Officials preached togetherness and putting Plainfield first as the governing body reorganized Thursday for 2013.
Council members welcomed Rev. Tracey Brown to the citywide at-large seat and Adrian Mapp to another term representing the Third Ward. The council chose Fourth Ward Councilwoman Bridget Rivers to serve as president for 2013 and gave Councilman William Reid another year as chairman of the committee of the whole.
"We must set aside our differences," Rivers said.
In her State of the City address, Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs hailed the efforts of public safety and emergency personnel to help residents hit hard by Hurricane Sandy and the nor'easter that followed. While the city has begun to receive reimbursement for storm damage, she advised residents to prepare an "emergency bag" with necessities in case of a new storm.
As in the past, the mayor recounted accomplishments of all city departments, which she said will be posted online. Some innovations for 2013 include proposed formation of several new committees or commissions, including an African-Caribbean one led by resident Charles Eke, who is also a Nigerian chief. The mayor invited all to a "Meet and Greet" on Jan.26 with Chief Eke. She also proposed a women's committee, which she dubbed the "mayor's kitchen cabinet," and a grandparents "nurturing" committee.
She will seek new members for the Human Relations Committee and the Plainfield Advisory Committee on Hispanic Affairs as well in 2013, she said.
The council approved numerous appointments of legal staff and reappointments to boards and commissions in addition to setting a meeting schedule and selecting official newspapers for the New Year.
The large turnout included many members of Brown's church congregation, of which the mayor is also a member.
The next council meeting is an agenda-fixing session at 7:30 Jan.14 in Municipal Court. The regular meeting will follow at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan.22, also in Municipal Court.
--Bernice
"We must set aside our differences," Rivers said. : INTERPRETATION -- The Mayor's Way or NO WAY.
ReplyDeleteConsidering her congregation showed up it'd be nice to see an HONEST ATTEMPT at serving the citizens of Plainfield. But... some of the biggest charlatans in history preferred an audience.
We will see if Tracey Brown follows religious convictions to serve the people of Plainfield, or she follows Sharon's convictions. The fact that she packs meetings with the congregants who accept her new role is something to think about. Many in her church are not for her city council role, as I have been told by several church members, but we will see. I guess we all need to pray for Plainfield.
ReplyDeleteCouncilwomen Williams I really hope you are on the IT committee so you can keep a tab on the inside temporary agency they have going on over there. Did you see IT handing out the Mayor's Brochures of her disgusting State of the Union. IT do al of her work so I know they do not have eneough of their own work to do. Please Councilwomen stay on this
ReplyDeleteAny regular observer of council meetings will know that the differences came when McWilliams, Mapp, Storch and Williams tried to hold the mayor accountable for questionable actions and Rivers,Reid and Greaves fought to let her slide. In fact Reid will beat a dead horse beyond sensibility to make those who dare to hold the mayor accountable back down or feel bad about doing it. Now there is Rev. Brown to add to the mix. Let's see, if she does not vote for the benefit of the overall community versus just rubber stamping the mayor's actions will the many church folks that put her in office make sure she is held accountable.
ReplyDeleteRivers needs to watched as she supported wholeheartedly the controversial school board superintendent Gallon who HAD to leave the district under a cloud. We'll be watching how many requests are slipped in at the last minute so there is no time for council review. This was not permitted by McWilliams or Mapp as council presidents.
It is certainly going to be an interesting year and possibly a very sad one for Plainfield.
With all due respect to the various people who would like to have the formation of new committees suggested by Robinson-Briggs, most of us would prefer she spend more of her time working towards economic development, better schools, less crime, and a more efficient and transparent administration.
ReplyDeleteAs for Rivers, let's hope she leads by example and takes a stand on the controversial issues and challenges local democratic leaders (i.e Green and Robinson-Briggs).
As for Tracey Brown, hope for the best and prepare for the worst, considering the non-sense she spewed last year at the various town meetings.
Anon 12:37 We all know whoyou are. Mapp, and McWilliams allowed several walk on items the research is there. They allowed walk-ons especially when they needed to pass resolution paddinh their Lawyer friend pockets to investigate the $20,000.00 dollar WBLS non-sense that cost us the taxpayer almonst $100,000.00. Don't be afriad of the progress thats about to happen.A rubber stamp is nothing more than the people on the other side not be able to do the rubber stamping now.
ReplyDeleteI to was stopped by this young lady from IT handing out the Mayor's bogus State of The City. If IT do not have enough work to do lay some of them off.
ReplyDeleteRenee
The mayor's "state of the city" address was quite embarrassing--noting how many marriage licenses were issued is not an accomplishment. I suppose she had to say something, though. I would rather the mayor update the residents and the council on serious issues facing the city, such as how public safety is dealing with the extremely high rate of unsolved shootings--as last week's Star-Ledger article ("Staggering Amount of Nonfatal Shootings Go Unsolved, Statistics Say:) noted:
ReplyDelete"... the only difference between a nonfatal shooting and a homicide might be a combination of aim, luck and a good hospital trauma ward. [...] In Plainfield, where only 18 percent of all nonfatal shootings led to an arrest from 2008 through 2011, homicides remain the focus. Like other towns surveyed, Plainfield’s arrest rate for homicides is much higher than for nonfatal shootings."
The shooting victim found in the area of Muhlenberg Hospital on Tuesday night (Jan. 1) could easily have been the year's first homicide. The neighbors who contacted me about this shooting are not unduly alarmed--I will be meeting with the Police Director on a monthly basis to find out what is being done to ensure our safety. I will also get the latest ShotSpotter update. The mayor touted this debacle as an accomplishment (!), even though it has been several months and the system is still not functioning effectively. I think it's time to pull the plug on this project--I tried to be supportive of its implementation for the 1-year lease--it can be a useful tool. However, I think we should stop allowing this company to "tweak" the system in perpetuity and use our money to get CCTV cameras in hotspot areas--cameras have been shown to be among the most effective deterrents to crime. Safety is the most important service a municipality can provide to its residents--it's time to do something else.
As far the mayor's other accomplishments, she managed to mention the salute to veterans at the Independence Day parade and concert without mentioning the illegal and fraudulent activities that occurred in her Recreation Division under the former superintendent, who resigned. She also didn't mention the epic failure of the overpriced sham "carnival," wherein children in one of the impoverished areas of the city were expected to shell out $35.00 to some vendor (I still have NOT received the items I requested on this event) to ride some portable amusements. The mayor said nothing about the fact that we do not have a CFO, a Health Officer, a Corporation Counsel, and other important positions remain unfilled. She made no mention of the status of Muhlenberg Hospital, either. I guess alerting us to the number of queries made to the office of Vital Statistic for birth records is more important. Her setting up a "women's" committee and an "African/Caribbean" committee (why would these two committees be connected??) seem extremely inappropriate--and the motives are certainly suspect, given that this is an election year. I feel the same way about her suddenly becoming interested in the Plainfield Advisory Commission on Hispanic Affairs--as the liaison for this committee when I came on the council 2 years ago, I quickly realized that there was no interest in this commission, which has lain dormant since 2006. I was also quite taken aback to discover that the mayor's re-election materials had been surreptitiously placed at the library by one of her partisans--when I checked again, they had been removed.
I can expect nothing better at this point.
Rebecca
Anon 2:44pm, you gave a perfect example of what we will probably get with this council shift. The taxpayers wouldn't be paying all this money had the mayor just answered the counil questions in the first place when some red flags popped up. Probably the most that would have happened is she may have been told not to do that again. It could have been that the mayor simply didn't realize for instance she couldn't spend a donation written for one event to pay for another. Anyone can make a mistake. But instead she stalled, denied and ignored. So now we'll see if the current council will just turn their heads when red flags come up especially if they think like you. Just because you don't go to jail doesn't mean it wasn't wrong. But it's over and done so don't be like Mr. Reid and continue to beat this poor carcus.
ReplyDeleteAnd Rebecca I hope you will continue to be the voice to explain when things are not right or being swept under the rug.