Is Plainfield Latino barking up an imaginary tree?

A sample of Newark's municipal ID card.

 

Plainfield Latino's Norman Ortega published an intriguingly titled post Friday concerning Plainfield's new Community ID cards (see his post here).

"North Plainfield Mayor asks Mapp to discuss IDs" promises more in its headline that it delivers in the story.

Saying he "met with" North Plainfield Mayor Michael Giordano at a borough carwash (that suggests a planned meeting, the story seems to indicate they bumped into each other), Ortega relates a conversation concerning Plainfield's new community ID card.

Doing a little freelance ambassadoring, Ortega asked Giordano if the borough would accept the Plainfield IDs as a proper form of identification.

Giordano seems to have politely indicated he was willing to discuss the idea with Plainfield mayor Adrian O. Mapp.

That is not the same thing as Giordano asking Mapp to have a meeting to discuss the matter. Was Giordano Interested? Was he waffling? We can't really tell from Ortega's recitation of the events.

And what about the North Plainfield Borough Council? Surely they would have something to say about the matter? Not a mention.

Did Ortega relay this conversation to Mayor Mapp? We don't know from the post, but it doesn't seem likely.

How is Mayor Mapp supposed to find out about this supposed interest on Giordano's part? By reading Plainfield Latino? That's not the way governments do business.

The entire discussion of municipal identification cards in New Jersey has assumed that a municipality may issue a form of identification for its own residents which would be good for as far as its writ runs -- meaning the boundaries of that community only.

Ortega's suggestion changes the original intention of having a "municipal" ID card altogether.

Seems to me Mr. Ortega is barking up an imaginary tree.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Chris/tina's World

This meme on Christie, which surfaced after his
New Hampshire primary defeat, is a riff on a famous painting...

Plainfield art lovers may find a somewhat bitter irony in the "Chris Christie's World" meme that surface on the web after Christie's poor showing in the New Hampshire Republican primary on Tuesday.

The painting (shown above) appeared on MAD Magazine's website on June 30, 2015 (see here), when Christie's campaign was confidently looking forward.

The piece is a riff on mid-20th century American painter Andrew Wyeth's "Christina's World," which hangs at MoMA in New York (see here).

Andrew Wyeth's 1948 painting was of a Maine neighbor.

Wyeth's painting was wildly popular in the 1950s (I remember it being on the cover of a coffee table art book of the period). Its somewhat mysterious air always intrigued me, and I learned that the 'Christina' of the painting was a neighbor of Wyeth's in South Cushing, Maine, one of the two locations in which he did his painting (the other being Chadds Ford, PA).

Christina had been crippled (some say by polio) as a young woman and Wyeth is said to have been inspired to paint the scene after he saw her crawling across the lawn from a window. She was actually picking blueberries when he saw her, though the painting does not convey this.

Knowing that Christina had "mobility issues' (to use today's terminology) makes the Wyeth picture poignant, suggesting Christina's world is made small and difficult by her physical disability. But Wyeth intended that it would also suggest she had a rich and indomitable spirit (see here).

Christie's campaign was in an upbeat mood when MAD Magazine did the riff, and he is seen lying on his back, presumably daydreaming of being in the White House.

Juxtaposing the image with Christie's defeat and withdrawal from the presidential campaign puts it in a somewhat different and more cruelly ironic light -- he will never make it to the house on the rise, no matter how hard he crawls.

Whereas, we suspect that the real Christina, painstakingly and with great difficulty, did.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Christie: Buster Bluster comes back home

Back to the real reality show...
(Photo, Star-Ledger).

 

Plainfield and all of New Jersey have suffered neglect for the past year while Chris Christie (Buster Bluster) was off chasing presidential windmills.

He has now returned to his post as governor of the Garden State after finishing near the end of the pack in the New Hampshire Republican primary.

The media are full today of stories of what went wrong, what he's facing as governor after a year of neglect, and what his prospects are for the future (see CLIPS here for a range of articles).

Will he govern well for the balance of his term? Will he continue to jockey for higher office (VP, Senate, a cabinet post)? Will he resign to become a Fox News talking head?

The decent thing to do would be to make up for the neglect the state has suffered whie he was chasing his ambition.

But I'm not terribly hopeful.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Lent begins today

Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return...

Toay is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the forty-day period of Lent which observant Christians mark as a time of spiritual discipline and reflection in preparation for the remembrance of Jesus' passion and death and the celebration of his resurrection on Easter.

ASHES AND ASHES TO GO

Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran (as well as some other) churches mark the beginning of Lent with a service known as the Imposition of Ashes. With prayers and readings to open the season, parishioners then come forward to have a cross marked on their foreheads in ashes to the words, "Remember, dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return."

If you are in a busy urban location, you may see Anglican clergy distributing ashes at street corners, bus stops and train stations, in an effort to bring the season to busy commuters that is dubbed "Ashes to go".

The ashes used on Ash Wednesday are traditionally made by burning leftover palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday. Hardcore clergy use the thumb to impose the ashes, though some are adopting a more dainty makeup brush (mustn't get our fingers dirty, after all).

LENT AT CRESCENT AVENUE

Rev. Lynn Santulli, pastor of Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church, kindly sent along some details on Lenten services at CAC. (Check the websites of other churches for their Lenten offerings.)

During Lent, CAPC will be offering a series of worship experiences that are out of the box, some new twists on ancient themes:

Ash Wednesday - traditional Ash Wednesday service at 7:30 pm. A pilgrim's meal of simple soup/bread will be served from 6-7 pm. In addition, there will be a Lighted Labyrinth which will be open from 5-9 pm in the Assembly Room. The labyrinth is a self guided journey of prayer through a path that is marked by luminaries. Soft music plays in the background as participants spend time in quiet meditation and prayer and make 'stops' along the path to reflect on various Lenten themes.  The Lighted Labyrinth's popularity has grown each year and people have considered it an incredibly moving experience.

Lenten Vespers - each Wednesday during Lent we will have an evening service of light beginning at 7 pm. February 17 will have a young pianist provide improv as we follow the traditional liturgy. On February 24 and March 2 Ernie Scott, the acclaimed pianist, will offer the musical settings for a jazz vespers, and then March 9 and 16 Allen Artz, our resident musician, will offer traditional vespers.

Tim Keyes Consort will be holding a special concert on Sunday, March 6 at 3 pm which provides musical reflections on Lent, Tenebrae.

POPE FRANCIS' LENTEN SURPRISE

Pope Francis has brought a breath of fresh air to Roman Catholic faithful, but some in the church have been made uncomfortable by his emphasis on serving the poor, living holy lives and caring for the earth.

How to tell if your parish is in with Francis' vision?

This past December, Pope Francis issued a letter announcing to the church that beginning with Lent 2016, the Maundy Thursday service of footwashing is to be open to women and girls as well as men and boys (see story here).

The service is observed in many churches in commemoration of Jesus washing his disciples feet at the Last Supper, at which time he said, "A new commandment I give you..." Maundy is a corruption of the Latin "mandatum" or commandment.

Maundy Thursday this year falls on March 24. If your parish makes the changes ordered by Francis, you will know which side you are on.

ARE SOCIAL MEDIA THE NEW CHOCOLATES?

Back in the dark ages when I was a kid, Lent meant "giving up" something you cared about. Chocolates was a favorite sacrifice by my grade school pals.

But times have changed. Someone has suggested that our obsession with texting and other social media make them a prime target for a meaningful discipline for today's Lent. See a story on the idea here.

Give up Facebook for Lent? Now, that would be a sacrifice.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Council passes Community ID Card, moves sick leave forward

The city's seal will not be allowed on privately issued ID cards.

The hottest topics at Monday's Plainfield City Council were, as expected, the Plainfield Community ID Card and the proposed sick leave ordinance. A fiscal maneuver provided a little comic relief.

COMMUNITY ID CARD

Plainfield's new Community ID Card ordinance (MC201601) generated an unusual amount of comment at the hearing on its second reading.

The Council chambers were packed with supporters of the ID card measure rallied by Flor Gonzalez' Latin American Coalition and PACHA, the city's advisory commission on Hispanic affairs (which she also chairs).

Speakers at the public hearing on the ordinance were uniformly in favor of an ID card. There was some special pleading by Carmen Salavarrieta of Angels for Action, who has been issuing an ID card since the administration of former mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs. (Some of the confusion arises from Robinson-Briggs' loosey-goosey management style; she never bothered with establishing an ordinance, rather designating Salavarrieta by fiat, somewhat as Queen Elizabeth selects her TP vendors.) Her supporters questioned why Salavarrieta was never contacted for input as the Administration had said it would do. A concern was also raised about what office would handle the program.

Those in favor of the ordinance included Maritza Martinez, owner of Maritza's Boutique on East Front Street, who is also VP of the SID, and Randy Schaeffer, chairman of the board of El Centro Hispanoamericano, the city's oldest Latino community service organization.

At the end of the hearing, Council President Cory Storch did something marvelous -- he neatly and objectively summarized the question he wanted the Administration to address and passed the ball to City Administrator Rick Smiley and Corporation Counsel David Minchello.

Minchello gave brief answers: Can expired documents be used in applying? (No.) How many forms of ID are needed for a card? (One.)  It was made clear that only the city could use its seal on ID cards.

Smiley indicated that possible offices to issue the cards were Plainfield Action Services, the Clerk's office or Vital Statistics, but that no decision had been made yet.

When asked why Salavarrieta had not been consulted, Smiley said the Administration had determined that the city would issue and administer the cards and there was no need to have input from Salavarrieta. It was also pointed out that while she is barred from using the city seal, she is free to continue issuing her cards as she has done in the past -- though they cannot be deemed the city's official card. The latter point was underscored by Councilor Bridget Rivers.

After Councilor Brown said there was "confusion over an important point," the Council took a five-minute break to clarify the issue.

When the vote finally went down at 8:48 PM, it was unanimous in a roll call vote.

PAID SICK LEAVE

The paid sick leave ordinance (MC2016-08) was introduced on first reading -- after a long journey to the action phase.

Speaking against the ordinance in its present form were SID president Nimrod Webb, SID VP Maritza Martinez, SID administrator David Biagini, a local pastor and the owner of Ped-Eze. There were several complaints that a proposal forwarded to the Council was not addressed (I have posted that proposal online here; thanks to Terri Cabbell for supplying a copy).

Forwarding the proposal to the Council was clearly not in line with the way the Council set the process up, which was for representatives of the business community to meet with the Working Families of Plainfield group and hammer out a compromise proposal. Working Families has said meetings were held and they believed there was consensus (after changes were made) on the version now before the Council.

When the vote finally went down, the tally was 5 for and one abstention (Councilor Toliver). Councilor Taylor was absent from Monday's meeting. The ordinance will be up for second reading and final passage at the March 14 Council business meeting.

THE FISCAL TWO-STEP

A little comic relief was provided by a fiscal maneuver regarding Resolution R079-16.

The fly in the ointment was the 19 resolutions awarding contracts to various law firms for work to be done. Corporation Counsel Minchello explained that in order to ensure a smooth flow of the work without interruption, he was proposing the contracts be "frontloaded" in the first quarter's temporary budget appropriation (which can amount to no more than 26.25% of the previous year's budget).

It was necessary to take the resolution out of order --because it adopts the amended temporary budget -- so that the 19 contracts could then be awarded in due manner.

This seemed to mystify a couple of Council members who had trouble grasping that the amount requested by Corporation Counsel was not going to be quadrupled going forward. And these people go through this every year! It really shows when elected officials decline to take the instruction offered by Rutgers to bring them up to speed on the process of governance and their responsibilities.

The Council's next agenda-setting session will take place Monday, March 7 at 7:30 PM in the Council Chambers / Municipal Courthouse at Watchung Avenue and East 4th Street.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Council set to do some heavy lifting tonight

¡Si se puede!

 

Plainfield City Council is set to do some heavy lifting tonight.

Up for passage on final reading are ordinances to --

• Establish a Plainfield Community ID card
• Settle the question of who appoints members to PARSA (Plainfield Area Sewerage Authority"

Up for first reading are ordinances that will --

• Establish two PILOT programs covering the "Oliver Brown property" on South Second Street
• Establish paid sick leave for private employees

Resolutions will --

• Award 17 contracts to various firm for legal services, totalling $290,000
• Establish the 2016 tax rate for Plainfield's Open Space Trust Fund
• Execution of deeds and easements for the South Avenue Gateway project
• Award a contract to study a parking deck on East 2nd Street
• Request the Planing Board to study the block bounded by Madison and Central Avenues between Front and Second Streets
• Authorize Planning Board study of several North Avenue parcels

Whew! (You can views the complete agenda and print out individual items here.)

Most items were forwarded for action at last week's meeting without discussion. Does this mean tonight's meeting will be short and sweet?

In Plainfield?

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Dust Bunnies: Demolition, Water for Flint, Kayaking in Plainfield

The Plinfield Housing Authority is doing it own demolition
at Elmwood Gardens. The work proceeded Wednesday in the rain.

 

Three short news items from recent days.

ELMWOOD GARDENS DEMOLITION

Crews from the Plainfield Housing Authority have begun demolition on the Elmwood Gardens project, schedule to be replaced with townhomes.

The buildings were previsouly remediated for asbestos, as was reported by the HAP engineers to the City Council recently.

WATER FOR FLINT, MICHIGAN

Clinton School students taking part in Plainfield Community Outreach's 21st Century Learning Center Program gathered at Grace Episcopal Church Friday evening to load water to be trucked to Flint, Michigan.

The 4th to 8th grade students learned about civic engagement and the importance of volunteerism, then helped volunteers load donated bottled water onto a truck to be delivered to Triumph Church in Flint for distribution to residents.

Flint has been in the national news for high lead levels in its city water system since a disastrous switch of water sources mandated by the state on the city.

Plainfield Community Outreach (PCO), founded in 1994, is a non-profit organization of Grace Church for its ministries in the community.

KAYAKING IN PLAINFIELD

Kayakers stopping at McDonalds for breakfast Friday
before a run on the Green Brook?

Caught a picture of these two kayaks atop a car in the McDonald's parking lot Friday morning.

Pehaps they were preparing to kayak the might Green Brook??

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Mapp: City surging ahead

Mayor Adrian Mapp delivbers the State of the City Address
as Chief of Staff John Stewart coordinates the presentation.

Most of the Council was present for the special meeting.
(Councilor Williams teaches on Thursdays and could not make it.)

 

Unflapped by a late start caused by equipment problems, Mayor Adrian O. Mapp delivered the annual State of the City Address to a packed house Thursday evening at the Plainfield Senior Center.

Council President Cory Storch opened a special meeting of the Council with members Goode, Rivers, Taylor and Toliver present and immediately turned the program over to Mayor Mapp.

Mapp summarized progress by various departments in the course of 2015 and laid out some themes for 2016 in the Address, which will be posted to the city's website. A taped version will be broadcast on PCTV.

The audience interrupted with applause at several points, especially with reference to the hard work of the DPW in cleaning up January's record 3-inch snowfall.

Some of the most detailed information concerned economic development initiatives, which are finally gaining steam after years of preparation. The city's new rebranding program to attract developers and businesses was also announced, as well as an RFP for developers for the Muhlenberg site.

Of special interest for First and Second Ward residents will be a public meeting with FEMA officials to hear about the updated flood maps -- which should give many property owners relief. I will post more on that meeting as the time approaches.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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State of City Address tonight

Among large-scale non-governmental projects affecting Plainfield
in 2015 are the reconstruction of the Park and Watchung Avenue
NJ Transit overpasses, soon to be completed.

 

Mayor Adrian O. Mapp will deliver the annual State of the City Address tonight, February 4, at 7:00 PM at the Plainfield Senior Center.

The annual address reviews the progress of the various city departments and initiatives in the course of the last year and looks forward to 2016 objectives.

At times in the past, the address was delivered at the annual Council reorganization meeting, which made that meeting overlong for many people.

Following the lead of many other mayors throughout New Jersey, Mayor Mapp is making this a standalone event.

The annual messages are then posted to the city website, and broadcast on PCTV.

The Plainfield Senior Center is at 400 East Front Street. Parking available in the East Second Street lot (mind not to park in residents' spaces!) and on the street.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Date set for Dottie Gutenkauf memorial

Dottie G. (seated) with Councilor Rebecca Williams
and Mother Carolyn Eklund at a Muhlenberg commemoration.

Longtime Plainfield political and community activist Dottie Gutenkauf will be remembered at a memorial service set for Saturday, March 19 at Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church.

As she was unique in life, her memorial will also be out of the ordinary. Dottie's son Jon is planning a multi-media event which will take place both in the church's sanctuary and in the parish hall.

Music being planned includes appearances by a Gilbert & Sullivan group from New York (Dottie and Joe were huge G&S fans), musicians from the Plainfield Symphony and the Plainfield High School Gospel Choir.

Dottie was also an accomplished poet and readings from her work will take place in the parish hall throughout the afternoon.

"We want to give people a variety of ways to honor my mother," Jon said Tuesday, while finalizing arrangements for the space.

Mark your calendars. I will post more details closer to the date itself.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Council gets forgetful

Some councilors seemed forgetful last evening.

 

Plainfield's City Council mostly plowed through a serious agenda on Monday evening without fireworks, and only one moment of confusion and chaos.

While the esteemed Councilors did some heavy lifting (two PILOTs for the South Second Street project, the municipal ID card, a slew of contracts for lawyers and the paid sick leave ordinance), there were odd lapses among several suggesting either forgetfulness, inattention -- or perhaps early onset Alzheimer's.

After the PILOTs for the South Second Street projects were discussed, Councilor Toliver commented that she wanted the Mapp administration to make sure that the first thing the "found money" was to be used for was to reduce property taxes. Director of Finance and Administration Ron West had to remind her that it was the Council's job to tweak the budget to affect the tax rate. Duh!

Municipal Clerk 'AJ' Jalloh noted that Thursday's "State of the City" address constitutes a special meeting of the Council, as the city's special charter requires it to be delivered "before the Council and the public." The Council had forgotten? -- or perhaps they have never read the Charter.

There was some discussion of a resolution setting a 2016 tax rate (2¢ per $100 valuation, or about $22 per ratepayer on average) for the Open Space Fund. Council seemed to have forgotten that once it established the fund by ordinance, a rate needs to be set each year. Last year's had mistakenly been set at 1¢, this year's rate was a correction. The trust fund is intended to accrue over the long term to be used for maintenance and acquisition of open space for the enjoyment of the community.

Council also seemed to have forgotten that in the kerfuffle over the South Avenue Gateway project, members had complained -- bitterly -- that they were unaware of the process the Planning Board had gone through with the project. So, when Economic Development Director Carlos Sanchez explained that the administration was bringing five parcels before the Council to consider for designation as in need of redevelopment, he had to remind them it was because this was the way they said they wanted things to happen.

Likewise, with the South Second Street project, several Councilors seem to have forgotten that the current proposal was not an allowed type of project and would need to be permitted through -- yet another -- amendment of the redevelopment plan for the area.

The most egregious example of Council forgetfulness was the discussion around ordinance MC2016-08, establishing a paid sick leave policy for employees of private businesses.

Councilor Taylor said she was opposed to putting the item on the agenda because "the business community had no input". She further said that a proposed revision was received by the Council but never acted on. She seemed to totally forget that she was the main mover in pushing for the business community to work with the Working Families people to come up with a compromise proposal and that several Council people were to be included in that process. When Taylor said that she was against moving it forward because the business community had been left out, she got pushback.

A spokesperson for Working Families pointed out that meetings had been held with the business community, that every concern they raised had been dealt with by a compromise and the group thought the revised proposal had the assent of the business community. By going around the process established by the Council and forwarding yet another proposed rewrite directly to the Council (leaving Working Families out of the loop), it seems clear the business community was negotiating in bad faith.

The only moment of chaos and confusion during the whole meeting came when a roll call vote was called on the paid sick leave ordinance. When the Clerk got to Councilor Toliver, she voted "Yes, but..." and started to discuss her reservations. Suddenly several Council members were talking all at once, over the top of each other. Councilor Taylor seemed to lose control of the process. Council President Storch banged the gavel but seemed unsure who had the upper hand at the moment -- himself or Taylor.

Finally, Clerk Jalloh intervened and reminded the Council that according to Robert's Rules of Order, there was to be no discussion during a roll call vote. Snapped back to attention, the vote was re-run with the ordinance forwarded to next week's agenda unanimously.

Despite that lapses and the last-minute momentary confusion, Storch can notch another session better run that in the past.

Council's business session is next Monday, February 8, at 8:00 PM in the Council Chambers / Courthouse at Watchung Avenue and East 4th Street.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Congratulations to Chris Estevez, new president of Latino Action Network

Chris Estevez and Analisa Mejia of the Working Families Party
at Saturday's Latino Action Network Legislative Conference.

Plainfield's own Christian Estevez (Chris to everyone) was elected president of the Latino Action Network of New Jersey at the group's second annual Legislative Conference Saturday at the Robert Treat Hotel and Conference Center in Newark.

Latino Action Network is a statewide network of Latino organizations and individual activists (see more about the organization on their website here, and their Facebook page here).

Chris, his wife Rosa and their sons are lifelong Plainfield residents. Chris works for the NJ AFL-CIO at the state level. He is a past committeeman on the Plainfield Democratic City Committee. Rosa works for the Plainfield Public Schools and the whole family is active in the parish life of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church.

Congratulations to Chris and to the Latino Action Network as they move forward!

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Plainfield Dem committee prepares for 2016 season

Plans made for the 2016 campaign season.

 

Chairman Adrian O. Mapp presided at a meeting of the Plainfield Democratic City Committee this past Friday evening at the Plainfield YMCA.

Two vacancies were filled (those of the late Dottie Gutenkauf and David Rutherford, who had to move out of his district after a fire destroyed his apartment). A moment of silence was observed in memory of Dottie Gutenkauf and Lillian Jamar, both of whom passed since the last committee meeting in Octiber.

Chairman Mapp outlined the process for the 2016 City Council nominations, appointing a commitee of seven representing the four wards (I am among them) to screen all candidates interested in running on the party line in the June primary. The committee is charged with presenting a slate of one candidate each for the two seats that are up: Ward 3 and Citywide at-large.

Individuals may indicate their interest in running by emailing their resumes and/or summaries of experience and their reasons for wishing to run to PDCC.correspondence@gmail.com. Put "Council candidacy" in the subject line. The screening committee will make its recommendations by February 24.

Chairman Mapp also reminded those present that he has the privilege of appointing poll workers at the city's 34 voting districts. Those wishing to be poll workers must attend a training session offered by the County Board of Elections. They are on duty on Election DAy in June and November from before 6:00 AM until after the polls close at 8:00 PM. The daily stipend is $200. Those interested in serving should also contact the chairman through the PDCC email at PDCC.correspondence@gmail.com. Please mark the subject line "Poll worker".

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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