Some of the 150 or so who attended last night's Council meeting
-- though not there because of the Census presentation.
Plainfield City Council President Rashid Burney pressed the Robinson-Briggs administration pretty hard at last week's agenda-setting session, wanting to know what the administration's plan for the 2010 Census was. City Administrator Marc Dashield agreed to ask the Census folks in for last night's business meeting.
They came. We saw. They did not conquer.
In fact, the whole Census dog-and-pony show last night reminded me of the worst review actress Tallulah Bankhead ever received. Writing in the New York Post after her 1937 Broadway premier in Antony and Cleopatra, John Mason Brown's one-line zinger was, 'Tallulah Bankhead barged down the Nile as Cleopatra last night -- and sank' (see here).
While about a hundred and fifty residents and employees waited patiently for the 8:00 PM meeting to begin (we were finally let in about 8:45 PM), the Census crew arrived somewhat after 8:30 PM and literally barged their way in past those standing in line inside the door, lugging boxes and bags of materials with them.
Once the meeting got under way, the Census group's photographer tromped up and down the crowded side aisle to get footage of the crowd. If it shows up in a Census PSA (public service announcement), how much you wanna bet it will NOT be noted that the crowd was NOT there for a Census presentation?
Kevin Derricotte presented on behalf of the Census team, noting that Plainfield's effort kicked off on June 4 and 'we have been working since that point with the mayor' -- mentioning specifically the two 'Music in the Plaza' concerts and 'various events'.
Derricotte also mentioned presentations to Shiloh Baptist Church and 'the Presbyterians'. Turns out the latter reference appears to concern El Centro Hispanoamericano, a troubled independent local nonprofit which happens to be housed at United Presbyterian Church on East Front Street. Later referring to both Shiloh and El Centro as 'partners', Derricotte said he 'hadn't spoken with Ms. Hernandez [of El Centro] in about a month'.
(No mention at all was made by Derricotte or Mayor Robinson-Briggs of the two-day Latin American Independence Festival in October, which had thousand of attendees but no Census presence whatsoever.)
The Council listened respectfully to the presentation, but when Derricotte had finished, Council President Burney pressed once again on what he -- and the rest of the Council -- consider the main issues, the crucial importance of engaging foreign-born residents and the necessity of having a plan.
Seeming somewhat flustered, Derricotte rattled off dates of upcoming events, at one point mistakenly referring to Plainfield as 'Linden', garnering a murmur from attendees.
Undeterred, individual councilors took up questioning Derricotte, and Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs took the microphone at points to buttress his responses. At this point, Councilors shifted their questions to the mayor directly.
Councilor Mapp asked Mayor Robinson-Briggs whether the city's Census plan could be put up on the city's website for all to see. Mayor Robinson-Briggs replied, 'Absolutely ... in December there will be a PSA (public service announcement)'.
Councilor McWilliams asked the Mayor 'when can the Council see the list of Complete Count Committee members'? Mayor Robinson-Briggs gave no direct answer about sharing the list with the Council, instead attempting to finesse the situation by saying 'the Council was welcome to come to the meetings and take part'.
Council President Burney pressed once more on the question of foreign-born residents, asking Mayor Robinson-Briggs 'if we can have them [the Latino leaders and groups to whom she has reached out] come and talk to us'? Without giving Burney a direct answer, Robinson-Briggs ticked off the list of those she had spoken with: Alma Cruz (and her group, whose name Robinson-Briggs could not quite recall -- it is Latinas En Accion), Nelson Ortega and Carmen Salavarrieta.
Pretty thin stuff.
The Council is quite right to be concerned about whether at this late stage (the Census questionnaires arrive in March) the Robinson-Briggs administration has any plan at all and whether, if it does, it has any REALISTIC plan to engage foreign-born residents in participating.
What Mayor Robinson-Briggs and Derricotte did last night was to list events.
Events, however, are not a plan.
And a plan is what is needed.
Having worked on the 2000 Census, I can testify that --
- We began our preparations MORE THAN A YEAR IN ADVANCE of the actual Census;
- Mayor Al McWilliams made the broadest outreach to the community, including public and private schools, nonprofits, churches, social agencies, and cultural and civic organizations;
- The whole was headed up by Library Director Joe Da Rold and a sizeable complete count committee, which developed a plan of action;
- We did net an increase of over 2,000 in Plainfield's count (to 47,829) -- short of the 50,001 goal, but a definite plus.
They barged through the meeting -- and sank.
Tomorrow, I will offer some modest suggestions on what can be done in the short time that remains.
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3 comments:
Dan, Save your time with your suggestions/recommendations. Her "HONOR" has made it clear many times she or one of her lackies read your Blog. They obviously have NEVER taken the simplest or easiest of suggestions to improve anything. Her private storm of perfecting nothing but being even MORE of a hot mess will sink the census for sure.
I would doubt that the powers that be eminating from the Union County Democratic Party (and its Plainfield extension)would even want this city to reach the magic 50,001. If we did then we would get our Community Development Block Grant funds directly from the feds. This would cut out the County as now all of the funds are administered through Union County. Plainfield's statistics drives a huge proportion of the CDBG funding but we do not get the percentage back that we generate. It is distributed to multiple communities.
8:48 am is right. That is why this census operation under Sharon is in line to be such a disaster. Her incompetence on the census is willful--Charlotte and the crew don't want to lose their hooks in Plainfield. Jerry is merely a puppet to these people as well. I hope that all those councilors who refused to come out and support Adrian Mapp after he supported them now see that their collusion with Sharon has more serious ramifications. Their own self-interest came before the needs of the rest of us. Shame on them. We the people of Plainfield are the losers. Now all of a sudden we see them posturing as if they are upset with Sharon. Fake outrage and crocodile tears. We will not come in at over 50,000. That is guaranteed by the re election of Sharon Robinson-Briggs.
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