Plaintalker recently noted a sunset clause in the ordinance establishing the Plainfield Advisory Commission on Hispanic Affairs. The commission is to be dissolved when the Hispanic population reaches 45 percent in Plainfield and when 35 percent of registered voters are Hispanic.The former will be easier to quantify than the latter.
Inquiries to the Union County Clerk's Division of Elections and to the Union County Board of Elections revealed that neither tracks the number of Hispanic registered voters. Plaintalker even asked a staffer for Congressman Frank Pallone during the legislator's "office hours" on Tuesday in City Hall, but the staff member said he was there to assist constituents with federal issues and had no knowledge of voting numbers.
The Pew Hispanic Center relied on a Census survey to come up with numbers of Hispanic registered voters state-by-state in 2010. Click here to see it.
I'm told that politicians probably do have a means of assessing the number of Hispanic voters, but it is not generally public information. According to one source, the number is far from 35 percent in the city.
PACHA Chairman Norman Ortega did not respond to my inquiry on the voter question nor to my inquiry last month on the commission's meeting schedule. Given that the commission is likely to be around for a long time, Plaintalker is hoping for some news out of it in 2011. Among council liaison assignments, Councilwoman Rebecca Williams has been named to PACHA and Councilwoman Vera Greaves is alternate liaison. The liaisons are expected to report back to the full council at intervals, so maybe that's when we'll see what PACHA is doing.
--Bernice
Okay that's 27 states , the others either don't have Hispanics. or they are not eligable to vote?
ReplyDeleteI've been surprised by the mixed reaction creation of the PACHA has been receiving.
ReplyDeleteMany see it as just another way for political bosses to co-opt a growing constituency in our community. Certainly the inauspicious start PACHA has had since appointments were made would seem to confirm that view.
Others, myself included, see PACHA, if done correctly and as envisioned by Ray Blanco, as providing a much needed forum for community wide discussion addressing of the challenges being confronted by our growing Hispanic community.
Bernice -- I have a question for you. I too had assumed that Norman Ortega was the commission's chair. But the minutes of the Commission's August 9 meeting I've been able to obtain indicate Silvana Mullen as "president" - with no mention of Ortega. How did you come to assume, as did I, that he is chair?
Nonetheless, I am encouraged by the fact that Rebecca Williams is now council liaison. Maybe we can get this thing moving in the right direction.
Thanks for your continuing efforts on behalf of our community.
When you mention Pacha. do you mean the nightclub franchise originating in Spain?
ReplyDeleteI was looking forward to supporting Pacha, now that I'm finding out that Rebecca Williams has been assigned as Council Liason, I would not feel comfortable being involved & she should know why, as she tends to show her violence & outrage. I know now that she is probably learning to curb down on that being appointed as a new councilwoman. Thanks Bernice for that info.
ReplyDelete@11:36 AM, Rebecca is outspoken but why do you think she shows "violence and outrage" as an elected official? Any examples? My concern is actually more with seeing PACHA show some signs of functioning, i.e., publishing its meeting schedule, etc. Rebecca may not have any meetings to attend if PACHA doesn't hold public meetings.
ReplyDeleteRebecca Williams was not appointed to the City Council. She was elected by 2nd & 3rd Ward voters with 4590 votes, better than 84%. She won a hard fought primary battle where she scored nearly 52% of the vote in a 3-way race with Rashid Burney and Don Davis.
ReplyDeleteFor the anonymous "violence and outrage" commenter who seems not to want to support PACHA because Rebecca is the council liason, all I have to say is, how dumb is that reasoning? And how dumb is it not to offer your name with such accusations, or whatever you might bring to the PACHA dialogue to offset that which you don't like or seem to feat?
If you're looking for appointed Council members, look no further than Vera Greaves, or Bill Reid before he recently actually won election. I suggest you mark their Council votes to ascertain their level of independence, and if they are voting on behalf of their contituents or at someone else's behest.
And, no, I am not a New Democrat.
No, I was just stating the fact of 'acts of violence' she showed before in the past before being elected, that I witnessed with my own eyes. Now that she is an appointed public figure, I believe she has curbed down on that. I know everyone on PACHA on a personal level & I can vouch for them, they will not welcome Rebecca as Council Liason. But let's see what happens. PACHA will hopefully be on the ball soon & comply.
ReplyDelete@ (11:36am and 1:31pm) My concern directed at the members of PACHA, but rather with its lack of leadership. There seems to be some question as to who the "leader" is/has been. A lot of us were assuming it was Norman Ortega. OK - maybe we assumed incorrectly. But minutes from the Commission's August 9 meeting mention the election of Silvana Mullen as "president" despite the fact that the ordinance calls for a chairperson, not a president. Those same minutes include no mention of who might be filling the chair position. Although Mr. Ortega has been referred to as "our leader" by a Commission member.
ReplyDeleteMaybe @ 11:36am and 1:31pm (Norman is that you?) can enlighten us?
Also - in my mind anonymous comments have no credibility.
Correction from Randy:
ReplyDeleteMy concern is not directed at the members of PACHA, but rather with its lack of leadership.
Alan, I said she was appointed Council Liason to PACHA, as Bernice stated, not Councilwoman, I know how she was voted in & won those wards as Councilwoman, I'm not that politically naive. I am also just commenting on personal experience I had with Rebecca & on how I literally feared for my life when she approached me one day when I was supporting the opponent she was campaigning for. I don't support all the Council members, but I never had to be approached in such a violent way as she did that day, with witnesses. And we have all witnessed the most hilarious confrontations she used to have with Green where she had to be held back several times with the help of other men, for fear of not doing physical harm to him, same as she did that day she confronted me in public. Nor am I always a fan of Green, but being a public official or supporting public officials as she was in the past, she could've handled herself differently. I'm not Norman, Norman states his identity when he posts on these blogs. I am not commenting on PACHA coming forward either. I only commented on the fact, that no one on PACHA will welcome Rebecca & no one on here can force us PACHA supporters to like her, we may have to accept her & have no choice, but we are not happy with her being appointed Councial Liason to PACHA. We would have been happier with any other Council member, but not her. Again, I am not commenting on her performance as Councilwoman either.
ReplyDeleteWow! Maybe Jerry can look up the mayor's old bodyguards and hire them for protection. I think one is over at the PMUA now.
ReplyDeleteI know right Bernice?
ReplyDeleteRandy, I agree about your comment about posting anoymously to an extent, but wouldn't you think after reading about the fear of Rebecca after the personal incident I had with her, wouldn't you then understand why I am not disclosing my identity? I do not want to even go through having to deal with any form of retribution from her or her people at this point.
Bernice,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the courtesy of being allowed to respond to comments made about me--they are simply too inflammatory for me to ignore.
I really think this anonymous commenter is in need of serious psychiatric attention, or is in need of counseling for the amount of hate in her/his invective. I have never, ever approached anyone with anything like "acts of violence" and this anonymous coward knows that. I am a pacifist, as everyone who knows me is aware. She/he is writing libelous statements on your blog, and clearly is making this up.
I have been working on political campaigns in this city for several years, and I defy anyone to recollect an act of "violence"--the very idea is laughable.
It is also quite telling as well that this imaginary "violent" encounter was not brought to light before now, when (arguably) I have been a semi-public fixture on our local political scene for going on 10 years. Why is it only now that this individual is coming forward with these baseless, libelous accusations? Why not during my primary campaign? Why not during my general election campaign? Clearly, the reason is because he/she made it up! He/she has some interest in trying to spread poison in our city. Pathetic. Laughable. Imbecilic.
In addition, the idea that I had to be "held back" in some sort of confrontation with Green is equally hilarious, I would say. As a matter of fact, everyone (about 15 or so folks) who witnessed a particular profanity-laden tirade Green directed at me on the Plainfield Public Library steps back in 2008 knows that he was the one who had to be held back.
Regarding PACHA, the facts are these: I have been in contact with all of the PACHA members, and those with whom I have corresponded have been quite cordial to me and have, indeed, "welcomed" me via email. I am awaiting the notice of the public meeting, which I will attend, along with Councilwoman Greaves, now that she has been seated as the other council liaison. Yes, Silvana Mullen was listed as "President," as Mr. Schaeffer noted, although there is no designation for such a title--only "Chair" of the organization. Ms. Mullen reached out to me, and we will be meeting soon.
So, it is clear that the individual who is writing this nonsense knows nothing about me or PACHA or what I have been doing, in terms of my correspondence and discussions with its commissioners--anyone who reads the content of every piece of correspondence that has been transmitted between PACHA members and myself over the past month (since I was named council liaison) would see that this individual is mentally disturbed. When the PACHA members see the ridiculous commentary posted here, I am sure they will be troubled by any anonymous individual presuming to write about how they would interact with me--how insulting to the PACHA members themselves this is!
The cowardly, lying, pathetic, anonymous individual who is writing these comments is trying to impugn my reputation and create bad blood where none exists.
We have serious business to do in the city of Plainfield, and divisive bomb-throwers like this poltroon need to get a life.
Rebecca
By the way, Bernice, I want to thank you for posting all of this commentary by this self-identified "Pacha supporter"--it is good for all your blog readers to see how utterly out-to-lunch this anonymous person is.
ReplyDeleteRebecca
Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteHere are your words about me & I am quoting:
“I really think this anonymous commenter is in need of serious psychiatric attention, or is in need of counseling for the amount of hate in her/his invective”
“Pathetic. Laughable. Imbecilic”
“The cowardly, lying, pathetic, anonymous individual”
“…divisive bomb-throwers like this poltroon need to get a life”
“"Pacha supporter"--it is good for all your blog readers to see how utterly
out-to-lunch this anonymous person is”
You had your chance Rebecca, to approach me in a manner, to address the ‘concerns’ I had over you, apologize (I guess that is too hard for you), for whatever you did, that although you think you did nothing wrong & apologize that I at least got that impression of you the first time I met you & at least clear up any misrepresentations of your behavior that I had of you. But instead, you, with someone in a position as yourself, decided to take the lower road & belittle me as you quoted above, and again only proven that you are not the type of person where I would feel comfortable sitting next to, much less being in the same room with you. I, on the other hand, that I am not in the same position that you are, as you represent many in this town, will take the high road & apologize for offending you.
As our President Obama is with his enemies, his haters, his opposers, but yet he so eloquently & peacefully lays a common ground to come to peace with his adversaries, so shall we all be. So Rebecca, I’m asking you, were you trying to make me a friend or an enemy? Because according to your quotes, you did not even give yourself a chance to make a friend here.
Bernice, I have contacted Ms. Freire Mesa directly to address her concerns. Feel free not to post this--but I feel I need to make my position clear. Defamatory comments need to be addressed. This is my last comment on this matter.
ReplyDeleteHello, Ms. Freire Meza,
I am writing to you regarding the comment you posted on Bernice's blog in response to my defense of myself. I must admit, I was a bit over the top--I apologize for my tone. However, I was quite offended by accusations that I had any violent intentions toward you or anyone else. I have no idea who you are. I have never met you, and the libelous comments about me were made anonymously. I stand by my name when making comments.
To post such poisonous commentary about me anonymously, when you could just as easily have reached out to me (my contact information is public and accessible) to discuss why you were concerned about me as one of the council liaisons to PACHA seemed rather disingenuous.
When you wrote that "no one on PACHA will welcome Rebecca & no one on here can force us PACHA supporters to like her," I am at a loss as to understand why. As I said in my comments, I have been in contact with PACHA commissioners, and none have expressed any such concerns about me.
I am a strong supporter of Plainfield's Latino community--as a new councilor (5 weeks in), I represent 2 wards and the Latino constituency contained therein. I ran Ray Blanco's citywide campaign to be the first elected Latino official in Plainfield--I was an early advocate of PACHA and worked with Ray to help gain support for it. I still have all that email correspondence and my notes. In addition, I went before the city council in 2005 when Ray first introduced the ordinance, and spoke in favor of it, along with many other residents. So, I hope you can understand why I was so offended by these anonymous accusations.
Going forward, I will be on the city council for the next four years, and I will be one of the council's liaisons to PACHA (Councilwoman Vera Greaves is the other) for at least the remainder of this year. Please contact me directly if you would like to talk further.
All best,
Rebecca