Unity by being a day late and a dollar short?

Always a day late and a dollar short?

Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs really stepped on some toes by scheduling her 'Community Forum' for tonight without consulting the city's Block Associations, which has a longstanding meeting of their liaisons on the fourth Tuesday of every month, as was pointed out by a reader's comment to my post of yesterday on three items the mayor might need to address (Muhlenberg, boarded-up houses, and parking meter receipts -- see more here).

The commenter's points are well worth reading --

1. With one of the major topics of the Community Forum being “A Safer Plainfield initiative which includes an emphasis on continuity between city neighborhood watch programs and clearer street signs and traffic signal” why is Community Forum being held the same date and time as the monthly Block Association Liaison meeting. The Block Association meetings have always been the 4th Tuesday of the month. The Mayor is very much aware of the schedule since Barbara James, her Confidential Aide, is normally there representing the Mayor. When A.P. Tiffany Wilson, host of the Block Association Liaison Meetings, found out about the conflict, she sent an email to the Block Association Liaisons informing them of the situation and asking for their inputting as to best handle the issue. One of suggestions was to move the Liaison meeting to follow the Community Forum (very professional and consider for providing the Block Association Liaisons the opportunity to attend both events). Too bad the Mayor and City Administration did not have the foresight to work with the A.P. Wilson to come up with a join meeting. What happened to the City Administration’s motto…Growth Through Unity? (Maybe it we had a community calendar these types of conflicts could be avoided. An aside…it is August 25 and the calendar on the city website is still blank.)
   
   
2. “A Safer Plainfield” initiative. - Based on the brief description given in the press release, it doesn’t sound much different than the efforts of the Block Association Liaison Meetings. In fact the topics mention in the press release are just some of the topics that have been discussed at various Liaison Meetings. So why the need for the “A Safer Plainfield” initiative? Also the paper stated that the initiative was kicked off last month. How and when was the kick off information provided to the residents? I am the liaison for my block association and was totally unaware [of the] "A Safer Plainfield" initiative.
   

So the mayor sets a meeting on neighborhood safety without consulting the very people who would be most interested in such a meeting.

To boot, she schedules it on the night of their regular meeting -- without letting them know.

Thirdly, the meeting was announced in the Courier last Friday (see here), catching even city employees by surprise.

When the Courier wrote up the mayor's forum, I checked both the calendar and the press releases on the city's website. Nada. No entries whatsoever on the monthly calendar (as the commenter above also notes -- in fact, there wasn't even a blank 'August' calendar up until the 14th) AND no press release posted either.

Suddenly this morning, I find a) the flyer (no press release at all) for the forum (see here in PDF), and b) the August calendar has been filled in -- with tonight's meeting in BLUE. Not only that, regularly scheduled meetings have also been plugged in for September! How's them apples?!

Had enough?

Not quite yet.

This morning's Courier carries an important story on Muhlenberg, with Assemblyman Green calling for the state to hold off on the bonds for Solaris (see more here).

Near the end, we learn that --

Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs ... said Muhlenberg would be a key topic of discussion for a community forum to be held at 6:30 tonight by the city at Washington Community School. (Emphasis added.)

You will note that Muhlenberg isn't even mentioned in the flyer shown above (only the seriously unkind would bring up that I mentioned it in my post of yesterday), though now it is suddenly 'a key topic'. You may also note that the adverbially-challenged notice, cited in the Courier story in quotation marks (meaning 'this is the way we received it'), has been doctored. For the money the taxpayers are paying to underwrite this stuff, you'd think more care would be taken before things are sent out.

Mayor Robinson-Briggs has already begun to gear up her re-election effort.

Keeping her communications skills in mind as evidenced by this most recent example, perhaps the campaign slogan should be "Unity by being a day late and a dollar short".

COMMUNITY FORUM
Tonight, August 26
6:30 - 8:00 PM
Washington Community School
427 Darrrow Avenue
(Parking in Spooner Avenue lot)

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• Courier - 8/21/08: "Plainfield sets community forum to discuss major initiatives"
• City Website: "Plainfield Community Forum" (PDF)

-- Dan Damon

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