicapped parking for visitors to City Hall. Doesn't the law require them to be nearest the entrance? And marked? This doesn't go into HOW they will get up the steps and into the building. . .Attention is paid, but to whom?...
Rumor has it that in the race to protect the citizenry with surveillance cams, City Hall is pulling ahead of the public...and we're not even in the home stretch. Seems that plans are moving ahead to install surveillance cams in the 2nd and 3rd floor Inspections Division offices. To protect who from whom? Meanwhile, the mean streets get meaner...while plans for street surveillance cams are under review for questions of where they will be deployed and how they will be monitored. One step forward, two steps back.
As for mean streets, there have been two more shootings since last Wednesday's daylight shooting incident on the steps of the Public Library. One, I hear, was another daytime -- mid-morning -- shooting in the West 3rd Street and Stebbins Place area. The victim has been non-cooperative with authorities. The other, on West Front Street, is said to be a shotgun attack, with the victim being shot through the back door of a house and wounded in the head...
Didn't see these in the papers? The newspaper staffs are so thin that "the cops" [as the crime news is tagged] don't get done. This does not seem to interfere with the nonstop restaurant reviews in the Courier, as you may have noticed.
Meanwhile, with upset patrons worried about bringing their children down to the Library in the daytime, it appears that no one from the Administration has reached out to the Public Library to discuss their concerns and issues or offer any assistance. Seems to me there should be a three-way pow-wow between the Library, the Administration and the schools, since a lot of what goes down in the area seems to be tied to the ongoing and persistent issue of kids leaving the High School building during the day and being engaged in what appears to be drug trafficking along the College Place side of the Library...
There has been a lot of chatter about development in the West End recently -- some say hundreds of condo units to be built behind the Health Center by a Lesniak pal, others say $500-$600K houses slated for that land. Well, there are a lot of issues around there, including environmental -- about which it seems Nancy Piwowar was right all those years ago when the Health Center was originally built. However, the real 'environmental' question on everybody's mind these days is the Wild West atmosphere with gunplay and gangs. Residents of the West End are as much victims of the crime and gangs as anyone. If the Administration can't get a grip on it, who will want to spend that kind of money...and who will want to drive their Lexus in from Watchung to leave it untended all day at a parking lot around one of the new 'transit village' train stations? These pie-in-the-sky schemes won't fly without progress on the ground...
Did you get the joke in the Ledger yesterday about nepotism in Linden? The headline said Mayor Gregorio was putting a limit on it -- he was not endorsing his great-nephew, who is running in next Tuesday's primary for a Council spot. Best quote: "'I believe in nepotism,' said Gregorio, 79, whose city boasts scores of relatives on its payroll. 'But you can only go so far.'" Amen, Brother Gregorio!
Attention White Castle junkies! [you know who you are]: That demolition work on South Avenue near McDonald's is rumored to be in preparation for a new White Castle. Gourmet? No. Yummy? You bet...
There are other bright spots.
Last evening, two Plainfield High School seniors were honored with scholarships at a reception for the "Beat The Odds" program. The School-Based Youth Services team invites teens who are college-bound to submit essays explaining how they have "beat the odds." The scholarship money is raised through proceeds from the "Plainfield Cooks" event, which was held last month at Washington Elementary School.
This year's scholarship recipients are Nicole Barron, who will be attending Bloomfield College, and Junius Connors, who will enter Lackawanna College in September.
They each read their essays aloud for the attendees. Let me say that their stories are an inspiration -- I'll not go into the details as I don't have their permission. But these young students are heroic in the odds that they have overcome to stand on the threshold of graduation and a life-changing opportunity for college. They are to be congratulated. And the School-Based Youth Services team and the Plainfield Cooks committee deserve a round of applause as well. Mark your calendars for next Spring's Plainfield Cooks event. You will want to help.
Question: Can the Administration do as well at "beating the odds" facing it?
DISCLAIMER: In the interest of fairness, any person identified in a HITS post who believes he/she has been portrayed unfairly or that the information about him/her is untrue will have the opportunity to respond in this space.
-- Dan Damon
Keyword: HITS
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