--Councilman Cory Storch
In an unprecedented action last week, a council majority decided to move to the July 14 agenda an ordinance submitted by the Housing Authority of Plainfield that had been listed as only a discussion item. The ordinance had to do with conveyance of city-owned land to HAP "either by sale or long-term lease," the site having been the topic of a conceptual Planning Board hearing last year regarding development of 86 apartments. At last night's regular meeting, the ordinance was passed on first reading, despite a request from HAP Director Randall Wood that it be withdrawn. The rationale given by Council President Bridget Rivers was that Wood had no authority to tell the council what to do with its agenda, just as the council has no say over HAP agendas..
Councilman William Reid said the ordinance could be amended before final passage to resolve whatever issues were outstanding. But Wood himself, in his letter asking for withdrawal, said he had only expected the "draft ordinance" to be reviewed by Corporation Counsel David Minchello. That would be the more normal process than just accepting out of the blue a prepared document from an outside entity.
In the discussion as recorded by Plainfield View's David Rutherford, one can see Deputy City Administrator Carlos Sanchez backing up Wood's request to withdraw the ordinance until such time as his concept for a project on city-owned property can be discussed with the administration, as per a Friday meeting.
Once it was clear that action was about to take place despite Wood's request, Councilman Cory Storch made a motion for it to be tabled. Rivers seconded the motion, but when the roll was called and Councilwoman Vera Greaves was clearly unsure of what was going on, Rivers told her erroneously that the vote was to "take it off the table." Greaves abstained, Storch and Rebecca Williams voted "yes," Reid, Gloria Taylor and Rivers voted "no." Short of the necessary four votes, the motion to table failed.
The motion to pass the ordinance passed 4-2, with Williams and Storch saying "no" and Reid, Greaves, Taylor and Rivers voting "yes." The next regular meeting is Aug. 18, at which time it could be passed on second reading and final passage.
Storch pointed out that the proposal for residential housing only was not in keeping with the mixed-use format for downtown development that can be seen all along the Raritan Valley Line. While construction may yield jobs for a time, commercial use is the key to adding permanent jobs, he noted.
Other points were made during this discussion. I urge the public to take 20 minutes and view the entire excerpt at the link above.
What is especially insulting to the people of Plainfield is that Reid, Greaves, and Taylor had the unmitigated temerity to say that they had not received the letter from Wood--which I produced at the meeting and read portions of--which proves that they HAD received it--actually, they received it TWICE, because it was re-sent due to a typo. Their laxity at even bothering to read official documents is a failure of their fiduciary responsibility to the residents whom they were elected to represent. Then, Reid alleges to have had a conversation with Wood (that the others buy hook, line, and sinker) during which Wood (according to Bill Reid) contradicts the letter he sent. They proceed to ignore the letter that they purportedly did not receive, and go on the word of Bill Reid about a conversation he alleges to have had with Randy Wood. Wood was not present at the meeting--I will be contacting the HAP Commissioners to discuss what it was that they expected Wood to do. The ethical conflicts of interest on the part of elected and appointed officials was brought to the attention of the council once again by Alan Goldstein--they ignored him, as usual. Let's see whether the State will have something to say about this.
ReplyDeleteRebecca
Rebecca, What do you expect from people that never mastered the art of critical thinking and find no need to; especially when they have their master telling them what to say and how to vote.
DeleteRobin B
Downtown Plainfield is a mess and we do not need section 8 apartments with no space for parking for 180 cars. Is all the council members thinking about is getting their relatives a new apartment or money from a developer to fund their next campaign? This city has not had good luck with the last 3 or 4 projects. We need to clean up what we already have before we build more new.
ReplyDeleteThat was such a sad display. Why are councilpersons unsure of what they are voting for? Why is it that each time a motion was on the table Greaves and Taylor had to be reminded of what was being discussed?? Why are they not paying attention???
ReplyDeleteMaybe Greaves and Taylor are not playing dumb or they will use that for an excuse when this comes back to haunt them, and it will. We shall see who is getting paybacks for their actions. You have to wonder about their morals or if they have any.
DeleteThey are not "playing" dumb--it's for real!
Deletewhen Cory Storch can stop playing both sides of the political fence and actually stand up to the corruption in his own party like Rebecca does then maybe his half hearted commentary of "whoa is us ".. this is being railroaded ", will matter.
ReplyDeleteUntil his blog stops emulating Jerry Green's .. post and no comments allowed that disagree with his "can't we all get along liberal ideaology" he is almost on the same level as Jerry Green...
You have exactly what you've supported Cory Storch, so stop complaining... Rebecca is the only one who has a valid complaint about the way things go.. you've supported the status quo with your "VOTE THE PARTY LINE " mentality.
I disagree, Rob. Cory has said he believes a commenter should do so by name, not anonymously. I personally feel Cory represents my ward conscientiously, as does Rebecca, though they have different personal styles.
DeleteOne needs only to attend a single council meeting to witness what a vital role Cory Storch plays.
DeleteI have to agree with Bernice and Jim. Cory Storch is a thoughtful, responsible, and ethical Councilman. Having been a many Council meetings I see that he has studied what the Council is discussing and making decisions for the good of the City, not special interests.
DeleteBob Bolmer
2nd Ward, 1st District Representative City Committee.
Bob... like you... Cory Storch has had many opportunities to stand against Jerry Green vocally.. yet you many times have skulked to the voting booth and done your "duty" to the local Democratic power bosses and voted for Jerry.. Your quote, " I may be forced to finally vote for a Republican" ... you've defacto supported him by not standing up against him.. JUST LIKE CORY STORCH.. You can sing koumbaya on one corner of the street and run over to the other and scream Jerry is bad.. and then run back to the other corner and scream "VOTE THE PARTY LINE" without being a useless political hack...
DeleteRegardless of the outcome..Standing up for what you believe in is what morality,courage and doing right is all about.. so... since he's screamed "VOTE THE PARTY LINE" so many times and soooooo often... What does Cory Storch stand for ?? Mindless political rhetoric or the people of the city ?? Can't play it both ways Cory....Vote the Party Line or Jerry Green is bad... which one is it ?? Care to post to your "commentless" Blog ala Jerry Green ?? Or reply here... because you can't go back and delete the "VOTE THE PARTY LINE" posts.... its there for all to see... At least Rebecca took a stand..
Rob, you have no idea who I vote for and in last November's election I voted for few Democrats and in the primary I only voted for a few Democrats and could not support others. Keep your guesses to yourself. I will not vote for Jerry Green again, and who I vote for is none of your or anyone's business. I vote for the best person for the job, Democrat, Republican, or Independent. Thank you.
DeleteI will not vote for Jerry Green again,
Delete===== Well Bob.. I've never voted for him... I've never voted the "PARTY LINE" ... So... and as you've commented "You may be forced to vote Republican", I'm pretty sure you haven't ever as no one who votes for the person makes statements like that. You're a party line voter and that makes your rhetoric as nauseating as Jerry's. It is our business when you spout your party rhetoric for all to see, like Corty Storch does.
Rebecca had over 1000+ people to NOT vote for her she is not right half the time, just loud , nasty and wrong. Robin B, is always against affordable housing. No one said anything about section 8,Robin acts as though she has always been well to do and looks down on people less fortunate, she needs to remember where she came from.She is so busy trying to knock poor Black people, that she does not realize it is everybody in need.
ReplyDeleteElections are about outcomes. Eke had 46.89 percent of the vote and Rebecca had 53.07 percent.
DeleteYour characterization of Robin is your opinion but I do not see how it relates to this post.
You must be one of those people that never mastered the art of critical thinking I mention in my above comment dated July 15, 2014 at 3:24 PM. Let me just say, I am not going to go tit-for-tat with you on a public blog; however, I have said it before and I will say it again, unless you are willing to sign your real name to your comments, then I could care less what your opinion of me is. To me, an anonymous writer is nobody. BTW, I am never against affordable housing or poor black folks, after all, I AM one of them and I live where I can afford!!
DeleteI will also say this, you are most likely someone that never had a conversation with me. If you did you would know, there is no one more pro-black than me, but it certainly can’t always be about black and white. It should be about right or wrong. The salve and welfare mentality that you displayed in your comment has done nothing to enhance our race and move black folks upward, It’s a proven fact that it has done just the opposite. But I understand where your coming from, that type of thinking and action does help a few blacks move up while standing on the back of the poor. Can you recognize the difference of a hand-up to a hand-out?
We need competent, educated, young, forward and innovated thinkers that can move Plainfield forward in the right direction for everyone, white, black, yellow, rich, poor, democrat and republican. It should only be about what is best for ALL the people of Plainfield, not just the poor blacks. Sidebar- I don’t think we have enough so called “rich people” in Plainfield to take care of all the poor people you want to bring in with more affording housing. Do we?
Last thing, please stop making this a race issue. Just about everybody on the council and administration is black. The man that’s been running this city for the last 20 + years is black, let’s get real!
Robin
Robin sorry about that got you mixed up with anon,1:59,Thanks Bernice.
ReplyDeletei knew it all along...this is all about black and white.hate 2 say it. yet it is,,,.shame on all you haters.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 4:04- You bring in race, but what makes you think this has anything to do with race? It seems to me that if all the City wants to do is unload the property, put it up for bid and get the most the most that can be got. If it wants mixed use, get competitive proposals and weigh them out. If it wants to show favoritism, SHUT EVERYONE out but CHS Construction and its Housing Authority front, then continue down the same road with a majority of Council members using their official
Deletepositions to secure unwarranted privileges or advantages for others. So where does race actually factor into this?
The sad part of all of this, is that the Council tries to justify their votes. No one with a brain swallows their pathetic excuses. And, just to solidify their ignorance, they take Bill "bordering on hysteria at every council meeting" Reid's word instead of the person who actually made the comment.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a story - I was in California and saw Lonnie Anderson shopping. Someone went up to her and said "you look familiar". She said "I am Lonnie Anderson". They said, "No, that's not right".
Ignorant.
So when there is no cogent reason for the decisions being make, and no logic behind decisions, pull the race card. That makes the stupid decisions the council makes OK - is that right 4:04?
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, who are the haters? The black council members who scream at the citizens and their fellow council members, the white council member, the white people in the audience, the black people in the audience, the Latinos in the audience? Who exactly are the haters?