PSO free family concert Saturday features Chen, Ailster

Helen Shen, winner of the Gold Award in 2013's
NJ's Young Pianist Competition

 
The Plainfield Symphony Orchestra's annual free family concert takes place this Saturday (February 8) and will feature pianist Helen Shen and PSO Board member Harry Ailster.

Ms. Shen, the 2013 Gold Award winner of the NJ Young Pianists Competition will be the solo artist in a performance of J.S. Bach's "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in G Minor".

The concert, under the baton of the PSO's music director Charles Prince, will also feature a performance of the ever-popular Benjamin Britten's "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" with narration by Plainfield cultural icon (and PSO board member) Harry Ailster.

The program will be rounded out with Paul Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice".

The annual family concert is free and open to the public. The performance gets under way at 3:00 PM Saturday afternoon at the orchestra's home venue, Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church.

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

---

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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

City website needs a helping hand, a watchful eye, or both...

So, where is 'Message 1'? And what about that hokey 'logo'?

Why does nothing happen when you 'click here'?

Plainfield's website needs a helping hand, a watchful eye, or both.

Things have gotten somewhat better since the advent of the Mapp administration -- at least the banner items on the front page are posted in a more timely fashion.

However, there are oddities that give the impression that no one is keeping an eye on the accuracy of the messages and the expected behaviors of the website.

Take the two screenshots above as an example.

Both are among the current banner items on the front page, but each gives evidence that either no standards are being applied or no one is checking the work before it is posted.

Take the 'Message 2' item with the 'alert' symbol of an exclamation point in a yellow triangle. But what is the point here? Does it mean the user should be looking for 'Message 1'? If so, where would it be? If not, why have the confusing indication at all? I clicked and clicked and failed to get any indication that there was a 'Message 1' to be found.

Secondly, we find that hokey knockoff of the City seal again. One of the points that the Communications Subcommittee made in Mayor Mapp's Transition Report (it's online here) is part of the mission of an Office of Communications is to protect the city's 'brand' -- of which the seal is a prime example. If it's to be used at all, why not use the real McCoy instead of a knockoff that gets the elements all wrong?

Then we have the banner concerning Mayor Mapp's trip to Washington for the US Conference of Mayors winter meeting.

The highlighted 'click here for more informations' does no such thing.  A click where indicated brings up no further information. Why not? Is it missing or was it not intended to be there in the first place?

Shouldn't somebody in a supervisory capacity have caught this before it went online?

Who is minding the store?

Is this the impression we want visitors to our website to have of the City government's professionalism?

I hope not.

---

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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

Sign up for Plainfield's new emergency alerts

The Nixle website is simple and easy to use...

 

Today is the perfect time to sign up for Plainfield's new emergency alert system, which will keep you abreast of weather-related and other emergency situations in Plainfield (and other communities in which you are interested).

The service is offered free to public safety agencies nationwide by Nixle.com, and we have Mayor Adrian Mapp's new police director, Carl Riley, to thank for signing Plainfield up for the service (though Plainfield Today pointed it out over a year ago, the previous administration nixed the idea).

You can receive the alerts by text message or email.

TEXT MESSAGE

To get alerts as a text message on your cellphone, simply text your ZIP code (07060, 07062 or 07063) to 888777.

EMAIL

Nixle will also send alerts to your email.

Simply register online (see here), where you can designate your email, phone number and language you wish to be notified in.

It's all free and incredibly simple.

OTHER USES

You will also find the Nixle site (here) is handy if you want to check conditions in any other community you may be interested in (some place you have to make a business trip to, a distant loved one's community, the town where a child attends college -- you name it).

You may search by ZIP code or town name. (If you searched on 'Plainfield', you would find communities of this name in thirteen states.) Your results will include the town you designate, plus other nearby communities.

Now that the Mapp administration has taken up this handy tool, you will want to become a user.

Do it now, while you're snowed in and thinking of it. You'll be glad you did.

---

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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

Council to dig into LegalShield scheme

From LegalShield's website...

Plainfield City Council is scheduled to discuss the proposal by LegalShield to have the City collect the fees due from city employees who wish the organization's services by way of a payroll deduction.

LegalShield representatives suggest that such an arrangement was promised by the Robinson-Briggs administration; Corporation Counsel Minchello insisted in a public meeting that the City has entered into no such agreement.

In a thoughtful email from resident Alan Goldstein to Mayor Mapp and the members of the City Council, he asks the Council to consider the wisdom of going down this path.

Not only that, Goldstein supplies a link to a business listing for LegalShield on the NJ Business Incubator Network (NJBIN) website (see here).

This is where it gets interesting, as the contact listed for LegalShield is none other than Jeffrey Dunn, who also happens to run Plainfield's The Incubator/The BOSS, which is a member of the NJBIN network. However, the contact information in NJBIN's newsletter for The Incubator (see here) differs from that of the LegalShield listing. Why?

So, some of the questions the Council would do well to have answered include --

• What is LegalShield and what services does it offer its clients?
  
  
• What is the relationship between Mr. Dunn and LegalShield?
  
  
• How does LegalShield qualify as an appropriate activity for a business incubator like The Incubator/The BOSS?

About Legal Shield

LegalShield is a nationwide legal service products firm headquartered in Ada, Oklahoma (see company website here; and Wikipedia article here). Founded in 1972, it has gone through several transformations over the years, being renamed LegalShield in 2011 after being acquired by the private equity firm MidOcean Partners (see more here), which specializes in leveraged buyouts.

As a multi-level marketing company, it markets its products to both individuals and small businesses and individuals are encouraged to recruit others to purchase the firm's services, thereby earning commissions for themselves. As the Wikipedia article notes, the firm has had several scrapes over the years with regulatory authorities over misrepresentations of one sort or another in their marketing. There are no reports of unfavorable actions against the company since MidOcean Partners took over in 2011.

The Council would benefit from probing exactly what services are provided by LegalShield for both its legal services plan and its (newer) identity theft protection plan. What is actually delivered may in fact be far less than prospects believe is being offered.

The Relationship of Dunn and LegalShield

Jeff Dunn's listing for The Incubator in the NJBIN newsletter.

...and his listing for LegalShield in NJBIN's
business-to-business directory. Note the different contact info.

Secondly, the Council should get to the bottom of the relationship between Mr. Dunn and LegalShield.

Does Jeffrey Dunn have a financial relationship with LegalShield?

Does he stand to benefit financially if the premiums of subscribers to LegalShield services are collected by way of a payroll deduction by the City of Plainfield?

It is quite understandable that LegalShield (and Mr. Dunn, if he has a financial relationship with the company) would want the City to collect these premiums by way of payroll deduction as the human proclivity toward inertia would reduce the falloff of subscribers as compared to if they had to be responsible themselves for each individual payment.

Should the City of Plainfield be LegalShield's (or Mr. Dunn's) bill collector?

Is LegalShield Appropriate for a Business Incubator?

Lastly, since Mr. Dunn and/or his surrogates have come before the Council on more than one occasion involving money matters that -- one way or another -- would benefit Dunn, it would be helpful to have a frank discussion of just what sort of ventures are appropriate for a business incubator such as The Incubator/The BOSS.

While many people -- myself among them -- think of incubators as places to nurture fledgling businesses that have made a convincing pitch or demonstration project involving innovation and technology, this seems to be totally absent at The Incubator/The BOSS.

LegalShield is an existing large scale business entity. It operates by drawing in new subscribers for its services -- much like Avon, Amway or Tupperware. Where is the innovation? Where is the use of cutting-edge technology?

How does LegalShield create new jobs for the Plainfield economy? How does it benefit anyone but Mr. Dunn financially?

What is the ROI (return on investment) after all these years of supporting The Incubator/The BOSS for Plainfield?

Getting some clarity on these issues would give the Council and Mayor Mapp's administration a sort of divining rod for moving Plainfield forward.

---

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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

Tonight's Council meeting rescheduled

Snow? What snow?

 

Tonight's Plainfield City Council agenda-fixing session has been rescheduled owing to today's snowstorm.

According to an email received from Municipal Clerk 'AJ' Jalloh shortly after Noon, tonight's meeting has been rescheduled for next Monday, February 10, at 6:00 PM at the Council Chambers-Municipal Court.

Note the time change!

If the Council doesn't have an executive session, we'll be looking at a long evening with a double meeting. If they do have a closed session, you can expect it to be even longer.
Because of the circumstances, sleeping attire will be allowed. As a special treat, Councilor Reid may read us some bedtime stories.

---

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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

Stillman School parking issues more complex than they seem

Some stakeholders in Stillman School neighborhood.

A 1 B C D E F G H I J

Stillman School Existing school parking Club (nights and weekends) Church Amaker & Porterfield Motorcycle Club Live Poultry Market Queen City Tours Auto Shop Check-cashing Store Rex Bedding Parking Lot

Parking has been an issue for Plainfield's Stillman School's teachers and staff for at least thirty years or more. When I moved to Plainfield, my next door neighbor Cindy taught first-grade at Stillman and parking was a hassle then.

But one's attention can drift, and it wasn't until special ed teacher Tania Center brought the matter up at last week's Special Meeting of City Council, that I began to put some of the pieces together.

For instance, that I was nearly hit trying to scoot across the intersection of West 4th Street and Madison Avenue one recent afternoon while school was in session. The reason? The northbound side of West 4th Street from Arlington to Madison was parked solid with vehicles, obscuring the view of oncoming traffic on West 4th. That, plus the tendency of drivers to treat West 4th as a drag strip make this a very dangerous corner indeed.

While Ms. Center's plea seems reasonable, and the actions proposed by the city's traffic bureau (as portrayed by Ms. Center) seemed heavy-handed, no one appeared to be taking the larger view.

That came to mind especially as I read David Rutherford's take on the matter (see his post here), where he stated that Stillman is 'a school that is not on heavily commercial blocks'.

Using the Google map above, let's take a look at the immediate neighborhood and the stakeholders involved and some of the options for addressing the thicket of issues presented by so many users and uses over the course of a normal week.

First, the school itself (A). The building is a compact, handsome example of school design from the 1950s or 1960s. It is the most 'urban' setting of any Plainfield public school building, sharing its small city block with Maple Crest Park, which is actually a fenced-in City playground entirely occupied by basketball courts which are mostly used for pickup games of soccer, with not a maple tree or crest in sight.

The school's footprint includes a parking lot (1) with about 20 spaces and  small fenced-in playground adjacent to and above the grade of the City space.

When compared to more capacious school sitings and buildings, such as Barlow, Woodland and Clinton, one could be forgiven for thinking Stillman seems treated as something of a step-child of the District.

To round out the picture of Stillman School as a stakeholder, we must take into account the students. While many seem to walk to school, and there are traffic jams on West 4th and Madison Avenue at closing time, Arlington Avenue becomes impassable for periods of time at the end of each day as school buses park there, completely blocking traffic while waiting -- with their flashing lights on -- to pick up students.

Next, let's look at residents and other uses in the area.

To the south of the school, along West 5th Street (Route 28) the block between Madison and Arlington is completely occupied by residences, only some of which have garages or onsite parking. The spillover from occupants often occupies the parking on the school's side of West 5th Street.

Arlington Avenue is divided between light industrial buildings near the corner of West 5th and rowhouse multi-family structures in the middle of the block along Arlington to West 4th. Except for one which has one off-street parking space, they are without garages or onsite parking. The occupants park along the opposite side of Arlington from the school.

The building at the corner of West 4th and Arlington houses a club (B) which rents out space for parties and events. With no parking of its own, there is a constant tug-of-war over parking for their weekend and evening users. Many times, the club's renters park illegally on West 4th Street or on Arlington on the school side of the street, creating congestion and problems for area residents.

Crossing West 4th Street, Arlington Avenue is lined on both sides with buildings housing light industrial uses. A portion of one of them has been converted into a very active church (C) that draws considerable numbers of congregants to services throughout the week.

At the very foot of Arlington stands the property where Amaker & Porterfield school buses and other vehicles are stored and maintained (D). Amaker & Porterfield make heavy use of this half-block (as well as the short block of West 3rd connecting it to Madison Avenue) both in the morning and the afternoon as their buses disperse to pick up students or return after their rounds. The short block of West 3rd Street also contains several multi-family rowhouses whose tenants must park on the street.

At the corner of West 3rd and Madison Avenue is another small building used as a clubhouse by a motorcycle club (E). While mostly unobtrusive and with a small lot next door, the area becomes impassable in good weather when those participating in the group's rides clog Madison Avenue from Second Street to West 4th plus the side streets with bikes and other vehicles.

Moving southward from West 3rd to West 4th on Madison Avenue, there are the heavy traffic generated by a roofing firm and a mattress factory. Tucked in the middle of that half-block is a thriving live poultry market (F) whose side parking lot also serves as a sort of gathering place and social center during good weather.

Crossing West 4th Street on Madison Avenue, the west side of the street is occupied by Queen City Tours (G), where its buses are parked; a large and long-standing auto repair shop (H); a check-cashing store with a steady stream of customers parking on Madison Avenue (I); and two multi-family residences.

Besides all this, we should bear in mind that West 4th and West 5th Streets, going one way in opposite directions, are State Highway 28 in this area, and Madison Avenue is constantly busy as a 'shortcut' street from North Plainfield to 7th Street (or even South Plainfield) which avoids the traffic lights and congestion of Central and Park Avenues.

This is quite a complicated stew of users and uses. If there's one thing life has taught us about such situations is that if they work, they work like a Swiss watch. When one aspect is adjusted in some drastic way, everything can quickly get out of kilter.

Hence, I think, the incident where I nearly got hit just trying to cross a busy intersection whose sight-lines were obscured by too many vehicles parked along the street. Truth to tell, the driver who nearly hit me probably couldn't see me either.

I think Mr. Rutherford has concluded a little too quickly that the "issue is resolved' (see his post here).

Seems to me the whole area could benefit from a public discussion by all the stakeholders of the issues involved and some 'big picture' thinking.

One possibility might be for the District to approach the owners of Rex Bedding, who use their lot at West 4th and Madison (J) for employee parking -- though it is never full. Or Queen City Tours, which uses its lot basically as a place to store its buses -- perhaps a better place could be found for them, and the District could buy their lot?

Or perhaps the City and the District could come to some agreement about long-term use of the underutilized public parking lot behind the houses across Arlington Avenue from the school?

In any event, unless the school's principal suggests all the teachers bike to work and the teachers take him up on it, my guess is we aren't out of the woods yet.

---

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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

NCCA Benefit Concert at Crescent this afternoon

Pianist Margaret Wacyk is featured at today's NCCA benefit concert.

Plainfield's Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church is the site this afternoon of a benefit concert on behalf of New Covenant Christian Academy (NCCA), a private Christian school serving Plainfield and surrounding communities.

Billed as 'A Mid-Sunday Afternoon's Dream Concert', the program has been organized by the schools' energetic director Stephanie DeGeneste, and features concert painist Margaret Wacyk; Turning Point, the musical ensemble of Eastern University; vocalist Jeffrey King; and pianist and composer Quinn DeGeneste. The concert gets under way at 3:00 PM and, mindful that it's Super Bowl Sunday, DeGeneste promises that folks will have plenty of time to make it to other commitments.

Proceeds of the concert will benefit NCCA, which was dealt an unexpected challenge this year when the school's landlord left them without premises at the last moment.

Ms. DeGeneste and NCCA's board are hard at work on plans to reopen the Academy for classes in September 2014, of which this benefit concert is a part.

Tickets are $25 per person at the door. But, if you come as part of a group of ten (who all show up together), the entry is $10/person. There will be an opportunity during the concert for a freewill offering by those wishing to support the school above and beyond the cost of the ticket.

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

---

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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

School budget forum on Saturday morning

District's website advises rescheduled event.

 

Plainfield's Board of Education will present a budget forum on the proposed 2014-15 school district budget for the public on Saturday morning at the PHS Cafeteria.

This event replaces the one scheduled for last Saturday but canceled on a rumor of snowflakes.

Officials will provide an overview of the school budget and answer questions from the public. While the budget is far and away the largest portion of Plainfield taxpayers' property tax bills, the response to this public presentation is usually quite small.

One concern that has been raised to me is that the District is said to be proposing to defund making Washington and Emerson Community School facilities available for community use in the evenings. This would be a breach of the covenant made with the community that allowed these schools to use the designation 'community school'.

Not only would making the schools unavailable be a breach of faith, it would leave our young people with even fewer recreational resources in a community which values them highly.

What is that about?

The budget presentation will be in the Plainfield High School cafeteria from 9:00 AM to Noon. Parking available in the Kenyon Avenue lot adjacent to the cafeteria.
guess.

---

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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

Symphony dances away cabin fever on Saturday

Costumes are not required, just a desire to catch a break from cabin fever.

For Plainfielders who are having a touch of cabin fever after the cold spells of this January, the Plainfield Symphony is offering the perfect chance to dance away the night on Saturday.

The gathering gets under way at the Parish Hall of the First Unitarian Society at 8:30 PM under the musical spells cast by DJ Michael Roselli.

Billed as an 'After Dinner Dance', the event is a repeat of last year's highly successful evening of fun, and features savory and sweet refreshments, an open bar and a silent auction. All for $50 per person, half of which is a charitable contribution.

You can pay at the door, but they would appreciate a call ahead so there will be plenty of refreshments. Call (908) 561-5660 or email Charles Weltner at charles@weltner.com.

The First Unitarian Society is at 724 Park Avenue near West 7th Street. Parking is available in the public lot across Park Avenue from the church. There will be a lot monitor/crossing guard on duty.

---

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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

Rep. Holt's staff in Plainfield Thursday

Rep. Rush Holt has had Plainfield added to his
Congressional District since the 2010 Census.

 

Members of Rep. Rush Holt's staff will be in Plainfield Thursday to offer constituent services to area residents.

According to constituent services staff members, the Congressman's office is most often asked to help in matters regarding Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Citizenship and Immigration services.

The are also prepare to provide information on federal grants and contract.

Requests are also often made for flags flown over the U.S. Capitol.

Rep. Holt's staff will be available at the Plainfield Public Librry from 5:00 to 7:00 PM on Thursday, January 30. For more information, visit Rep. Holt's website at holt.house.gov/officehours or call (877) 874-4658.

The Plainfield Public Library is at Park Avenue and West 8th Street. Parling is available in both 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.

Governing is not running: Learning to take the long view

Both President Kennedy and President Nixon were fond
of treating the ideogram of 'crisis' as 'danger' plus 'opportunity'.

An opportunity was missed at Monday night's special meeting of the Plainfield City Council, as both Councilor Cory Storch and activist Dottie Gutenkauf observed.

They were referring to the 5-2 decision in four separate votes not to confirm as commissioners of the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority (PMUA) Mayor Adrian Mapp's nominees Nan Anderson-Bennett, Thomas Crownover, Charles Tyndale and Thomas Kaercher. (Only sitting commissioner Carol Ann Brokaw was confirmed, 6-1, with Councilor Greaves voting nay.)

The five Councilors who voted as a group are now saddled -- for good or ill -- with their vote and any outcome it may have, whether higher rates for service (from which all beg relief), or from potentially embarrassing findings in a forensic audit of the PMUA currently being conducted by the state.

One more opportunity to learn that governing is not running, and that Mayor Mapp's success will come from patient fortitude and taking the long view.

As Sun Tzu long ago said, 'He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious'.
guess.

---

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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

So long, it's been good to know ya: Pete Seeger lays down his banjo

Pete Seeger with the young Bob Dylan at the
1964 Newport Jazz Festival. (Photo by Jim Marshall.)

Word comes that Pete Seeger has passed away at 94.

While many folks may remember him as a champion of folk music, my memories are of a talented and fearless man who used his music to rally his listeners for peace, justice and brotherhood.

And I do mean fearless. A childhood of some privilege and a family with wide and influential connections did not deter him once he had picked up the banjo and the justice message.

Not only was he fearless in the face of some of America's darkest times (during the McCarthy period, in which I spent my high school years), he stared down the HUAC, refusing to rat on his friends and fellow activists or to plead the Fifth Amendment, basing his arguments on his First Amendment rights of speech and association.

Though he (and groups in which he sang, like the Almanac Singers and the Weavers) was blacklisted, he stood his ground.

And whole generations of young people learned the value of sticking to your principles as a result.

Among the honors of his late life was singing at the inaugural of President Barack Obama.

If you experienced his music in person, I need say no more. If you never have, nothing I can say will do the man justice.

As his friend Woody Guthrie put it well, 'so long, it's been good to know ya'.

So long, Pete, it's been good to know ya.

---

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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

So, the dog caught the car. Now what?

What happens if he catches the car?

A friend described Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp's election win in November in terms of 'the dog catching the car'. The implied question being, 'Now what'?

When I was a youngster, I had a crush on a girl named Priscilla Lawrence. She lived near the three-room Township school and I saw her every day. When her parents broke up and her mother moved a few miles away, I would ride my bike to see her almost every day after school.

There was a dog at a farm on the way that loved to chase cars. And kids on bicycles who crossed his turf. He would come from nowhere it seemed and chase me for a couple hundred feet, nipping at my feet as I furiously pedaled until I got up enough speed and he tired of the chase.

One day the chain slipped the sprockets and I was immobilized right by the dog's driveway. Neither of us was prepared for that to happen.

My heart was in my mouth as he charged down the driveway toward the road, barking the whole way. Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks. I didn't speed off, and he didn't seem to have another strategy.

I walked my bike slowly down the road and he followed at a distance, growling but not nipping. After I got a little piece down the road, he seemed assured that he was the king of his turf and turned and trotted back to his driveway and disappeared from view.

After getting my chain back on the sprockets I pedaled off. From then on, I would get off the bike and walk it past his drive, and he never chased me again.'.

So, after years of 'chasing the car' of Plainfield's Democratic politics, Mayor Mapp finally 'caught the car' and was elected.

Two questions arise.

What will he do now that he has caught the car? Getting past tonight's appointment-stuffed Council meetings, we should begin to see some direction emerge as Mayor Mapp's team is finally assembled and folks come on line and take up their duties.

The second is whether those who watch -- and comment via the blogs -- will adopt a different tactic, realizing that postures and pronouncements of perpetual campaigning must be displaced by the nuts-and-bolts of governing, which is a very different thing.

Will the kibitzers be up to it?

---

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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

Monday's Council: Two meetings, two agendas, too much drama?

Like the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland
it will be important not to be late Monday evening.

Plainfield's City Council meets in two back-to-back meetings Monday evening. The question is: How much drama will there be? And at which meeting?

I was the third person to show up at the City Clerk's office late Friday afternoon, looking for the backup work to the agenda for the Special Meeting called for 6 PM tomorrow. (I was told Bernice and Olddoc had already checked in and were given the same answer I got: We don't have the backup material yet.)

Thinking the material may be waiting to be transferred from the City Administrator's office to the Clerk, I stopped across the rotunda to check. It wasn't ready, but it was my good fortune to run into Mayor Mapp and put a couple of questions to him about the special meeting which he has called.

The mayor advised that there was only one item on the executive session set for 6:05 PM and that was to interview a candidate for the long-vacant Chief Financial Officer's position. While he wouldn't give any details about who was being proposed, Mayor Mapp did volunteer the candidate was 'probably the best CFO in the state'.

Council watchers need to take note: This interview will likely not take long; even the most recalcitrant Council member hardly wants to be seen to be obstructing an appointment that is so badly needed.

So, I would suggest getting to the Council Chambers/Courthouse by no later than 6:15 PM. The point being that when the Council emerges from the executive session, it will immediately launch into the business of the special meeting, including the public's ability to comment on agenda items before action is taken.

While the many appointments to boards and commission proposed have drawn considerable interest -- especially since the public does not know who is proposed at this point -- my eye was caught the last several items of the agenda called for by the Mayor.

Mayor Mapp is proposing once again to tackle the delinquent tax penalty rates. It will be interesting to see if the Council members who are in arrears (and would benefit financially by reducing the interest rate penalties) will have the cajones to vote against the City's traditional resolution (which these same folks adopted time and again under Mayor Robinson-Brigss, without comment or protest).

Then there are four proposed ordinances. Two dealing with judge's salaries seem unremarkable.

But two are to establish a new job title of 'deputy police director' and a salary band for same.

And they are placed at the end of the agenda, which in the special meeting is controlled by the Mayor, who has called the meeting.

A little horse-trading?

As for the 'regular' meeting, which was postponed from this past Tuesday and gets under way at 8:00 PM, the interesting items appear under the Corporation Counsel's section of the agenda and appears to involve settlements of claims (judging from the names of the claimants, having to do with tax liens) against the City.

Would be interesting to know more details about these. And also whether any of the lienholders involved in Plainfield tax lien sales have been involved in the tax lien bid rigging activities that have been in the media in recent months.

Will there be any drama at either Monday meeting? Depends on what you consider dramatic, I guess.

---

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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

Indira Bailey in Black History Month show at Drake House

'Nani and Joe', by Indira Bailey.

Plainfield artist Indira Bailey will be featured in a Black History Month exhibit at the Drake House which opens Sunday (January 26) with a reception from 2 - 4 PM.

Indira has taught commercial illustration in the Essex County Vo-Tech Schools for over a decade. She has won Fulbright-Hayes Fellowships to South Africa (2004), Japan (2005) and Morocco (2011). In 2012, she was named Essex County Teacher of the Year and was one of four finalists for NJ Teacher of the Year. In 2013, Ms. Bailey was selected for New Jersey's first Teacher Advisory Pilot Program.

Ms. Bailey's art depicts the daily lives of many of the people in the countries she has visited as a Fulbright-Hayes scholar.

The show will hang in the Drake House Gallery throughout the month of February and may be viewed during the museum's regular hours or by appointment.

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 www.drakehouseplainfieldnj.org/.

---

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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

Busy Saturday: Board of Ed budget...Obamacare Forum...DQ Half-Off Sale...

The only 'storm' I'm aware of Saturday is the Blizzards on sale
at the Dairy Queen -- here demonstrated by owner Donna Albanese.

A busy Saturday for Plainfielders has been lightened somewhat by the curious cancellation by the Board of Ed of a scheduled school budget forum on account of an 'impending storm'. If you haven't heard about the 'storm', neither has my weather 'bug' which only notes 'a little snow'. The postponed event is now slated for next Saturday. Maybe they were thinking of the Blizzards on sale at the Dairy Queen?

In any event, you may venture out for the Deltas forum on Obamacare, the Board of Ed's Community Health Fair (apparently NOT cancelled) and top it all off with an all-day Half Off Sale at the Plainfield Dairy Queen.

DELTA OBAMACARE FORUM

The Central Jersey Alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority will join with Cross of Life Lutheran Church in hosting a free forum on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) at the church on Saturday from 10:30 AM to 2:00 PM. The forum will be led by Katherine Woodfield, the founder of Health Care Insurance Education. The program is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. Cross of Life Lutheran Church is at 1240 East 7th Street at Marsh Place. For more information, see the previous post here.

FAMILY SUCCESS CENTER HEALTH FAIR

The Board of Ed's Family Success Center evidently didn't get the memo about the 'impending storm' and is holding its annual Community Health Fair at the Center from 10 AM to 2 PM on Saturday. In addition to a variety of health screenings, information will be available on a number of family-related services as well as activities for the whole family. The Family Success Center is in the former BOE headquarters at 504 Madison Avenue, corner of West 5th Street. Parking is available on site.

DAIRY QUEEN CUSTOMER APPRECIATION DAY

Donna Albanese and crew will welcome customers all day long to the annual Customer Appreciation Day -- with everything in the store Hall Off! The DQ has been a community gathering place for years, and you will surely see some friends and neighbors there enjoying the store's famous Blizzards and Smoothies or, for warmth, its hot dogs and sandwiches. One thing about the expected weather -- You surely won't have to worry about your cakes melting on the way home. The Dairy Queen is at 1367 South Avenue, near Plainwood Square Park.

---

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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