Posters in the Star-Ledger Community Forum are puzzling over the Plainfield schools superintendent. One poster says he looked all over the newspapers and saw nothing about a new superintendent. For some reason, my old login doesn't work or I don't remember how to make it work in order to comment there, so I will just say the deed took place at the June 28 special meeting - way at the end, according to the agenda - and it never made the news.
Guess what, folks, the days of reporters waiting hours at lengthy meetings for news are over.
Click here to read about a community meeting to meet the finalists. Kind of obscure, no? There were two, and the ultimate winner on June 28 was Anna Belin-Pyles.
I gave up trying to cover those meetings myself. In the old days, the name of the winning candidate, a bio, the salary and contract details and a statement from the winner would be part of a news story. There was a poignant aspect this time, as the new permanent superintendent had recently lost her mother. But it is a new era for newsgathering, so don't necessarily depend on the newspapers for all the news.
Maybe there will be some notice of the district having a permanent superintendent if papers still do roundups on the upcoming school year. But the troops are spread very thin nowadays.
Speaking of stuff I don't feel like doing, I am skipping the mayor's forum tonight. It would cost me taxi money to get there and back and the taxi companies do not obey the rate charts, so I would have to pay 45 percent more than I should. So never mind.
Just checked my messages and I had an offer of a ride, which I missed due to being in the shower. Thanks anyway!
--Bernice
Thursday, August 30, 2012
August Images
On one of those days when the sky was milky-white, I got this silhouette of a Praying Mantis in the Butterfly Bush.
Somebody put up a Christmas wreath on a Plane Tree on Park Avenue.
The marquee still says Hubblee Bubblee, but the new sign is for Park Ave BBQ, Portuguese Style.
Bike fragments near the train station.
Dee & Dee, departing from the downtown.
Harking back to the old days, a modern scissors-grinder truck. In the 1940s, venders of all sorts of goods and services came to neighborhoods. Does anyone remember the butter-and-egg man or the Dugan's Bakery guy? Nowadays "grinding" can also mean selling drugs on the street.
I don't have an image yet of another new sight around the city, but maybe you have seen the early campaign signs popping up for the November election. Usually the push is on after Labor Day, but I hear campaign headquarters are open and the race for votes is on. More later on that topic.
--Bernice
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Party On
In Plainfield, Democrats outnumber Republicans 12 to 1, but you can bet there were more than a few who tuned in to hear Gov. Chris Christie give the keynote speech at the Republican National Convention. More than 40 percent of Union County voters pushed the voting booth button for Chris Christie in 2009 and he has been pushing other people's buttons ever since.
For some, Christie represented a possible correction to the entrenched Democratic rule that in some cases had lapsed into entitlement and even actionable corruption. Commenters on newspaper forums clamored for Christie to bring his reform team to Union County, but as the recent news from Trenton attests, there were more serious issues elsewhere.
As Republicans at the national level formed an implacable wall against President Barack Obama, Christie went mano a mano against Democratic leadership in New Jersey and wrested compromises on some thorny issues. He even mentioned this tack in his keynote speech, though it contrasts with the salted-earth tactics of national Republican leaders whose only goal was a one-term Obama.
But one reason local Democratic voters want Obama re-elected is that they cannot envision having hard-hearted, monomaniac Republicans in charge of the nation. Obama's use of reason and compassion in national leadership is something these voters want to preserve.
The sharp contrast between national party leaders is almost reversed at the state or local levels. Democrats who revere Obama deplore the small-minded outlook of some entrenched local leaders, while those running for office as Republicans often must distinguish themselves from the larger GOP representation.
This dichotomy has at times led to calls for non-partisan city elections, but meanwhile voters do have the option of choosing across party lines in the November general election. In 2012, city Democrats can pretty much look with favor on the whole ticket, but for the future, it is good to remember that options can exist in November.
--Bernice
For some, Christie represented a possible correction to the entrenched Democratic rule that in some cases had lapsed into entitlement and even actionable corruption. Commenters on newspaper forums clamored for Christie to bring his reform team to Union County, but as the recent news from Trenton attests, there were more serious issues elsewhere.
As Republicans at the national level formed an implacable wall against President Barack Obama, Christie went mano a mano against Democratic leadership in New Jersey and wrested compromises on some thorny issues. He even mentioned this tack in his keynote speech, though it contrasts with the salted-earth tactics of national Republican leaders whose only goal was a one-term Obama.
But one reason local Democratic voters want Obama re-elected is that they cannot envision having hard-hearted, monomaniac Republicans in charge of the nation. Obama's use of reason and compassion in national leadership is something these voters want to preserve.
The sharp contrast between national party leaders is almost reversed at the state or local levels. Democrats who revere Obama deplore the small-minded outlook of some entrenched local leaders, while those running for office as Republicans often must distinguish themselves from the larger GOP representation.
This dichotomy has at times led to calls for non-partisan city elections, but meanwhile voters do have the option of choosing across party lines in the November general election. In 2012, city Democrats can pretty much look with favor on the whole ticket, but for the future, it is good to remember that options can exist in November.
--Bernice
Monday, August 27, 2012
Big Accident At Park & Seventh
According to a breaking news report from the Courier News, six people were injured, three of them being pedestrians. Three vehicles were involved.
This intersection received improvements in 2008 after being deemed very dangerous. See Plaintalker's report here.
Unfortunately, soon afterward, the signal stanchion on the Park News corner was clipped off at the base in an accident and was never replaced. The accident today leaves two corners without signals for cars or pedestrians.
My thoughts are with all those who were injured today. The three pedestrians were hospitalized, according to the Courier News. Please, people on foot and in cars, be very careful at Park & Seventh. I hope the improvements from 2008 will be restored, as this intersection once again proves to remain very dangerous.
--Bernice
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Telling The City's Story
Last week I watched a young man with pen and notebook among the small crowd at a community meeting held by Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs. As the mayor spent half an hour on a rapid-fire listing of events and statistics, his pen never touched paper. Many of what the mayor called "commercials" were lifted right from the city web site and I wasn't about to try to recount them all either.
The incumbent in any political race has a big advantage in gaining media attention, but unless the opportunity is properly used, it is wasted.
For example, at one point, the mayor said Part 1 crime was down by 100, a figure that Public Safety Director Martin Hellwig corrected to 116.
"It's wonderful to know that Part One crime decreased tremendously," the mayor said. Citing 10 new firefighters and 10 new police officers, she added, "This time last year there was quite a bit of gunfire and several homicides," noting only three this year.
I wrote a note to myself, "What does it mean?"
To understand the remarks, one would have to know that all 566 New Jersey municipalities must report crimes to the state for an annual Uniform Crime Report that is published by the State Police. It is divided into Violent Crimes and Non-Violent Crimes and also includes demographic data. Part 1 crimes are the violent ones, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. In isolation, the number 116 did not tell much of a story.
The latest UCR on record was for 2010, so I e-mailed Director Hellwig for further information. The 116 represented the difference in total Part 1 crimes from January through July for 2012 over the same time period for 2011. The complete reports are not issued until much later in the following year, so the 2011 report is not even out yet officially.
So according to internal numbers, Plainfield had 1,204 violent crimes from January through July of this year, down from 1,320 for the same time frame in 2011. That translates to an 8.7 percent reduction in violent crime, which a reporter could round off to 9 percent.
But then one might ask, how many in each category and how does that compare overall with other municipalities. Hellwig noted in his e-mail that homicides numbered five in 2008, two in 2009, eight in 2010 and 10 in 2011, with only three so far this year. I did not ask for a full statistical breakdown of other violent crimes.
(In the old days of news gathering, these reports always generated stories comparing crime in towns covered by the newspaper. With the new ability to sort statistics, readers can now also get charts like this one from the Courier News. )
The trouble with statistics is that they can always be read different ways. A 9 percent reduction in violent crime may look good until one realizes that the city's crime rate in general is much higher than that of surrounding communities. So there is always the "compared to what?" factor. A reporter who brought back an isolated number to the newsroom would undoubtedly get an editor's admonishment to put some context on it or not try to use it in a story.
The point of my somewhat rambling commentary here is that to say "Part 1 crimes are down by 100" is not really intelligible to the public and only invites the media to look further into it or just ignore the whole thing.
The city has suffered over the past several years from not having a media professional who can help tell the city's story in a concise and articulate way.
A few years ago, the mayor and her then-public information officer confronted the Courier News over perceived slights. The Courier actually gave the mayor an unprecedented amount of column inches on the editorial page to rant about it. The mayor promised (or threatened) to submit three good-news stories per week for publication. Well, that didn't happen. The PIO got dismissed and there wasn't been another one until this year's brief transit of a new PIO from Trenton.
The mayor is holding another community meeting at 6 p.m. on Aug. 30 at Washington Community School. The public and press are invited. It's another opportunity to talk about Plainfield. Will communication take place?
--Bernice
The incumbent in any political race has a big advantage in gaining media attention, but unless the opportunity is properly used, it is wasted.
For example, at one point, the mayor said Part 1 crime was down by 100, a figure that Public Safety Director Martin Hellwig corrected to 116.
"It's wonderful to know that Part One crime decreased tremendously," the mayor said. Citing 10 new firefighters and 10 new police officers, she added, "This time last year there was quite a bit of gunfire and several homicides," noting only three this year.
I wrote a note to myself, "What does it mean?"
To understand the remarks, one would have to know that all 566 New Jersey municipalities must report crimes to the state for an annual Uniform Crime Report that is published by the State Police. It is divided into Violent Crimes and Non-Violent Crimes and also includes demographic data. Part 1 crimes are the violent ones, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. In isolation, the number 116 did not tell much of a story.
The latest UCR on record was for 2010, so I e-mailed Director Hellwig for further information. The 116 represented the difference in total Part 1 crimes from January through July for 2012 over the same time period for 2011. The complete reports are not issued until much later in the following year, so the 2011 report is not even out yet officially.
So according to internal numbers, Plainfield had 1,204 violent crimes from January through July of this year, down from 1,320 for the same time frame in 2011. That translates to an 8.7 percent reduction in violent crime, which a reporter could round off to 9 percent.
But then one might ask, how many in each category and how does that compare overall with other municipalities. Hellwig noted in his e-mail that homicides numbered five in 2008, two in 2009, eight in 2010 and 10 in 2011, with only three so far this year. I did not ask for a full statistical breakdown of other violent crimes.
(In the old days of news gathering, these reports always generated stories comparing crime in towns covered by the newspaper. With the new ability to sort statistics, readers can now also get charts like this one from the Courier News. )
The trouble with statistics is that they can always be read different ways. A 9 percent reduction in violent crime may look good until one realizes that the city's crime rate in general is much higher than that of surrounding communities. So there is always the "compared to what?" factor. A reporter who brought back an isolated number to the newsroom would undoubtedly get an editor's admonishment to put some context on it or not try to use it in a story.
The point of my somewhat rambling commentary here is that to say "Part 1 crimes are down by 100" is not really intelligible to the public and only invites the media to look further into it or just ignore the whole thing.
The city has suffered over the past several years from not having a media professional who can help tell the city's story in a concise and articulate way.
A few years ago, the mayor and her then-public information officer confronted the Courier News over perceived slights. The Courier actually gave the mayor an unprecedented amount of column inches on the editorial page to rant about it. The mayor promised (or threatened) to submit three good-news stories per week for publication. Well, that didn't happen. The PIO got dismissed and there wasn't been another one until this year's brief transit of a new PIO from Trenton.
The mayor is holding another community meeting at 6 p.m. on Aug. 30 at Washington Community School. The public and press are invited. It's another opportunity to talk about Plainfield. Will communication take place?
--Bernice
Friday, August 24, 2012
Response To PMUA Commenter
I get so sick and tired of the berating of PMUA. What does it matter when they get it as long as they get it! There is a process they use and just because YOU BERNICE don't know it, it irks you! I have never seen such a group of unhappy, unfullfilled people be concerned about trash. Why don't you just say what the real issue is and stop making insinuations. I did not see you harping this much when one of the workers was injured picking up the garbage, nor did I see the praise when he came back to work. COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN. Who sits in the window waiting on the trash truck so they can take pictures and complain. BUT FYI, if this was Tuesday, they pick up EVERYTHING so that most of the staff can be used to do city wide recycling. SO THERE YOU HAVE IT!
OK, so this morning a PMUA truck pulls up next door, workers see that the garbage bin is empty, so they come to our side and see that our bin was also emptied. What's the big deal? If there is a "process" they use that defies their own schedule, wouldn't it be smart to tell staff so they don't drive a huge truck around, wasting gas and the workers' time?
This is the same agency that fined ratepayers for infractions such as leaving a lid open or not pulling in receptacles by a certain time. So mere mortal ratepayers are supposed to obey all the rules, but PMUA can ignore its own? Try sleeping in on a legal holiday, when PMUA says there is no collection, yet a big, noisy truck pulls up at anywhere from 1:30 to 4 a.m. and wakes you up. This happens on every legal holiday.
As for making this personal, I, Bernice, am just one of hundreds of people who can't fathom how the PMUA operates. Yes, it irks me and a lot more residents. The logic of comparing a tragic incident with adherence to everyday rules is asinine.
In my opinion, PMUA has developed a culture of entitlement that needs correction. DumpPMUA came about for that very reason. So did the more recent interest in disbanding the authority. When a corporation goes off the rails, stakeholders force management to make changes or else. Ratepayers - or maybe the state - will do the same when an authority loses sight of its reason for being.
The real issue here is the fact that PMUA needs to assess whether it is truly adhering to its stated mission.
Apologists for the PMUA will point to its opportunities for parolees and its "family" feeling as an entity. Both are commendable. But the reason authorities statewide are under increased scrutiny is that some have made egregious errors in judgment over fiscal and operational responsibilities. It is simply wasteful to have a posted schedule and then to ignore it for some "process" that not even the workers are privy to, otherwise they would not meet each other coming and going.
The pickups are the most visible manifestation of the PMUA operation to city residents. When people end up having to store trash in their garages because the bins are overflowing due to missed pickups, it does irk them. So does seeing workers show up on a fool's errand because their colleagues have already picked up.
City residents do not want to see inefficiency in basic services. It is as simple as that.
--Bernice
OK, so this morning a PMUA truck pulls up next door, workers see that the garbage bin is empty, so they come to our side and see that our bin was also emptied. What's the big deal? If there is a "process" they use that defies their own schedule, wouldn't it be smart to tell staff so they don't drive a huge truck around, wasting gas and the workers' time?
This is the same agency that fined ratepayers for infractions such as leaving a lid open or not pulling in receptacles by a certain time. So mere mortal ratepayers are supposed to obey all the rules, but PMUA can ignore its own? Try sleeping in on a legal holiday, when PMUA says there is no collection, yet a big, noisy truck pulls up at anywhere from 1:30 to 4 a.m. and wakes you up. This happens on every legal holiday.
As for making this personal, I, Bernice, am just one of hundreds of people who can't fathom how the PMUA operates. Yes, it irks me and a lot more residents. The logic of comparing a tragic incident with adherence to everyday rules is asinine.
In my opinion, PMUA has developed a culture of entitlement that needs correction. DumpPMUA came about for that very reason. So did the more recent interest in disbanding the authority. When a corporation goes off the rails, stakeholders force management to make changes or else. Ratepayers - or maybe the state - will do the same when an authority loses sight of its reason for being.
The real issue here is the fact that PMUA needs to assess whether it is truly adhering to its stated mission.
Apologists for the PMUA will point to its opportunities for parolees and its "family" feeling as an entity. Both are commendable. But the reason authorities statewide are under increased scrutiny is that some have made egregious errors in judgment over fiscal and operational responsibilities. It is simply wasteful to have a posted schedule and then to ignore it for some "process" that not even the workers are privy to, otherwise they would not meet each other coming and going.
The pickups are the most visible manifestation of the PMUA operation to city residents. When people end up having to store trash in their garages because the bins are overflowing due to missed pickups, it does irk them. So does seeing workers show up on a fool's errand because their colleagues have already picked up.
City residents do not want to see inefficiency in basic services. It is as simple as that.
--Bernice
An Event Not To Miss!
Don't forget!
Peach Festival
and
Carillon Concert
12 noon Sunday
Grace Episcopal Church
Cleveland and E. Seventh
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