Plainfield Symphony features Strauss Saturday

Salome's dance, as interpreted by Art Nouveau artist Aubrey Beardsley.

 

The Plainfield Symphony continues its 95th season with a program featuring Richard Strauss tone poems this Saturday evening.

Of particular interest will be Salome's Dance of the Seven Veils, drawn from Strauss' opera Salome, whose eroticism scandalized audiences when it premiered in 1905. That opera was based on a French translation of Oscar Wilde's play of the same name.

Strauss' opera in one act not only featured the erotic dance section, but concluded with Salome kissing the severed head of John the Baptist and declaring her love for him.

The program also includes Beethoven's Piano Concerto 3, performed by this year's YPCNJ winner Allen Yueh.

All is under the baton of PSO conductor Charles Prince.

The Plainfield Symphony Orchestra performs at Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church, East 7th Street and Watchung Avenue. (Parking in the church lot, on the street, or in Swain Galleries lot.)

Tickets: $50/Reserved, $30/General admission, $20/Seniors/Students; under 12 free. Info: (908) 561-5140 or visit the PSO website: plainfieldsymphony.org/.

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

Drake House hosts meeting on Raritan Valley tourism Saturday

City crews recently trimmed the trees in from of the Drake House.

Plainfield's Drake House will host the November meeting of the Raritan-Millstone Heritage Alliance this Saturday. The Alliance has as its goal increased awareness and tourism in the watershed communities of the Raritan and Millstone Rivers.

Author Jason Slesinski will give a special presentation at 9:30 AM on his new book Along the Raritan River: South Amboy to New Brunswick, which is part of Arcadia Publishing's photographic series.

The Alliance meeting gets under way at 10:00 AM. The Historical Society of Plainfield recently joined the Alliance and this is the first time it is hosting a meeting.

The public is invited. The Drake House Museum at 602 West Front Street (at the foot of Plainfield Avenue) is open to the public Sunday afternoons from 2:00 - 4:00 PM, and at other times by appointment. For more information, call (908) 755-5831 or visit the website at drakehouseplainfieldnj.org/.

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

Why I don't miss Buffalo

That is a wall of snow approaching downtown Buffalo.
The view is from high up in City Hall, looking northwest.
(Image by WBEN, Buffalo's NBC affiliate. Click to enlarge.)

 
No matter how bad, Plainfield winters cannot top Buffalo in my book.

Having grown up in Chautauqua County, the westernmost county in New York state, I have seen plenty of snow. Enough for a lifetime, actually.

So, when I saw the NBC picture above, evidently taken from high up in the tower of Buffalo's City Hall, I recalled why I don't miss those Lake Erie winters.

That is literally a wall of snow on the left -- you can see just a small bit of Lake Erie in the right middle of the picture.

The current storm has so far dropped four to six feet of snow and Gov. Cuomo has declared a state of emergency in three counties: Chautauqua, Erie (Buffalo) and Cattaragus. 136 miles of the NY Thruway is closed and nothing is moving.

Dunkirk and Fredonia, the two towns closest to where I grew up, have both issued travel bans.

The picture below is taken from the Dunkirk Observer newspaper's building (on the right) looking north on Central Avenue. The avenue ends in State Route 5, known locally as Lake Shore Drive, which runs left to right just beyond the farthest building shown. The end of Central Avenue is a pier into Dunkirk Harbor, which cannot even be seen here.

The view towards Lake Erie from the Dunkirk Observer building.
(Image: Dunkirk Observer.)

 
Even the worst Plainfield winter can't begin to come close.

Dunkirk and Fredonia, near where I grew up, are at the top center.
Buffalo would be above the upper right corner of this map.

\

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

Battleground Plainfield: Fulop courting Mapp

Mayor Fulop courts Mayor Mapp.

Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp is an invited guest at a private dinner of 'mayoral heavy hitters' to be hosted by Jersey City mayor Steve Fulop this Wednesday during the League of Municipalities annual conference in Atlantic City.

News of the exclusive dinner meeting broke in the Ledger on Sunday in The Auditor's column (see here), which included a partial list of attendees.

As I suggested after last June's primary election (see post here), Plainfield looks to be a battleground in the 2017 gubernatorial race if Fulop is among the field of candidates.

Fulop has made little secret of his intention to run for governor in 2017 and his wily communications team have kept his name in the public eye. I spotted three stories in the past few days -- here denying he is behind a website urging a run for Guv; here saying he will 'punt' on a Guv run; and here, palling around with powerbroker Brian Stack.

The annual Atlantic City event, famed for its power networking evening receptions of pols and players, is the perfect place to advance a candidate's gubernatorial prospects. With everyone who is anyone gathered in one place, the lure is irresistible.

Sen. Steve Sweeney, also rumored to be preparing a run, will be toasted at a cocktail reception tonight being hosted by his benefactor George Norcross and wealthy Hoboken councilor Beth Mason.

Not to be outdone, a third potential candidate, Philip Murphy, will also host a by-invitation-only event at the League conference. Murphy, a heavy-hitter in Democratic fundraising circles, is a Goldman Sachs alum (as was Jon Corzine) and former ambassador to Germany.

All these goings-on will be putting pressure on Plainfield Assemblyman Jerry Green, who is chair of the local and Union County Democratic Committees.

Green recently posted on his blog a hand-written bread-and-butter note from Murphy (see here) that may come back to haunt the former ambassador or Jerry -- or both.

Green also has close ties to Sweeney and the Norcross element, so it will be interesting to see which way he goes. Norcross 'wheeled' $32,000 to Jerry through then-Speaker Joe Roberts to aid in Sharon Robinson-Briggs' initial run for mayor in 2005 (see the wayback post here).

No one needs to be reminded Green has bet on the wrong horse before -- he backed Hillary Clinton against Barack Obama, and Linda Greenstein against Bonnie Watson Coleman.

So, will Plainfield be a battleground in the next Guv race? Stay tuned.

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

A Medicare surprise at the doctor's office

Medicare is tightening up on costs.

I wonder if other Plainfield Medicare patients will have the surprise I got at a doctor's visit on Friday.

Due for my regular quarterly checkup and meds renewals, an office assistant sat with me before the doctor's visit and presented me a card that is being given out to all Medicare patients.

On it were the number and hours for the doctor's office and an 800-number to call if a concern arises when the doctor's office is closed. I was told a live person would answer and discuss my issue. The resolution could be --

• telling me to arrange for a visit to the doctor the next available day;
  
  
• actually getting the doctor on the phone for a 3-way conversation and resolution; or
  
  
• calling 911 for an ambulance.

When the doctor saw me, he explained that Medicare was moving to control costs by encouraging patients not to use the Emergency Room as their go-to option when the doctor's office is closed.

I like to think that I don't abuse the ER -- the next to last time I visited one was 43 years ago and I was sent home with an appendix about to rupture; the last time I visited one, they cut my leg off -- but I could see the point of controlling costs.

Then he told me that I would be screened for two additional concerns to Medicare: Depression and being a fall risk.

The depression issue we disposed of in 'No' answers to three brief questions -- at the end of which the doctor said, 'I didn't think we were going to find a problem here'.

The fall-risk assessment was a little trickier.

I would have to stand on a platform that moves ever so slightly and measures your reaction. Hands at your side, once with eyes open, once closed.

The doctor told me before the test that I would need a further screening regardless; because of my prosthesis I am considered a fall risk.

When I asked why Medicare didn't already have a profile for me, he said they don't have a database and probably are building it.

This I found somewhat odd, since I have been evaluated for being a fall risk at several points since my amputation --

• At JFK after the surgery and after heavy-duty pain meds had been withdrawn, so I could get in and out of bed on my own;
  
  
• At Aristacare, where I was sent for rehab before I could be discharged to home;
  
  
• At home, by Muhlenberg's Home Health service before I could be considered completely discharged; and
  
  
• By JFK as part of my outpatient physical therapy program.

So, what's not to know about my being a fall risk?

Medicare is wonderful, but I do wonder sometimes if the left hand knows what the right hand is doing.

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

Sat/Sun: FiOS problems hit CLIPS, Plainfield Today

Remember these?

 

Problems with FiOS put Plainfield Today and CLIPS out of commission on Saturday. Though I have been able to post briefly, the issues are still not solved completely.

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

Plainfield architectural details photo exhibit opens Saturday

Fancy brickwork on a Madison Avenue mansion is one example
of Plainfield's architectural heritage.

 

The Plainfield Public Library's 9th annual photo contest exhibit opens this Saturday morning with a reception in the Anne Louise Davis Gallery from 10 AM to Noon.

This year's theme is 'Roofs, Chimneys and Architectural Details of Plainfield'. According to Library Director Joe Da Rold, more entries were submitted this year than in any previous contest.

Both amateur and professional photographers participate and awards are given in several categories. With prizes funded by the Friends of the Plainfield Public Library, the contest gathers annual contributions to an ongoing photographic record of Plainfield's daily life, people and activities.

The exhibit is available for viewing by the public during normal library hours and will hang through the end of the month.

The Plainfield Public Library is at Park Avenue and West 8th Street and is an accessible facility. Parking is available in the 8th and 9th Street lots.

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

St. Mary's, PAS winter coat giveaways this weekend

St. Mary's, PAS coat drives are this weekend.

 

With cold weather approaching, two Plainfield organizations are holding winter coat giveaways this weekend: St. Mary's Church and Plainfield Action Services.

Your donations of gently used winter outerwear -- including coats, caps, gloves and scarves -- would be most welcome.

All sizes and ages are needed. Children's wear is especially needed at PAS, and men's coats and jackets at St. Mary's.

Coats must have working zippers and closures and be without rips or tears.

PLAINFIELD ACTION SERVICES

The 7th Annual Coat Drive is being run in cooperation with the Union County chapter of Jack & Jills. The giveaway is set for Saturday, Nov. 15, from 10 AM - 1 PM at PAS, City Hall Annex first floor. To make a donation, please call PAS at (908) 753-3519.

ST. MARY'S CHURCH

The coat giveaway this year will be on Sunday, Nov. 16. from 2:30 - 4:30 PM. Items may be donated in advance by dropping off in the basement of St. Mary's School, West 6th & Liberty Streets. For more information, call the church office at (908) 756-0085.

Please check your closets and help if you can.

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

Teachers' contract: A hopeful sign?

Signs in support of Plainfield's teachers union are sprouting up.

Plainfield Today reader JoAnn Bandomer recently shared a photo of the sign above on her Facebook page. It strikes me as a hopeful sign in the overlong struggle by the Plainfield Education Association (PEA), the union representing the district's teachers and staff, to get a new contract.

JoAnn and her husband Ken are both retired from service in the Plainfield Public Schools and fondly remembered by many PHS graduates. Their support of our kids and our community is an inspiration and plunking this sign on their front yard is just one more example of stand-up people standing up for fairness.

I am an indefatigable enthusiast of public schools and unions.

I believe the invention of free public education in America to be one of its chief contributions to democratic societies worldwide.

If I had not learned my 'reading, writing and 'rithmetic' in the humble three-room country schoolhouse I attended, there would have been no Yale or George Washington University in my future. There would have been no future really, and no participation in the stew of American political life. So, three cheers for public education -- and the teachers who devote their lives to it.

My father went to work as a welder in a locomotive factory at age 15 in the middle of the Great Depression after his father died behind the plow in his fields one summer afternoon.

It rivaled Blake's dark satanic mills. Through the struggles of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, a union was formed that wrestled a 40-hour work week, fair treatment and shop rules from the owners. Thanks to the CIO, our family was able to enter the middle class, to own a home, to make way for the kids to go to college. Hurrah for the unions!

Over the past fifty years, the gains that trade unions made have been steadily eaten into. One can no longer even think that a job in industry could pave the way into the middle class or last into the indefinite future.

The situation is somewhat better for public worker unions -- though unions are under attack here, too -- primarily through the drive for charter schools and against tenure practices.

The Plainfield Education Association (PEA) has conducted several informational pickets outside PHS over the course of the negotiations, but no progress has been reported.

Of course wages and working conditions are at the heart of the negotiations, and members of the public are encouraged by the likes of Chris Christie and others to think of teachers as incompetent, greedy and unfairly sheltered by contract provisions.

Well, there are always at least two sides to the story. The union has not always been good at getting its issues and its point of view out front -- and the Plainfield union is no exception.

I remember the employees of the municipal bus company where I went to college were deadlocked over contract negotiations with the owners. The owners had gone to court and gotten an order forbidding a strike as the buses provided an 'essential public service'.

The drivers and others picketed the business at the car barns in a really out-of-the way location. And it seemed fruitless.

It was only after they began to hand out leaflets to the general public at the main bus stops in the downtown area that the company sensed an impending public relations disaster and settled with the union.

I have long thought that the PEA needed to reach out more to the community to show that what is good for the teachers is good for the school district and ultimately for the whole society.

Perhaps the PEA should consider holding its informational pickets on Kenyon Avenue before school, while students are arriving. The discussion that would generate would be truly an exercise in small-d democracy.

And negotiations might move along more quickly.

In the meantime, the yard signs such as the one sported by Ken and JoAnn Bandomer are a good idea, and a hopeful sign.

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

Veterans Day: Ceremony and Center Dedication

 

Plainfield will observe Veterans Day today in two parts --

• At 10:30 AM, there will be a gathering at the Veterans Memorial at City Hall in observance of the end of hostilities of the First World War and to commemorate the service of all veterans.
  
  
• At Noon, there will be a Dedication and Grand Opening of the Plainfield Veterans Center adjacent to the Senior Center, at 400 East Front Street.

All are warmly invited to join Mayor Adrian Mapp at both events.

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

Council considers foreclosed properties crisis

This property on East 6th Street behind Grace Episcopal Church...

... and this one on Kenyon Avenue have been vacant for years.

Plainfield City Council is slated to take up tonight two ordinances (MC 2014-34 and MC 2014-35) proposed by the Mapp administration to deal with the issue of vacant and abandoned properties and the crisis of foreclosures in the city.

How serious a problem is foreclosed properties?

When I discussed the issue in September 2012, I found 578 Plainfield properties in the foreclosure process (see post here). When I reviewed the issue again this past August, after we were supposedly recovering from the real estate crash, there were nearly 900 Plainfield properties in foreclosure proceedings.

Many of these properties are in unkempt, unsecured and potentially unsafe condition. Not only are they a visual blight on their neighborhoods, they depress the value of the homes of neighbors who may wish or need to put their properties on the market.

As I pointed out in the August post, other towns in New Jersey have begun to tackle the issues with the creation of vacant property registries and stiff fines for owners -- whether individuals, lenders or mortgage servicers -- who do not properly maintain the properties. This past week, Trenton under Mayor Eric Jackson became the latest New Jersey city to adopt regulations setting up a registry and fines.

Plainfield's proposed registry ordinance would require vacant and foreclosed properties to be registered within 30 days, with an initial annual fee of $500 (which would rise to a maximum of $5,000 per annum after the third year). Owners planning to rehab or renovate a property within 12 months could have the fee waived, but would be liable for it if the work were not completed in a timely fashion (an instance on Field Avenue comes to mind).

Violators of the ordinance would be subject to a maximum fine of $1,000 for every day the violation exists or is not remedied.

Sounds stiff, but strong medicine is needed for foreclosed properties such as those pictured above, especially when the lenders and others responsible for them simply thumb their noses at the community.

The second ordinance specifically addresses the issues of properties in foreclosure proceedings, closing loopholes and asserting the municipalitiy's right to have accurate information on file concerning parties responsible for maintenance.

A quick scan raised two questions:

• First, MC2014-34 refers to a 'register of all dwelling units of vacant housing', but later in the ordinance refers to both residences and other types of buildings. Are all the subject of the ordinance, or just residential?
  
  
• Secondly, the penalties outlined in the new proposed Section 10.a seem to be at variance with Section 4.17 (Penalties), which appears to recapitulate a previous ordinance. Do the new penalties supersede the older ones? Should the older ones be removed? Or is there no conflict?

These ordinances should be welcomed warmly by the Council and without contention. However, this being Plainfield, one waits with baited breath.

City Council meets in a double-header session at 7:30 PM tonight in the Council Chambers/Courthouse at Watchung Avenue and East 4th Street.

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

AJ and Big Al hit the bull's-eye

Plainfield Municipal Clerk 'AJ' Jalloh and CFO Al Steinberg (known to all as 'Big Al') both hit the bull's-eye with Monday's City Council agenda.

AJ is to be congratulated for sending out not only the agenda for the meeting, but for the first time ever the actual backup documents for the public. You can see the complete agenda and backup documents (resolutions, ordinances and correspondence) here. If you want to follow the Council meetings, be sure to get on AJ's 'Clerk's Blast' email list.

This is a landmark for transparency in Plainfield government and AJ and the Mapp administration are to be congratulated! Sadly, this progress will come with some cost -- interested parties will no longer have to schlep over to the Plainfield Public Library on a Saturday morning to look through the backup materials. But we'll soldier on, somehow.

'Big Al' Steinberg is following through on the report he and auditor Bob Swisher of Supplee Clooney made to the Council concerning fiscal housecleaning following the audit of calendar year 2013.

Steinberg has a total of nine resolutions on the agenda, cleaning up a number of issues that have been noted in annual audits for years. For the first time, it seems that there is combined gumption enough between the CFO, the administration and the Council to actually address the issues.

I suspect, however, that the new procedure for handling cash payments will not be popular with the public, who now will have to include a trip to the Tax Collector's office, who will be the only folks to actually take cash. While this will no doubt stop the 'seepage' of loose cash mysteriously disappearing from various locales, it will be a definite inconvenience for the paying public, who will have to return a receipt to the original office showing they paid for the fee or service.

The agenda is quite long, and considering this is a combined agenda-fixing and business session for the Council, you might want to consider bringing a sleeping bag.

City Council meets Monday evening at 7:30 PM in the Council Chambers/Courthouse at Watchung Avenue and East 4th Street.

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

Benefit concert Saturday for Crescent Soup Kitchen

The Tim Keyes Concort in a benefit concert Saturday.

Members and volunteers from Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church serve over 200 homeless and hungry families and individuals a hot lunch every Tuesady -- in addition to handing out bag lunches daily.

A benefit concert Saturday evening by the Tim Keyes Consort will help to fund this much-needed and worthwhile ministry.

The group will present Keye's 'New England Tapestry', composed for chorus and small orchestra at 8 PM. A free will offering will be taken. The performance is open to the community and no tickets or reservations are needed. This musical offering is just another example of why Plainfield was recently recognized as one of America's 'caring communities'.

Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church, Watchung Avenue at East 7th Street. Parking in the church lot on First Place, on the street, or in Swain Galleries lot.

A reception in the Guild Hall follows the performance.


You can preview a section of the presentation in the YouTube video below.

---

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

Jerry Green on the way out as Union County Dem chair?

Has Jerry Green set up his own demise as County chair?

Are Jerry Green's days as chair of the Union County Democratic committee numbered?

That seems a likely outcome after Jerry Green's humiliating defeats in the Linden mayoral race and Plainfield's Ward 2/3 and Board of Ed races on Tuesday.

If there ever was hope on the part of Union County's backroom power elite that Jerry would manage to bring a sense of stability and less open revolt -- if not true peace -- among restive progressive Democrats, those prospects are now seen to be definitively smashed.

And pretty much by Jerry's own hand.

The first thing he did after Adrian Mapp was sworn in as Plainfield mayor was to go on the attack -- not only against Mapp, which could be expected, but against his former political boss Charlotte De Filippo. In Union County politics, one simply does not bite the hand that fed you. The attack on Charlotte gave the bigwigs pause.

The second knock on Jerry is that he isn't half the politician Charlotte was. Charlotte was tough as nails, and all about getting Charlotte's way. But she was far more nuanced than Jerry and had more than one tool in her toolbox -- she could wheedle and flatter as well as slash and stomp.

Jerry, on the other hand, has shown that he only understands one tool -- the hammer. And, as they say, to someone who only has a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Pound, pound, pound.

Jerry completely misses the point of Machiavelli's advice to the prince: Your subjects must both love and fear you. Not one or the other, but both.

Then there is the matter of Jerry's insecurity.

Like Richard Nixon, there is no there there. Jerry Green has no interest in life other than political domination. He has no friends, no hobbies, no intellectual pursuits, no charitable activities, no uplifting concerns such as youth or education or jobs training -- or even affordable housing, for which he has legislative oversight.

Sen. Lesniak is suave, charming and interested in a wide range of activities beside politics. Nick Scutari and Joe Cryan are fun to hang out with and can be bon vivants. Even Linda Stender used to have great beer parties at Fanwood's fabled Sun Tavern.

And Jerry? Fuhgeddaboudit.

Now that Sen. Lesniak and Mayor Chris Bollwege have brought the Elizabeth Board of Ed to heel with their victory on Tuesday, and now that Joe Cryan will have plenty of free time on his hands as Sheriff of Union County, how secure can Jerry's hold on the Union County chairmanship be?

The powers-that-be in Union County are no doubt drawing the conclusion that while things could be better, they probably couldn't be worse.

Union County Dems will elect new committee members countywide at next June's primary election, following which a chair for the next two years will be chosen.

Time for Jerry Green to watch his own back.

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

Jerry Green gives himself 4 black eyes on Election Day

Jerry Green gives himself four black eyes.

 

Plainfield and Union County Democratic chair Assemblyman Jerry Green managed to give himself not one but four black eyes on Election Day 2014.

Rebecca Williams won re-election to the Wards 2/3 at-large seat despite several maneuvers by Green to undermine her -- a sneaky robocall the night before the election (which I wrote about here) and covert backing of a Republican candidate for the seat, Plainfield attorney Bill Michelson. (The buzz is Jerry promised Michelson a judgeship for running -- we'll see.) Not only did Williams swamp Michelson -- 3743 to 562 in unofficial numbers -- she bested Green's handpicked Ward 3 candidate Gloria Taylor in that wards polling. Black eye number one.

Jerry Green's 4-5-6 Board of Ed team performed miserably against the Children First Team of David Rutherford, Carletta Jeffers and Terrence Bellamy, with the Rutherford team beating out Green's crew by about a 3-2 margin. Only in Wards 4 and 1 was the Green team able to edge out Children First, and in Ward 1 it was by just a handful of votes. But Children First took Wards 2 and 3 with solid leads to bring home the bacon. Black eye number two.

In Linden, Jerry Green had made a sleazy attempt to undercut mayoral candidate (and sitting councilor) Derek Armstead by obscuring his name on Democratic campaign literature. Armstead's crime? The sitting Democrat had bested the Green machine's pick in the Primary. Despite becoming the official Democratic candidate in the general election (just like Rebecca Williams in Plainfield), Armstead was faced with Green's back-door techniques -- which failed. Black eye number three.

Lastly, Green had backed Linda Greenstein against Bonnie Watson Coleman for the Congressional seat of retiring Rush Holt. Green was embarrassed into backing Watson Coleman -- who has ties to Plainfield -- when Mayor Adrian Mapp beat him to the punch with his endorsement of Watson Coleman this past spring. Green has smouldered about the defeat ever since, and folks suspect he has set up Councilors Gloria Taylor, Bill Reid and Vera Greaves to oppose Mapp at every turn. Watson Coleman walked to victory on Tuesday. Black eye number four.

The question on everyone's mind is whether Jerry Green is just off his game or whether he is becoming a bit senile. Soon to be 76, he is the 'old man' of the Legislature. Is it showing?

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

Jerry Green's last-minute sneak attack on Councilor Williams

A recent mailer from Jerry Green supporting Democratic
candidates says 'We've got their backs'. Hah!

Our old friend and Plainfield Democratic committee chair Assemblyman Jerry Green mounted a sneak attack on Councilor Rebecca Williams with a robocall on Monday by Green's Board of Ed team advising residents not to vote for Williams in today's General Election.

Williams, who won the Democratic primary by beating back Jerry Green's handpicked candidate in June, is in location 8-A in the Democratic column A for the at-large seat in Wards 2 and 3.

The attack comes just days after Jerry Green told Courier News reporter Sergio Bichao: 'As chairman of the party it's my job to support all Democrats in the party'. You can read more in Sergio's roundup election story here (scan down to the Union County section).

So, since when does 'all' mean 'some'? Or 'only the ones I like'?

As I see it, there are just two ways to understand Jerry's action.

Either he is a conniving, lying snake in the grass or he is entering his dotage.

I hesitate to suggest the third most powerful person in the Legislature could be a conniving liar.

So, it must be the other option.

In any event, you can show your support for truth, justice and the American way by voting today for Rebecca Williams on row 8-A.

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

Handy takealong guide for tomorrow's voting

Plainfield Councilor Rebecca Williams has put together a handy takealong guide for voting on Tuesday for Wards 2 and 3 voters. Just click on the image above, print it out and fold for your pocket or purse to help you in the booth. Ward 1 and 4 voters will not find Rebecca on their ballots.

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

Improvements planned for Seventh Street intersections

'Vehicle image detection'?

Plainfield's West 7th Street corridor is slated for $785,000 in improvements at three intersections through a grant announced by the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders at its meeting this past Thursday.

The grant, from the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, is for improvements at the intersections of West 7th with Central, Plainfield and Grant Avenues.

Included will be new 12" LED traffic signals, poles and mast arms; controllers and cabinets with battery back-up power, as well as mounted street name signs, vehicle image detection, LED pedestrian countdown signals and push button crossing controls. The end result will appear much like the upgraded intersection of Park Avenue and Seventh Street, done in recent years.

The Central Avenue intersection may also expect to get ADA-compliant handicapped corner cuts with rubberized detectable warning mats and storm water grate upgrades. The mats are already in place at Plainfield and Grant Avenues.

Vehicle image detection? Sounds like a fancy way of saying red light cams, to me.

Get ready!

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.

Tasty Cheese comes to the Strand

New eatery on East Front Street.

 

Plainfield's newest eatery is coming. Caught this sign-maker's truck Friday mounting an illuminated sign on the front of the former Strand Theater on East Front Street, now to become home to an eatery to be known as Tasty Cheese.

So at least the commercial kitchen installed there a couple of years ago but never (to my knowledge) used will get  workout. But what about the old arcade and pinball machines?

---

  -- Dan Damon [follow]

View today's CLIPS here. Not getting your own CLIPS email daily? Click here to subscribe.