It was just such a process that led to the establishment of Plainfield Plaintalker in 2005. As a former reporter, I was familiar with the redevelopment process, which has many steps. I had been following a proposal to redevelop a large section of the city between the main train station and East Seventh Street and I was concerned that a small legal notice in the newspaper for a public hearing on the study was not going to attract many people. As described here, I was handing out copies of a typed report to individuals when I first learned about disseminating information on a blog.
At the Downtown Station South hearings, residents corrected several errors in the study, as described in this post.
Unfortunately, public hearings are held all the time with due legal notice, but unless you happen to read the notice, your chance to attend and be heard may be lost. Plaintalker will strive to keep track of the Elmwood Gardens and alert folks to any public hearing on the redevelopment study.
In an earlier time when there were many redevelopment proposals on the table, the Plainfield City Council had the privilege of having Joseph Maraziti explain the redevelopment process in detail. Plaintalker tried to convey some of his points in this post. At present, there are few projects moving forward, which in a way makes it all the more important to review the process so that all are aware of it.
Public hearings are held on all sorts of proposed changes, ranging from rate increases, erection of cell phone towers, new highways, hospital closings and many more things besides redevelopment. As a citizen, you have the right to look into the issues and state your opinions. But you have to keep an eye out for notices that tell you when and where you can speak. Luckily for Plainfield, there are more and more local bloggers helping to alert you to these opportunities when the issues affect life in the city.
--Bernice
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