Saturday, January 14, 2017

Three-Person ABC Board Proposed

Liquor license approvals may be decided by a new three-person Alcoholic Beverage Control Board instead of the City Council, if the governing body passes an ordinance to make the change.

The proposal was floated in April 2014, but rejected firmly by then-Council President Bridget Rivers. Now that Mayor Adrian Mapp has a favorable majority on the council, passage is more likely.

The city has more than 30 liquor licenses that must be renewed annually. Bars, restaurants and stores must undergo various inspections for adherence to state ABC law, but over the years the council has split between members wanting strict control and those who sympathize with owners of the establishments. In April 2015, the owner of a Richmond Street bar received a negative police report, but won approval to open a "gentleman's club" after promising it would not be sexually oriented. A liquor store that was denied renewal in 2014 still had the support of several council members, but the owner lost an appeal to the state ABC authorities and had to close.

The proposed ordinance calls for a three-person board, with only two of the same political party allowed, that would meet on its own schedule and have a secretary. Members would serve three years, though initial terms would be staggered. A member could be removed for cause by the governing body, and no member could have an interest in the liquor industry or receive any gifts from applicants or licensees. The ordinance would have to pass on two readings, but if so, would become operative in time for the 2017 liquor license renewal process.

Plainfield has social clubs, liquor stores, bars and restaurants that have specific licensing requirements. If an establishment passes Police, Fire, Health and Inspections reviews and pays state taxes and fees on time, license renewal is routine. Other licenses may be held up until all city and state requirements are met. The council has the power to hold hearings on proposed denials and the proposed board would presumably have the same power under state ABC law.

The council will hold a joint agenda-fixing and regular meeting 7 p.m. Tuesday (Jan.17) at Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Ave.

--Bernice

27 comments:

  1. Welcome to the pilfering of our tax dollars, $7500.00 to another friend of the mayor!

    I would prefer that our Councilmembers retain this control.
    Barry, Rebecca and Cory have all participated in cleaning the streets, they are well aware of the Hot spots around the city and the amount of empty beer cans and liquor bottle that is produced in front of these establishments.

    Who best know their own wards then the members who have walk the street campaigning.


    The appointments of the mayoral friends, that more than likely sit in a bubble (2nd ward) and are not involved with the other streets and parts of the city that they would not dare visit. "the royalties of his courtesans"

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    1. Timothy, you are a monument to divisiveness. Your reference to "the bubble" is reverse bigotry in its most insidious form. It is consistent with phrases like, "Those people up on the Hill". How are we ever coming together in a period when we need unity with a provocateur like you stoking ashes of resentment? Are all the people in this country who have achieved some slight measure of economic success bigots; insensitive to the needs of others? I think not. We have lived here in the "bigoted second ward" for 60 years. While it would be audacious to say we knew everyone, we have known a cross section which I feel is statistically representative. They have worked for the Y, toiled in St.Mary,s soup kitchen, contributed to and administered King's Daughters, collected clothes and food for local distribution ( this week St Bernard's is collecting baby needs for the disadvantaged in Plainfield ), proctored children, ad infinitum. And while you may find it difficult to believe I have yet to encounter a bigot. Unquestionably there are
      "red neck" mentalities out there, but you will need Diogenes's lamp to find them in Plainfield's second ward. I might also remind you that the second ward has finally permitted people of color to buy homes here. We took down the barbed wire and penned the dogs. Were you cognizant of that? Your baseless commentary angers. It is only human to say "If that's the way you feel why should I try to mend fences". As to walking through the City, what does that jibe accomplish? If anyone doesn't walk through the City it is not a consequence of the person's disdain for the occupants. Regarding the issue of an ABC Council you may be surprised to know that I agree with you. The last thing we need is another governmental entity, paid or unpaid, when the Council historically has handled the matter. Perhaps occasionally Council's decisions have been questionable, but by a large they have done a competent job. Peace Timothy. If you want to take a walk through the second ward or any other give me a call and we will go hand in hand. Bill Kruse

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  2. All boards and commissions are supposed to have secretaries to keep minutes, etc. The ordinance calls for "the Municipal Clerk or some other qualified person" to serve. Given the legalities of ABC matters, it would be vital to have an accurate record of any proceedings. Your comment seems speculative at this early stage.

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    1. And if the decision was made at the council meeting as it has been done, it is recorded and under the same cost of the meeting and not spending additional tax dollars.

      So that brings up a point,
      How many boards and commissions have secretaries, has the city ever thought of combining for the purpose of saving money

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  3. Tim - I have to hand it to you - your mastery of shooting from the hip before having the slightest idea of what you are talking about is impressive.

    I do find it interesting that the Mayor is going to (in your mind) appoint only people in the 2nd ward bubble when the Mayor himself doesn't even live in this apparent bubble you have identified. I think you are just pulling this nonsense out of your.....hat.

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  4. Gee I wonder who will be picked for this board. Hmm

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  5. about time. plainfield is about to address and solve its biggest peoblem.

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  6. I take it that restrictions to ABC membership would also apply to any restaurant owner who doesn't happen to have a liquor license. Anyway, I don't see a problem with establishing this board, although the $7500 annual salary for a secretary seems pretty exorbitant.

    Also, Plainfielder's BE WARNED- The administration also put forth an ordinance eliminating the local Pay-To-Play Law. Council President Rebecca Williams estimated that P2P adds 15-20% to the cost of affected contracts and pledged to make sure the "Plainfield passes the strongest municipal P2P ordinance possible." Councilman Storch wrote that P2P was an "invisible tax on Plainfield residents" and "creates a lack of confidence among voters." Even City Committeeman Bob Bolmer wrote that the P2P reform ordinances passed in 2011 were "historic measures". I guess we'll see on Tuesday if this was really all about principle or simply meant to hinder the political opposition. Meanwhile, the 'whereas' portion of the repeal ordinance is totally disingenuous: This is not about Citizen's United and the unknown sources of Federal PAC money. It is about making municipal political contributions AND receiving municipal contracts. Our City Council should reject this race to the bottom with the same unanimous vote Rebecca urged for passage, that "would clearly demonstrate that we are public servants in the best sense of that phrase."

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  7. Community group clean ups happened before Priano came to our city, ask around, and they continue to . He doesn't seem to know anything about Plainfield or about the way the ABC board operated, just makes another irresponsible comment about the mayor, whosee background he know nothing about. Priano is trying to play the race and class card and be divisive. He lives in the 2nd ward. Why is he demonizing 2nd ward people? Who said that the city is 2nd ward against all others? He is shameless in his willful ignorance about this city. How many cleanups did Rivers, Brown and Tolliver participate in? And why is he so nasty in spreading misinformation towards the mayor, speculating irresponsibly before he has even heard a rationale? And what is he talking about with $7500? Pilfering? Sorry Bernice, but every time I read this guy's comments it's clear that he does not research and shoots from the hip with no context. A neighbor of his said he is very proud that he just moved here in summer and is already becoming known. Well, how about ending the openly hostile comments and learning more about municipal government? If he cared to know what the current mayor inherited from the administration of Sharon, He wouldn't make such irresponsible and libelous comments.

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  8. Timothy reminds me of Norman Ortega.let see how he ends up.

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  9. Sunday morning, let me see, this is a still a blog or was this forum changed to a sheep herding ?

    Yes I am proud that I have moved to Plainfield and I am one of many who have made up the groups that are cleaning the streets, from what I have learned that the Barbara Sandford, "Auntie Litter" was a active with this same battle that plagues all of America in the 70's, I prefer to be out in the streets getting my exercise instead of hanging out at indoor gyms, and how else does someone get to know where they live, but by walking and talking to the neighbors.

    Yes I do understand business of wasting tax dollars, the mayor wants to take the ABC from the council so that the power sits in one office, givinge away $7500. it is called balance of power, not a monarchy.

    The voter did elect the council to represent their voice for the city, I personally think that those who sit on council have a better understanding of our city, since residents reach out to them first, before going to the administration to solve issues.

    Can you stop living in the past and use that knowledge for the future, yes I have done my research on the last administration, and I will say it again, why not learn from the past mistake.

    The same makeup of the Councilmembers was before, all for the Old Democrats, not the New Democrats, if you can not see that this is all falling back in the same pattern of reversal of power, then you need to take off those rose color glasses.

    As far as the 2nd ward, look around and see whos on the administration lives here...

    ABC is on the agenda for Tuesday night, hope we have a huge turnout for everyone to see what goes on with our tax dollars

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    1. Timothy, your relatively recent baptism into some things Plainfield shouldn't leave you with the presumption that you know all things Plainfield. I've been living here for close to 18-years and still don't know many of the dynamics underlying this city. I mentioned earlier that $7500 looked exorbitant, but in the scheme of things it's small potatoes. It's also too bad you missed some of the previous Council/ABC hearings. The police can come in with a foot-tall pile of multiple violations as evidence, and there's always a Council faction willing to give second, third, and fourth chances. The real problem is a systemic predilection for little to no accountability, and plenty of political payback of one sort or another that poisons everything. The city is filled with toadies for one side or the other, and loyalty and being a good soldier gets you a lot further than substance and ability. In fact, most iterations of the City Council have little time or interest in substance because it's too time consuming and requires too much attention to detail. Try PMUA out for size if you want to check out what has been a two-decade's old money pit with only a smidgen of transparency no matter who the Council puts in place to oversee it. It has cost residents millions. It's auditor is the longest tenured individual in the entire place, if you can believe that. It's actually proof positive that Council members have only a limited understanding of things.

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    2. Alan my friend Timothy is being a good soldier, the question is for whom? Like I said, Tim is one dumb-@'$ and who ever is feeding him this nonsense should stop. As far as PMUA, with Tims'
      level of knowledge he wouldn't even get as far as you did.

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    3. Timmy - ".....was this forum changed to sheep herding?" That is a classic response from someone who has not done their homework, shoots from the hip and is not the least bit self reflective. If people disagree with your opinion (or more likely your divisive and negative tone) then turn the criticism away from yourself and toss it back on them. It is the lazy man's debate strategy at best.

      For a man, like yourself, who goes to occasional council meetings, you may see but you do not observe (thank you Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). Prior council's (current is yet to be confirmed) have had a large contingent of people who do not do their homework, are not interested in heavy lifting and make decisions based on what they are told to believe by their machine boss (i.e. the one that got them and their relatives jobs with the state/county). The latter being so obvious that there have been times when they have misunderstood the directive and after making a fool of themselves had to change course at subsequent meetings. The ABC issues are an excellent example of that.

      While additional layers of anything are not always welcome or necessarily productive, they can many times be a perfect answer to an issue. In addition, to being more substantive and productive, citizen boards are a very pure form of democracy and foster just the kind of citizen participation and commitment that you claim to admire. I am thinking that you just like the type of citizen involvement where people participate and tell you how smart you are and how amazing your divisive rhetoric is - which then makes your sheep herding comment more ironic than just a lazy debate technique.

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  10. Most of the past administration didn't even live in Plainfield.

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  11. As I have read the comments, I will remind everyone that 20 odd years ago, The mayor had control, and the residents allowed the appointments and endorsed elective officials to strike a deal to form PMUA. This action has caused deep fractions in the city, the amount of money that everyone pays for this authority is beyond and out of control. please read the orginal transcripts, the citizens were sold a service that has 30 years agreement.

    Again my point is learn from the past, examination of who has control today, and those who are given positions for terms longer than our elective officals have on their terms. Balance of Power, if we the citizens want to see the city move forward, we all must be involved. No one elective person or machine is best to have influence on a community.

    Everyone votes and the choice is ours who will lead the city. As so many have referred to the past that Jerry Green controlled the city, but who voted for this? As of today the current administration is running the city. We are a democratic process, let's all keep focusing on the future, keeping our policies in line for today and work in the next 5 to 10 years.

    What appointments are being appointed? Will those being placed on PMUA board change the issues at hand to break up or renegotiate the agreement when the time is needed.

    The mayor does have a collaborative council to solve the issues, on ABC why change who in charge now? We all have to keep our eyes open to what power play that will happen with the Councilmembers, remember that we do not want to wake up a year from now or later on have have to unwind another PMUA'isk deal that we are stuck with or clogging the way the city does business.

    What is the goal for tomorrow and beyond the second ward, my mother taught me to lead by example, more of the our residents need to get out of the bubble and get involved with the rest of the city, Yes we do live in the same ward, but we make it a point to go downtown and have breakfast, lunch or dinner. Show that you can spend your money in Plainfield, no need to give other municipal our business. Support within the community we live in, this will change and build unity among our fellow neighbors.

    As far as the comments who's soldier, I report to myself, The residents of Plainfield City to open up their eyes and work with one and another. but when everyone keeps worries about these "camps" and who feeding who this information is tiresome. I have no desire to be part of the political machine, my desire is to help those whose voice are not heard and speak on their behalf.

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    1. Tim - you don't want an ABC board because the council knows their constituents and wards best but then you say "....my desire is to help those whose voice (sic) are not heard and speak on their behalf" - wouldn't that be the job of the before mentioned council members who you say were elected by the people?


      Also - a very quick review of administration members who live in the 2nd ward (your earlier post) came up with a rough count of 2. Hardly a cabal. Planning board has maybe 2 from 2nd ward and zoning may have 3. 2nd ward could actually be under represented.

      Keep up the good work - and don't let those little things like facts get in your way.

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  12. I am sorry Bernice but as a regular reader I have to comment. Perhaps Timothy in his infinite cluelessness and divisiveness doesn't realize that the second ward is about 40% African American with people of a variety of incomes? Has HE ever walked beyond his own little neighborhood in his area of the second ward? If he had he would know this. Has he walked along Dorbett, Carnegie, Richmond, Sterling, Woodland, Garden, Jean Terrace, Columbia, Inwood, Leland, Loretta, Crescent, E. 9th, George, Hillside, Prospect, Lake, Berkeley, Loraine, Stilford, Fayette, Putnam just to name a few? If he himself has actually walked through the second ward he wouldn't have made such an ignorant comment. Does he even know the boundaries? All we need is a know-nothing to spread his lack of knowledge about our city and its residents all around. I for one would like to know where he got all this misinformation and why he insists on using your blog to try to spread it. I am black and I live in the second ward. I find his tone insulting to me and my family, to our friends and neighbors, a very mixed one of blacks, Latinos, and two white families on my block, and to our city in general. Where did this man come from? Did he act this way in his previous city? Did they get tired of his divisiveness? He seems to want to stir resentment among people of all colors in our city and he tries to make the good people of the second ward into something we are not. I do not live in a bubble, there is no bubble, and I am questioning where he got the idea from. Maybe he needs to create a bubble around himself to contain the poison he is trying to spread.

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  13. Now I see, it's a white savior complex. "my desire is to help those whose voice are not heard and speak on their behalf." It is so patronizing to me as a black woman for this white man to think he can speak for me. Glad he will condescend to suggest that he can speak for anyone but himself. What voices are not being heard? Spare us the white savior complex stuff, it is racist in conception, just as racist as thinking that the 2nd ward is filled with white people who live in a "bubble" conveniently ignoring the huge population of people of color who live in the second ward and all over this city.

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  14. I can't wait for Timothy's next post - "I am glad that my use of hyperbole and rhetoric sparked a conversation and caused people to get involved and make comments. I did not say those things truthfully but to ignite the imagination of my future followers. I am glad that I now have the highest ratings of any blog post ever posted in the Queen City. Nobody has ever gotten a conversation started like I have and nobody has cleaned up more trash or been as involved as myself."

    Or something self-aggrandizing like that.

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  15. It is immensely gratifying to read these recent comments. Mr. Priano is incorrigible; unrepentant. In his more recent blog he again refers to "the bubble". There are in fact two bubbles. Neither of which encompasses the second ward. The first circumscribes the perimeter of Mr. Priano's property, and the second the perimeter of his perception. Bill Kruse

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    1. There is a bubble in the second ward and there is heavy representation on boards and commissions from that area.

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    2. Anon 10:31 - It is helpful, when making statements like that, to back them up with facts. Show us where the representation is heavy from 2nd ward.

      Also - if it is heavier from the second ward (based on your findings), explain why, in your opinion, it is that way and also why that is a bad thing.

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  16. Plainfield is at a Tipping Point to use Gladwell's expression. The City has been making steady progress under the administration of Adrian Mapp. This is not a partisan statement; it is a statement of fact. You have at least ten active development projects ongoing in various parts of the City. Now is the time to embrace what the administration is accomplishing because it is benefiting Plainfield. Property value s in Plainfield will continue to rise due to the recent development activities which are all targeted at previously blighted and or vacant site. Celebrate the positive that sis occurring in Plainfield instead of embracing the politics of the past that only resulted in posturing, name calling and empty victories that did nothing to move this City forward. This City can become one of the greatest Cities in New Jersey and I firmly believe that if we continue along the path that Mayor Mapp is blazing through the professional environment he has created then this City will live up the great expectation that many of us believe it is capable of attaining. Now is the time to push the administration to do more of the good work it has started. It is not the time to engage in silly calling and actions that serve to divide this City. Racially motivated and class based politics should not find a home here in Plainfield. Be the change you wish to see in the world (Gandhi) and may that change be positive.


    Thank you,

    Someone who loves Plainfield.

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    1. Plainfield Lover - that statement was well thought out, well said and it made my day. I could not agree more with you. Thanks for the taking the time to write that post.

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    2. No public official should get a free pass if valid criticism is warranted. End of story. Mapp has done some very good things at the same time he has engaged in some real clunkers.

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