Friday, May 15, 2015

Sanchez: Developers Now Flocking to City

With eight completed projects representing a $5.8 million investment in Plainfield, Economic Director Carlos Sanchez said the city has 12 others worth over $9 million under construction and 19 more approved that reflect a $17 million investment. 

To explain perhaps why, he told a story: His son was in his second year of college and very good at soccer. Urged to pay for a video, Sanchez first demurred, but then agreed.  With visual proof of his prowess, his son landed a full scholarship in a North Carolina school.

Similarly, word is spreading about new investment in Plainfield, he said.

“Now we don’t have to seek developers, developers are seeking us.”

Sanchez was making a pitch for his 2015 budget Tuesday to members of the City Council and the Citizens’ Budget Advisory Committee and asking to spend more on promotional material to tell the city’s story – its historic districts, Transit Village designation, 2015 Smart Growth award and more. He called its diversity “a cross section of the world.”

Sanchez said he has already been talking to developers at conventions and business meetings and asked for a larger travel budget in addition to marketing material. Councilwoman Diane Toliver questioned the expenses for travel and printing, but Sanchez said his overall budget was flat compared to 2014 and the requests were for shifts in categories of costs.

While fielding questions, Sanchez also informed the council of initiatives to keep developers coming. One is formation of the Planning Board's new Technical Review Committee to offset a perception that Plainfield is a tough place to get timely approvals for projects. Sanchez said he spent six months talking to developers and one common complaint was that the approval process was taking too long. To a developer, he said, "Time is money."

To help prevent repeat visits with highly-paid expert witnesses, applicants can meet with the committee to discuss issues and be better prepared for board meetings. The committee can also apprise applicants of funding sources such as the Regional Business Assistance Corporation. 

Sanchez said other perceptions concern the city's safety and cleanliness. Public Safety Director Carl Riley said in his budget presentation on May 6 that crime is down in the city. As far as keeping the city clean, Sanchez said business owners need to know they are responsible for cleaning up in front of their buildings. Finance Director Ron West said the city will be hiring 20 young people this summer for cleaning around the city, but Sanchez said, "At the end of the day, it has to become the community" that addresses the issue.

Among other concerns, Councilwoman Vera Greaves asked Sanchez to make sure city residents get jobs from developers. He said local hiring can be encouraged, but not mandated.

Former Councilman William Reid, now serving on the CBAC, said Special Improvement District officials should have attended the meeting on Economic Development, a view endorsed by former Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, also serving on CBAC.. 

The council and CBAC are meeting with various city department and division heads at budget sessions through May. The next one is 7 p.m. Monday (May 18) at City Hall Library, 515 Watchung Ave. and will cover the administration's proposed budget for the Public Works and Inspections divisions. The council, in conjunction with the CBAC and a budget consultant, may then formulate amendments to the 2015 budget before final passage.

--Bernice

14 comments:

  1. Local hiring ordinance. Vera draft and submit a proposal for a vote. Businesses are not going to do it they have understand thats part of doing business in Plainfield. Mr. X

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  2. Do they take the investors on a morning tour of front st and show them the crowds of day laborers in our beautiful downtown. Yeah right.

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    1. Obviously this is a tough problem. http://jerrygreenspage.blogspot.com/2008/09/governor-corzine-assembles-task-force.html

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    2. Day workers are just trying to earn a living. Would you be so concerned by crowds on the streets if they were Wall Street types waiting for the bus to take them to their $300,000+ jobs?

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    3. Your not aware of the prejudicial element sir.

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    4. There certainly is a prejudicial element, you only have to put 3 African Americans in the same spot and every police officer in Plainfield and surrounding towns will be there blocking traffic to ensure that they move along. Pleeez!!!

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  3. Bernice I'm told that there are several council member's that could care less about the cities budget. I am told they do not even show up for the budget hearings. How do they expect to make a sound decision on the budget if they don't show up to hear what the department have to say. I guarantee you they will be there when recreation discuss their inflated budget. Go figure

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    1. Correct me if I am wrong, but the council has committees for the different city divisions, and only the council members of those committees would be expected to show up for the respective budget hearings. That way each council committee can concentrate on its own responsibilities.

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  4. Thats nice and all, but a problem that no one is bringing up is the construction department. The amount of time between application, permit and inspection is crazy. Takes 5 days just to get the permit and the inspection window is 9-1. You have to waste a whole day just sitting and waiting. I have personally invested over $2 milllion in this town over 2 administration yet I have never heard anyone bring this up anywhere.

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  5. Keeping the City clean? Whenever the question is asked as to what the PMUA has done to justify its expensive existence one of the justifications offered is that the PMUA has cleaned up the City. A City which prior to their establishment was a refuse pile. For the amount the PMUA collects for Shared Services, one of the primary components of which is street cleaning, the town should sparkle. . Perhaps the young people who are doing the 2 month clean up can set an example for the "professionals" who purportedly do the work the remaining 10 months. A great place to start would be to collect the mattresses deposited on top of the demolition debris on North Avenue. Bill Kruse

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  6. It seems that we have people like Reid and Robinson-Briggs on the budget review committee and their past performance has proven that they know little about budgeting. Reid helped gut the last budget and the city fell short this year and Robinson-Briggs, look at her eight years of budgets that failed when the State reviewed them. We all know why they were picked by Jerry's kids and we know they will try to blame the mayor if their recommendations fail. Thank Jerry at the Primary on June 2 and make sure we have good representation for Plainfield.

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  7. Local hiring ordinances have been deemed illegal by the state. What municipalities can do is offer incentives to developers to hire locally. That is the law. This came up under the previous administrations and the law has not changed. Adding more training opportunities to strengthen the local work force would be of great assistance.

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  8. Economic Development was not the only budget discussed. The mayor's budget was discussed as well. That's why its important that residents come out and hear these budget hearings. You are guaranteed to learn more about where the money is being spent.

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  9. We better get traffic control to handle all the new projects coming to City Hall to pay taxes.

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