Municipal ID Sought for Undocumented and Parolees

Members of a Latino community group asked the Plainfield Advisory Commission on Hispanic Affairs Thursday to recommend creation of a municipal identification card for undocumented individuals and parolees.

Although a local group began offering ID cards about two years ago, Norman Ortega, vice president of the Tri-County Latino Coalition of New Jersey disputed their worth and said Mayor Adrian O. Mapp expressed support for a city-backed card. Ortega said Mapp pledged to forward a proposal for funding a municipal ID card to the governing body if the commission advised it.

The unofficial ID card was produced by Angels for Action and endorsed by former Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, but after Mapp took office in 2014, he called on the group's leader, Carmen Salavarrieta, to cease and desist from issuing the cards.

Coalition treasurer Lenin Aguirre said some who purchased Salavarrietta's ID cards found themselves accused of presenting a false document when using it out of the city.

Initially PACHA president Flor Gonzalez said the commission should prepare a resolution to present to the mayor, but later agreed to hold a special meeting with the full commission to discuss recommending a municipal ID to the mayor.

Coalition President Alma Meza spoke in favor of the municipal ID, which she said would "bring men out from the dark," both the undocumented and parolees who can't get state or county ID cards. Others said municipal ID cards would help undocumented parents get children registered for school and aid in hospital visits.

The goal is to advise funding of a municipal ID card in the 2015 budget, coalition members said. The Mapp administration expects to give the budget to the council next month and then the council will hold deliberations on it.

The group discussed a recall of the estimated 800 unofficial IDs already issued, but Gonzalez also voiced concern about all the information that applicants had given. Aguiirre suggested the information should be "dissolved," but Ortega said, "The reality is you can't go back in time" and said he thought the unofficial card holders would want to get the municipal IDs.

Commissioner Maritza Martinez also raised the issue of a paid sick leave ordinance that she said would impact many Latino businesses downtown. The City Council decided not to move it to the March 9 agenda after numerous business owners complained it was burdensome and they were not informed of it, but only found out about it on a blog. Martinez urged opponents to come out in force in April to dissuade the council from passing the ordinance.

The meeting began late because Gonzalez and other PACHA members had been called on to help the family of a homicide victim. Gonzalez said the victim, Wilson Valdez-Caba, 31, was the second relative to be killed at the family's supermarket on Berckman Street and was the father of an 8-year-old son. As she described the incident, he had gone outside the supermarket to take in a girl, 4, as shooting erupted on the block. He then became a victim.himself, she said..

--Bernice

Update on Haz-Mat Emergency

Workers toiled until near midnight Wednesday to clean up an oil spill in a parking lot behind Park Avenue businesses.

Earlier a tank truck was on the lot pumping out the oil.

Late in the evening, workers were spreading bags of absorbent material on the East Seventh Street side of the lot.

More bags were piled on the street.

The Union County Haz-Mat unit stayed late, though city public safety responders were no longer on the scene.

Though marked with yellow tape, the sewer opening had been cleared of sand and buffers that were blocking tainted water earlier.

Plaintalker will attempt to get further details later today (Thursday).

Emergency Brings Haz-Mat, DEP to Park & Seventh

An oil leak behind businesses at Park & Seventh brought police, fire, Union County Haz-Mat and NJ DEP in response Wednesday.

The parking lot behind the Masonic Lodge was evacuated, but a representative said the historic building was not affected. The leak appeared to be behind a Chinese restaurant fronting on Park Avenue.

Plainfield Public Works brought a load of sand to secure a boom around a sewer opening to prevent oil from entering.

The historic Grace Episcopal Church is just east of the parking lot, but was not affected.

The response was still taking place as school let out. A student asked what was going on and another said, "Somebody got shot," provoking a quick correction from a police officer.

The response seemed to be well-coordinated among city, county and state emergency teams. It stood in high contrast to the previous most interesting thing that happened in the vicinity Wednesday, which was the return of grackles to the Grace Church yard for nesting, a sure sign of Spring.

--Bernice

Budget Process Nearing Start

The City Council is getting ready to deal with the 2015 budget, but first must wait for it to come from the administration.

Last year, the budget was unveiled in a presentation held at the Senior Center in March. On Monday, when Council President Bridget Rivers asked Finance Director Ron West when the council would receive the budget, he said, "Next month," adding that there will also be an ordinance for a road program.

The roads issue deserves a separate blog post, but suffice it to say a five-year road repair schedule set by the administration of the late Mayor Albert T. McWilliams suffered delays and gaps during the eight-year span under former Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, and Mayor Adrian O. Mapp must now reopen the whole program.

The budget process calls for the administration to deliver a proposal to the governing body that includes an operating plan for 2015 as well as one for capital improvements. The council votes to introduce the budget and can then modify it after a series of hearings with department heads on their fiscal needs. The city runs on temporary appropriations until the budget is passed.

The council may also appoint a Citizens Budget Advisory Committee. Each of the seven council members can name two citizens to the committee, but Rivers said Monday she had received no responses from the council. The council may also hire a budget consultant. Last year, the consultant suggested changes that decimated Mapp's staffing requests. On Monday, Councilman Cory Storch said he supports having a budget consultant, but asked that it be one "truly independent of the city."

"I recommend that we don't employ the person we hired last year," he said.

The council also has to schedule budget meetings. Despite Mapp's on-time budget submission in 2014, the process straggled on until passage of amendments late in May, meaning the city operated for nearly half the year on temporary appropriations.

--Bernice

March 9 Council Highlights

Monday's meeting was the usual mix of new legislation and rehashes of sports issues from the recent past.

 Animal advocates crowded the courtroom to see final passage of an anti-tethering law. No one spoke in a public hearing before the vote, but later some thanked the council for approving the measure that will prevent dogs being chained outside in bad weather. Though referred to an as "anti-tethering" law, the ordinance does allow tethering under specific conditions. The full text can be seen online in the electronic packet for the meeting.

The council also approved a new taxi stand adjacent to the Park-Madison office building and a new rule allowing fares to sit in the passenger seat with the driver's permission. Previously, drivers were ticketed for having a customer sit in front unless all back seats were taken.

Once again a large portion of the meeting was devoted to youth sports concerns.

Council President Bridget Rivers called coach Lenny Cathcart to the microphone to discuss youth basketball, even though it was not on the agenda. Cathcart wanted funding for the program included in the upcoming 2015 budget and questioned why the school board is charging teams for use of its facilities. Rivers asked whether he was told there would be no basketball program and he said, "They're looking to go from staff to volunteers," alluding to the city's Recreation Division.

"Do you need your staff to run this program," she asked, and Cathcart answered, "Yes."

"How long have you been running this program?" Rivers asked, and Cathcart replied, "Thirty years."

Cathcart's pitch for funding brought a strong response from Councilwoman Vera Greaves, who said, "After hearing from you, I'm going to ask the administration to find the money."

After two mothers backed up Cathcart's claims for the program's positive influence on youth, Greaves asked Corporation Counsel Vernita Sias-Hill whether the council could have a line in the budget to put money in for Recreation.

City Administrator Rick Smiley said Recreation Superintendent Roni Taylor has not said the division doesn't have money. Regarding the use of schools, he said the city had reserved $7,500 and was supposed to have a memorandum of understanding with the school district on facility use without fees, but it has not happened.

School Board President Wilma Campbell was in the audience and Rivers called her up to ask about the memorandum, but Campbell changed the subject to a shared services plan that seems to have lapsed. She said the board had a "partial agreement" with the previous administration "and somehow that got lost."

Smiley said it was the first time he heard that the MOU hinged on the shared services question.

Later, former baseball coach Roland Muhammad repeated last week's pitch by Rev. Jason Greer for some city-owned sports equipment. Smiley said the equipment had been inventoried and could be obtained through an auction, but the city could not give it away.

Former Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs came to the microphone to say she had personally donated some of the baseball equipment and that portion should be given to Greer's league. Resident Kim Montford said as a taxpayer she felt the city should sell the equipment to the league "for a dollar."

Youth sports issues began recurring at council meetings about six years ago, when a previous council president allowed airing of organizers' concerns.  Last year, Mayor Adrian O. Mapp said he had settled the baseball problem by having one league, but by October the controversy was back in full force.

On Monday, despite all the rhetoric, it was unclear how the discussion would lead to resolution, unless both the school board and the council take formal action in the future.

--Bernice

Audit Authorized for PW&UD Department

The governing body remained in closed session for more than the allotted hour Monday as the public jammed a hallway outside the courtroom, but citizens were finally allowed in to hear the outcome: Unanimous approval for an audit of the Department of Public Works & Urban Development.

The special session was called by Mayor Adrian O. Mapp and no more specific target was declared. The department includes Inspections, Recreation, City Yard, Economic Development, Community Development, Building, Engineering and Planning divisions. The vote was 5-0, with Cory Storch, Vera Greaves, Diane Toliver, Rebecca Williams and Council President Bridget Rivers voting "yes" and Gloria Taylor and Tracey Brown being absent.

The resolution included neither a dollar amount nor an auditing firm, both of which will presumably turn up in another resolution after bidding.

The Mapp administration was denied a full forensic audit in December and caught some flak last month from Rivers after it was revealed that a limited audit uncovered a $41,000 discrepancy. The administration had used its prerogative to order the audit for $17,500, under the bid threshold, but Rivers took it as a nose-thumb at the governing body and threatened to have Mapp escorted out by police.

--Bernice

Dog Tethering Ordinance May Kick In Tonight

If approved tonight, an animal welfare ordinance prompted by the plight of Butch the guard dog will take effect immediately, not in 20 days as is normal.

Animal activists from all over rallied to Butch's cause in February and a large number came to the Feb. 9 City Council meeting in support of the proposed legislation. A television crew from News12 even came to record the meeting. The activists had used Facebook, Change.org and Craig's List to draw attention to the issue.

The ordinance outlaws the use of chains to tether dogs outside and specifies the form of acceptable tethering, including accessibil be kept outside, especially in very cold or hot weather.

Councilman Cory Storch announced lifting of the 20-day time to take effect, a very rare occurrence in this writer's memory.

According to one report, animal advocates offered the dog's owner $1,000 for the animal's rescue, but he declined. The ordinance sets a range of fines from $100 to $1,000 per day of violation for failure to comply with the new rules and provides for seizure and impoundment of an animal whose owner defies the rules. If the owner cannot be identified or fails to reclaim the dog within two weeks, the animal will be made available for adoption.