Info at City Hall English-only?

*

PT was not among those who ipso facto thought that Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs' move to set up an information desk in the City Hall rotunda was a bad thing. Was I wrong?

Though the first efforts seemed to obstruct emergency egress and went back to the drawing board, a configuration was finally settled on that seemed to work.

Then the counter was populated with patronage employees and bits and scraps of information. And a sign-in book.

Amid raised eyebrows and some muffled protests, visitors to City Hall were required to log in: name, office visited, time in and time out. At least it gave the uniformed gentleman something to do.

Monday, however, was a shocker to this humble observer.

I arrived to sign in and visit the Clerk's office and was next behind a Hispanic woman who was attempting to explain what office she wanted to visit.

Having some difficulty with expressing her need in English, and with the uniformed gentleman unable to understand her, she turned to me as if I might help. (The other two information desk employees -- a woman from Richmond Towers and a young man -- sat stone-faced and never made the slightest attempt to help the woman.)

After some back-and-forth and using hand gestures, it seemed that the information the woman needed would be available from the Tax Assessor's office.

I turned to the uniformed gentleman and said, "She needs to see Tracy (referring to the tax collector -- you all know me, informal to a flaw)."

"I don't care anything about 'who' she needs to see," he responded. "I need to know what office."

"Tax Assessor," I said.

"She needs to write it in," he answered.

The woman looked at me with an expression that communicated she had no idea what to write down.

"You write it in for her," the uniformed gent said, handing me the pen. Which I did.

I then explained to her where the office she needed was, and how to get to it.

Not a peep from the information desk employees. The woman and young man were still staring dead ahead at the wall, not making eye contact with the Hispanic woman or me.

So.

We have three employees working this information desk -- about which such a big deal was made by the Mayor in her election campaign. Not a one of which seems to speak a word of Spanish. Or even seems to have a plan for handling non-English-speaking inquiries.

So what is the Administration's policy for addressing the information needs of the one-quarter to one-third of Plainfield residents whose mother tongue is not English?

Speak English or don't bother coming to City Hall?

-- Dan Damon

Not getting your own CLIPPINGS email daily? Click here to get started.
*