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There are more than 43 quintillion possible positions... |
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...but the Rubik's Cube puzzle can be solved in under 100 moves. |
Solving the Rubik's Cube of Plainfield politics will determine whether the city moves forward at all under soon-to-be-sworn-in Mayor-elect Adrian Mapp.
As Plainfield Today predicted, Gloria Taylor, retired educator and widow of the late mayor Rick Taylor, was selected by the City Council in a 5-1 vote at Monday evening's special Council meeting to fill Mapp's vacant Ward 3 seat until the next general election.
The other two items on the agenda -- appointing members to the African-Caribbean Commission and to the Citizens Emergency Response Team (CERT) -- were passed as proposed by outgoing Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs without any changes.
The alignment of the Council majority (now expected to be enhanced with Taylor on board) puts the issue of learning to live with compromise on the front burner.
In my thirty years of watching and participating in Plainfield politics it seems that the three major forces -- Mayor, Council and Democratic Party chair -- have never been on the same page more than momentarily. The result has been that Plainfield lags behind other New Jersey communities in developing economic opportunities and taking care of the needs of its residents for jobs and services.
It all reminds me of Rubik's Cube, the popular twisty puzzle invented in the 1970s. A cube with nine boxes in six different colors on each side, and twistable in every direction, the point is to rearrange the boxes so that each side of the cube is composed of boxes of one color (read more about Rubik's Cube here).
There are more than 43 quintillion individual positions for the little boxes (that's 43 followed by 18 zeroes). Despite the mind-boggling number of combinations, it is possible to solve the puzzle in under one hundred moves.
And that seems to me to be a good metaphor for the challenge now facing Mayor-elect Mapp, the newly aligned Council and Democratic Party chairperson Assemblyman Jerry Green.
Will they solve it successfully?
Only time will tell.
-- Dan Damon [follow]
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5 comments:
This appointment translates to the residents of of Plainfield as BUSINESS AS USUAL. Plsinfield will not move forward until the Assemblymen leaves or dies. I feel only sympathy for those who continue to live in that depressed environment.
. . . the lil bit of HOPE has is . . . oh well . . .
Dan, I do not think CERT passed. There were 2 no's and 3 yes - with Vera abstaining, so it did not pass as I recall.
"Council". . . "learning to live with compromise" Wow - what a concept , can you imagine. Sounds like my 'marriage' of 24 years.
The reality is that 99% of the time the Council passes resolutions and the like 7-0. We only hear about the 1% when they don't. . . .
Our new Mayor is going to need some leeway at first, and our new Council will need to give it to him. Both sides need to comprise and move us forward so maybe this time "Plainfield (won't) lag(s) behind".
That means Chairman Greens stays out of it and
that means you too Mr. Dan - back off big boy.
And the new Mayor must never forget how to cross East 7th Street.
Dan you have been a big supporter of Green the past two years. What are you saying?
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