Boy! Are there a lot of dots to connect...
Development plans...Council...Groups organizing... where will it all take us?
NORTH AVENUE REDEVELOPMENT -- PT had to choose between three offerings last evening and went with door 3: NORTH AVENUE MERCHANTS AND PROPERTY OWNERS. A dozen or so gathered at the YM last evening to lay plans for organizing the North Avenue merchants, owners and residents to deal with the development issues that are in the air.
To a person, the group had stories of puzzling or dismissive behavior on the part of City officials as they have tried to get their own plans for their properties and businesses up and running.
The concern now is that the City is preparing to redevelop the area by EXCLUDING them, using EMINENT DOMAIN if necessary in what would be an effort at PUBLIC TAKING FOR PRIVATE PURPOSES.
You can be sure more will be heard from this quarter, and it will hardly be surprising that the lead is being taken by LATINOS, who have gotten short shrift from a Democratic establishment that seems to take their goodwill and acquiescence for granted.
THE GREAT EAST 3rd STREET LAND GRAB? -- Meanwhile, across the street, Bernice was keeping tabs on DEVELOPMENT SKULLDUGGERY in regard to the proposed East 3rd St/Richmond St/Cottage Pl 'study area.' You will recall that PT said on August 24 ("Problems with the Cottage Place study area") that THE FIX IS IN.
You will DEFINITELY want to read Bernice's post this morning ("Planning Board Surprise") to see all that was UNEXPECTEDLY revealed. What you CAN bet on is this: BIG PLAYERS have been planning their steps as if Plainfield were merely supine and waiting. Some surprises seem to be in store.
The Planning Board made two moves the PLAYERS may not have expected: recommending to the Council that the study area be expanded (score one for PT?) and that the PMUA be included in any future talks (you'd a thunk it would have been done already).
Mark your calendars for Sept. 21, when the REVELOPMENT PLAN is up for review. By the way, the study is being done by a Haddonfield firm? Remember your NJ geography lessons? That would be South Jersey, Norcross territory. Are political debts being repaid? Remember Deep Throat's advice to Woodward and Bernstein: FOLLOW THE MONEY...
Gone -- LONG gone -- are the days when you could keep tabs on what's going on around town by yourself just by going to meetings spread out over a leisurely period of weeks...or by reading the Courier or Ledger coverage. With so much going on in one evening, the mainstream media can surely use an extra hand. Could the BLOGS actually be useful?...
CRIME & MEDEVACS -- Meanwhile, Hub-Stine has been busy with medevacs. About 11:30 Tuesday, PT heard the helicopter low over the back yard and heading toward RWJ. Found out it was a stabbing, young man, West 3rd Street. The Ledger ("Plainfield teen mends following stabbing") and the Courier ("Teen stabbed in Plainfield") covered it today. Perhaps more disturbing, as one cop pointed out to PT, is the number of shootings, stabbings and muggings about which we hear ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Meanwhile, got an email last night about MORE medevac activity LAST NIGHT...
CEDAR BROOK LAKE UPDATE -- It is no secret I think Cedar Brook Lake is one of the most attractive and restful spots in town. So I have been waiting for its overhaul with bated breath. Thank God I have not been HOLDING my breath, or I'd be long gone.
Just as I was thinking of rattling some chains, word arrived from Freeholder Mapp that the project had run into unexpected delays but should be getting back on track shortly. The DREDGE SPOILS from the lake bottom had to be piled up to dry out so it could be transported to a DEP-approved facility or landfill. Mid-project, the contractor learned the planned-on site is no longer accepting this type of material. A search is on for a new site. Meanwhile, the project is snared in the RED TAPE you can expect in dealing with the DEP.
Once over this hurdle, the dredge spoils will be trucked away, the lake's clay liner will be improved, an aeration system installed, and fishing access points constructed. Add new plantings, let the Lake fill back up, and -- VOILÀ -- we're back in business. Won't be this Fall, though, PT bets. But THANK YOU Freeholder Mapp for staying on top of this important project...
BUDGET CRUNCH & NEW FURNITURE? -- PT got word of new furniture being lugged into City Hall Annex on Wednesday -- and you're looking at a tax increase, right? PT has never understood the frequency with which some offices replace their furnishings. And this stuff is not cheap, you should know. And STUFF is the operative word, in PT's humble opinion. The office furnishings these days are all chipboard with a plastic woodgrain veneer.
PT was viewed as an oddball for retrieving classic 1940s steel desks and steel and naugahyde chairs from the discard pile to furnish his office. Maybe PT was imagining himself as some noir detective waiting for a luscious blonde to sidle in, sit suggestively on the edge of his desk while taking a drag on her cigarette, and turn him on to...SHENANIGANS AND WASTE IN PLAINFIELD? Say it isn't so!
THE JOY OF UCIA -- One of the selling points a few months back in getting the Council to quickly adopt interlocal service agreements with the Union County Improvement Authority giving it the lead in Plainfield's redevelopment process was what a joy it is to work with the UCIA. And the brevity of the agreements was supposed to be just a sign of how wonderful things will be.
Well, tenants of the Park-Madison development may be giving people a reality check soon. Word has it the SPANKING NEW OFFICE BUILDING leaks like a sieve. And just as bad, the tenants evidently can't get anybody to heed their woes. (What?! What an UNUSUAL situation! Quick, round up the usual suspects!) Maybe they should call the REPORTERS and get them in there on a rainy day -- WITH cameras.
Meanwhile, what ever happened to the building's CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY? Last PT knew, they were granted a TEMPORARY C.O. a year ago May, if memory serves me. That would be for 45 days? And NON-RENEWABLE? So, if there is no VALID PERMANENT C.O., what gives? And are all those people and businesses in there PROPERLY covered by their insurance should there be, say, a FIRE or a TERRORIST ATTACK and there is no valid C.O.? Enquiring minds want to know...
FLAG FLAP -- Speaking of spanking new things, there is a spanking NEW FLAG on the pole in front of City Hall. Would have posted a picture, but to spank, a flag must have breeze. Breezes have been non-existent the past couple of days, but PT will get around to it. Meanwhile, a tip of the noir fedora to John Louise and the whole crew! PT's criticism was not of John and the Public Works gang but of that OTHER gang, who are really responsible for what goes on -- or doesn't.
HERE'S A GODDESS FOR YOU! -- PT had the excellent -- and unmerited -- good fortune to study both Classical and New Testament Greek under F. Wilbur Gingrich, the man who co-compiled the standard** Lexicon of New Testament Greek, then simply referred to as Arndt & Gingrich. While rummaging in my Greek closet last week, PT ran across a fascinating article on Nemesis in Wikipedia.
Nemesis, as everyone remembers, "is the spirit of divine retribution against those who succumb to hubris, vengeful fate personified as a remorseless goddess."
In ancient Greece, every city-state had its patronic deity. PT humbly submits Nemesis as our own.
**"A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament" -- Revised in 1979 by F.W. Danker (gives you an idea of how long ago PT studied Greek -- way before 1979), which can be had for a mere $140.00 list. PT paid $35 in 1950s currency -- and got it autographed.
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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