Harold Yood, MD, Plainfield's beloved "Olddoc" celebrates a birthday

Dr. Yood (l.) and Gerri Augurs were inducted
into the PHS Hall of Fame in 2016 by Martin Cox.

Plainfield's beloved Olddoc -- aka Harold Yood, MD -- celebrated a birthday on Saturday.


When I called to wish him "Happy Birthday", he was just hanging up from a birthday call from a former patient now living in Florida.

He told me a funny story (which I cannot share here) of making a house call to the family in 1948 while on the way to the theater in New York City.


I said no one today would even know what a "house call" was, to which he laughed and agreed.


Dr. Yood grew up in the house at 4th and Grant where his father practiced for many years and the family lived.


He practiced his whole life in Plainfield and eventually became the chief of medicine at Muhlenberg Hospital.



I have always respected his take on Plainfield politics -- even in the worst of times, he has always been hopeful about the Queen City's future. You can check out his Olddoc blog here.


A lifelong Republican, he changed his party registration to Democrat a number of years ago in order to have some say in this heavily Democratic town.


He is a Plainfielder through and through and I hope you will join me in wishing him a happy birthday!


Oh yes, the number? -- 99.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Busy Plainfield store closing after 30-plus years

The Plainfield store was packed with customers on Saturday.

Payless ShoeSource, a busy Plainfield discount footwear shop at the corner of East Front Street and Watchung Avenue for more than 30 years, is going out of business.

Not because the Plainfield store is not full of shoppers.

For the second time in two years, its parent company (headquartered in Topeka, Kansas) recently declared bankruptcy and all US and Canadian stores are to be closed.


The Plainfield store has "Everything Must Go" signs in its windows.



2018 was a dismal year for brick-and-mortar retailers (as this USAToday story points out), with more than 5,500 stores closing.


They are being hurt buy a combination of several factors --

• Online shopping -- especially behemoth Amazon;
• Giant discount retailers such as Target, Walmart, and Kohls; and
• Complaints that its merchandise is outdated and behind the curve.

Additionally, it has not figured out how to beat the newer "fast fashion" chains such as Zara, H&M, Forever21 and Topshop, which are given that moniker for their quick knockoffs of high fashion trends.


There are plenty of other sneaker outlets in downtown Plainfield, but they are not as discounted as Payless.



The internet does not seem to have figured as much in the closing as it did with Plainfield's other recent business loss -- E&A Restaurant Supply (see my post here) -- since Payless had a robust website (which is no longer taking orders).

According to the company, stores began their going-out-of-business sales last Sunday, but the majority are expected to stay open through May. There is no word of how quickly the Plainfield store will shut down.


Plainfielders will now have to schlep to the DSW, Walmart or Target in the Watchung Square Mall for discount shoes. That means money NOT being spent in Plainfield.


Despite the loss, downtown Plainfield appears to be thriving, and even moving a little upscale -- with the opening of AT&T's Cricket phone store, and the upscaling of several other phone stores downtown, plus the newly opened Blink Fitness across from the former YWCA. I recently had trouble finding a parking space at 11:30 AM on a Sunday morning.



And I recently noticed a store dedicated to SOCCER merchandise on East Front near Watchung. About time!

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Black History Month events at Grace, Shiloh Sunday Feb. 24

Black History Month observances slated for next Sunday
at Grace Episcopal Church (above) ...

... and Shiloh Baptist Church.

As part of their Black History Month observances, two Plainfield congregations -- Grace Episcopal and Shiloh Baptist -- will have special programs on Sunday, February 24.

SHILOH BAPTIST CHURCH

The 9:00 AM worship service will honor and celebrate three "Hidden Figures In Our Midst" -- women entrepreneurs who overcame significant challenges to grow successful businesses and at the same time demonstrate exemplary community service.

Being honored are chef Vonda McPherson of Vonda's Kitchen, the quality soul food restaurant; Shiloh trustee Patricia Fields of Meeting Of The Minds (whom we all know from producing Plainfield's annual outdoor summer concerts); and Julia Porterfield (and husband Rashad Shabazz) of Amaker & Porterfield, a full-service transportation company.

Attendees are request to show off their Afrocentric finery. A meet and greet reception follows the service.

Shiloh Baptist Church is at West 4th and Liberty Streets. Parking available in the lot on West 5th Street.

GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Grace Episcopal Church invites all to a Black History Month celebration and dinner at 4:00 PM on Sunday, February 24.


The service will be an Evensong featuring the Gospel music of Kirk Franklin, under the direction of the parish's music director Andrew Kilkenny.


Evensong is a traditional Anglican service at the end of the day. It is derived from the vespers sung by Benedictine monks of the Middle Ages, who were an important influence on the development of Anglican worship (and by extension that of many other denominations).



The service consists of short lessons from scripture, brief prayers and anthems and responses by the choir.


The guest speaker is the Rev. Canon Andy Moore, rector of St. Elizabeth's Church in Elizabeth.

A dinner -- to which all are invited -- follows immediately after the service.


Grace Church is at East 7th Street and Cleveland Avenue and is an accessible facility. Parking available on the street or in the public lot across 7th Street from the church.

I hope readers will take advantage of these two opportunities to celebrate Black History Month.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Diversity in the Plainfield Public Schools professional staff

Screenshot of Plainfield's diversity data.

New Jersey Spotlight published a statewide study of diversity in the professional staffs (teachers and administrators) of New Jersey's public schools (see here).

I have pulled the Plainfield data out for closer examination (see graphic above). Sorry, but the way the map works, I could only get the Plainfield data in the screenshot if I mostly obliterated Plainfield's map, which is underneath -- and mostly obscured by -- the text box.

A second screenshot (below) shows Plainfield and several surrounding districts. You will note that Watchung and Clark score very low in diversity of professional staffs, while North Plainfield, Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Piscataway, and Edison compare favorably to Plainfield.

Watchung and Clark compare poorly in diversity of staffs.

Sadly, and I think this is because of how the state keeps (sorts) data, there is no indication of where Latino professionals are added in.

To lump everyone who is not white in one category betrays a "whitist" attitude that the state sorely needs to get over. That attitude is exposed again in the summaries of the student bodies as "white" and "non-white".



At any rate, it is an important and useful indicator of how well the Plainfield district is doing in building a truly diverse team of teachers and professionals to lead a diverse district.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Two Black History Month events at the Library Saturday

African American composer Florence Price is among
composers to be performed Saturday.

Two Black History Month events will take place at the Plainfield Public Library Saturday (February 16).

FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY EVENT

The Friends of the Plainfield Public Library (FOPPL) will celebrate Black History Month with a program celebrating Plainfield orators, poets and artists, chaired by Leana Walcott.


The event is free and open to the public in the Anne Louise Davis Meeting Room from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM. Light refreshments will be served.

PLAINFIELD MUSIC CLUB CONCERT

The Plainfield Music Club will also honor Black History Month with a free concert at the Plainfield Public Library on Saturday (February 16) in the Anne Louise Davis Meeting Room.


The program will feature music by Florence Price, Nat "King" Cole and other African American jazz artists. Among those performing will be Victoria Griswold (piano), Stephen Fuller (vocals), Marty Eigen (sax and clarinet), Fred Fischer (piano) and Ron Naspo (bass).


The program gets under way at 2:00 PM.

The Plainfield Public Library is at Park Avenue and West 8th Street. The library is an accessible facility. Parking available in the 8th and 9th Street lots and on the street.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Plainfield 9-1-1 operators dodge layoff

City Council was slated to take up a layoff plan Monday.

There was unexpected high drama at Plainfield City Council's business meeting Monday evening.

A great deal of the meeting was devoted to recognizing African American sororities and fraternities for their contributions as part of the celebration of Black History Month.

Then there were the presentations by department heads that I covered in yesterday's post (see here).

At last it came time for public comment on resolutions and ordinances on the agenda.

One after another, speakers got up to protest the proposed layoff of 9-1-1 operators set forth in R 093-19.

From 9-1-1 dispatchers to union reps to members of the community who voiced their concern and displeasure, the comments were unanimous: Please don't do it.

It is worth noting that the Council moved the item forward at last week's agenda-setting session without much ado, signaling that passage at Monday's business meeting would be pro forma.

When at last the time came for the resolution to come to a vote, Councilor McRae offered the motion.

Then, silence. And more silence. A little rustling of paper and looking around, but no one spoke.

No one seconded the motion, meaning that it failed.

After it became clear to the audience that the moment had passed and the motion was not going to be voted on, the audience erupted in applause.

No indication was made by the Mapp administration whether it will consider pursuing the matter further.

For now, Plainfield's 9-1-1 dispatchers are safe thanks to their efforts and those of their supporters and the unwillingness of the City Council to take up the matter.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Presentations to enliven Monday's Council business meeting

Vacant properties in Plainfield have ranged from the grand (above)...

... to the not-so-grand as a result of the 2008 real estate collapse.

With the confusion over extending the boundaries of the Sleepy Hollow neighborhood evidently cleared up, Plainfield City Council's business meeting Monday (February 11) looks to go rat-a-tat. Note the new meeting time: 7:00 PM.

So, you can expect the meeting to be enlivened by three presentations that Council President Mills-Ransome has put on the agenda.

TECH TRAINING

Finance Director Ron West will give a brief update on technology training. The City is currently offering two series of Cisco career training classes (at Union County College and New Covenant Church).

ABANDONED PROPERTIES

Shep Brown, Director of Health and Social Services, will give an update on Plainfield's abandoned properties. The city's longstanding problem with vacant and abandoned properties was exacerbated by the wave of foreclosures following the financial collapse of 2008, which we are still working our way out of.

MARKETING PLAINFIELD

Communications & Technology Director Jazz Clayton-Hunt will give a demonstration of proposed Plainfield marketing strategies.

City Council meets at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers / Courthouse at Watchung Avenue and East 4th Street. Parking available on the street and in the lot across from Police Headquarters, though the City has not yet advised the public how to access the lot with 4th Street Extension closed.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Monday's Council meeting put me in mind of Billie Holiday classic

I was put in mind of a classic by Lady Day.

Monday night's agenda seemed simple and straightforward enough, but as it unfolded I was put in mind of the Billy Holiday classic "A foggy day in London Town" (listen here).

Two items caused the Council to stumble:

• (D) a resolution to amend the Sleepy Hollow designated neighborhood to add more properties, and
  
  
  
• (M2019-05) an ordinance to establish a 3.5% cap bank.

SLEEPY HOLLOW DESIGNATED NEIGHBORHOOD

City Council -- at the instigation of the Friends of Sleepy Hollow (FOSH) -- had some time ago designated boundaries for an officially recognized neighborhood.

After doing research on the original development of the neighborhood, some property owners approached the Council about adjusting the boundary to include some properties inadvertently left out on the first go round.

These property owners are part of a group known as Sleepy Hollow Neighbors, who petitioned Council for the change.

Councilor Storch on Monday brought up properties on Watchung Avenue that weren't mentioned in the resolution. Discussion ensued; the Council seemed bemused, if not confused.

Councilor McRae proposed tabling the matter until things had been clarified. After more discussion -- and a sharp rebuke of Councilor Storch by Mayor Mapp for having spoken to a Division head without the Department head's knowledge or permission (not that Storch is the ONLY councilor to have ever transgressed this rule) -- Council President put the matter to a roll call vote, and it was moved to next Monday's business agenda with a 6-1 vote (McRae voting nay).

After all the back and forth, it occurred to me that Council may not fully understand there are two different groups involved in the matter at hand.

Do councilors never raise questions with the President in advance of the meetings? Wouldn't that be a good idea?


CAP BANK

The next matter to cause some confusion was the proposal to introduce an ordinance (M2019-05) to increase the cap bank limit to 3.5%. It was presented and explained by the City's CFO, Richard Gartz.

The cap bank is the limit the state sets on the increase a municipality may make the appropriations for a given year at 2.5% over the previous year's budget.

Councilors Davis, Hockaday, Armady and Storch all had questions, which Gartz answered -- I thought clearly enough.

I was somewhat surprised that Councilor Storch, who has been through this fifteen times before, was not clear that this did not affect taxes based on the budget but was an appropriation permission granted by the state that would only involve increasing taxes if it were invoked. Not invoked, no tax increase. Option to increase the cap bank not taken, tough luck if you run into trouble. Seemed clear enough to me.

What is more surprising is that two of the three members of the Finance Committee asked no questions at all. Did they really understand the matter at hand? Why didn't they step up and support the CFO's explanation?

Instead, Mayor Mapp spoke to affirm Gartz's explanation.

Not exactly confidence-inspiring in the grasp of senior councilors on the matter.

All of which put me in mind of Billie Holiday and foggy London Town...

Sometimes, a little less fog is desirable.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Rude shock at Monday's Council meeting

Plainfield City Hall in the 1920s, with the Gas Manufacturing Plant storage tank in the background.
(Sorry for the reflection, the photo is mounted behind glass.)

I got a rude shock Monday evening, but it had nothing to do with the business Plainfield City Council was taking up.

Arriving a few minutes early for the 7:00 PM agenda-setting session, there were no parking spaces in the block along the front of the courthouse.

So, I turned left onto Court Place to circle around to the parking lot across from Police Headquarters where I park when there is no space on the street.

Except that the turn onto 4th Street Extension was blocked, as was the entrance from Roosevelt Avenue.

Drat!

The promised PSEG remediation project for the tainted soil in the police and public parking lots between Roosevelt and Watchung Avenues had begun.

Not that we hadn't been given warning (see my post of last December here, which outlined the project). PSEG is remediating the soil where the Plainfield Manufactured Gas Plant had stood from the 1860s to the 1950s (see photo above).

However, there is no signage about why the street closure is in effect, nor what to do about parking.

After navigating back around to Watchung Avenue, I decided to look for another spot on the other side of the street.

Waiting at the 4th Street light, I could see cars parked in the lot across from the Police station. How on earth did they get in there?

The light changed and I finally found a parking space on 5th Street near the lot behind City Hall and schlepped back to the Courthouse just in time for the meeting's beginning.

As I neared the Courthouse I saw two vacant spots out front. Too late for me!

Talking afterward to a citizen who was also at the Council meeting, this person related the same experience as I had had -- except that, when they saw the cars in the lot across from the Police station, they made an illegal left onto 4th Street (the wrong way) and zipped into the parking lot.

Council attendees can't be the only ones scratching their heads over what to do. Those who must appear in Municipal Court also park in that lot.

Since the roadway is going to be closed for 12 to 16 months, it behooves the Mapp administration to communicate to the public just what can be done about parking in the meantime.

Thank you!

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Plainfield looks to privatize 9-1-1 dispatchers

Plainfield plans to outsource 9-1-1 dispatchers.

At its agenda setting session Monday evening (February 4), Plainfield City Council will consider a resolution by the Finance Department to submit a layoff plan to the state. Note the time of the meeting has changed from 7:30 PM to 7:00 PM.

The subject of the layoff plan will be the 9-1-1 dispatchers. Dispatchers are currently employees of the city with benefits, contributions to the state pension system and civil service protections.

The administration proposes to outsource this function. The resolution states that "employees will have the opportunity to continue their career as dispatchers with the private company."

These are what is known as "weasel words" and do not touch on such matters as whether wages would remains the same, or the benefits these workers may be losing in having the positions privatized. Nor is it a promise of employment by the private contractor.

The city projects savings of between $850,000 and $2 million over the course of a 5-year contract with the private company. Savings on that order would suggest that the private company will pay workers less than the city currently does. The savings would presumably also include benefits no longer paid for by the City.

Though no firm is mentioned, you can be sure the administration has one in mind which will emerge in due course.

The notice to the state provides a 45-day window before the layoffs take effect, which means toward the end of March.

A number of years ago the City outsourced its animal control to Associated Humane Societies of Newark. That was supposed to save the city money, but I have noticed that the service's cost has creeped upwards over time. (It's an old trick called "lowballing" to get a contract.)

The Mapp administration also considered outsourcing the Planning Division a few years ago, a move that backfired when the community showed strong objection to that plan.

In this case, the community seems less likely to go to bat for the 9-1-1 dispatchers, who have little contact with the public except as anonymous voices on the other end of a 9-1-1 call.

In other communities, the union might fight to keep the jobs. We will have to see what happens in Plainfield.

Most of the rest of the business is routine.

There are however, two appointments.

Mayor Mapp is seeking the advice and consent of the Council to the appointment of C. Jean Rawls as an alternate to the Zoning Board of Adjustment.

The Council is proposing to appoint Charles Simmons, Esq., to its seat on the Housing Authority Board of Commissioners.

City Council meets at 7:00 PM February 4 (note the time change) in the Council Chambers / Courthouse at Watchung Avenue and East 4th Street. Parking available on the street and in the lot across from Police Headquarters.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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