Mondays, a digest of Plainfield-only news from the past week.
GOVERNMENT / POLITICS
BLANCO SEAT FILLED, CAN PLAINFIELD MOVE ON? -- City Council met Monday in Agenda session to set the stage for filling Ray Blanco's vacant seat at its Wednesday business meeting.
The Monday meeting ITSELF -- where Rayland Van Blake was elected president pro tem -- became the news in both the Courier ("Plainfield council picks new president in Monday meeting") and the Ledger ("Council selects Van Blake as leader"). Because of the vague way in which mention was made of how Van Blake got to be president pro tem, PT raised the question of adherence to the Sunshine Law in Tuesday's post ("First, violate the Sunshine Law?"), prompting a visit with Clerk Wyatt and a clarification in Wednesday's post that all had in fact been done 'according to Hoyle.'
Ray's surprise legacy ("Blanco's surprise legacy") was to have the seating arrangements revamped for the Council's agenda-setting sessions in City Hall Library. It was a surprise indeed, but PT wondered if there might not be a better solution to the perennials problems with meetings in this room -- create a TOTALLY NEW COUNCIL CHAMBER on the ground floor of the old Tepper's building, using the $460,000± on hand from the feds to be used on the building OR LOST.
On Wednesday, at the appointed time, JUST ONE CANDIDATE for the empty seat was present, as noted by PT ("A shocker at Council"). You'd have thought the Dem City Committee would have seen to it that their candidates were ALL there, ON TIME. Oh well... Nevertheless, the show went on, as reported by the Courier ("Blanco's Plainfield council seat filled") and the Ledger("Plainfield replacement for council irks Latino activist Flor Gonzalez").
As noted by the Ledger, activist Flor Gonzalez was not pleased with the selection or the way in which it was made. She has called for a meeting to form a new Hispanic political action group for this Wednesday at 6 p.m., at Los Faraones, 111 East Front Street.
Underscoring the demographic changes that seem to be accelerating all around us, the New York Times ran an important story ("Suburbs: The New Crossroads of the World") this past week on how important the suburbs (read Plainfield) are in the new immigration patterns of the 21st century. The included map indicates Plainfield is experiencing an immigrant growth rate of up to 15%. One thing is certain: As the Latino population increases and becomes property owners, the inevitable trend toward participation in the political process will guarantee important changes in how things are done. Demagoguery can only make the process more fraught, not prevent it...
COUNCIL ACTION & BEHAVIOR -- The Administration seemed to have second thoughts (or may be just first thoughts?) about items that were put on the agenda. Besides proposing increases in fees landlords would pay for inspections, as noted by Bernice ("Code Compliance Fees Increasing"), there was a proposal that Plainfield take part in COAH regional contribution agreements. The Administration also presented resolutions and ordinances associated with four proposed projects (Marino's, North Avenue, the new Senior project, and the East 3rd/Richmond study area).
As noted by Bernice ("Council Doings"), both the COAH proposal and the code compliance fees were withdrawn. (PT's view on this matter is that all the sugar-coated language does not hide the ugly truth that these regional agreements allow wealthy towns to shovel their moral obligation to provide a broad spectrum of housing choices off onto urban communities.)
PT thought the proposed East 3rd/Richmond study area suffered ("Problems with the Cottage Place study area"), mostly in respect of the SIZE of the proposed study area, and the destabilizing of ongoing projects by the uncertainty cast over everything by the study. Possible solution? -- Expand the study area, swap the PMUA and the Health Center and move the Health Center downtown to the study area, along with whatever 65 King Street has in mind.
A P.S. to the Cottage Place post incorrectly indicated that LIZ URQUHART had been one of the three Councilors who sued to prevent implementation of the PMUA. (Mid-term memory the first thing to go?) Liz had stuck by the idea of getting the PMUA up and running as she reminded me by phone. My apologies. The real gang of three Councilors was: Joe Scott, Helen Miller and Bob Ferraro. Only Bob remains and he has made his peace, resting safely now in the bosom of the PMUA...
S-E-X always gets attention. And the proposal of Councilors Burney and Davis for establishing restricted, pedophile-free areas was no exception. The Plaintalker mulled it on both Monday ("City Council Wants Pedophile-Free Zones") and Tuesday ("Ban On Pedophiles Mulled"), with the Ledger ("Plainfield weighs law to bar sex offenders") and the Courier ("Plainfield calls for housing limits on child predators") subsequently weighing in. Today's Courier had an editorial ("Pedophile restrictions provide illusion of safety") pointing out some shortcomings of this type of legislation.
Bernice set off the Aretha record permanently embedded in PT's brain with her thoughtful Sunday piece ("R.E.S.P.E.C.T.") on the behavior of various players and the amount of respect that is -- or isn't -- expected and shown. As for taking items off the consent agenda after previously assenting to it -- it has happened many, many times before. Perhaps the real issue is having such momentous items put on as CONSENT items, meaning there will be no further discussion before committing the City and its resources....
DEVELOPMENT & DEVELOPERS -- Bernice outlined the bunch of items covering proposed development on Tuesday ("Developers Gear Up"). Though much of this is discussed above, there were several stories feeding into associated issues this past week. ONE SEAT TO NYC? Both the Courier ("Hybrid trains may mean nonstop trips to NYC") and the Asbury Park Press ("NJ Transit studying hybrid trains") reported on NJT studies of using hybrid diesel/electric trains to provide one-seat commutes to the Big Apple. This would sure make all these TRANSIT-FRIENDLY developments more attractive, wouldn't they?
To complete the yin-and-yang of the discussion, news on the real estate front continued to be troublesome, as pointed out by PT on Friday in HITS, as well as a SLEW of real estate stories found in this week's CONNECTIONS links (below), and topped off with an area survey by the Courier on Sunday ("Housing market tough on sellers, a boon to buyers"), from which Plainfield data is NOTICEABLY missing.There were also stories dealing with REZONING (Montclair) and COAH OBLIGATIONS (Clark), both of which are issues facing Plainfield.
CRIME-FIGHTING -- While Plainfield waits for the new Operation Cease-Fire to be put in place, you can bone up on what it's all about with this story from the New York Times ("Oakland, Cal. Fights Crime With Talk"). Both the history of the concept and its implementation in Oakland are gone over.
MIT SCHLAG -- Those Austrians! You have to love them. They put SCHLAG on everything. Well, PT put some SCHLAG on the end of the week with two posts ("Grace Church's Carillon concert") and ("'Ghosts' - An Album of Old Plainfield").
One reader emailed that the GHOSTS post made her very sad. That was not PT's intention, but the images did underscore that MUCH has changed in Plainfield the last 30 years or so -- what the admixture of good and bad is, I will leave, gentle reader, to your discretion...
The CARILLON CONCERT was also somewhat provocative. Though overcast and drizzling -- how English, PT thought -- upwards of
The concert broke the mold for this listener in TWO regards -- the music and the style. First, the music. A John Phillip Sousa march? A Joplin rag? Rogers & Hammerstein's Carousel? Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata? Yes, and more. This was definitely NOT your father's carillon concert. The other surprise was stylistic. Trevor Workman's touch was so light that this enormous instrument, played much of the time on its upper register, sounded as much like a music box as a carillon. Secondly, was that an actual VIBRATO I heard? No, but it came close. It seemed that Workman was able to TRILL two adjacent bells in unbelievably rapid alteration in a way to elicit a shimmer. Schlag, I tell you, pure SCHLAG.
Ah, but you would have had to have been there...
Last Friday's H.I.T.S.: "HITS: Shock and awe... Lights under bushels?..." -- Cubicle wars... Watching watchmen... Council health benefits..."
Last Monday's TW3: "TW3 - Aug 14 - 20" -- Blanco and his replacement... Police staffing... Tax snafu... Development...
COMMUNITY
Carillon Concert [last item]: "Free carillon concert set for Sunday"
Housing Authority (2nd item): "Housing agency begins building new offices"
Library: "Library giving books to children as bonus"
Plainfield High School: "Supplies for success"
Seniors: Nice pictures of the Seniors' barbecue in CN, can't find online
Sports, Jay Williams: "Jay Williams invited to Nets camp"
United Way 'Del Raudelunas Award': "Nun's work for the poor is honored"
YWCA: "YWCA set to open child learning center" -- Well, at least they got the gender right online!
Letter: Bob Darden: "City's blacks are being leapfrogged in achievement"
Letter: Rev. Rick Taylor: "Veterans' treatment is an outrage"
Letter: Rob McConnell: "Dems, like James, fleecing residents"
Letter: Herb Kaufman: "Bush closes door on open access"
Speaking Out, CN (Sun): "Incorporate conservation into our daily lives"
CONNECTIONS? FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Budgets: "Budget crunch looms for Franklin Twp."
Charter Schools: "Charter schools' pupils lagging a bit nationally"
COAH Obligations: "Request to fill quota with age-restricted units denied"
Corzine - OpEd, CN: Bob Ingle: "Corzine has plenty more to clean up"
'Downzoning': "Montclair's Debate on Growth Goes On"
Drugs: "Crosses of Bedford Park Are Still Waging War on Drugs"
Elected Officials' Benefits: "Roseland Council cuts health benefits for selves, others"
Free Speech: Joan Whitlow: "Free Speech, Online Forums & Public Employees"
Immigration: "Suburbs: The New Crossroads of the World"
Immigration - AP: "Riverside's illegal immigrants ordinance sparks protests"
Immigration - Bergen Record: "Riverside: Dueling campaigns"
Immigration - WP: "'They Must Leave,' Mayor of Hazleton Says After Signing Tough New Law"
Juvenile Justice: "Cop's death prompts look at jail for teens"
Pay-to-Play: "Woodbridge pay-to-play ordinance targets redevelopers"
Pay-to-Play: "Proposed limits on contributions to county committees unsettles reform"
Police at Schools: "Paying for cops in schools still a hurdle"
Police Vehicles: "A Police Car With Plenty of Muscle" -- coming soon to NJ?
Political Style: Tom Moran: "Mayor's urban-style politics rile rustic town"
Real Estate: "Housing market tough on sellers, a boon to buyers"
Real Estate: "Is The Bubble Collapsing? 10 Indicators To Watch" (PDF)
Real Estate: "Seller Gimmicks May Disguise Fall of Prices"
Real Estate: "Practice hides the real deal on homes for sale in Jersey"
Real Estate: "Toll Bros. 3Q profits decline"
Real Estate: "How to Profit From a Cooling Real Estate Market"
Real Estate: "Housing sales continue slide"
Schools: "'Stealth' Students Test Tolerance of the Affluent"
Spanish-Language TV: "Univision-Televisa split may force program shift"
Sunshine Law: CN Editorial: "Prosecutor did well in upholding meeting law"
Tax Assessments: "Philadelphia's aerial photo service manages tax roll" -- and Pictometry's site.
Tax Revaluation: "Smaller homes hit harder by revaluation"
West Nile Virus: "State confirms West Nile in elderly Union County woman"
Williams, Jayson "Lawsuit against Williams is reinstated"
SCHOOLS
Annual 'No Child Left Behind' Reports:
.. - SL: Statewide: "Review increasingly snared suburban as well as urban districts"
.. - SL: Union County: "One in 4 public schools in county fail test; But performance is better than in'04"
.. - CN: "Schools improve federal test scores"
.. - AP: Statewide: "More N.J. schools not meeting standards"
Teach & Employee Contracts: "120 districts still hammering out teacher contracts as fall nears"
Plainfield Abuse Case: "Appeals court rules teacher abused 2nd-grader in 2002" -- NOTE: This took place BEFORE the current Superintendent or Board was in place; neither the teacher nor the school is disclosed.
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