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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Mapp administration gears up for demolition derby


Screen shot shows latest series of documents posted
by Mapp administration concerning North Avenue demolitions.

Getting ready for the Council's demolition rumble, Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp's administration has posted a further batch of documents concerning the North Avenue demolitions.

A link to the latest batch is on the city's website here.

At issue is the Council's refusal to pay for the emergency demolition of 117-25 North Avenue, which took place in March. The tab is about $220, 000 and the contractor has not touched the rubble, awaiting at least partial payment for the work already done.

Council has hired its own attorney to "investigate" the matter, citing as a precedent Council's hiring of an attorney to investigate former Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs' misappropriation of a $15,000 check from Investors Bank designated for July 4 Parade expenses to instead pay for a radio broadcast in which the Rev. Al Sharpton made a cameo appearance.

Mapp is loaded for bear.

This second batch of documents includes files covering the demolition of 187-91 North Avenue (under Robinson-Briggs' watch): Planning division files, Engineering division files, and two sets of Inspections division files.

One of the amazing findings concerning this Robinson-Briggs demolition is that Corporation Counsel Dan Wiliamson never filed a lien against the property to attempt to recover the city's demolition expenses.

But that's not all -- I'll write more on these two demolitions later.

Suffice it to say that Robinsn-Briggs does not come off well in the demolition derby -- with a history of dawdling, suspicions of contract-rigging and failure of fiduciary responsibility.

This kind of transparency leaves Mapp more than enough ammunition to handle whatever stink bombs the Council may throw.

Let the games begin.



  -- Dan Damon [follow]


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