Help reopen restaurant damaged in demolition

The damaged and closed Mi Buenaventura restaurant.
(Image courtesy David Rutherford, see his coverage of the demolition here.)

 

Plainfield restaurant owner Maria Rosa's Mi Buenaventura was damaged by falling debris during the North Avenue demolition on Saaturday, March 21, and has been closed ever since.

She is planning a move to a new location on North Avenue, directly across from the train station, and expects to open in early May.

In the meantime, she needs help financing the move.

The Tri-County Latino Coalition of NJ (TLCNJ) has stepped up to the plate by organizing a fund drive at the online funding site gofundme (see here). They are promising that all funds raised will go directly to Maria Rosa. A confusing sentence at the end of the pitch seems to indicate that contributions will not be tax-deductible as TLC is a "non-profit & not an official charitable organization".

There has been some "blaming of the victim" that I have heard because Maria did not have business interruption insurance. As someone who started a business from scratch, I can sympathize with her situation.

In the first place, no one knows what kind of advice she was given when setting up her business over thirty years ago, in a location that probably look that promising but was undoubtedly inexpensive to locate in.

What we could use, instead of finger-pointing, is some sign of assistance from the business community -- the SID, the Plainfield Chamber of Commerce and other business organizations. To date, there has been noticeable silence from these "friends". Why?

As a community that has always prided itself on supporting one another, I hope to see the business community step up to the plate and offer some help.

In the meantime, you can help. Take a moment to go to the website (here) and make a donation of whatever size to see that Maria Rosa can get back up and running.

I hate to end on a sour note, but I wish that Norman Ortega, who sent me an email on Sunday to advise this effort, would learn to stick strictly to the facts and not "spin" everything. In his email he opened with the line "after the city's destruction of Mi Buenaventura..."

The restaurant was damaged by falling debris. The demolition was done as a result of a declared emergency. Could it have been done better? Who knows? Was the damage a conscious act of destruction? How does Ortega know that? The insurance companie(s) will -- eventually -- parcel out the various portions of responsibility between the parties and make a settlement and life will go on.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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A curious ordinance introduction on Monday

Help is on the way for hard-up organizations.

A curious item on the Plainfield City Council agenda for Monday evening caught my eye -- the introduction of MC2015-15 on first reading would amend the existing ordinance on licenses, permits and regulated activities to allow for a waiver of fees due to financial hardship (you can read the item online here, see the very last two pages).

So, it seems that a nonprofit experiencing financial difficulties of such a nature that it cannot even pay to have its nonprofit status recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization may petition the City Council for a hardship waiver.

The ordinance provides that the applicant must document that it has applied for 501(c)(3) status and "provide information reflecting the existence of its financial hardship".

If you navigate in the online city charter and ordinances to Chapter 9, Article 17 (see here), you will find an extensive list of the types of activities that must pay a license or permit fee -- everything from arcade games to wreckers. Most are obviously related to for-profit business activities.

But the only categories that suggest themselves to be eligible for the new "financial hardship" waiver include flea markets and garage sales; theater, opera house and concert events; public entertainments such a block parties, festivals, meetings or demonstrations; and shows, dances and social affairs.

The ordinance states "the waiver of municipal fees under this Chapter is may [sic] be granted only once to the entity seeking the financial hardship". The language does not make it clear, given the range of activities covered by the existing ordinance if that is a waiver once for one activity on one occasion, or a waiver to the entity for that sort of activity on an unlimited forward-going basis. Would be nice to know what the language actually means.

Perhaps the most curious part of the whole ordinance is the final clause, allowing organizations that can prove a financial hardship existed thirty (30) days before the enactment of the ordinance will be eligible for the waiver.

Customized lawmaking, at your doorstep!

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Dick Gregory in Black History program at PHS Saturday

The young Dick Gregory in conversation with Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Comedian, civil rights activist and political satirist Dick Gregory will be featured at Plainfield High School Saturday in a "Black History Celebration" sponsored by the Housing Authority of Plainfield in collaboration with the Plainfield Public Schools.

Proceeds of the program will benefit the Authority's Premier Community Development Corp. (PCDC) scholarship program.

Besides the keynote address by Gregory, there will be performances by the M.A. Taylor Dance Ensemble, Roland Washington, and One Step Beyond, with Alexis Morrast and Jasmine Lynn. Music will be provided by Universal Sounds.

Advance tickets are $15, include the souvenir journal and may be picked up at HAP offices at Richmond Towers, 510 East Front Street, during business hours today. Tickets at the door are $20/person. The program rungs from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM. I am told there will be a VIP reception after the event at an extra cost, but do not have any details. If interested, check with Jacqueline Miller of HAP at (908) 769-6335 x612.

The Plainfield High School Auditorium is at Park and Stelle Avenues. Parking available in the high school lots on Stelle and Kenyon Avenues.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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NJ's automation saves time, but not for Deputy Clerk

The instructions are ... well... kinda, sorta, clear...

 

April is a busy month for Plainfield's Deputy Municipal Clerk Sherri Golden. That is when "LGOs" -- elected and appointed officials in the local government and its agencies -- must file their annual Financial Disclosure Statements.

Time was when this meant mailing out paper forms and having recipients fill them out and mail them to Trenton. But no longer.

The state has put the forms online and all required LGOs file their information electronically, making it instantaneously available on the publicly-viewable state website.

Except for one hitch.

Each individual must be assigned a "personalized validation name" (their name) and a confidential PIN number. Sherrie must take the time to craft 91 hand-tailored emails to each Plainfield official required to make the submission, keeping each one's confidential information completely private.

So, saving labor on the Trenton end hasn''t exactly meant saving labor across the board -- just offloading it, which is an old bureaucratic trick.

Meanwhile, the LGOs must download, read and digest a three-page directive from the DCA's Division of Local Government Services and follow the 12-stepss to successfully file their required reports by April 30.

Progress, of sorts.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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PACHA to discuss ID cards Thursday

Mayor Robinson-Briggs authorized a private organization
to issue ID cards. That organization has since discontinued them.

Plainfield's Advisory Commission on Hispanic Affairs is expected to take up a discussion of city-issued ID cards at its meeting tomorrow (April 9) at City Hall Library.

Chairperson Flor Gonzalez hopes the commission will have a quorum and will be able to make a recommendation to the Mapp administration in the matter, after weighing the advantages and concerns.

Members of the newly-formed Tri-County Latino Coalition of NJ (TLCNJ) attended last month's meeting to discuss the matter, which they strongly support, but no formal action could be taken as a quorum was not present.

Since the meeting was small and informal, Chairperson Gonzalez broke with protocol and invited the group to sit at the commission's table for an informal discussion.

Following that meeting, I received a letter from TLCNJ to PACHA concerning the matter, which I have posted online here, and embedded below.

There are a couple of things to note.

First, this letter now brings up the matter of ID cards for "those coming out of jail", which is a new topic and not part of the PACHA mandate. This complicates the discussion.

Secondly, the letter misrepresents what Mayor Mapp has written on the matter (see his complete blog post here).

The TLCNJ letter states --

...the Mayor said "if the PACHA so advises". he will happily "forward a detailed proposal to the City Council for funding". He also noted that PACHA must advise the City Council and the Mayor before the 2015 budget is adopted.

Contrast this with what Mayor Mapp actually wrote on his blog --

I have no objection to the idea of a city-issued ID card being looked into but, because it would involve the City’s fiscal participation, there are several issues that would need to be ironed out. Therefore, I propose the following:

• The matter should be taken up by PACHA, which would have the power to make any recommendation for action to the Council and the Administration;
• Secondly, I will recommend to the Council that it appoint an ad hoc committee of three members to work with PACHA on determining the need, advisability and feasibility of such a City-run program; and
• Thirdly, that Ms. Salavarrieta and her organization should have the right to defend the existing arrangement before the PACHA.

Further, if the PACHA so advises and the Council committee concurs, my administration will happily forward a detailed proposal to the City Council for funding. Note that if the 2015 budget is adopted before a conclusion to the investigation is reached, the matter will have to wait for the 2016 budget cycle.

Note that the TLCNJ letter leaves out any reference to an ad hoc Council committee studying the issue and making a recommendation. It also neglects the TWO "if" conditions -- If the Council committee and PACHA both positively recommend an ID card program.

Lastly, Mayor Mapp takes into consideration the timeline, saying "IF the budget is adopted BEFORE a conclusion to the investigation into the matter is reached", it will have to wait for the 2016 budget.

Advocates do not help their cause by misrepresenting things.

PACHA meets in the City Hall Library Thursday, April 9, at 7:00 PM. Meetings are open to the public and opportunity is given for public comment.

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TLCNJ - Letter to PACHA on Municipal ID cards

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Scoring Jerry Green on diversity: A look at his 2015 City Committee slate

The Plainfield Democratic Organization is challenging Jerry Green
for control of the City Committee.

Now that the slates have been filed for Plainfield's Democratic City Committee seats, which are up for election in June, it occurred to me to check out Jerry Green's slate through a diversity lens.

One striking thing to note is that apparently for the first time ever, Green has failed to mount a full slate. With the city divided into 34 voting districts distributed among the four wards, the slate is composed of a male and a female candidate for each district, for a grant total of 68.

Green posted 67 candidates, while the Plainfield Democratic Organization, which is challenging him for control of the city committee, posted 65. Not at all shabby, considering the late Al McWilliams was able to wrest control of the committee from Green in 2003 with only 45 candidates running.

Of course. the rules of the game mean that there will be equal representation between males and females. But after this, things begin to diverge -- greatly.

With Plainfield's Hispanic population at slightly over 40%, it is striking that Green has not got a single identifiably Hispanic candidate for city committee. Contrast this with the Plainfield Democratic Organization's total of six  seven (note correction) Latino candidates.

As for African Americans and whites, Green's slate apparently has only a single white person.

It is also worth noting that Green has never fielded a single openly gay candidate ever, and this year only keeps up his impeccable record.

Green's slate is also notably short on younger candidates, with many -- you might say his core constituency -- representing people who have been politically active for fifty years or so. The imbalance is so marked one suspects that Green is unaware or perhaps not interested in the need to constantly draw in new and younger people.

How would I score Jerry Green on diversity?  Let's say he hovers between a C- and a D+.

It's going to be an interesting campaign season.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Latinos bring issues to Council tonight

This flyer on Plainfield Latino's Facebook page
urges attendance at tonight's Council meeting.
(Click to enlarge or print.)

If leaders of the recently-formed Tri-County Latino Coalition of NJ (TLCNJ) have done their homework, Plainfield's City Council may see a large representation of Latinos this evening to discuss issues as they see them.

The flyer above was posted to Plainfield Latino's Facebook page on April 3 and has generated a lively discussion thread, although my most recent check shows the conversation has only been viewed by 53 people. But even if that many show up, there will be a crowded meeting.

This interest in the Latino community in Plainfield City Council meetings and business is a welcome sign that participation in the political process may be on the rise.

It's been a long time coming and may not be exactly greeted with open arms  by Assemblyman Jerry Green and his crew, as it's likely to be unmanageable in the way Green has traditionally sought.

However, greater participation is a hallmark of true democracy, so who can be against it?

The flyer illustrates issues of concern, but also a shows a lack of familiarity with Plainfield's local government process (a Council meeting is not a "community" meeting as that term is normally used).

The issues the flyer notes are: Municipal ID cards, the North Avenue demolition, and the Earned Sick Days ordinance that is up for consideration. I pointed out to the FB thread that some of these would not have a chance to be heard until the end of the meeting, according to the way the agenda is set up (although Council President Bridget Rivers has flexibility to change it).

If you take a good look at the Facebook discussion thread (see here), you will see that some of the language comes across as accusatory. This is understandable perhaps for some folks who feel their concerns have been slighted, but it can also reveal an unfamiliarity with the political process.

Efective advocacy involves patient, focused, long-term commitment to a well-articulated set of issues with clear, meaningful and persuasive arguments to convince those in the seats of power (Council and Mayor) to take the desired course(s) of action.

Overstating or mis-stating the issues at hand won't help, nor will an immediate assumption that the relationship has to be antagonistic. The Latino community will learn quickly enough that is important to separate real issues and grievances from the demagoguery of those with hidden agendas. It is just as true in the Latino community as elsewhere that not everyone who says they are your friend really has your best interests at heart.

For example, if you parse the conversation carefully, you will see that Councilor Williams tries -- not very successfully -- to get participants to be specific: about whether they are, in fact, her constituents; exactly when and how they tried to contact her; and what, precisely, are their concerns.

It comes to light that some of her interlocutors are not residents of Plainfield. How is that to be dealt with?

The flyer says TCLNJ "will be present to support all the Latinos", but I wonder how well it can do so if Latinos themselves have different objectives that may be in conflict.

For instance, the ID card issue affects a wide range of folks in the Latino community, but my guess is that it is not much -- if at all -- of an issue among Latino business owners.

However, opposition to the Earned Sick Days ordinance by Latino business owners directly affects their workers, who are presumably (mostly) Latino. How can one group say it supports both sides of such an issue at the same time?

All this being said, I think we should all mark the record for 2015 being the year that the Latino community begins to assume its place at the table.

That also puts a couple of topics on the Council's agenda, especially concerning language.

What is to be done about those for whom English may present difficulties? How is the Council -- whose members are not fluent in Spanish -- to know they are getting the true gist of issues if there is a language problem? Should the Council have a bilingual translator on hand at all meetings to make sure its meanings are made clear and not misrepresented? And to get an unbiased translation of Spanish-speakers' comments? Should agendas -- or at least a summary -- also be provided in Spanish?

There is a lot to think about as Plainfield moves ahead.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Monday night's (Council) Theater of the Absurd

Frame from an early Looney Tunes cartoon (pre-Technicolor)
titled 'Porky in Wackyland'.

 
Ever since Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp took office in January 2014, City Council agenda sessions have increasingly included an element of what is called in playwrighting circles "Theater of the Absurd", in which --

what happens...has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down, in fact alerting their audiences to pursue the opposite. Logical construction and argument gives way to irrational and illogical speech and to its ultimate conclusion, silence ... (for more, see here).

Although it can crop up anywhere during a Council meeting, the usual spot is the section titled "Discussion/Action Items". This is where Council President Bridget Rivers allows discussion of an item of interest, either by the Council (which may take action) or some person or persons (often representing a group or an issue).

This Monday's agenda-setting session contains two such items --

• Appointment of City Council budget consultant; and
  
  
• Appointment of legal counsel to investigate North Avenue emergency demolition.

The online backup materials for this week's session are very skimpy, and might not have been expected to contain any details, anyway, but both items are backward-referencing, so we can guess at how they will unfold.

CITY COUNCIL BUDGET CONSULTANT

After following the disastrous advice of last year's Council budget consultant, who recommended over $1 million in cuts to the Mapp proposal (see my post here), including shorting insurance and pension payments by more thn half a million dollars and cutting staff positions by almost half a million dollars, the Council was later left with egg on its face when the City faced a crisis mid-year involving problems generated by the skimped payments.

Though the obstreperous Councilor Bill Reid is no longer there to muddy the waters or use delaying tactics, it will be interesting to see WHO the Council hires this time around (could they possibly go back to the same flacks?), how much that consultant recommends to be cut, and the Council's gyration when it finally gets around to the budget.

Timelines don't look good. When the "discussion" of Council nominees for the Citizens Budget Advisory Committee came up last month, there was stony silence -- not a single name was put forward. Though it is on Monday's agenda, I could find no backup online, so we'll have to wait and see who is appointed.

Meanwhile, Council President Bridget Rivers has made no indication of scheduling any budget hearings. Are you reading this, Trenton?

NORTH AVENUE DEMOLITION INVESTIGATION

Word in the street is that Assemblyman Jerry Green called DPWUD Director Eric Watson recently, read him the riot act for joining the Mapp administration and "betraying" Green, and threatened "I will destroy you".

Green usually keeps his word, or at least tries to, on such threats.

So, expect Monday's discussion of the Council's hiring of an attorney to investigate the recent North Avenue demolition brouhaha to be Act I, Scene 2, in this melodrama (Scene 1 was last month's special meeting to take up the demolition -- which Council refused to do.)

In snubbing Corporation Counsel Vernita Sias-Hill, Rivers is using as the precedent for this action the Council's hiring of an outside attorney to investigate the misappropriation of a $15,000 check from Investor's Bank meant to help fund a July 4 Parade but instead used by former mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs to pay for a WBLS broadcast of a community meeting on violence at which Rev. Al Sharpton made a very brief appearance. Investor's never gave permission for the switcheroo, and, in fact, did not know about it until the issue blew up in public.

The parallel between the two situations is tenuous at best, but that illogicality will not bother a Council majority, I am sure.

What this really portends is that, apparently at the instigation of Assemblyman Green, Council President Rivers is organizing the pitchfork-and-torches brigade to throw Director Watson under the bus.

Even though the Mapp administration is statutorily in a superior position and the bills must be paid -- eventually.

City Council meets for its agenda-setting session on Monday evening, April 6, at 7:30 PM in the Council Chambers/ Courthouse at Watchung Avenue and East 4th Street.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Happy Easter!

HAPPY EASTER!

 
¡FELIZ PASCUA!

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Holy Saturday: Utter silence

The day after Jesus' death is a day of utter desolation for his companions. They know nothing of Easter, only of his death. What does this mean? What now?

O GOD, Creator of heaven and earth:

Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life;

who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

The Church keeps Holy Saturday as a day of utter silence, reflection and waiting.

No Mass is celebrated, no Communion distributed. The church is stripped and barren, the only service a brief reading and prayer.

And then the silence, the waiting.
Michael D. O'Brien is a controversial, conservative Catholic Canadian artist, novelist and essayist.

This is a repost of from March 22, 2008.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Remembering Emily Washington

Emily Washington was honored by Faith Bricks and Mortar in 2013.

 

With the passing of Emily Washington, Plainfield has lost one of its longtime community activists. Emily's obituary (see here) details a lifetime of community involvement and civil rights activism that dates back to the 1940s.

I first met Emily in 1991 at a meeting called after the Rodney King riots to discuss the relationship of the police to the Black community in Plainfield.

The organizers of the meeting were Rev. La Verne Lattimore-Ball of Rose of Sharon Church, and Rev. Margot Campbell-Gross of the First Unitarian Society of Plainfield.

Among the attendees were Mrs. Washington, who represented Mt. Olive Baptist Church; Joyce Phipps of the United Church of Christ-Congregational; George 'Pete' Jones and Sally Beckwith of FUSP; and myself. I had been asked to represent Grace Episcopal Church by our priest. We were later joined by Donna Morris of the City of Plainfield.

After several meetings of broad conversation concerning issues in Plainfield, the group decided to formalize itself and focus on one issue about which it felt something could be done.

That issue turned out to be housing. Mrs. Washington vociferously pointed out that there was a need for more affordable housing in Plainfield, and also that we had a lot of vacant and abandoned properties that might be reclaimed.

While the Plainfield chapter of Habitat for Humanity was actively building homes for low-income residents, that organization as a policy matter would not involve itself in taking government funding and prided itself on volunteer support by individuals and businesses.

Our little group agreed to call itself Faith Bricks and Mortar and began the process of incorporation, which was finally achieved by being registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 1993. Mrs. Washington was one of the founding trustees.

Faith Bricks and Mortar became one of Union County's first CHODO's (Community Housing Development Organizations), which were a predecessor of today's CDC's (Community Development Organizations).

Mrs. Washington had a sharp eye for potential properties and steered Faith Bricks and Mortar toward its first two rehabs -- one on Arlington Avenue a few doors from the Post Office, and another on West 3rd Street at the Piscataway township line.

Later, I came to know Mrs. Washington in other situations, especially the Plainfield Senior Center in which she played a strong role in the 1990s and early 2000s.

When the late Mayor Al McWilliams suggested that the renovated Tepper's basement might be a possible location for a new Senior Cener, Mrs. Washington led a drive that torpedoed the idea very quickly.

In recent years, I did not see her as much on account of her declining health and mobility, but she was an honored guest at Faith Bricks and Mortar's 2013 Sally Beckwith Memorial Brunch.

My condolences to her family. Emily was a Plainfield original and we shall miss her.

Funeral services are scheduled for Rose of Sharon Church next Monday, April 6. Viewing at 5 PM and the service at 7 PM.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Plainfield's most burning question

Magic 8 Ball sees a lot of questions about the questions.

 

The most burning question for Plainfield at the moment is not Dan's arrest for allegedly having sex in a car (you can read the media stories here and here -- all I can say now is that both contain factual errors).

No, the most pressing question for Plainfield at the moment is how City Council will handle the gnarly North Avenue demolition issue.

The work has already been done. Council has refused to take up payment (which I wrote about here), making this an urgent question for the city.

The Mapp administration previously released a 17-page document of backup materials on the matter which I posted online here.

Both Bernice and Olddoc have written extensively on the matter (see here, and here).

It appears that Mayor Adrian Mapp left the entire matter in the hands of Director of Public Works and Administration Eric Watson. A close review of the documents leaves many unanswered questions about the timeline, the contractor, and the nature of the "emergency" itself.

ABOUT THE TIMELINE

Watson's explanation of the timeline took the Council back to questions arising in December 2015. In early January, the city's inspector issued a demolition order to the owner and gave them a week to get the job done.

Director Watson said that the owner had not lived up to previously made promises to repair the building after the December 2011 fire. (Watson did not point out that the Robinson-Briggs administration had completely dropped the ball in not following up on that promise -- or on the whereabouts of the owner, which were known at the time and have been known all along to some merchants on North Avenue.)

Then took a not-well-explained month to get the City's engineer's report on the matter. That still left us in early February. The documentary evidence of reaching out for quotations for the demolition does not show anything before March 4. That was another month. So, was this a situation of "imminent hazard" or not? If it was, why did things take so long? If it was not, why was the demolition done before the Council could weigh in?

There are a lot of questions about the timeline that need clearing up.

ABOUT THE CONTRACTOR

Director Watson told the Council that four firms were reached out to for quotations for the emergency work. There is no documentation that he reached out in writing to any or all of them. That is not a point in his favor.

The documentation that was submitted shows a nearly two week gap between quote of All Action Demolition (3/4/15) and that of Yates Real Estate (3/16/15). There is no written evidence of when the other contractors Watson mentions were contacted in writing, nor any written record of their responses.

In hindsight, all I can say about the two contractors in question is that the one awarded the job appears to have made an error in judgment resulting in extensive damage to an adjoining property. {Bernice has noted the Mi Buenaventura restaurant is relocating to 175 North Avenue, directly across from the station, and is scheduled to open May 9 -- see here.)

While Rufus, the other contractor, has cut corners in impermissible ways in the past -- dumping the debris from Blackberry's sidwalk replacement several years ago on the former Oliver Brown property on South Second Street across from Ruth Fellowship -- the firm recently completed an impeccable demolition of a former auto manufacturing plant on West Front Street near Grant Avenue. Not one brick from that much larger demolition fell on either adjacent property, one of which has two parti-walls.

One question that comes to a layperson's mind is why two-level contractual obligations were considered. What the two-level arrangement means is that a subcontractor, who is paid out of the total contract amount, performs the actual work. The prime contractor keeps a percentage of the contract as its profit. Why this arrangement? And how much is Yates Real Estate making off this deal?

This two-level arrangement also leads inevitably to speculation of bid-rigging and/or kickbacks. The very speculation questions Director Watson's probity, which thorough and transparent documentation would serve to dispel. Can the taxpayers look forward to having their questions completely answered?

ABOUT THE "EMERGENCY"

Lastly, we come to the question of the "emergency" -- both the demolition and the special Council meeting.

First, as pointed out above, Director Watson needs to convincingly explain the strange timeline, as I pointed out above.

Secondly, I am somewhat puzzled by how the special Council meeting was arrived at.

Reaching back to my recollections of what we were taught at Clerk U., I seem to recall that the matter of declaring an "emergency" such as the need for this demolition devolves upon a "competent authority" and must be done in writing.

The "competent authority" in this case would have been Mayor Mapp and not a department head, or the City engineers or a City inspector. So where is there a declaration by the Mayor in writing, citing the exact nature of the "emergency" and the statutory justification for the steps being taken?

Was the mayor given the proper advice? Was the demolition "emergency" properly attested to?

Then there is the matter of the "special" meeting. The special meeting did receive the statutorily required public notice. But, if there were an "emergency" situation, doesn't the executive have explicit authority in the law to perform the action and come to the Council afterwards for ratification of the decision?

These questions also need to be clarified.

On top of all of this, then, we have the Council's refusal to act.

Which brings us to the question of hating -- smart hating and, shall we say, non-smart hating.

A Council majority hates Mapp -- despite all flowery protestations to the contrary -- and is pleased to make trouble for him in whatever way it can.

One of the ways could be to hold off paying the demolition bill until the contractor sues the City, as inevitably they would. That would cost the taxpayers money foolishly, but would throw into sharp relief the hypocrisy of the Council majority.

But what this would really do is sharpen the pressures and attention upon Director Watson and intensify the questions about his course(s) of action.

He might pull this one out of the fire, but if these questions center basically on his style of management, we would have to ask when is the next time we will be faced with a situation arising from his actions and fraught with these sorts of questions.

Mayor Mapp may forgive him for sloppiness once. But over and over?

Which leads to the question of smart hating and  not-so-smart hating.

If the Council's line of attack on Mapp were to really put Watson in jeopardy, how smart would that be?

After all, he is the one person to whom they can complain -- and do so on a daily basis, I understand. And he is their one possible source of insight into Mayor Mapp's thinking on policy issues.

Why would you want to get rid of that leverage? What would smart hating look like? Would it pass on this one, and wait for another issue in the future?

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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Amelia Mapp's father passes

Mayor Adrian Mapp and First Lady Amelia Mapp.

 

I learned yesterday that Plainfield Mayor Adrian O. Mapp's wife Amelia's father passed away over the weekend. I will post the obituary and arrangements on CLIPS as they are made available.

Those wishing to express their sympathy may send condolences to the Mapp family at 535 West 8th Street, Plainfield, NJ 07060.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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City issues first-ever complete directory of services

 

Plainfield Mayor Adrian O. Mapp is to be congratulated for delivering the city's first-ever directory of services.

This is a project close to my heart, as we began to gather the information during the administration of the late Mayor Al McWilliams, when I worked with Pepsi Charles and a collective of service provider volunteers to begin to gather this sort of information.

The 64-page directory is grouped in eighteen sections, ranging from education, cildren's and youth services to arts, economic empowerment and housing.

Whatever you are looking for in Plainfield services, this is now the go-to source.

The booklet was prepared by Jensine Wright, a Rutgers intern in the School of Public Affairs and Administration. Congratulations go to Deputy City Administrator for Economic Development Carlos Sanchez and his team: Elaine Dunn-Brown, Donna Morris and Jeanette Aparicio who all worked so hard to deliver the project.

The booklet also contains complete phone and email listings for city government, a listing of Council members and a street map of Plainfield as the centerfold (you will need a magnfying glass, though).

This is a great resource and is being made available in Spanish as well as English. Though it is available online (see here), I recommend picking up a printed copy at City Hall as the online layout replicates a printer's requirements and cannot be easily navigated onscreen. However, if you have the paper and patience, you can print it out and make your own booklet.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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As political season starts, Jerry Green goes it alone

Plainfield Dem chairman Assemblyman Jerry Green.

Plainfield Democratic City Committee chair Assemblyman Jerry Green seems to have assumed dictatorial powers as the 2015 political season approaches.

With defections to the Mapp-led Plainfield Democratic Organization -- notable among them Dem stalwart Dottie Gutenkauf and former Councilor Elliot Simmons -- Green has had trouble organizing a full slate of candidates for the City Committee, which is up for election in June.

Evidently Green's solution will be to avoid the possible humiliation of a meeting of the Democratic City Committee to nominate a committee slate and candidates for the Ward 2 and Wards 1/4 council seats that are also up this year. All nominations are due by 4:00 PM on Monday.

Though he has never been too finicky about abiding by the PDCC's bylaws requiring a five-day written advance notice of a meeting, submitting candidates on his own say-so would be a sign of weakness rather than strength.

Meanwhile, the Plainfield Democratic Organization, under Mapp's leadership bids fair to submit a full slate -- far surpassing the 45 candidates that the late Mayor Al McWiliams ran in the 2003 race that saw Green lose the Plainfield party chairmanship.

Since Green is playing his cards so close to his vest, we have only rumors about who his candidates will be. Whispered as possibles for Ward 2 to oppose incumbent Cory Storch are Charles Eke and Jeff Dunn.

Eke, a former Green appointment to the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority (PMUA), lost to Rebecca Williams in the most recent Wards 2/3 at-large contest.

Dunn, head of the struggling Plainfield Chamber of Commerce, is the son of former Councilor, PMUA Commissioner and longtime Green ally Malcolm R. Dunn. The younger Dunn has been most visible in regular appearances during the public comment section of Council meetings, where he usually engages in rambling and sometimes incoherent rants against the Mapp administration.

As for the Wards 1/4 at-large seat, currently held by Vera Greaves, who was handpicked by Green, word in the street is that she will not get the nod. For one thing, Greaves had the temerity to oppose Green when he decided to dump former Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs. In addition, even Green has been embarrassed by her apparent inability to fully grasp the Council's business, often betraying that she either hasn't read or doesn't understand the materials in the agenda packets.

But who will Green pick?

One thought is that questions about Councilor Bridget Rivers that were asked in his two recent push polls (for one of them, see my previous post here) hint at Green running Rivers for the Wards 1/4 at-large seat in the primary and then appointing her successor to the balance of the Ward 4 term if she were successful.

This is an interesting hypothesis, but one wonders whether the Ward 1 voters would find the volatile Rivers an attractive candidate. Meanwhile, Mapp's Plainfield Democratic Organization has recruited an energetic candidate who will be revealed at Monday's filing.

In his most recent push poll, conducted on Friday, respondents were asked to rank both Jerry Green and Mayor Mapp on a scale of five from most favorable to least favorable. In addition, they were tested on their inclination toward a recall of Mapp.

That last becomes laughable when set against the news that Moody's has bumped up the city's bond rating to A-1 (see here), removing the negative outlook that it has given Plainfield since 2011 under Green protege Robinson-Briggs.

At any rate, your 2015 election questions will have their answers Monday afternoon.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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