Tin-eared Muhlenberg proposal sets itself against Cardinals

Go Cardinals!

I don't think it would be unfair to say that I wear my love for Plainfield on my sleeve.

There are many wonderful things about our city as well as assorted issues associated with being an urban community and annoying idiocies that occasionally litter the course of public affairs.

But I have to say that trying to hold a community meeting on a contentious but unproven development plan for Muhlenberg Hospital on the very night when the town's basketball team is in the final game for the STATE TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS beggars the imagination.

If all of the Muhlenberg proposals stars were aligned, you tell me if it would make one bit of difference if the glory of the Cardinals' basketball prowess could have the center stage spotlight ALONE for one night and hold the damned town hall meeting any other night.

I have an inkling if someone had said something to the JFK folks it might have been planned differently.

Whatever, it's an example of the kind of tin-eared thinking Plainfield needs to do away with.

Go Cardinals!

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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PMUA Task Force efforts introduce new energy into unresolved issue

Ratepayers line up at the mike at Monday night's PMUA Task Force meeting.

A crowd of several hundred Plainfield ratepayers turned out last evening at Washington Community School for the report of the PMUA Task Force that had been commissioned by the City Council.

Working hard and in tight-lipped secrecy over the past several months, the all-volunteer Task Force gathered and presented a tremendous amount of information in the PowerPoint presentation -- which Council President Adrian Mapp said would be posted on the city's website for the public's use.

The Task Force is to be commended for trying to compare Plainfield's solid waste and sewer situations with other communities of similar size and makeup. This search for 'apples to apples' comparisons yielded New Brunswick and Union Township (Union County) as close examples to Plainfield.

This was a good methodology and, had there perhaps been some technical assistance provided by the City, the facts could have been focused more sharply and nailed down conclusively. As it was, the material presented tended to indicate the PMUA was top-heavy with administration and inneficiently organized -- before one even got to the matter of rates.

On the other hand, the use of anecdotal material weakened the overall impact of the report. It is hard to see, with a half million or so ratepayers in the county (and 150,000 or so in the three municipalities focused on) how one person's experience in one (dissimilar) community can throw much real light on the Plainfield situation. Professional assistance could have pruned some of these less than illuminating materials.

The Task Force's summation, however, did not really bring new options to the table.

What was suggested is that the PMUA could either be fixed, dissolved or nothing be done and the situation go along as it has.

The audience was divided -- though plenty applauded the idea of fixing the broken agency and came to the mike to speak in favor of doing so, the majority of the audience seemed to respond most to the idea of dissolving the agency, folding it back into the city and dealing with its excesses in that way.

There was a small but fervent group near the back of the room -- perhaps a dozen or so -- who were vociferous in support of leaving thing stand as they are. It was not clear whether any of these were PMUA employees worried about job security -- thought Council President Mapp stated, and restated, that the 'front line workers' should consider their jobs secure.

One of the biggest applause-getters of the evening came when panel member Liz D'Aversa said the $1 million dollar settlement 'gift' for former executives Eric Watson and David Ervin should be taken back.

The newest commissioners, Malcolm Dunn and Cecil Sanders, came in for their share of criticism for having subverted the entire arbitration process -- which appears to have been going in the PMUA's favor -- by arm-twisting the Commissioners into accepting their $1 million 'settlement' proposal.

The only PMUA Commissioner I spotted in the room was the Rev. Tracey Brown (though I was told Dunn was there at some point, I did not actually see him from where I was parked down front).

Though perhaps a majority of the City Council were favorably disposed now to dissolution, as shown by their remarks, Vera Greaves, who was present, and Councilors Bill Reid and Bridget Rivers (who were not) have formed an implacable opposition to dissolution, meaning there would not be the five votes needed to override any potential veto by the mayor of a dissolution move.

And that is where things stand.

However, I am a great believer in mobilizing people and the energy brought to the project by the Task Force and the response from the community in turning out put a new set of forces into play.

How those will work themselves out may well become apparent during this Spring's political season.

Council President Mapp is the party's designee for the Ward 3 seat and has no organized opponent as of this moment.

PMUA Commissioner Rev. Tracey Brown is the party nominee for the Citywide at-large seat, but she will be facing a seasoned opponent in Veronica "Roni' Taylor, a ten-year veteran of the Board of Education and former Housing Authority commissioner who has racked up impressive vote totals over the years and whose roots go deep in the community.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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All eyes on PMUA Task Force Monday

Time to put together the PMUA puzzle.

 

Plainfielders will have their gaze riveted on the scene at Washington School this evening as the City Council's PMUA Task Force makes its report -- finally.

The Committee has worked in great seriousness and secrecy over the past several months. The only whispers I have heard are that some of the data they have been provided will be eye-popping.

The report comes at a sensitive moment, as Gov. Christie's administration is turning its gaze on the local solid waste agency, and the matter of its settlement with former employees Eric Watson and David Ervin has been referred to the State Comptroller's Office. Additionally, moves by new commissioners Malcolm R. Dunn and Cecil Sanders to subvert the arbitration process into which the two parties had entered have roiled public opinion once again over suspected excesses by the agency.

Whether you are with most Plainfielders who are up in arms over the agency's rates or whether you are with the tiny minority of PMUA supporters such as Councilors Reid and Rivers, this is definitely a meeting NOT to miss.

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PMUA Task Force Public Report
Tonight - 7:00 PM
Washington Community School
427 Darrow Avenue
(parking available in the Spooner Avenue lot)

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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The Courier on Doonesbury and Sharon

One of a series of Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury panels
which the Courier News chose not to run this week.

Plainfield's hometown paper, The Courier News, was joined by two other Gannett New Jersey papers -- the Home News Tribune and the Asbury Park Press -- in not running Gary Trudeau's several strips slated for this week that took up Texas' transvaginal probe law and women's rights. (See one online list here.)

Not all papers chose not to run the series; some ran it, some moved it to the OpEd pages (from the comics section) and some are running the series complete as a special section all on the same day.

The topic is part of a general brouhaha being kicked up by a combination of right-wing legislative moves by Republican conservatives in various statehouses including Texas and Virginia, and revulsion at the misogynistic vulgarity of Rush Limbaugh and his ilk.

It is personally saddening to me that the Courier flinched and I quite agree with reader Larry Golbe of Metuchen that the series should have been left to run.

Here is a link to one of several versions of the complete series that can be found on the Internet (see here). Whether posted as OpEd pieces, or as comics, the point is that readers should be free to read, react and draw their own conclusions when important topics of the day are touched upon.

As for the Courier's ability to project some sort of consistent editorial point of view, let me close with this observation by longtime Plainfield Today reader Frank D'Aversa: A couple of weeks ago, the Courier excoriated Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs when she sued the City Council over their recent dust-up.

D'Aversa called the paper's newsroom to remind them that while they had bothered to go all the way back through her six-year career as mayor in their bill of particulars, it was they themselves -- those same editorial page writers -- who had endorsed Robinson-Briggs for Mayor in 2009.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose?

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• The Daily Cartoonist:  "List of newspapers pulling Doonesbury this week"
• Letter, Courier News:  "Larry Golbe, Metuchen: Controversial comics should have been published"
• Soda Head:  "Was the Doonesbury strip a 'spot on' editorial?"
  

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Good morning, Plainfield!

Many thanks to friend (and reader) Cubby, who brought
some gorgeous pink and orange tulips yesterday afteroon.

Well, we made the move from JFK yesterday afternoon, with Nat chauffeuring me and all the gear in his soccer-mom vehicle (note to the worrying occupational therapists at JFK -- transfers into and out of the Toyota were just fine, only a tad of a stretch more than a normal car and certainly no big deal).

The sunlight seemed blindingly bright (had I been living in a bat cave all these weeks?) and peaked as we pulled into the driveway of Norwood Terrace.

It is a warm and cozy feeling place, with a friendly staff, but Nat, TJ's mommy and other guests yesterday all raised their eyebrows at the thought that much therapeutic was going on here. Most of the guests seem quite elderly and more along the lines of continued care than therapy designed to get them functioning back in their normal everyday settings.

That was, until this morning.

After being skipped for breakfast, I was finally enjoying the scrambled eggs (how long until a dietitian takes those away?) when a transport aide told me he would pick me up for therapy in a few minutes.

We went downstairs to the main floor and entered a spacious, well-lit, neatly laid out and thoroughly equipped rehab gym. With only a handful of patients exercising, the weekend therapist put me through some paces, evaluating my upper body strength, walking and stair climbing abilities and then put me on the bicycle pedals to get some heart action going.

That was when I met Jim, also an amputee with a prosthesis, who happens to be from Roselle. He is in for some unrelated issues, but told me that he was up and walking on his new prosthesis 29 days after his amputation. He was working out on the rowing machine this morning and I didn't suspect he was an amputee until he volunteered the info.

We got so engrossed in his stories of adventures -- and misadventures -- with his prosthesis (as when it disengaged just as he backed his 800-pound Harley Davidson bike into the roadway), that my hour was soon up.

Tomorrow, the regular staff will be in place and I'll get an evaluation and on to the next phase, expecting to be here up to two weeks.

Visitor rules are even more relaxed than JFK, so if you're in the neighborhood after 4 PM or so, why not drop by and say 'hi'. 

Norwood Terrace is directly behind United Presbyterian Church, 525 East Front Street. Room number 224.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Dan's rehab continues at Norwood Terrace

As of this afternoon, Dan will be back in Plainfield,
at Norwood Terrace across from Richmond Towers.

It is St. Patrick's Day, and Dan's treatment coninues by moving along to the Norwood Terrace rehab facility on East Front Street in Plainfield (to the rear of United Presbyterian Church) today.

Nat will transfer me from JFK Rehab in Edison sometime after lunch and I should be 'ensconced' by mid-afternoon. The expected stay at Norwood is about two weeks after which I hope to go home.

Further rounds of intensive training on my new prosthesis will come later.

I hope that Norwood Gardens is as up-to-date at JFK in having wi-fi available and that I will be able to pick up blogging easily once I have 'landed'.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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TJ comes a-callin'

TJ comes a callin', with his Mommy and Savannah and Kenny.

The appearance of nice weather outside the hospital windows ever since I've been here (the 19th of February) has done a lot to build up a sense of unrelieved cabin fever.

So, this past Sunday afternoon, TJ's mommy brought TJ and Savannah and Kenny over for a visit.

Naked-as-a-jaybird I (all my clothes disappeared the night I came to the Emergency Room) got to wear a polo shirt, drape my legs with a cotton blanket and get a push outside the nurses' station for an encounter with TJ.

TJ was unsparing in his affection, jumping and licking my face and trying to squeeze his 85-pound frame into my lap, perching with me atop the wheelchair.

After several minutes of excitement that included large swaths of drool liberally applied to the blanket, we called it a day while he explored the interesting scents of the hospital's critters.

I would like to think both of us found our batteries recharged. I know I am extra eager to push forward with my therapy and prosthesis, learning to walk with a new leg and get back to my formerly busy way of life.

Many thanks to my non-doggy friends who have also dropped by, sent cards or called with well-wishes, but most especially to Nat, my better half of thirty-five years, my best friend, the love of my life and the reason for looking forward to each new day.

I am deeply moved by your friendship and caring and made the more eager to get back on my feet so as not to miss all the fun the Plainfield scene always offers.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Whose meeting is it anyway?

 
You know I just hate not being able to be present when things start happening in Plainfield, as with Mayor Robinson-Briggs' rudeness at Monday's Council meeting, reported by both Bernice and Olddoc.

The twice-monthly meetings of the Council are for the governing body to take up the business of the corporation in an orderly fashion and execute its responsibilities.

The meetings of the Council are just that -- of the Council. The Mayor has no role to play without the express invitation and permission of the Council President.

In her six years in office, Plainfield's voting public has certainly seen Mayor Robinson-Briggs attempt to hijack the direction and tenor of public discussion on any number of items.

When she was Council President, Annie McWilliams was constantly on guard against the pushback by Mayor Robinson-Briggs and deftly foiled most attempts to run meetings off the rails. And one could see the toll it took on McWilliams to have to face the implacable drip-drip-drip of Robinson-Briggs' monomaniacal method.

It is quite clear to observers that Robinson-Briggs is already well into political campaign mode. Folks should pay attention to what she tries to do to sow discord at meetings, who is allied with her, and what else she (or they) propose to do.

It would be nice if the chair simply gavelled her down whenever she gets out of line.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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