--Mayor-elect Adrian O. Mapp
Mayor-elect Adrian Mapp convened his transition team Thursday and charged them with examining eleven aspects of city government over the next six weeks.The dinner meeting in Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church held a sea of familiar faces from past administrations and community organizations. Mapp said he began anticipating the transition three or four months ago and modeled it on that of Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop.
--Michael DeCotiis, Bill O'Dea
Attorney Michael DeCotiis and Hudson County Freeholder Bill O'Dea, who both worked on Fulop's transition, will guide the process here as well. O'Dea joked that all he got in Jersey City was a bagel, but "never an event like this.""It shows the commitment of Mayor Mapp to having an inclusionary government," O'Dea said.
"Running for office is tough, running a government is tougher," O'Dea said, but predicted that Mapp was "going to make Plainfield a super, super great city again."
--John Stewart
DeCotiis said he took his hat off to campaign director John Stewart and the steering committee."I've never seen an organization put together like this," he said. "It's going to make our task, which is a daunting task, that much easier."
DeCotiis said it will be very important that the team members go on Mapp's website and read his platform papers.
As for the six-week process, "Time is going to go past extremely fast," he warned, urging the committees to stay on track.
Honorary Chairman Gov. Jim McGreevey had a prior engagement and could not take part in the meeting. Union County Freeholder Chairman Linda Carter was expected to be late.
Before the meeting, Mapp spoke with media representatives. Among answers to Plaintalker's questions, Mapp said there was a transition budget of about $60,000. It was meant for "a professional to take a deep dive study" into city government, but he said Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs blocked it. He said all preliminary activities, including the dinner, came out of other funds, but expenses of the transition team would now be covered from the council-approved budget.
Asked whether he was taking applications for 2014 vacancies on city boards and commissions, he said that was a separate process from the transition, but he expected very shortly to have Stewart receive applications. Plaintalker also asked whether he would enforce the residency requirement for his cabinet, which calls for city residents to be considered first and other hires to move to the city within a year. Since 2006, nearly all cabinet members received residency waivers and lived outside the city.
Mapp said he will be looking for "the best and brightest" and he will not let residency stand in the way.
Mapp takes office on Jan.1 and will have to vacate his 3rd Ward City Council seat by Dec. 31. The next council meeting, on Nov. 12, combines an agenda-fixing session at 7:30 with a regular meeting at 8 p.m., both in Municipal Court. The meetings were combined to allow officials to attend the League of Municipalities conference in Atlantic City the following week.
Crime is out of control, Taxes can not be cut, the schools produce person who need remedial retraining when they get out and dead wood is in all of City Hall. Watch for the transition team to recommend switching the direction of all the one-way streets in town. That is about all they can really change with a "committee".
ReplyDeleteTo 2:23AM, why don't you stop complaining and do something constructive. If you have suggestions, get them to Mayor Mapp. Your complaining achieves nothing but producing more hot air. And goodness knows, Plainfield has more than its share of that.
ReplyDeleteSeeing two white guys and an Asian plus the well publicized resurgence of Jim McGreevey strikes me as an attempt to govern by the 1%. They may think of themselves as the best and brightest but expect a LOT of pushback by the rank and file and the general population.
ReplyDeleteBTW, could you explain what's going to happen to Mapp's 3rd Ward seat come Jan 1? thanks.
You obviously were not at the meeting to see the group of citizens who are on the team.
ReplyDeletePlus, please remember, ONE PLAINFIELD - that includes white guys (and gals) and Asians.
According to the papers the meeting was closed to the public, press invited as observers. We only know what we read and see and if this is what I saw it's what everyone else saw too. Control the message better or don't complain when people turn against you.
DeleteGood point. But really, you believe the only people who were there were white men and an Asian? Plainfield?
DeleteI am on the transition team and am very middle class, cannot afford a house, and work full time and part time. Mayor elect Mapp has chosen people who care about Plainfield and are willing to give a lot of time to make Plainfield better after eight (8) trying years. Maybe people need to get all the facts, like Mr. Mapp is doing, before throwing barbs. Goodbye Sharon and hello hope.
ReplyDeleteBob Bolmer.
What a change of tune for someone who specializes in throwing barbs and little else.
DeleteI too was at the meeting last evening and felt very positive about the entire process. I do not consider myself a 1%'er but someone who sees the opportunity for positive change through cohesive government and not individual or personal mandates that benefit few rather than the whole. We had Mayor Robinson-Briggs for 8 years and saw no positive change through her administration only more negativity, division and tension. That is no way to run a city or government. Participation is critical. Development is a must. Accountability and ethics are crucial for positive change that will benefit the entire City of Plainfield.
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