City Sights

The result of the Plainfield Public Library's recent closing: New carpeting in warm tones of rust and sienna (my take - you could say shades of brown).

Lots of bicycles in the rack at the main train station, North Avenue side. This is the most I have seen. Is this typical?

 Sidewalk repairs downtown, a good thing for seniors. I tripped and fell last week on Park Avenue, injuring my wrist and my dignity. Very annoying.

Summer's almost gone for the likes of these creatures, who won't live past Autumn. As always, it has been fascinating to watch them.

--Bernice

PMUA Fair Today

See you at the fair!

FYI, according to a legal notice Friday, Tuesday's PMUA meeting has been moved to Wednesday, 6 p.m. at 127 Roosevelt Ave. Maybe I'll see you there as well! (The Sept. 10 agenda is not up as of this time. If you click on the link, the Aug. 6 agenda comes up.)

Voter Mis-Education?

The windows of a Park Avenue storefront are completely filled with these signs, which on a quick glance appear to be for Republicans. I thought maybe the Booker campaign had moved out and the Republicans had moved in. Passing by on foot, I took a closer look. Under the large-print names, it says, "VOTE NO."

OK, so the signs are against the Republicans. So let's break it down a little further. The only time voters can vote "no" is when there is a question on the ballot requiring a "yes" or "no" response. The line for candidates just requires selecting the candidates you want.

Heaven forfend that some unsuspecting Democratic voter should think that by pushing a button next to the names of Campbell or Lonegan, they are voting "no."

Furthermore, this sign conflates two different election dates. The contest between Democrat Cory Booker and Republican Steve Lonegan to fill the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg's Senate seat is on Wednesday, Oct. 16. The Assembly race is on the November 5 general election ballot, along with numerous other contests for governor, state Senate, county freeholders, Plainfield mayor and more.

Why single out the Assembly race? Could it be because Assemblyman Jerry Green, who is also chairman of the Plainfield Democratic City Committee and the Union County Democratic Committee, is running for re-election to the Assembly? Green is also a proponent of the theory that one can vote "no" for a candidate, as noted in this blog post.

The Union County Democratic Committee paid for the signs. Why not start with the top of the ticket and tell people to "vote no" for Christie, if that's the way he thinks it works?

Most people are driving by this storefront and they may only recall the large-print names of the Republicans. The small-print "VOTE NO" message, however misguided, may not even register with the thousands of people passing by in cars. Oh well, as some Republican supposedly once said, "A bad strategery is better than no strategery at all."

--Bernice

A Wild and Woolly Winter?

Where's a Woolly Bear when you need one?

I need to check the stripes to verify whether a cold winter is coming. The new Farmers' Almanac says so, and my recent sighting of a squirrel building a nest along with early mating of our Praying Mantises makes me wonder about the 2013-14 winter.


With a new mayor taking office on Jan. 1, one hopes there will not be a repeat of what Mayor Mark Fury encountered in 1994 - seventeen snowstorms in a row.. It taxed the ability of Public Works to respond and wearied the citizenry no end.

N.J. State Office of Climatology

August was cooler than normal and temperatures are dipping into the high forties at night already. Will there be a killing frost at the old normal time of mid-October? Last winter, there was not a hard frost until almost the end of the year.

The Praying Mantises are making a no-tell motel out of the Butterfly Bush, with three mating couples spotted in the last week.

 The females have to get busy making oothecae (egg cases) before cold weather if there is to be a next generation.

The Annual Cicadas barely stopped singing before a mighty chorus of crickets began chirping madly in our yard. What's the rush? And where are my snow boots?

--Bernice

Street Closures v. Parking Lots

The calendar is jammed with late summer/early fall events, two in Library Park, a couple in downtown parking lots and others requiring streets to be blocked off. Each venue has its pros and cons and elected officials have vowed to look more closely at such events in 2014 before granting approval.

An increase in festivals this year means the use of Lots 8/8A and Lot 1 downtown pits revelers against shoppers and business owners. Organizers say they need the locations so nearby restaurants can offer fresh-cooked food, but many of the booths are self-contained. Business owners say customers can't park behind the stores, though there are other parking lots close by. Unfortunately, city parking lots are not marked, so if traffic is directed to Lot 4 or 5 for the day, few people know where to go. The city would also have to lift permit parking restrictions in other lots so event goers would not be ticketed.

How much trouble would it be to survey business owners next spring to get a consensus on use of the parking lots and work out alternatives for parking?

As for street closures, each situation is different. North Avenue by the train station, where another festival is planned, is not the same as North Avenue between Berckman and Richmond, where a motorcycle club wants to close the street for a celebration of their new clubhouse opening.

The council has already decided it makes more sense to have traffic and public safety reviews of proposed venues before the request comes to the governing body for approval. In addition, the council learned this year that giving breaks on fees or application requirements causes ill will, so the goal for next year is consistency on the $2,500 per day fee for festivals and submission of requests 45 days in advance.

As always, there is something new under the sun. While the city is still figuring out how to deal with a surge in Hispanic heritage festivals, a nightclub group now wants to hold a rodeo. Because the applicant wanted to rush approvals and got turned back, we didn't hear details such as where this rodeo might be held and what extra public safety concerns might have to be addressed.

Ethnic attractions can be a huge draw for a city, but for the sake of residents, their impact needs to be thought out and addressed ahead of time. The council has acknowledged both points, which bodes well for 2014.

--Bernice

Rosh Hashanah Greetings

L'Shanah Tovah Tikatevu

Summer Images 2013

By accident, I posted this on Plainfield Plaintalker, the old blog. Click here to see it on Plaintalker II.