*
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.
GOVERNMENT / POLITICS
RAY BLANCO -- Council President Ray Blanco died suddenly and unexpectedly on Friday, July 28. PT broke the news on Saturday ("Council President Ray Blanco Dies"). Bernice posted a moving remembrance on Sunday ("Remembering Ray Blanco"), and both the Ledger ("Ray Blanco, popular activist, politician and producer") and the Courier ("Plainfield's Ray Blanco dies at 50") ran news obituaries. Memorial service details were announced on Monday, July 31 by both the Courier and the Ledger.
The tributes continued with an editorial on Tuesday by the Courier ("Ray Blanco devoted himself to Plainfield"), and remembrances on Wednesday by former Courier reporter Chad Weihrauch ("Chad Weihrauch Remembers Ray Blanco") and on Sunday by Ray's friend and neighbor, PT's Dan Damon ("Ray Blanco - A remembrance").
FILLING THE COUNCIL VACANCY -- State law provides for the manner in which a seat which falls vacant is to be filled and the technical ground was covered by Bernice ("Officials Must Fill Vacancies Due To Blanco's Death"). The Ledger ("Officials Must Fill Vacancies Due To Blanco's Death") and the Courier ("Group wants another Hispanic leader on City Council") wrote their pieces after attending a news conference held by the Latin American Coalition at which the hope was expressed for a Hispanic nominee. Bernice reported Saturday on Friday's Dem City Committee meeting ("Dems Favor Gibson For Vacancy") at which three names were selected for submission to the Council.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS -- While the public schools struggled with budgets, staffing and union contracts, as reported by Bernice ("Interim AD Emerges At Confusing Meeting"), the Courier focused on the hiring of an interim athletic director ("City school board selects interim athletic director") and editorialized on the school uniforms ("Uniforms a wise choice for schools in Plainfield") subject. On Sunday, a 'Speaking Out' piece on the school union contract situation ("Plainfield school board unfair over contract") ran in the Courier. PT leaves it to you, dear reader, to figure out who has their finger on the pulse of the community.
BLOCK ASSOCIATIONS BOOSTED -- This year's celebration of National Night Out featured a week of events -- a novelty. But the high point was the kickoff on Saturday of a year-long effort to expand Plainfield's block association network, as reported by Plainfield Today ("Block Association clinic and kickoff set for Saturday") and the Plaintalker ("Block Associations Get Support").
The effort is being spearheaded by the Union County Prosecutor's Plainfield outreach office, located in the St. Mary's School at West 6th and Liberty Streets. Assistance, training and networking opportunities are being offered not only to those interested in traditional block associations, but organizations -- such as FOSH -- that cover the interests of larger areas. If your neighborhood is interested in starting, reviving or strengthening a block association, you can get more information from Assistant Prosecutor Tiffany Wilson at (908) 791-7130.
THIS 'N THAT --
ROUTE 78 -- The reconstruction that will surely be from hell, if you have to use this road. Check out the Courier ("I-78 express lanes to close") and Ledger ("Reconstruction will use recycled pavement") stories and the links in today's CLIPS to online resources for news on the project...
CRIME FIGHTING -- Help is on the way. Well, sort of. Plainfield will be added to the expanded 'Operation Ceasefire' anti-gang program -- next year -- as reported by the Ledger ("'Operation CeaseFire' to start in more cities") and the Courier ("Hard-line anti-gang initiative to expand"). Though it doesn't sound urgent OR full-bore, if you read the stories closely...
TRANSFORMER EXPLOSION SHUTS LIBRARY -- PT reported ("Library closed by ruptured electrical transformer") on the utility problems that led the Library to be shut down early last week -- during the height of the heat wave. There are no reports of tears being shed by Library staff over the time off...
SOUTH AVENUE CONDO PROPOSAL -- Continuing her thorough coverage of the proposal, Bernice questions ("Condos: A Tough Sell?") whether projections of sales of condos to people who actually intend to live in them might be a bit...well, rosy. And this doesn't even touch on what's happening to the real estate market generally. Is 'softening' too strong a term? (You may want to check out Paul Krugman's analysis in today's NY Times.) Besides all this, Bernice points out ("Old Urbanism, New Urbanism") the differences between what is being proposed for Plainfield and what generally -- and pretty successfully -- passes as 'New Urbanism' elsewhere in the country...
PENSION PAYMENTS TO WHACK BUDGET? -- Reach for the Alka-Seltzer! The Administration hasn't even brought a budget proposal to the Council yet -- though legally it is due soon. But increases in the share municipalities must pay for public employee pensions -- as reported in Sunday's Ledger ("Leap in pension payments to wallop towns") -- are sure to cast a pall on matters once the process actually does begin...
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE -- Plainfield Today posted an album ("Signs of the Times - A Plainfield Album") of interesting -- and interestingly spelt -- signs from around town on Saturday. Who says all I do is carp? On Sunday, the Courier ran a teaser story ("Queen City readies for tour of historic districts") on the upcoming house tour. You will want to mark your calendars for September 10th!
Last Friday's H.I.T.S.: "HITS: August 4" -- Ferraro sighting confirmed... Cooling site? Who knew?... South Avenue hanky-panky?... 2 from the mailbag...
Last Monday's TW3: "TW3: Jul 24 - 30, 2006" -- Blanco memorial service... Gay marriage debate... Women to be ordained as Catholic priests...
COMMUNITY
Birds, Evicting: "No Trees Were Harmed in Evicting These Birds"
Green Brook Flood Control Commission: "Commission reflects on 1973 flood, river's future"
Letter: Herb Kaufman: "Cheney-Specter bill sets nation back"
Muhlenberg [next to last item]: "Charity gives $60K to medical center"
Tax Rebate Filing Date: "Trenton extends tax-rebate filing deadline"
Workplace Incident: "Assault charges downgraded in wake of Plainfield man's blackout"
CONNECTIONS? FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Code Enforcement, Selective: "Prosecutor investigating W. Long Branch inspections department"
Condo Development: "Developers Nationwide Nix or Delay Condo Projects"
Day Care, Home-based: "Home child care workers gaining their own union"
Demographics: "Union among 25 counties nationwide with largest loss of whites in decade"
Development: "Newark rethink blight designation for Mulberry Street"
Eminent Domain - OpEd, NYT: "Case Won on Appeal (to Public)"
Gangs, Anti-Gang Kids' Book: "'No Bandanas' storybook attempts to reach kids at risk"
Gun Dealer Lawsuits: "2 Georgia Gun Dealers Settle Suit Brought by NYC"
Immigration, Asylum Rulings: "Study Finds Disparities in Judges’ Asylum Rulings"
Immigrants, Illegal: "U.S. Puts Onus on Employers of Immigrants"
Legislative 'Christmas Tree' items - Editorial, SL: "Make legislators justify pet projects"
Minimum Wage: "Minimum wage increase fails in Senate dispute"
Murals: "Beautifing communities by painting murals on abandoned structures"
Online Forums: "Hanover forum operator blocks some posts, 'never expected controversy'"
Public Employee Misconduct: "Former tax official enters pretrial program, misappropriated $388,000"
Urban Hospitals, OpEd - SL: Archbishop John Myers: "Urban hospitals need a transfusion"
CRIME
Burglary: "Police seek suspect in home burglary"
Drugs [last item]: "14 arrested, charged in drug investigation"
Slashing: "Mother and daughter guilty in knife attack"
Slashing: "Woman found guilty in Front Street knife attack"
*
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment