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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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