HITS - Roundup of reader feedback...

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HITS: HEARD IN THE STREET. . .

PICNIC TOMORROW AT HANNAH ATKINS -- Cathedral International is hosting a picnic tomorrow afternoon at Hannah Atkins Park, Plainfield Avenue and West 3rd Street, in honor of Hope McLean Austin. Hope was a special needs teacher in the Plainfield public schools for many years and a Plainfield resident. The event is open to the public. (Thanks for the heads up, AM)

ENGLISH-ONLY AT CITY HALL? -- Wednesday's post, "Info at City Hall English-only?", generated lots of comment, some of which is gathered below --

Customer Service -- At the VA we have a customer service program called the "Ambassador Program". It basically provides the same service that the city hall program is supposed to provide. However, we have a list of interpreters for various languages. If someone needs to find a department or person and does not know where the office is located , we escort them. Our mission statement states that "we strive not only to meet, but exceed the expectations of our customers..." One must complete 16 hours of customer service training before assuming the position. Attitude, tone of voice and body language are stressed in the training sessions. (Thank you, JS)

• MORE -- I don't hold it as much against the people behind the counter since I don't think they had one ounce of training and have no idea of what they should be doing except whatever comes to their mind. One suggestion would be that the city give these people some training in customer service. Union County College offers some classes and the city once paid to have people take them. Why not for all new hires who must deal with the public? (Anonymous)
• MORE -- My point is precisely about the lack of customer service – after all she was probably going to the tax office to pay taxes, which in turn pay people’s salaries! I’ll be the first one to say we are in America, we have to speak English (I am a first generation immigrant). But like I tell my husband, the first generation does so/so, the second will do a bit better and so forth… Thanks for keeping an eye on things! (Thank you, LP)
  
• MORE --Learn English first --- and why sign in in any language!!!--- One public elementary school in Brooklyn has over 50 different native tongues and they learn to speak English first!! (Thank you, RG)
• MORE -- I find your PT great! I only wish everyone in the city received it! I must comment though I see Councilman Blanco is doing a fine job of including the Latino Community in the growth of Plainfield, this was his platform I recall.
• MORE -- Your "Info at City Hall English-only" article highlights the need for the employees at the reception desk to be taught CPR - Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect. It is obvious that our tax dollars are not being used wisely. (Thank you, AM)
• MORE -- It appears that this administration is falling down on even the most simplistic of jobs. I am always amazed at people in customer service jobs who do neither. (Anonymous)

LIBRARY UNVEILS ONLINE EXHIBITION -- The Plainfield Public Library has unveiled a new feature on its website, an online exhibit of photographs from its recent contest: "Plainfield In Focus: Photo-Documentation of a Changing Community." The exhibit is accessible from the library's home page, www.plfdpl.info.

The website exhibit makes it possible for people who cannot get to the library to enjoy all of the images. Designed by librarian Sacha Page, it consists of 75 images organized into nine categories that include streetscapes, transportation, and art and architecture. The website also makes it possible to read biographies of all the contributing photographers.

The actual exhibit of photographs has been extended through August in the library's Anne Louise Davis Room.
Local History Librarian Jessica Myers explains that the motivation behind the photograph contest was to generate contemporary photographs of life in Plainfield in the 21st century. The library has a collection of approximately 25,000 photographs of Plainfield and surrounding areas dating back to the mid 1800's.

"Plainfield In Focus" becomes the third website exhibit developed by the Plainfield Public Library. Earlier exhibits include "A History Of Education in Plainfield", and the library's art collection, which includes rare paintings by Winslow Homer.

This project was made possible by the Union County History Grant program which enabled the library to enhance its Local History collection, and ultimately to make it accessible in digital format to present and future library users.

For more information about this online exhibit, contact the Plainfield Public Library, Local History Department at 908/ 757-1111 ext. 136 or e-mail to localhistory@plfdpl.info .

THE CITY CHARTER CASE -- For those following the challenge to Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs' qualifications to serve under the conditions outlined in the city's special charter, PT has received the following communication:

Judge Lyons' office has changed the time of the hearing time to 2:00pm...

SHARON ROBINSON-BRIGGS HEARING

JUDGE LYONS

(THIRD FLOOR) UNION COUNTY COURTHOUSE

JULY 26, 2006

2:00PM

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE GRANT -- This past Monday's TW3 referenced a story about the expansion of a domestic violence program which says the agency's desire is to expand the program to Plainfield, among other cities. This jogged PT's memory, as we seemed to have been funded for just such a program in the last year or so. PT's comment elicited the following response from a person close to the program--

Hi, Dan! The grant from the Dept. of Justice in Washington, DC was an ARREST [acronym for grant program -- DD] grant for victims of domestic violence and a contractual agreement between the PPD and El Centro Hispanoamericano, with the city being the lead agency. This grant was up for renewal in January, 2006, but the city did not renew it... The funding ended March 31, 2006, with a significant amount of the funds having to be returned to the DOJ. [PT had heard the amount was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.] It's unfortunate, as this program helped many people in our town who were victims of domestic violence obtain counseling, shelter, medical and psychological services, etc. El Centro's piece was to provide advocacy...and immigration assistance through a staff attorney. Although the program has ended, [the agency is] still getting calls from clients we helped through the Office of Violence Against Women on West 7th Street. This was a valuable program and a great loss to those people in need of the services, especially in light of that fact that Plainfield has had a higher rate of domestic violence than towns with more than twice our population such as Elizabeth and Newark(per Union County Crime Statistics, 2002).

FORUMS MAY BE DANGEROUS! -- As PT suggested in the June 26 post, "A beautiful day in the [online] neighborhood? Not!", the loose structure of online discussion/community forums makes it possible for a person's identity to be co-opted or falsified and one's reputation to be tarnished by these 'poisoned posts.' In light of that, there is a lesson to be learned from the following news from a reader whose ID was faked on the Ledger forums--

I am just writing to correct a little rumor I just found out about. When we were at Saturday's art festival, one of our council representatives approached us and told us that he had heard that we were breaking up and moving out of Plainfield. I asked where he had heard it and was told that it was on the NJO forum. Apparently, some malicious individual has usurped a portion of my e-mail address, created a fake identity and posted this info--some folks who I thought were smarter actually believed this rumor and posted a goodbye--wishful thinking, I guesss. I don't know what's more alarming--that unfounded gossip about us was posted there or that a council rep spends time surfing through such unfounded gossip and rumor--haha. It's too bad that an individual with sick obsession and no life felt the need to post a lie.

Just to correct the record, here's the truth. We are moving, and we are staying in Plainfield. You know that we lost our beloved dog back in May and got two new dogs. We quickly found out that our tiny backyard did not provide ample enough room for them to frolic and play, so we put our house on the market and decided to look for another house with a much larger, fenced-in back yard...That's the whole truth--thanks for your indulgence!

A CORRECTION, OF SORTS -- This in from Council President Ray Blanco, responding to the post on Rebecca Williams' new job, "Kongrats, perfesser!" --

Dear Dan:

You did it again, my friend! In your entry on Rebecca's recent accomplishment, you mentioned her involvement in my campaign for City Council but got a few items wrong.

In fact, Rebecca was my paid campaign manager during my primary campaign in 2004. She did an excellent job and was instrumental in my election. I will always be most appreciative of her support and efforts on my behalf.

However, I did not run as a New Democrat. I was the candidate of the Regular Democratic Organization of Union County, which at the time was chaired in Plainfield by Mayor Al McWilliams. The previous year I affiliated with the New Democrat but as you will recall (some words appear to be missing here -- DD)

While you stated that you would be remiss if you failed to mention Rebecca's involvement in my campaign, you forgot to mention her involvement in the campaigns of Council members Rayland Van Blake, Cory Storch, Linda Carter, Don Davis and Rashid Burney. So what was your point?

Let's state facts, Dan.

Yours, Ray

Rebecca did make an invaluable contribution to the elections of Councilors Van Blake, Storch, Carter, Davis and Burney. Mea culpa. The New Democrats always were -- and are -- Democrats. Ray Blanco and I sat round the table as New Democrats many long Saturday mornings and afternoons. And worked together on campaigns as Democrats. If the Councilor no longer considers himself a New Democrat as well as a Democrat and is at pains to make the distinction, it seems do date only from last year's primary.

(If all of this sounds to many readers like a 1940s discussion between Brooklyn Leninists and Trostkyites, it sort of is -- with all the sound and fury, and all the significance. -- Dan)

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
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