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Days as 'starter' homes are long gone. |
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Locations of gunshots over Halloween weekend. |
A press release just in from Lamar Mackson, community activist and chairperson of Plainfield Cable TV Advisory Board --
PLAINFIELD FILMAKER RETURNS TO DELIVER A "PROMISE" TO AREA YOUTH
Plainfield native and film director, Alrick Brown, will be the featured speaker at the Plainfield PAL Youth Exposure event entitled Plainfield's Promise scheduled for Saturday October 30, 2010. The event, which is part of an on-going series, is a mentoring program for middle school students established in Plainfield, NJ. Mentees are students at local middle schools and mentors are recent college graduates who want to give back to the community. The mission is to empower youth, ages 12-14, to strive for high levels of success through pursuit of education, leadership development and community service.
As a graduate of Plainfield High School, Rutgers and NYU, Brown, always had the desire to tell the stories that would contribute to the healing of his community. His perspective as a filmaker and teacher were influenced during a two year period as volunteer in the Peace Corps serving the people of Cote d' Iviore ( the Ivory Coast) in West Africa. Interactions with the people of West Africa and Plainfield have informed his creative expression; an expression first fostered by his birth in Kingston, Jamaica and migration to, and upbringing in Plainfield, New Jersey.
Brown's first feature length film, “Kinyarwanda” is a story about life, love, and forgiveness during the Rwandan Genocide. Set during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, as the country became a slaughterhouse, mosques became places of refuge where Muslims and Christians, came together to protect each other. "Kinyarwanda" interweaves six tales that provide a complex and real depiction of life and human resilience in the face of unimaginable danger. The film, which was shot on location in Africa, has already received critical acclaim at film festivals including IFP's Rooftop Film Series.
Alrick Brown's commitment to give back to his hometown and its youth, as well as his academic and professional successes, are primary reasons for him being chosen by the organization to make the presentation. Plainfield PAL Youth Exposure Organizer , Lucy Sanchez (Abreu) stated, " Alrick's core values and demonstration of those ideals is the message we need to promote to young people in Plainfield. Our children need access to examples of homegrown success. We are very excited about Alrick's appearance."
Plainfield's Promise- Plainfield PAL Youth Exposure Summit is Saturday, October 30th 2010,11am -2pm at Washington School, 427 Darrow Ave. Plainfield ,NJ. Admission is free.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT LUCY SANCHEZ AT Lsanchez100@hotmail.com
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The Division of Local Government Services oversees CFO matters. |
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Board of Ed member Renata Hernandez maintains a personal blog. |
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The mysterious entry that got Dan in hot water. |
Ras, I am not posting your comments in reply to MT since I do n ot feel that it is the function of this blogger to open his blog to a commentary tiff. Your points are appreciated and fortunately you have your well read blog to express them. That perhaps is a better venue than turning a commentary section of a blog into one which we find in the newspapers. (October 26, 2010 9:26 PM)Each of us bloggers has the right not to have our blogs or comments taken over by others with issues not seen as germane to the blog's general intent. And to suggest that commenters take it elsewhere. Fair is fair.
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The public got a 'take that' whack for not attending a BOE presentation. |
Would it not be reasonable to expect -- since you considered it so important -- that YOU would have promoted the 'State of the District' address on YOUR BLOG? If I read you correctly, you would have found out about it in your Friday packet before the meeting. That would have left you from Friday to Tuesday (since the meeting was held on Wednesday) to post something useful for your many readers inviting, encouraging or challenging them to come out for this key presentation.
Yet you did not.
However, you didn't resist a little tongue-lashing (and WHERE were YOU?) of the public after the fact (see here). What is YOUR responsibility for the admittedly low turnout?
And if the District's efforts to put the info in the little fluttery text box on its website and in a legal notice (I would want to see proof it was even mentioned in a legal notice) only netted TWO members of the public, why isn't it fair to ask why the District's public relations machine didn't do more?
Guess what, Mark Spivey is putting just everything that folks throw at him on the InPlainfield microsite. So, why not make use of that outlet, which is the best read of all Gannett's microsites in the whole state of New Jersey?
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The event has a clear deadline, how should folks interpret today's post? |
Then we have today's post promoting the P-PAL's event presenting the very talented Alrick Brown, hometown kid, PHS grad and successful film director and screenwriter in their 'Plainfield's Promise' speaker series.Though being bloggers means we are free to express our opinions on all sorts of things and in as convoluted and obscure a manner as suits us, when any of us turns to PROMOTING MEETINGS OR EVENTS, we are subject to the same FIVE W's PLUS ONE of the mainstream media: Who, What, Where, When, Why, and hoW.
THIS Saturday, at Washington Community School.
But one question is left UNADDRESSED.
Reading the fine print on the event's graphic, there is a notice that the deadline to register for this event was OCTOBER 15, nearly two weeks ago.
So, is the deadline in effect, in which case folks should disregard your notice?
Or has the deadline been waived, in which case those interested should go ahead and show up?
Why would you leave such a question up in the air?
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Seniors fear being forced to park in open-to-the-elements lot. |
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| Jerry's bill targets affordable housing. |
"We we will do this right, with input from everyone," said Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Union), chairman of the Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee. "I don’t want to be back here next year debating yet another affordable-housing bill. I don’t want an endless court fight. I want a system that works, and if that means taking time to do it right, then that’s what we’re going to do.The June 30 deadline that Lesniak and Gov. Christie wanted came and passed. Without Jerry's committee signing off on the Lesniak bill.
"With that in mind, the committee will not be moving legislation during Thursday’s hearing," Green continued. "We will discuss the bill and all our options, and I an assure everyone that their opinions will be welcomed and heard."
...New Jersey is explicit in its regulations on charter schools. They cannot be operated by religious organizations, nor are they permitted to include religious instruction in the curriculum, the same as traditional public schools.The second Plainfield application, also for the elementary grades, is the CLASS Charter School (Character, Leadership, Academic and Social Skills) which if approved would open with a threshold of 160 students in grades K-3 and top out at 288 students in two academic years in grades K-5.
“Charters have been housed in church facilities, churches have raised funds to help charters and church members have volunteered their time,” said Alan Guenther, spokesman for the state Department of Education. But they remain public schools, governed by the same laws and regulations.”
And by and large, nationwide they have kept to those lines, experts say.
“It has been an area of some tension in the charter school movement, and there have been some instances where the boundaries were crossed,” said Katrina Bulkley, an associate professor of education at Montclair State University. “But on the whole, religious organizations are very aware of this concern and tried to keep them separate.”
HOPE Leadership Academy for Academic Excellence of Plainfield Charter School
Focus / Students: K to grade 2: 102 to open
Projection /Students: K to grade 5: 204
232 East Front Street, Plainfield, NJ 07060
Telephone: 908-756-3500 ext. 175
FAX: 908-756-1304
Lead Person Email: adkirk1@hotmail.com
HostDistrict(s): Plainfield
Contact: Mr. Anthony D. Kirkwood
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CLASS (Character, Leadership, Academic and Social Skills) Charter School
Focus / Students: K to grade 3: 160 to open
Projection /Students: K to grade 5: 288
58 Summit Road, Sparta, NJ 07871
Telephone: 908-464-4878
FAX: 908-753-7740
Lead Person Email: benfox_school@yahoo.com
HostDistrict(s): Plainfield
Contact: Mr. Benjamin Fox
Received word of a man shot and wounded in the 500-block of West 3rd Street Saturday evening.
This is the West End Gardens neighborhood which has been the site of many of this year's shooting incidents and two of this year's five homicides, one in a West End Gardens parking lot and another at Plainfield Avenue and West 4th Street. (1 PM: This corrects my original post, which inadvertently referred to Grant Avenue instead of Plainfield Avenue -- dd.)
The shooting comes on the heels of a community forum led by Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Brggs on Thursday at Shiloh Baptist Church, a block away from the shooting site.
Residents expressed strong concerns with what is being done to combat crime, according to a report by reporter Mark Spivey appearing in the Sunday Courier (see here).
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A developer is interested in the 14-acre Muhlenberg campus. |
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One Green stalwart snubs part of the local Dem slate. |
While the New Democrats have announced the opening of their campaign hub in support of candidates from Congressman Pallone down to county and local candidates (see InPlainfield story here), the Regular Democratic Organization has yet to announce its plans for the general election campaign endgame.
The New Dems will operate out of their former space in the Scott Drug building at 7th and Park. A space adjacent to Assemblyman Jerry Green's legislative office that was previously used for RDO campaign activities has a few signs propped in the front window, but the metal gate has been locked and no lights have been seen in the evenings.
Meanwhile, City Committee members who carry out the 'retail' campaign activities of walking their districts to make face-to-face contact with voters are complaining that Green's subordinates have given the campaign information to unknown individuals, leaving them out of the loop.
When one committee person did finally get their list, it was accompanied by a walking map for the WRONG DISTRICT.
Comedy of errors or sabotage?
There is some question whether Assemblyman Green is really taking a hands-on role in the campaign, or whether, for health reasons, he has delegated the responsibilities to underlings who don't know the complexities of managing an effective campaign.
The Democratic City Committee is sponsoring a fundraiser reception for candidates Bill Reid (Ward 1) and Rebecca Williams (Wards 2/3 at-large) tonight at Cafe Vivace. Monies raised will be spent on the local Democratic City Council campaign, covering the cost of signs, mailings and election day support.
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Plainfield's 4th Ward will vote only for Congress, county candidates. |
City Council member Linda Carter is the hometown candidate for Freeholder, along with incumbents Dan Sullivan and Betty Jane Kowalski. While Carter has walked in Plainfield's 2nd and 3rd Wards with council candidate Rebbecca Williams, Kowalski and Sullivan have not been seen doing the door-to-door work so fundamental to electoral success.
Though there is no doubt that the county Democratic ticket will cruise to victory in Plainfield, the question that must worry County Democratic strategists is whether Assemblyman Green's organization will put real oomph into getting out the vote to bolster the Freeholder numbers, which sagged noticeably in the face reform Democrats' challenges in the June primary.
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Some Plainfielders find it hard to curb their enthusiasm, displaying signs for North Plainfielder Ed Potosnak, who is in the 7th District race, in which Plainfielders cannot vote. |
Plainfield is unique in being the only Union County municipality included in the gerrymandered 6th Congressional district, where Congressman Frank Pallone is -- for the first time in the ten years we've been in his district -- in a REAL race for his seat against Tea Party favorite Anna Little, mayor of Highlands.So there you have it, three complex campaigns in our little city. Will the 'Green Team' manage not to sabotage the effort needed for hefty numbers across the board?
An online article at PolitickerNJ yesterday (see here) pointed out how close the race is according to a poll commissioned by the GOP, but at the end of the article was rather dismissive, suggesting it was a ploy to get Pallone to dump money into the campaign.
Whether or not that is true, I have noticed the COMPLETE ABSENCE in the past month of stories trumpeting polls in favor of Pallone. Longtime political activists know that this probably means the internal polling done by the Democrats shows negatives for Pallone and the better part of wisdom is to remain silent (this has been the experience when the Union County Dems polled in relation to Assemblyman Green in the past).
One Plainfield campaign worker asked about Pallone's green campaign sign, whether that was a wave in the 'O' in his name. When told it was a wave and was suggestive of the Congressman's excellent record on the environment, it seemed to make sense. Especially in the light of the BP oil spill, the promise of renewable energy programs for New Jersey, and the nagging presence of SuperFund sites throughout the state, there is good reason not to want to lose a champion in Washington to an angry anti-government Tea Party candidate who would not have -- or WANT -- any clout in the Congress.
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