The June agenda-fixing session for the City Council falls on Tuesday, June 12 due to the Republican city committee reorganization, so Plaintalker will have Monday to research some of the topics up for consideration by the governing body.
One item of interest is Council President Adrian Mapp's call for a charter study. The last one was in 1989 and the Charter Study Commission's report was released in 1990. The commission members included past mayors and officials, some of whom have since passed on. The report laid out areas of concern and gave pros and cons for various recommendations, as I recall. However, the City Council at the time took no action toward starting the process to implement any changes. Because the special charter was passed by the state Legislature, it would have to be revised by the same body. Estimates at the time were that it would take about two years to achieve charter change. But nothing happened, so people continue to fuss over the charter's ambiguities and limitations.
As previously noted, the mayor is once again putting up names for the PMUA board of commissioners. It is important to see the terms involved, so that will be another thing to look up.
City liquor license renewals are listed under three resolutions. There are more than 30 licenses held under various categories. It appears that the three resolutions must therefore each cover a large number of .license holders, something else to check.
Two union contracts are referenced and settlement terms must be spelled out.
There are many other items, including the proposed appointment of a new chief finance official. The meeting is 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in City Hall Library, 515 Watchung Ave. All items that are moved to the agenda will be acted upon at the June 18 regular meeting.
Since the local newspapers have just about dropped municipal meeting coverage, bloggers seem to be the only ones reporting on actions of the governing body. Few residents come out to observe the meetings and there are no statistics on how many people watch the proceedings on the local cable channel. Is city government irrelevant to the lives of residents? Is it possible that people don't really care what happens to the $50 million in residents' taxes or the $70 million overall budget that covers city programs and services? Some say one can happily live in Plainfield (or maybe any city) without thinking or caring about municipal government. What do you think?
--Bernice
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Thank you for your reporting, Bernice. I lookd forward to it every day. I don't think the city cable is worth the money. It's boring and not very effective. Let's hope the current city council can get some changes in the works. After January, I don't see much positive happening with so many of Sharon's zombies on the city council.
ReplyDeleteFirst, the Hispanic population is not represented in this city.
ReplyDeleteSecond, more than 80% of the citizens do not vote - so this city is represented by 20% who do not represent the majority of what people think.
Plainfield citizens need to understand that the 20% who are in power, stick together like glue in order to retain power. If even 20% more people voted, this city would be out of the grasp of those who care less about the city and more about them retaining power and keeping friends employed, and into the hands of people who want to see this city grow, thrive and become a wonderful, safe, and diverse city to live.
I would have to agree with Bob – your blog is one of the first things I read online each morning. Thank you for your reporting – keep it up!
ReplyDeleteRe Anon 9:19, what can be done to encourage the Hispanic population to get involved? I ask in all seriousness. This had certainly been an assumption of mine.
True that! We need more people to vote. That's why we have people like Tracy Brown winning, when she is not qualified and will rubber stamp everything Sharon does, and we know what Sharon has already done to us.
ReplyDeleteMy feeling is that it takes a concerted effort for a long time to educate people as to why they should vote, and what voting means to them.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I thought that if I were ever elected mayor, I would discontinue translating all information into Spanish. I would do this in the hope that it would rile up people, and hopefully show first hand how it is important that they vote and that their voice be heard. Hopefully, the result would be that they would become involved and have their voices heard and their ideas incorportated into the city.
When people do not see what it is in it for them, they ignore the issue.
Here is the answer.....
ReplyDeleteHOW GHETTO CAN WE GO
Never mind that your answer is a question, what are you talking about?
Delete