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POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
COUNCIL: UCIA AND OTHER MATTERS -- The Council caught an earful Wednesday from the public about the process by which the Administration's proposed interlocal services agreement with the Union County Improvement Authority got to the point of a decision with so little public notice. Both the Plaintalker and Plainfield Today got word to residents ahead of time, helping to ensure the public took part in the process. The Courier and Plainfield Today recapped the meeting on Thursday, with the Plaintalker weighing in on Friday. Also on Friday, the Courier editorialized about the haste with which the resolution was introduced and adopted, as well as publishing a letter from resident and business owner Vicky Griswold about the 'reckless' haste of the Council in acting.
Plainfield Today went over the ground again in some detail in the Friday and Saturday posts, also pointing out some opportunities and challenges with regard to the four areas covered by the UCIA resolution, as well as process-related questions. With regard to the expansion of the North Avenue redevelopment area, Bernice reprinted her year-earlier take on that discussion in her Saturday "Deja Vu Downtown" post.
Note: Dan fretted over the failure of the Council to convene as the local Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in renewing the liquor licenses were granted in blanket resolutions, and whether that meant the renewals were defective. Not to worry -- if the Council's action contravenes state statute, it will be easy to just construe the statute as merely advisory and not normative...
THE GREEN/MORIARTY/SWEENEY PROPOSAL & THE STATE BUDGET -- The numerous articles from the week on the contentious State budget talks are posted on a separate page. But note that the Bergen Record broke the story that one possible angle for the Assembly opposition to Corzine's sales tax proposal is that Assembly leaders were holding a sales tax increase in reserve as an out for their own difficullties when they meet later this summer to wrestle with property tax reform.
CLIPS posted a link to a report by NJ Policy Perspective, "Making the State Sales Tax Pull its Weight". This is an important, thorough and thoughtful review of how sales taxes are put to work state-by-state and category-by-category across the country. It's an eye-opener. While a couple of things they propose might be taxed might make your blood boil, you will be surprised by some of the things that are NOT currently taxed in New Jersey. Overall, a valuable contribution to the current debate about resolving the perpetual budget crisis.
SCHOOLS -- After breaking the story that Plainfield High School athletic director John Ahern had failed to mention previous terminations on his job application five years ago, the Courier editorialized on Monday that the district needs to address its policy on employee background checks. Bernice noted in the Plaintalker that apointments were up for renewal at the Tuesday meeting -- including those of Superintendent Paula Howard and the curriculum, human resources and security directors.
Friday's Courier reported that Assemblyman Jerry Green is asking the County superintendent of schools to investigate how Ahern could have gotten hired without his previous work history coming to light. In the same story, it was revealed that the Board of Ed suspended Ahern. On Saturday, the Courier editorialized that Green was right to demand some answers about Ahern's hiring.
CRIME -- Police made an arrest within minutes in the city's 5th murder of 2006, as reported by both the Courier and the Ledger. The victim, Lonnie Phillips, was allegedly stabbed during an argument at the corner of East Front and Church Streets by Dennis Thomas late in the afternoon of Sunday, June 18.
Coming after a daytime shooting on the steps of the Public Library, residents are justly worried about safety downtown in the daytime. PT has received several emails from readers who have stopped bringing their children and grandchildren to the library and are now using the Fanwood or Scotch Plains libraries. Sources at the Plainfield Public Library report that there has been no outreach from the Mayor or the Administration about the incident and its impact on library users. One would think city officials would be concerned to hear residents' concerns and reassure them that the City was on the case. Wouldn't one?
ODD 'n ENDS -- The opportunity to respond to the City's Request for Qualifications for numerous professional services was pointed out by Plainfield Today on Tuesday, with links to the online forms and details. Though the website gave the Purchasing Agent's phone for contact, several readers wrote that the voicemail at that number was full when they called. I am told it is a problem with the antiquated phone system. OK, but shouldn't the public then be given another number that WILL always be answered? Meanwhile, the responses will be opened at 10:00 AM this morning. Will there be any surprises?
Bernice, hamstrung by landline telephone problems all week, managed to get several timely posts out on assorted items of interest: "GOP Reorg, SID Expansion,Working Conference" on Tuesday, and two posts on Friday, "July 4 Concert Rejected" and "Comcast Offers Station Advice".
Sunday's Ledger ran a story on government jobs, noting that state and local jobs had increased by nearly 60,000 since 2000. Not to worry -- they weren't all in Plainfield, though we certainly have had our share since January 1.
Also on Sunday, Plainfield Today posted "A beautiful day in the [online] neighborhood? Not!" on the interesting discussion thread in the Ledger's Rahway community forum. Someone identified as 'Mayor Kennedy' said that new luxury townhouses in that city have 'English-only' clauses in the leases, and also reported that the Rahway PD has a squad dedicated to rounding up illegal immigrants. Interesting, if true. And doubly so if the poster is really Mayor Kennedy.
COMMUNITY
Links to all COMMUNITY stories are posted on a separate page.
CONNECTIONS - FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Links to all CONNECTIONS - FOOD FOR THOUGHT stories are posted on a separate page.
McGREEVEY MOVES IN
Though rumors had swirled for weeks about ex-governor Jim McGreevey and his partner Mark O'Donnell buying a home in Plainfield, and PT had slyly hinted a deal being in the works, it was the AP that broke the story on Wednesday afternoon. I actually heard it on NPR as I was talking with Chad Weihrauch of the Courier, who was telling me it had just come across the AP wire. Both the Courier and the Ledger ran the story in Thursday's editions. Plainfield awaits the arrival of their new residents breathlessly.
"TW3: June 12 - 18, 2006" With Plainfield's 5th homicide of 2006, CRIME unfortunately leads off... followed by the 'Green team' struggle with Gov. Corzine over the budget... the Schools Construction forum... and the Master Plan meeting... as well as clips of other articles of interest from the past week...
Mondays, PLAINFIELD TODAY is a digest of Plainfield-only news from the past week: That Was The Week That Was -- or TW3 -- with links to the online stories.
"HITS: June 23, 2006" and "HITS (part 2, Saturday)" --New kids on the block... UCIA dustup... Unraveling the Green/Moriarty/Sweeney mystery?... More Council questions...
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POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
COUNCIL: UCIA AND OTHER MATTERS -- The Council caught an earful Wednesday from the public about the process by which the Administration's proposed interlocal services agreement with the Union County Improvement Authority got to the point of a decision with so little public notice. Both the Plaintalker and Plainfield Today got word to residents ahead of time, helping to ensure the public took part in the process. The Courier and Plainfield Today recapped the meeting on Thursday, with the Plaintalker weighing in on Friday. Also on Friday, the Courier editorialized about the haste with which the resolution was introduced and adopted, as well as publishing a letter from resident and business owner Vicky Griswold about the 'reckless' haste of the Council in acting.
Plainfield Today went over the ground again in some detail in the Friday and Saturday posts, also pointing out some opportunities and challenges with regard to the four areas covered by the UCIA resolution, as well as process-related questions. With regard to the expansion of the North Avenue redevelopment area, Bernice reprinted her year-earlier take on that discussion in her Saturday "Deja Vu Downtown" post.
Note: Dan fretted over the failure of the Council to convene as the local Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in renewing the liquor licenses were granted in blanket resolutions, and whether that meant the renewals were defective. Not to worry -- if the Council's action contravenes state statute, it will be easy to just construe the statute as merely advisory and not normative...
THE GREEN/MORIARTY/SWEENEY PROPOSAL & THE STATE BUDGET -- The numerous articles from the week on the contentious State budget talks are posted on a separate page. But note that the Bergen Record broke the story that one possible angle for the Assembly opposition to Corzine's sales tax proposal is that Assembly leaders were holding a sales tax increase in reserve as an out for their own difficullties when they meet later this summer to wrestle with property tax reform.
CLIPS posted a link to a report by NJ Policy Perspective, "Making the State Sales Tax Pull its Weight". This is an important, thorough and thoughtful review of how sales taxes are put to work state-by-state and category-by-category across the country. It's an eye-opener. While a couple of things they propose might be taxed might make your blood boil, you will be surprised by some of the things that are NOT currently taxed in New Jersey. Overall, a valuable contribution to the current debate about resolving the perpetual budget crisis.
SCHOOLS -- After breaking the story that Plainfield High School athletic director John Ahern had failed to mention previous terminations on his job application five years ago, the Courier editorialized on Monday that the district needs to address its policy on employee background checks. Bernice noted in the Plaintalker that apointments were up for renewal at the Tuesday meeting -- including those of Superintendent Paula Howard and the curriculum, human resources and security directors.
Friday's Courier reported that Assemblyman Jerry Green is asking the County superintendent of schools to investigate how Ahern could have gotten hired without his previous work history coming to light. In the same story, it was revealed that the Board of Ed suspended Ahern. On Saturday, the Courier editorialized that Green was right to demand some answers about Ahern's hiring.
CRIME -- Police made an arrest within minutes in the city's 5th murder of 2006, as reported by both the Courier and the Ledger. The victim, Lonnie Phillips, was allegedly stabbed during an argument at the corner of East Front and Church Streets by Dennis Thomas late in the afternoon of Sunday, June 18.
Coming after a daytime shooting on the steps of the Public Library, residents are justly worried about safety downtown in the daytime. PT has received several emails from readers who have stopped bringing their children and grandchildren to the library and are now using the Fanwood or Scotch Plains libraries. Sources at the Plainfield Public Library report that there has been no outreach from the Mayor or the Administration about the incident and its impact on library users. One would think city officials would be concerned to hear residents' concerns and reassure them that the City was on the case. Wouldn't one?
ODD 'n ENDS -- The opportunity to respond to the City's Request for Qualifications for numerous professional services was pointed out by Plainfield Today on Tuesday, with links to the online forms and details. Though the website gave the Purchasing Agent's phone for contact, several readers wrote that the voicemail at that number was full when they called. I am told it is a problem with the antiquated phone system. OK, but shouldn't the public then be given another number that WILL always be answered? Meanwhile, the responses will be opened at 10:00 AM this morning. Will there be any surprises?
Bernice, hamstrung by landline telephone problems all week, managed to get several timely posts out on assorted items of interest: "GOP Reorg, SID Expansion,Working Conference" on Tuesday, and two posts on Friday, "July 4 Concert Rejected" and "Comcast Offers Station Advice".
Sunday's Ledger ran a story on government jobs, noting that state and local jobs had increased by nearly 60,000 since 2000. Not to worry -- they weren't all in Plainfield, though we certainly have had our share since January 1.
Also on Sunday, Plainfield Today posted "A beautiful day in the [online] neighborhood? Not!" on the interesting discussion thread in the Ledger's Rahway community forum. Someone identified as 'Mayor Kennedy' said that new luxury townhouses in that city have 'English-only' clauses in the leases, and also reported that the Rahway PD has a squad dedicated to rounding up illegal immigrants. Interesting, if true. And doubly so if the poster is really Mayor Kennedy.
COMMUNITY
Links to all COMMUNITY stories are posted on a separate page.
CONNECTIONS - FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Links to all CONNECTIONS - FOOD FOR THOUGHT stories are posted on a separate page.
McGREEVEY MOVES IN
Though rumors had swirled for weeks about ex-governor Jim McGreevey and his partner Mark O'Donnell buying a home in Plainfield, and PT had slyly hinted a deal being in the works, it was the AP that broke the story on Wednesday afternoon. I actually heard it on NPR as I was talking with Chad Weihrauch of the Courier, who was telling me it had just come across the AP wire. Both the Courier and the Ledger ran the story in Thursday's editions. Plainfield awaits the arrival of their new residents breathlessly.
"TW3: June 12 - 18, 2006" With Plainfield's 5th homicide of 2006, CRIME unfortunately leads off... followed by the 'Green team' struggle with Gov. Corzine over the budget... the Schools Construction forum... and the Master Plan meeting... as well as clips of other articles of interest from the past week...
Mondays, PLAINFIELD TODAY is a digest of Plainfield-only news from the past week: That Was The Week That Was -- or TW3 -- with links to the online stories.
"HITS: June 23, 2006" and "HITS (part 2, Saturday)" --New kids on the block... UCIA dustup... Unraveling the Green/Moriarty/Sweeney mystery?... More Council questions...
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