City's official website disappears?

The city's domain name (highlighted in yellow) is as much
as asset as a snow plow or a fire truck.

 
Checking Plainfield's official website (see here) before going to bed Sunday evening, I was startled to find a 'website not found' error notice.

If you recall, I wrote in December (see here) that an issue had come to light when a Transition Team volunteer uncovered the fact that the plainfield.com domain name was set to expire at the end of 2013.

I pointed out that the plainfield .com domain was a valuable asset, and hoped that someone would address the issue before the registration expired as Mayor-elect Mapp had no authority to order an action to be taken.

I was roundly criticized by a member of the Transition Team for being unprofessional, for which I apologized to that person and to Mayor-elect Mapp.

The overnight 'disappearance' of the City's official website appears more likely to have been a short downtime for maintenance, as the site was up and working Monday morning.

However the incident led me to check the 'Whois' database, which lists detailed information about the site and its ownership. You can view that information here.

There I found that on December 11, 2013, the day after my original post, the site's registration had been renewed until January 11, 2015 and the ownership information indicated an unnamed entity in Drums, PA, a small community in the Poconos.

As I pointed out in December, the domain name is an asset, just as much as a snow plow or a fire truck --

...owning both domain names [.con and .gov] gives the City of Plainfield the flexibility to allow the use of the .com domain for a separate purpose (or purposes) from the city government website -- say as  window on economic development activity and opportunities, or to promote Plainfield cultural organizations and activities or tourism or as an online marketplace for Plainfield businesses. The possibilities are limited only by our imaginations ... AND OWNING the domain name.

If the ownership has truly been taken away from the City of Plainfield, a question arises whether City staff have a 'duty of care' with regard to the preservation of the ownership of the domain name and have thus been negligent.

Such negligence, if that is the case, could have serious consequences.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Deltas host forum on Affordable Care Act

The Central Jersey Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta and Plainfield's Cross of Life Lutheran Church are joining forces to host a free forum on the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Led by Katherine Woodfield, the founder of Health Care Insurance Education, the forum will address the following issues --

• What is the Affordable Care Act?
• Who is eligible to enroll?
• What does the plan cover?
• How do I choose a plan?
• How do I enroll in a plan?
• How much does a plan cost?
• What is the penalty for not participating?
• When does the coverage start for those who enroll?

The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited, so you must register in advance. To register, go the event's registration page here. Please register by Wednesday, January 15. Light refreshments will be served.

The Central Jersey Alumnae Chapter is one of more than a thousand chapters of this century-old organization of college-educated women. To learn more about the Deltas and their community-oriented programs, visit the local chapter's website (here), the sorority's official website (here) or read the well-researched Wikipedia article (here).

Cross of Life Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is located at 1240 East Seventh Street at Marsh Place (diagonally across from the Armory). There is limited parking in the church lot on Radcliffe Place. Aditional parking is available on Marsh Place and Radcliffe Place.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Bridgegate: Immunity for Kelly would put pressure on Christie, others

Bridget Kelly and Gov. Christie at Seaside Heights in 2012.

No one -- least of all Plainfielders who keep an eye on Trenton goings-on -- believes we are anywhere near getting to the bottom of 'Bridgegate', the fiasco over the punitive closure of three of Ft. Lee's approach lanes to the world's busiest bridge this past September.

Now that the U.S. Attorney is looking into the matter, there appear to be two opportunities to pry more information out of those involved.

The attorney for former Port Authority David Wildstein, Gov. Christie's high school buddy, offered at the end of Wildstein's non-testimony at an Assembly committee hearing on Thursday that his client would be willing to talk if he were offered state and federal immunity.

Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's deputy chief of staff whom he announced on Thursday he had fired 'for lying to me' has not -- as far as the public knows -- asked for immunity. But things may change once the U.S. Attorney gets into full swing.

State Senator Loretta Weinberg says Kelly always behaved professionally in their dealings, but the Sierra Club's Jeff Tittel said he  cannot believe that Kelly would have acted on her own in the matter.

Kelly is hardly an ingenue and has moved steadily up in the Christie team, moving from being the point person for legislative contacts to one of two deputy chiefs of staff Christie's front office.

A tough-minded prosecutor may well decide that a working mom with four kids in school is better place to start than with the more highly-placed Wildstein.

If Kelly knows more details about who was involved and when, getting her cooperation may put Wildstein -- and by extension others including David Samson and even Gov. Christie himself -- in a trick bag.

Sen. Ray Lesniak thinks Christie's presidential bid is already over. But if Kelly and Wildstein can be co-opted, it would be a further stake in the heart.

But what do Plainfielders know of political intrigue?

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Congressman Holt holds Town Hall Saturday

Congressman Rush Holt represents Plainfield.

Plainfield residents are invited to a Town Hall hosted by Congressman Rush Holt on Saturday, January 11 at 1:00 PM.

Holt, who became Plainfield's representative in Congress after the 2010 Census, is a leading Democratic liberal in the Congress.

He has enthusiastically embraced Plainfield and its residents as part of his District -- even featuring the Drake House Museum as his 2012 Christmas card.

The Town Hall will allow residents from communities in this part of his District to air their concerns face-to-face with the genial Congressman. Holt says he is prepared to discuss the economy, healthcare, job creation, education or anything else on his constituents' minds.

The Town Hall gets under way at 1:00 PM at the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School Auditorium, 667 Westfield Road in Scotch Plains. Parking is available on the school grounds -- enter off Westfield Road.

For more information, visit Congressman Holt's website at holt.house.gov/townhall.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Rule 1 for Administration-Council relations: No surprises

What about Council-Administration relations?

Turns out I wasn't the only one surprised by the last-minute walk-on of the temporary budget proposal at Monday evening's Plainfield City Council reorganization meeting.

Some councilors have complained that they were blindsided and that it even appeared City Administrator Rick Smiley had been left in the dark about the move.

It was also pointed out that when Mayor Adrian Mapp served as a Councilor, he was among the most strenuous objectors when then-mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs would have items walked on with no prior notice to the Council.

Even discounting for grandstanding, the criticism should be taken seriously by the new Mapp administration. The first rule in any attempt to build good relations between an administration and a Council should be: No surprises.

Fair enough.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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City opens heating centers, reschedules service activities

 

The severe cold snap that has struck Plainfield has prompted Mayor Adrian Mapp to post a notice of the opening of heating centers to his blog (see here), and a rearranged schedule for 'Week of Service' events that have been disrupted.

The heating centers were announced early Tuesday evening: Both the Senior Center (400 East Front Street) and Washington Community School (427 Darrow Avenue) were open overnight Tuesday for residents without heat.

Here is a listing of the rescheduled events from Mayor Mapp's 'Week of Service' --

COAT DRIVE

Clean new and gently used winter coats -- children's sizes especially -- are being collected in a bin in the Rotunda of City Hall. The collection has been extended through this Friday, January 10.

THANK YOU LETTERS TO MILITARY

Letters of thanks to active duty military members are being collected at City Hall as part of the "Million Thanks' prokject. Receipt of these letter has also been extended to Friady, January 10.

SENIOR APPRECIATION DAYA 'Day of Appreciation' for Plainfield's Senior

Citizens will be rescheduled.

READ ACROSS PLAINFIELD

The 'Read Across Plainfield' day, when Mayor Adrian Mapp and other city officials will read to youngsters in the public schools will be rescheduled in cooperation with the Plainfield School District.

Be sure to check the City's website (here) for updates.'

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Mayor Mapp and the City Council: War or Compromise?

The inscription on City Hall sets a pretty big task before our leaders.

Plainfield's City Council reorganization on Monday evening broke,for Mayor Adrian Mapp, like the old vaudeville joke, into two halves: Good news and bad news.

After the ceremonial swearing-in of Mayor Mapp, 4th Ward Councilor Bridget Rivers and newly appointed 3rd Ward Councilor Gloria Taylor, the Council reorganized itself with Rivers being elected Council President and 1st Ward Councilor Bill Reid elected Chair of the committee of the whole.

The regular order of business was suspended for the 'Mayor's Message'. (It was not billed as the 'State of the City' address required by the Charter, and it was not made clear if an actual 'State of the City' address will be made at some future point.)

While Mayor Mapp noted his administration's intent to put Plainfield's financial chaos behind us (a reference to the lack of a permanent fiscal officer since 2007) and to deliver a budget 'on time', he focused primarily on a three-pronged initiative --

1. The creation of a Development Review Commission;
2. The development of a branding and marketing strategy; and
3. Advocating for improved public transportation

By the last point, Mapp indicated he means the expansion of the temporary trial one-seat ride to Manhattan slated to begin this Spring into a permanent and full-scale feature offered by New Jersey Transit to the towns along the Raritan Valley Line.

In this connection he cited the oft-repeated mantra that each minute of reduction in the time of a trip to NY Penn Station translates into an increase in value of homes along the rail line of $3,000.

To much applause, Mapp also indicated he intends to propose that the Council place an Open Space referendum on the November ballot to fund more recreational opportunities for Plainfield young people.

Mapp consistently hammered away at the theme of cooperation between the Administration and the Council, saying at one point 'we must put aside everything that might hinder us from working together ... [and] pledge tonight to work together'.

Following Mapp's address and well-wishes, comments and urgings from seventeen residents (Mrs. Lilliam Jamar, Ward 1 committee member, brought the house down when she said, 'I will be watching you'.), the Council got down to business.

Its 'housekeeping' resolutions passed in a single consensus vote.

Mayor Mapp's nominations of Rick Smiley as City Administrator, Ron West as Director Administration and Finance, Eric Jackson as Director of Public Works and Urban Development, David Minchello as Corporation Council, 'AJ' Jalloh as Municipal Clerk and three other slots all passed unanimously.

The Council also passed unanimously five appointments of municipal prosecutors and public defenders put forward by Corporation Counsel.

With no other business proposed by City departments, the Council turned to four new items offered for the agenda by Mayor Mapp. These resolutions needed five affirmative votes to be placed on the agenda.

This is where the 'bad news' began for Mapp. The nominations of Siddeeq El-Amin as Director of Public Affairs and Safety, and Carl Riley as Police Director failed to garner enough votes to be put on the agenda.

However, the Council did put the final two resolutions on the agenda (with only one dissenting vote, from Councilor Greaves). These nominations for Carlos Sanchez as Deputy City Administrator for Economic Development and Joy R. Spriggs, Esq., as Chief Public Defender passed unanimously.

The audience began to rustle with anticipation of the final public comment section when City Administrator Smiley announced the Administration wished to put a temporary budget for the first quarter up for a vote.

Though the adoption of a temporary budget is a standard practice and a necessity in order for the City to function, Council members seemed surprised that the matter was being 'walked on' in such a fashion.

After a few minutes' recess to study the document, Council reconvened amidst complaints of the manner in which it had been brought up, and the significant increse proposed for the Mayor's budget. Lacking five votes to take the matter up, no action was taken, meaning that it will have to be dealt with in a further,  special meeting. (See note below correcting this section.)

While Mapp got most of the appointments he wished, it is clear that there is contention on the horizon over the two sticking points: the public safety appointments and the budget.

While I believe that the Mayor has practically an absolute right to name his or her own cabinet, the Council clearly sees otherwise in regard to Public Safety.

It is not as if it is unheard of for a municipal governing body to dicker over some of the appointments. The question here is Why?

Word in the street for weeks has been that unnamed but powerful figures are adamantly opposed to El-Amin's appointment, favoring two local officers, which of course knocks the outstandingly qualified Riley out of the running (see my previous writeup of him here).

What are the reasons for Mapp's choices and how strongly does he feel about them? What alternatives does he have?

One path, of course, is to seek a compromise with the City Council. Another possibility would be to declare some sort of emergency and ask the Union County Prosecutor Grace Park, the County's chief law enforcement officer, to take over the day-to-day operations of the City's Police Division.

With regard to the budget, it seems at the very least that the matter was not tactically well-handled. It is a mystery to everyone why there was no apparent effort to prepare the Council in advance of the meeting. (In Mayor Mapp's defense, I have heard that the previous Acting City Administrator and Director of Finance Al Restaino left office with the temporary budget matter in limbo.)

What are Mapp's options here? With the funding of his office being the apparent sticking point (is it for the newly created Chief of Staff position?), is there a path of compromise?

Or would he have to ponder a 'nuclear option' such as withdrawing the proposed temporary budget altogether? While the Council has an undisputed right to am,end a budget proposal as it sees fit, it does not introduce the budget and could be blamed for a shutdown of municipal govenment if things came to that pass.

(As I had left the meeting before the final resolution of the budget matter, I relied on a trusted source who told me no agreement had been reached. However, this morning the Clerk's office confirmed that indeed a resolution was finally reached through negotiation and that an amended temporary budget was adopted, averting the need for a special meeting. Are we out of the woods? I don't think so yet.)

So, is it war or compromise?

Mrs. Jamar is watching.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Mapp to unveil Transition report at tonight's Council

Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp will unveil his Transition Team's report at tonight's Council reorganization meeting as part of his first State of The City address.

Clocking in at 99 pages, the document is the result of about ninety volunteers who worked in nine subcommittees over the weeks since the November election to interview key employees in every city department plus many vendors, outside experts and others whose insights helped spotlight the workings of city government on the cusp of the Mapp administration's taking office.

Former Governor Jim McGreevey and Freeholder Linda Carter served as honorary co-chairs.

The process was led by co-chairs Bill O'Dea and Mike DeCotiis. O'Dea, who is a Hudson County freeholder as well as Deputy Executive Director of Elizabeth's Economic Development Corporation and De Cotiis, a partner in the well-known law firm, were co-chairs of Jersey City mayor Steve Fulop's transition team. Fulop took office on July 1, after winning that city's May nonpartisan election.

Organizing and conducting the work on the ground in Plainfield was a Steering Committee composed of John Stewart, Jr. (chair), Jeanette Criscione, Rick Smiley and myself.

The full report, which includes an alphabetical index of all participants with brief bios, is slated to be posted to the City's website (see here) at 6:00 PM, the time scheduled for the beginning of the reorganization meeting at the Plainfield High School auditorium.

Parking for tonight's meeting is available in the Stelle and Kenyon Avenue lots as well as on the street.

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Councilor Brown on Mapp: If he does well, the city does well

Councilor at-large Brown welcomed the new mayor on behalf
of Council President Bridget Rivers.

Councilor at-large Tracey Brown welcomed Plainfield's new mayor, Adrian O. Mapp, at his ceremonial swearing-in on New Year's Day on the steps of City Hall.

Speaking on behalf of Council President Bridget Rivers, who could not be present, Brown graciously welcomed the new mayor, invited all to pray for him and remarked that 'if he does well, the city does well'.

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Council reorg agenda amended

Plainfield City Council's 2014 reorganization meeting agenda was released yesterday and contained a few surprises, at least to me.

Surprise number one was the amending of the original agenda as worked out at the December 16 session. While the Council had agreed by consensus to move some cabinet appointments to the reorganization agenda (Rick Smiley as City Administrator; Ron West as Director Administration and Finance; Eric Jackson as Director of Public Works and Urban Development; and David Minchello, Esq., as Corporation Counsel).

The reorg agenda was amended to include three more positions (Siddeeq El-Amin as Director of Public Affairs and Safety; Carl N. Riley as Police Director; and Carlos Sanchez as Deputy City Administrator for Economic Development). The latter three had been interviewed by the Council December 16, but there had been no consensus to put them on the agenda. Does their appearance now mean that the wrinkles have been ironed out?

Surprise number two is the addition of Joy R. Spriggs as chief municipal public defender. While Spriggs has held the annual appointment for twelve years, shay was not on Mayor Mapp's original list of renominations. Humanitarian gesture? No doubt. More than that? Perhaps.

The third surprise was the marking of fourteen 'housekeeping' councilmanic resolutions of a routine nature as 'consent items', meaning they will be passed in one vote. Those who have yawned their way through the individual consideration of each of these items in past years will no doubt be pleased.

One quibble. I am under the impression that the Municipal Clerk is in the middle of an initial four(!) year appointment, hence do not understand why he is listed as up for reappointment for an unspecified period of time. Perhaps the matter will be clarified at the meeting.

The Plainfield City Council convenes at 5:00 PM on Monday to go immediately into executive session until the public meeting scheduled for 6:00 PM. This, however, is no guarantee that the public meeting will actually start at 6:00 PM. I suggest that the Council adopt an official vendor of snacks and beverages for members of the public routinely kept waiting by these in camera sessions.

It would be a budget-booster, don't you think?

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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After Council hits snooze button, Mapp makes acting appointments

 

When the Plainfield City Council decided to hold off on its reorganization meeting until January 6, it was as though it had hit the 'snooze button', leaving the peoples' business to a more convenient time.

Mother Nature, though, seems to have had a mind of her own, sending a dangerous winter storm to blanket the Northeast on January 2.

Exposing Plainfield residents in this way left newly inaugurated Mayor Adrian Mapp further reason to guarantee the smooth operation of city government by appointing Rick Smiley, his nominee for City Administrator, as Acting City Administrator effective January 1, along with Carl Riley as Acting Police Director.

Notice of the acting appointments was relayed by Municipal Clerk 'AJ' Jalloh in an email received mid-afternoon Thursday.

Rick Smiley, Mapp's nominee for City Administrator is leaving his position as Director of Passaic County's Workforce Investment Board to take up his new assignment. Smiley has twenty-five years' experience in municipal and county government, having served as Director of Plainfield Action Services and former president of the City's employee and managers' unions. His most recent service was as chairperson of the Charter Study Commission elected by Plainfield voters in 2012 and which has recently wrapped up its final report.

Carl Riley is a career law enforcement professional with more than twenty years' service, who headed up the Union County Prosecutor's Office's Homicide Task Force as its commander since its inception in 2008.

Riley began his career with the Shrewsbury Police Department in Monmouth County. After serving as a detective in the Essex County Prosecutor's Office's Narcotics unit, he joined the Union County Prosecutor's Office. In 2010, he was designated by then-Prosecutor Theodore Romankow as officer-in-charge of the Springfield Police Department when a leadership vacuum was created by the abrupt resignation of the Township's leading candidate for police chief. In 2012, Riley taught a two-day course on 'Major Crime Investigations' hosted by the Middlesex County Police Training Center.

Riley is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the Penn State Police Executive Management Program. He also completed the Southern Police Institute's 'Management of Small Law Enforcement Agencies' course.

The two men spent their first full day on the job Thursday ensuring that the Public Works and Police Divisions were fully prepared for the winter storm bearing down on the Plainfield area Thursday night and into Friday.

Per the notice by Clerk Jalloh, Mayor Mapp intends to offer Smiley and Riley for confirmation at Monday's Council reorganization meeting.

Mayor Mapp will also deliver his inaugural State of The City Address at Monday's meeting and will publicly unveil the report of his Transition Team at the same time. (Full disclosure: I chaired one of the Transition's subcommittees, on Communications.)

Monday's Council reorganization meeting gets under way at 6:00 PM at the Plainfield High School Auditorium (note the venue!). Parking is available in both the Stelle and Kenyon Avenue lots as well as on the street.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Brits advise Plainfield: Keep Calm And Carry On

Public morale was a great concern of the
British government in the face of WWII's outbreak.

 

The British have some classic advice as Plainfield marks the move to a new Administration and new initiatives under Mayor Adrian Mapp: Keep Calm And Carry On.

The saying comes from a poster devised by the British Ministry of Information just before the outbreak of World Warr II and intended to boost the morale of the general population in the event of widely-expected intensive bombing raids of major British cities and manufacturing centers.

The bombs came. The British people rallied, endured and survived.

As we move into the new era of Plainfield under Mayor Adrian Mapp's leadership, there are nailbiters ahead: will the Council be able to move out of the defensive crouch occasioned by the Robinson-Briggs administration's dysfunctionality? Will Mayor Mapp thread the needle with regard to getting his leadership team in place? And what about the challenges of a budget abandoned in mid-process by the Robinson-Briggs
team?

Plenty of reasons to feel anxious and apprehensive.

All the more reason to 'keep calm and carry on'.

The bombs came, the British people endured.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Swearing-in at Noon kicks off Mayor Mapp's 'Week of Service'

Mayor Adrian Mapp's public swearing-in is set for Noon.

Plainfield Mayor Adrian O. Mapp invites the entire community to participate in today's Peoples' Inaugural, which kicks off a Week of Service celebrating a new day for Plainfield.

Today's event will begin with a ceremonial swearing-in of the Mayor on the steps of City Hall at noon. The oath of office will be administered by Mayor Mapp's daughter Shermona, who is an attorney. (The official swearing-in took place at 12:01 AM at the Mapp home, where City Clerk 'AJ' Jalloh administered the oath.)

After a brief program of remarks and music at City Hall, the celebration will move on to the cafeteria at Plainfield High School, where at 1:00 PM residents and friends will partake of offerings from the city's many restaurants and caterers. The afternoon, which is free and open to all, will proceed with music representing Plainfield's diverse cultures.

As part of the First Day of the Week of Service, there will be tables at the High School for residents to indicate their interest in serving on the City's many boards and commissions.

The rest of the Week of Service offers these opportunities --

THURSDAY

New and gently used winter coats (men's, women's and children's) will be collected at City Hall from 9 AM to5 PM to be donated to service agencies throughout the City.

FRIDAY

Senior Appreciation Day will be celebrated by Mayor Mapp with a visit to the Senior Center. Residents are asked to honor Seniors with acts of kindness and gratitude.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY

'Shop, Eat, Support Plainfield' is a weekend emphasis inviting residents to explore the many offerings of Plainfield's shopping districts and its vibrant restaurant community.

MONDAY

Thank you cards and letters to those serving in the military will be collected at City Hall from 9 AM to 5 PM in support of 'A Million Thanks', an organization fostering support of our troops. For more information, visit their website at www.amillionthanks.org/.

TUESDAY

Mayor Mapp and others from his administration will participate in a 'Read Across Plainfield' event in cooperation with the Plainfield Public Schools. The event will underscore the importance of reading to young children as part of their development and skills-building.

In addition, Mayor Mapp intends to introduce a 'Plainfield Volunteer Corps' in the next few weeks, offering further opportunities to serve.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Solving the Rubik's cube of Plainfield politics

There are more than 43 quintillion possible positions...

 

...but the Rubik's Cube puzzle can be solved in under 100 moves.

Solving the Rubik's Cube of Plainfield politics will determine whether the city moves forward at all under soon-to-be-sworn-in Mayor-elect Adrian Mapp.

As Plainfield Today predicted, Gloria Taylor, retired educator and widow of the late mayor Rick Taylor, was selected by the City Council in a 5-1 vote at Monday evening's special Council meeting to fill Mapp's vacant Ward 3 seat until the next general election.

The other two items on the agenda -- appointing members to the African-Caribbean Commission and to the Citizens Emergency Response Team (CERT) -- were passed as proposed by outgoing Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs without any changes.

The alignment of the Council majority (now expected to be enhanced with Taylor on board) puts the issue of learning to live with compromise on the front burner.

In my thirty years of watching and participating in Plainfield politics it seems that the three major forces -- Mayor, Council and Democratic Party chair -- have never been on the same page more than momentarily. The result has been that Plainfield lags behind other New Jersey communities in developing economic opportunities and taking care of the needs of its residents for jobs and services.

It all reminds me of Rubik's Cube, the popular twisty puzzle invented in the 1970s. A cube with nine boxes in six different colors on each side, and twistable in every direction, the point is to rearrange the boxes so that each side of the cube is composed of boxes of one color (read more about Rubik's Cube here).

There are more than 43 quintillion individual positions for the little boxes  (that's 43 followed by 18 zeroes). Despite the mind-boggling number of combinations, it is possible to solve the puzzle in under one hundred moves.

And that seems to me to be a good metaphor for the challenge now facing Mayor-elect Mapp, the newly aligned Council and Democratic Party chairperson Assemblyman Jerry Green.

Will they solve it successfully?

Only time will tell.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Council vote tonight will set tone for Mapp's first year

What does Magic 8-ball say?

Plainfield's City Council gathers in a special meeting tonight with three items of business -- filling the vacancy created by the resignation of Mayor-elect Adrian Mapp from his Ward 3 council seat, and the appointing of members to the newly created African-Caribbean Commission and the Citizens Emergency Response Team (CERT).

Attention will naturally be focused on the Council seat, where the Plainfield Democratic City Committee is offering three names arrived at at a meeting this past Friday: Don Davis, Gloria Taylor and Veronica Taylor (no relation).

Davis is a former Councilor for Ward 3. Gloria Taylor is a retired educator and the widow of the late mayor Rick Taylor. Veronica Taylor, known to all as Roni, campaigned tirelessly for Assemblyman Green's slate in the 2013 primary and general elections.

The smart money is betting (Attention! Spoiler alert for Mr. Spear!) on Gloria Taylor.

If the retired educator is selected, the Council would have a veto-proof block of five Councilors (Brown, Greaves, Reid, Rivers and the expedted newcomer) closely aligned with Plainfield Democratic Party chair Assemblyman Jerry Green.

This would leave Councilors Storch and Williams as the only New Democrats, down from high of four seats just over a year ago.

It would also make Plainfield unique for having women filling five of the seven seats. That fact alone, however, would not guarantee a more irenic atmosphere.

Which leads us to the other items of business tonight.

One of the complaints about the original CERT nominations was that the nominees were mostly from the same neighborhood (coincidentally that of outgoing Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs).

Another concern expressed by some was that the African-Caribbean Commission, heavily weighted toward African members, seemed to be intended as a political vehicle for Charles Eke,  a PMUA commissioner who has shown an interest in elected office.

If these nominations move forward in their original form with no adjustments, it would be fair to wonder whether a modus vivendi has been worked out between the new mayor and the new Council.

And that would suggest the tone of relations between the executive and the legislative branches in Mapp's first year.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Area student to speak on sex trafficking at St. Mark's Youth Sunday

Westminster Choir College senior Ashante Taylorcox
will speak on her efforts to combat sex trafficking
at St. Mark's Church on Sunday.

Ashante Taylorcox will speak at Youth Sunday December 29 at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, addressing the issue of sex trafficking and abuse and her efforts to combat it through her charity, The Akun Project.

A senior at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, Ashante herself is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse.

Ashante will be making her second trip to Cambodia the following day to do some serious work that she will share in her talk. She is developing a new program for survivors of sex trafficking.

Ashante is the founder and president of The Akun Project, which works with the Cambodian Kids Foundation to put an end to this heinous crime and bring new life to its victims. A music major, Ashante will be doing research on the role that music can play in the healing of human trafficking victims, specifically sex trafficking victims, and the way music can be used to address their trauma.

Her focus is twofold:

• To start and manage a song-writing group to help survivors address their past trauma and abuse through song, empowering them to reclaim their voice that was once trapped in a world that so persistently silenced them; and
  
  
• To lay the ground work for the nonprofit organization she hopes to establish, utilizing art-based music therapies for sex trafficking survivors.

Ashante plans to move to Cambodia after she graduates in May 2014 to continue the project and to work on her nonprofit which will be based in Cambodia.

St. Mark's Episcopal Church is at 1430 Park Avenue (at the South Plainfield town line). Parking is available in the church lot. The service starts at 10:30 AM.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Dems meet Friday to deal with Mapp vacancy

With the resignation by Mayor-elect Adrian Mapp of his Council seat expected momentarily, the Plainfield Democratic City Committee will meet at 7:00 PM Friday at the YWCA of Plainfield/North Plainfield to deal with the matter.

Under New Jersey law, the local party committee of the resigning Council member can propose three names to the City Council, which then selects one of those three to serve until the November general election, at which time a duly elected candidate will be seated for the balance of the councilmanic term.

While these sorts of choices have in the part had local political types on tenterhooks, there is not much angst this time around.

Word in the street is that the three names to be proposed are former Councilor Don Davis, whose previous term ended under something of a cloud; Veronica (Roni) Taylor, a former Board of Ed member who campaigned hard for Assemblyman Jerry Green's ticket in both the Primary and the General elections; and Gloria Taylor, a retired educator and widow of former Mayor Rick Taylor.

Guests must sign in, but are always welcome, though they do not vote and may not speak without permission (in advance) of the Chair, Assemblyman Jerry Green.

The YWCA is at East Front and Church Streets, with parking in the YWCA lot on Church Street and on the street.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Kwanzaa celebration Saturday

Plainfield's 2013 Kwanzaa Celebration will be held Saturday, December 28, from Noon - 6:00 PM at Washington Community School. The free event is sponsored by the Recreation Division through and will mark the final time that Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs will host the annual event.

Kwanzaa is a season of celebration, meditation and recommitment.

Saturdy's event will feature --

• African Dance & Drumming
• African Market Place
• Storytelling
• Traditional Candle Lighting Ceremony
• Musical Performances
• Poetry
• Karamu (Free Refreshments)

Free Admission.

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FREE 2013 KWANZAA CELEBRATION
Saturday, December 28 
Noon - 6:00 PM
WASHINGTON COMMUNITY SCHOOL
427 Darrow Avenue
(Parking available in the Spooner Avenue lot)

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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