Ballot positions for Plainfield Board of Ed election have been drawn

Ballot positions for school board candidates throughout Union County were drawn Monday afternoon, August 14, in the offices of County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi in Elizabeth.
 

The non-partisan school board election takes place on Tuesday, November 7th, which is the date of the general partisan election for local, county and state offices.

The school board candidates appear in a separate box on the ballot form, indicating the positions are nonpartisan.

Six people have filed to run for three three-year Board of Ed seats.

Here is the ballot lineup for Plainfield --

1. Timothy A. Priano
2. Tera Phipps
3. Avania Richardson-Miller
4. William A. (Tony) Contreras
5. Aisha Eustache
6. Harry M. Watson, Jr.

Phipps, Richardson-Miller and Eustache are running as a slate and are endorsed by Plainfield Mayor Adrian O. Mapp, who will be hosting a fundraising reception for them in early September.

As far as I know, the other three candidates are running individually.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Rivers showboats at Council, ignoring a most important issue

Conditional developer resolution was on Monday's agenda.

Though 30 of Monday night's 31 Council resolutions passed unanimously on voice votes with hardly any comment, the one that caused a division among the Council made me think for a moment that we were in the midst of a political campaign. Two of the 11 ordinances up for first reading also got split votes.

The three items that caused comment were the ordinances creating a Manager, Motors position (2017-22)  and a salary band for the position (2017-23), plus a resolution (284-17) authorizing a conditional redeveloper agreement for the Muhlenberg campus project.

Councilor took advantage of the occasions to showboat. She protested -- as she has several times before -- the creation of the position to manage the city's vehicle fleet (which numbers more than 250 vehicles).

Ditto amending the salary ordinance to include a salary band for the new position.

Her approach on the Muhlenberg campus plan was more pro forma. Once Deputy City Administrator for Economic Development Carlos Sanchez assured her the apartments mentioned would be market-rate, Rivers mellowed.

He explained the conditional agreement would give the developer and JFK 120 days to hammer out a final agreement, during which no other developer could make an approach to the project.

Rivers and her faithful minion, Councilor Toliver, voted "no" on the three items -- the only dissent in the whole evening.

Meanwhile, no one commented on the really troublesome resolution (R 273-17) which authorized adjustments in taxes of nearly $305,000 downward owing to tax board judgments. Not only are those taxes adjusted for the current year, the reduction stays in place going forward.

Sooner or later this issue will have to be addressed. The state is watching local communities that have not done revaluations in a long time. Plainfield's number will be coming up -- a prospect no one welcomes.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Plainfield nature photographer's exhibit opens at Library Monday

A dragonfly poses for Carl's camera.

When I was introduced to Plainfield nature photographer Carl Monopoli's work nearly a year ago (see my post here), I immediately put him in touch with the staff of the Plainfield Public Library, thinking his work would make a fabulous exhibit.

Now it has come to pass -- the exhibit opens in the Library's Anne Louise Davis Gallery on Monday, August 14 and runs through October.

Carl lives on one of Plainfield's secluded streets that dead-ends into a woodsy glade forming a boundary with a neighboring town. It also thrives with wildlife, forming the subject matter of Carl's exhibit.

From foxes to snakes, from birds to insects, Carl patiently captures them all.

These stunning photographs have been blown up to exhibit size and will be on display for the next several weeks during the Library's regular hours.

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. For more information about library hours and programs, visit the library's website at www.plainfieldlibrary.info/.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Latin American Independence Fiesta bids to return

Crowds thronged to the bandstand.

Council is set to vote on a resolution (265-17) at Monday's joint agenda/business meeting on a request by Edison Garcia, owner of Faraone's nightclub, to allow a two-day Festival in celebration of Latin American Independence (September 16 and 17) in lots 8 and 8-A between Somerset Street and Watchung Avenue.

Garcia's annual Fiesta, which commenced in 2009 quickly became a smash hit after carnival rides and a petting zoo were added in the next year.

Food, music, kiddie rides and rivers of cerveza made the event enormously popular with the Hispanic community of Plainfield and surrounding towns.

Now, after a hiatus of two years, Garcia aims to reinstate the popular event.

Throngs lined up at the food vendors.

The city adjusted conditions of the permits to bring the music to an end earlier than originally in response to comments from residents that it was too loud and played too late.

The permit application with notes by the city's inspector shows that care has been taken to deal with all possible issues that migh)t arise.

I expect this resolution will pass easily and we can look forward once again to a successful Fiesta.

NOTE: This double session (agenda and business meetings combined gets under way at 7:00 PM at the Courthouse / Council Chamber, East 4th Street and Watchung Avenue. Parking available on the street and in the lot across from the police station.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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