It was two months ago that a centerpiece of the North Avenue streetscape was demolished after being declared unsafe.The 1886 building was torn down in just one day, but work has continued at the site ever since. The debris had to be removed and disposed of, then the excavated basement had to be filled in with big truckloads of soil. And for weeks, workers have painstakingly toiled to seal off a party wall that connected the building to one next door. The wall had to be scraped inch by inch before the surface was sealed.
On April 5, a proposed resolution was titled, "Authorize approval for the emergency procurement for demolition services in excess of $21,000." The actual amount being authorized turned out to be up to $200,000, which will be a debit in the FY 2011 budget year that starts July 1. It is hard to believe two months later that the demolition, disposal and site remediation costs will come in under $200,000. The engineering firm of Remington & Vernick also monitored the demolition process for a number of billable hours.
This matter should be discussed at the June 14 City Council meeting, so the governing body knows what kind of hit the upcoming budget will take even before all other municipal costs are figured. In addition, all the separate costs should be fully documented. And if there is any update on the missing owners, that should be included as well.
The building that was torn down is not the only questionable one in the North Avenue Commercial Historic District. Council members have asked for an assessment of another building that has stood open to the elements for many years. If a report on its condition and prospects has been prepared, that should also be part of the discussion.
It is a bad time to be going into a new budget year with a deficit of one or possibly two tax points. If Gov. Chris Christie is successful in reducing the allowable cap, it will be even harder to maintain city services at past levels. The more information the administration and governing body have up front, the better they will be able to deal with the new exigencies.
--Bernice Paglia
Penny wise and pound foolish. Welcome to Plainfield's Inspection Division.
ReplyDeleteThey should post a picture of this on the city's website under the inspections division with a caption: Do what you want, we'll clean it up.
Watched a local family breaking their backs this last weekend tearing up and leveling their honestly, not so terrible sidewalk due to the fact they were being threatened with fines. They actually pointed out how sad it is that parts of the city are basically ignored and the property owners do as little or as much as they please with little consequence. Broken windows, missing roofs, sidewalks in pieces and the city goes after homeowners with a not quite so even sidewalk. Priorities...this city government is screwed up from the top down.
Inspections only go after those who care about their properties and who have money to pay fines.
ReplyDeleteHands off on the absentee landlords and renters who don't care.
And now the city "visioning" is talking about more rentals. Greaaaaat
You allude to the motto of Plainfield " blame it on somebody else". I guess now all of our problems are the governors fault. I may not agree with everything the governor is doing but I do know that the problems of Plainfield are only going to be solved by leadership coming from Plainfield.
ReplyDeleteSidewale repairs are the biggest joke in town. If you complain to the rights people it goes away.
ReplyDelete