Saturday, May 10, 2014

Summer Events Up for Approval Monday

After the last two summers, say "festival" to a Plainfielder and the immediate association may be "noise."

The festival roster for the summer of 2014 will again have a double feature in September, with events in city parking lots on both sides of Watchung Avenue. The City Council will be voting on those as well as seven other summer events at Monday's meeting, 8 p.m. in Municipal Court.

The September festivals last year were so noisy that Planning Board members said sound could be heard a mile away.  One member thought perhaps it was reverberating off downtown buildings, as music in parks did not seem to carry as far.

The September 2014 events span the weekend of Friday, Sept. 12 through Sunday, Sept. 14. Nightclub owner Edison Garcia wants to hold his "6th Annual Outdoor Fiesta Days Celebrating the Independence of Central America" in Municipal Lots 8 and 8A, between Somerset Street and Watchung Avenue, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., with music to cease at 9 p.m. The Maree Group/Voluntad Productions proposes to hold its "3rd Annual Hispanic Heritage Festival" on the same weekend from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.on Sunday in Municipal Lot 1, between Watchung Avenue and Roosevelt Avenue.Each event organizer will be required to hire six police officers.

Other events up for approval Monday include:

- An Outdoor Latin Dance Concert/Cultural Affair in Library Park sponsored by the Friends of the Plainfield Public Library (date needs clarification).

- A Health Fair on June 29 sponsored by Supremo Food Market.

- A Fiesta celebrating the Independence of the United States on July 4, 5 and 6, sponsored by Edison Garcia.

-Four events sponsored by the Plainfield Special Improvement District on June 12, June 28, July 17 and Aug. 22.

Some of the information on the agenda needs clarification. Plaintalker will provide details later.

--Bernice

8 comments:

  1. Lets have them in the second ward oh that's right they only want those people up there when its time to cut their lawn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are full of BULL. I am sick and tired of hearing that.

      Oh yeah, and by the way, Jerry Green lives in the second ward - maybe it's because he doesn't want it here. Quite frankly, I doubt it. I have never felt that the second ward has received one ounce of favoritism because Jerry lives here - but you are out of line, you are making excuses and you are plain WRONG. Perhaps you should come to the second ward.

      Those people live in the second ward also, and hire those people to cut their lawn, too.

      Delete
  2. Whatever happen to R&B concert at Cedar Brook Park????

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was a Union County event. Maybe Linda Carter can explain.

      Delete
  3. who are those people? do tell.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Second Ward. Up on the hill.

    Divisive , sick, bigoted phrases. Us against them. Them against us. This mentality, spawned and nurtured by ignorance is antithetic to everything America stands for, and is inimical to progress in Plainfield....inimical to racial and ethnic harmony everywhere. .

    We have lived in Plainfield 56 years. 10 years in the valley and 44 years up of the hill. On our street, in the evil second ward, the majority of families are African American. Two houses away on one side and 2 house away on the other you can converse equally satisfactorily in English or in Spanish. Aqui se habla espanol en nuestra casa tambien..

    So the boundary between the Hill and the Valley in racial and ethnic terms is indistinguishable. The distinction is economic. When I was a boy living in a cold water tenement with the bathroom in the hall I aspired to live , if not on top of the hill, at least part of the way up the slope. I am not going to apologize for having achieved that goal. It is my hope that the hill will always exist and by virtue of its existence stimulate the incentive for betterment. The folks in the valley have no better friends than most of the people on the hill.

    If it can be explained to me how it will improve relations I will consider firing our Latino landscape contractor and hiring a Norwegian. Perhaps that will only result in being accused of prejudice against Norwegians.

    Bill Kruse

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you Bill Kruse -- not only for your sentiments but for always signing your name to your comments -- makes it real, makes it credible.

    Growing up in a 3 family house in the blue collar part of town, just a stones throw from downtown Newark, I never heard my family or neighbors blame those living on the other side of town, as if they owed us anything -- on the contrary, we aspired to, one day, be able to live in that part of town or somewhere like it.

    It was the early 70s, my father worked as an auto mechanic 14 hours a day, 5 days a week and on Saturdays worked overtime or did side jobs to provide for our family. My mom worked in the quintessential Jersey factory just a few blocks away, 45 hours a week. My parents were focused on a better life.

    There is a huge misperception by many, that 'those people' who live in the 2nd ward or on a hill somewhere or in a big home, blah blah blah, have had it all handed to them and don't care about anyone else but themselves.

    Getting to that next level takes time -- years of hard work (no matter what you do), dedication, focus, commitment, perserverance, prioritizing, a lot of sweat, a lot of setbacks, jumping through hoops, learning from your mistakes, having self-respect and respect for others; luck or a rich granny has little-to-nothing to do with it.

    I live in the 2nd ward and when I found myself without a job in recent years, I was out cutting lawns, painting picnic benches, hanging shelves and picking up whatever odd jobs to survive while I found a job to get back on track -- my story is just one of thousands, whether in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th ward. It's sink or swim and, sinking is not option.

    Not looking for pat on the back - just looking to inject some reality and foresight into the minds of those who constantly sing the "woe-is-me-us-and-them" song.

    Government is not responsible for you. You are responsible for you -- government is just the necessary evil that facilitates the process.

    As for these bogus heritage festivals that are nothing more than cash cows for the 2 bar owners, they leave downtown Plainfield looking and smelling like a toilet -- not the best way to attract prospective residents or business -- just sayin' . . .

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jerry Green and Councilwoman Brown live on the hill - what say you now?

    ReplyDelete