City Hall Annex was renamed in honor of Everett C. Lattimore many years ago and the Plainfield High School auditorium was dedicated to the memory of Westry Horne. Both are marked with very nice plaques, but generally people just use the site name without the memorial title.
An attempt to name a downtown plaza for the late Mayor Albert T. McWilliams did not succeed completely, as it won City Council approval but a proposed memorial was never erected. And then we have the big office building built by the Union County Improvement Authority that has not yet been named for anyone.
The resolution to name the new Senior Center at 400 East Front Street for Mr. Nelson was introduced by Council President Adrian Mapp, but after several seniors objected at Tuesday's meeting, it was amended to add a plaque with names of others who advocated for a new center.
When I read the Oct. 1 agenda online while in Seattle, I saw the proposal and thought it was a fitting memorial. But perhaps I assumed it had been discussed with the seniors when it had not. The objections Tuesday seemed to indicate a consensus had not been sought before the legislation was put up for a vote.
On further thought, I wondered whether the controversy was fueled in part by the political rivalry of the mayor and the council president. At the time of his passing, the mayor spoke of honoring Mr. Nelson's advocacy for the new center with some sort of tribute. But the resolution Tuesday came from Mapp. Both have announced their candidacy for mayor in 2013, the mayor for a third term and Mapp in a rematch of the 2009 contest he lost to her. The filing date for the June 2013 primary is many months away, but the race is on right now.
Not only are the two contenders in political mode, the center itself at times gets caught up in politics. Before each election, seniors are courted with food and festivities by the various factions. They are also solicited for support at other times, as in this 2009 incident where a group was brought to a council meeting to support a tax abatement proposal.for the center.
One person who made an outburst Tuesday against the naming of Nelson versus a more inclusive memorial also happens to be a longtime ally of the mayor. The more I took in the scene, the more nuanced it seemed politically, which is too bad, because my impression of Mr. Nelson was that he lent his professional expertise and personal passion to the cause of getting a new center without playing politics.
I hope I am wrong in thinking that there is some sort of political tinge to this situation. It would be a detriment to Mr. Nelson's memory, or to the memory of the many others who fought for a new center, to be seen as pawns in a contest of wills over how the center should be named.
--Bernice
Bernice,
ReplyDeleteIgnoring the seniors on this decision seems to me to be at the center of this dispute and while there could be a political tint to this issue just imagine how different this situation could be if the council, or Adrian Mapp, had gone to the center and ask for the seniors' opinion. As it is now it looks like a well-intentioned imposition from the top down, I am not a senior yet but I am pretty stubborn and I know how that feels. Maybe there are many seniors that will agree with Adrian Mapp but he needs to reach out to them to get a more balanced picture of what is it that the seniors want for their center. Just my opinion.
Maria- Ignoring the seniors is not really the center of this dispute. Political animals on the loose are at the center of this and numerous other disputes. The mayor and council president both are unfit for office. They're each deceptive manipulators who use anyone and everyone to move on up to the detriment of all.
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous 9:27 am: Amen! You are so right! And just think about it--in 2014 we may be stuck with one of these clowns as mayor. What a thought!
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