Before we even get to development issues, we have to contend with the p***-poor publicity effort for Mayor Robinson-Briggs' forum, scheduled for tomorrow evening.
What on earth is going on with her public relations operation, if you can even call it that?
Grapevine has it that what was gotten out to the media was just a flyer, no press release. And at the last minute, yet.
Let's review.
At a Council meeting in May, after angry business owners had stormed the gates, City Administrator Marc Dashield allowed as how Mayor Robinson-Briggs would have a meeting on development "in June" -- no date specified.
The first I learned of the final date was at the Planning Board meeting last Thursday, June 21. Planning Board members were hoping they were being included in the process.
The tiniest notice appeared in the Courier online 'breaking news' section Sunday evening, but not in the print edition or Monday's online edition. Didn't even hit the dartboard!
Monday morning, the Chamber of Commerce sent around a flyer done up by a member giving the bare essentials. 'A' for effort (but a 'D' for sending it in Word, causing all readers to pause and fire up that old Microsoft dinosaur to read something that could very well have been put in the body of an email message).
Also yesterday, I posted on the forum and the Administration's general approach to development: "Planning & Development: A Tale of Two Cities"
Today, the Ledger had a brief on page 33 -- not online -- for the event. You have to give them credit for pitching in, too.
Also today, Bernice gives notice and a nice overview. Maria opines the forum should be rescheduled. Add to all that this piece and you get the general picture -- everyone but the Administration does the heavy lifting for publicizing this forum.
That's aside from the question of whether it will be all talk-down from the Mayor or a real give-and-take with business owners and residents. We'll have to see.
But I'll bet we'll be able to count on eats, hugs, and plenty of publicity pix of the Mayor doing her thing.
I'll leave it to you, dear reader, to try and figure out what product are we getting for the $200,000 or so being spent on 'communications professionals'.
Publicity for this forum --
- Listed in CLIPS' 'Happenings' section continuously from 6/23.
- Plain Talker (6/26): "Mayor's Forum on Redevelopment"
- Plainfield Today (6/25): "Planning & Development: A Tale of Two Cities"
- Crescent Times (6/24): "Development/Redevelopment Forum"
- Crescent Times (6/22): "Planning the City"
- Courier (Breaking, 6/25): "Economic development forum Wednesday"
- Ledger (6/26): Print edition only, not online.
-- Dan Damon
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