City's Future a Hot Topic at Town Meeting

Economic development emerged as a key topic at the City Council's final Town Meeting for 2012, with a Rutgers student offering suggestions and council members calling for more effort from the administration.

The Town Meeting Tuesday was held at Jefferson School in the Fourth Ward, but residents from across the city were welcome to speak at any of the four ward meetings. Resident Jeanette Criscione kicked off the discussion by asking, "What is happening with economic development? You don't hear anything about it."

Her question led to an earful for the dozen attendees, starting with Council President Adrian Mapp's assertion that the administration is not being helpful to the one individual who is leading development currently in the city. Though he did not name the developer, Mapp was alluding to Frank Cretella, who has seven projects in the works downtown. Mapp said he has asked new Public Works & Urban Development Director Eric Jackson to ease "challenges" the developer is facing.

Councilwoman Rebecca Williams cited the appearance of city storefronts as a possible deterrent to development and called for more education for owners on property maintenance codes, while Councilman William Reid said the city needs a director to focus on economic development.

Williams faulted a former PW&UD director who served during the first four-year term of Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs as being ineffective, but said "I am confident that Mr. Jackson has what it takes."

Criscione asked whether Jackson could provide periodic reports on economic development at council meetings, but Mapp said the mayor has rebuffed efforts to get reports from economic development committees or from Jackson.

Councilwoman Vera Greaves said before anything can be done to get developers to come to Plainfield, "We need to clean it up."

Criscione said everything needed for property code maintenance was already "on the books," but needs enforcement. Williams saw  hope for that in Jackson, who came to the city in September, and noted the "high premium he placed on training."

Reid, normally a staunch supporter of the mayor, said, "We haven't had anything that I'm impressed with over the last seven years."

Reid and Mapp both pointed to 2013, when the mayor's second term is up, as an opportunity for change.

That's when Rutgers student Ronald Johnson Jr. said it was "not really being fair in a way" to say it was too late for the current administration to get anything done, but Reid stuck to his guns, saying the person at the top has to lead development.

"You have to show them that they can come here and make money," he said.

Mapp made the analogy of buying a car that turns out to be a "lemon" with an expired warranty.

"The people of Plainfield may have purchased a lemon and it's too late," he said.

But Johnson said, "Planning and economic development go hand in hand," and praised Planning Director Bill Nierstedt and Economic Development Director Jacques Howard. The deterrents, he said, included crime levels and the city's  appearance, with steel gates downtown that cause safety fears.

Encouraged by Reid and Mapp to share his views, Johnson suggested conversion of the city's former industrial corridor to loft housing inviting to a "creative class" that would reinvigorate the city. Mapp asked whether Johnson would like to be part of a new economic development committee and Johnson said, "That would be a dream come true."

(Plaintalker has invited Johnson to submit a guest column to expand on his views.)


 Other topics at the Town Meeting included another chapter in the ongoing baseball league saga. Resident Inez Durham said she was shocked while watching her nephew play in the Queen City Baseball League Tuesday when a "representative" of the Recreation Division demanded that the team get off the field. Durham said coaches continued the game anyway, but the incident left a poor impression on visitors from Livingston.


"My question is, can anything be done about this issue?" Durham asked.


The person who interfered with the game was "Mr. Muhammad," she said.


Council members Reid and Mapp said the governing body's efforts to resolve the problem have failed.


"The mayor has done absolutely nothing to address the underlying (issues)," Mapp said.


The situation will not change, he said, "until the mayor does the right thing or voters do the right thing."


On another topic, the council was supposed to be meeting the public jointly with the Housing Authority of Plainfield Tuesday, but Mapp said he received a phone call at 5:30 p.m. saying the Housing Authority was not participating. He said the executive director and chairman wanted to attend but a majority of commissioners decided against it.

Mapp said he was "very insulted" that a body appointed by the council had opted not to participate. He said he had been asked what the format would be and had described it as "free-flowing."

The council will now check on whether commissioners have met their statutory training requirements and will exercise the governing body's powers of removal for those who have not, he said.

Reid said the chairman and one commissioner agreed to participate, but five commissioners said "no." He did not identify the commissioners by name. He also backed the need to meet statutory training requirements and said the state would remove any commissioners who failed to meet them.

One other concern at the meeting was raised by resident Melvin Cody, who asked who was in charge of the roadways at Rock Avenue and West Front Street. Cody expressed concern both about the poor condition of the intersection as well as street markings where children cross from Myrtle Avenue. Mapp and Reid agreed with his concerns, but Mapp said leadership was not coming from City Hall.

At the close of the meeting, Reid used the occasion to make a pitch for the July 7 parade and related events to "showcase Plainfield."
(See details here.)

--Bernice