Political wisdom in this mostly Democratic city tells us that the June Primary Election is where local things get settled and the November General Election is just a formality.
This year, the primary filing date falls on April Fools' Day. (Click here for the entire list from the state Division of Elections.) The Democratic Party's choice and Democratic challengers must declare themselves on that day. But Primary Day, June 4 in 2013, is also when Independents file to be on the November ballot. So once the Democratic field is known, anybody from left field can join the fray. A Republican primary contest is possible, but unlikely, though the city GOP will probably put somebody up to run for the municipal seats.
The Plainfield municipal elections follow a pattern: Ward 1 plus 2&3 at-large, Ward 2 and 1&4 at-large, Ward 3 and citywide at-large, and this year Ward 4 and Mayor. Incumbent Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs is running for a third term in 2013 and Third Ward Councilman Adrian Mapp is making his second try to defeat her.
Read about the 2005 primary here and the 2009 primary here.
The 2009 official primary vote was 2,017 for Robinson-Briggs, 1,681 for Mapp, 363 for Martin Cox, 152 for Carol Brokaw Boles, 72 for Robert Ferraro and 37 for Tom Turner.
This year will be the second one where Board of Education candidates must file on Primary Day to be on the November ballot. There are always three three-year seats up and there may be others for unexpired terms should incumbents leave office in time for others to meet the filing date.
--Bernice
Monday, January 14, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Senior Center, PMUA on Monday's Agenda
Among items on Monday's City Council agenda, the governing body will consider rescinding a 2012 resolution designating the Senior Citizens Center in honor of Charles Louis Nelson.
Nelson worked tirelessly on plans for a new senior center at 400 East Front Street, constructed as part of a development with 63 condos on three floors above the center and a space dedicated to veterans' use. He passed away just before the new center opened. Former Council President Adrian Mapp pledged in 2012 to recognize a "Senior of the Year" and subsequently proposed naming the center for Nelson, but a group of seniors protested the move. Mapp proposed a plaque in Nelson's honor instead and the resolution passed.
Now that the issue has been reopened with a new council makeup, I call to your attention this post.
Regarding the center in general, it was vaunted as costing the city nothing, but later the developer submitted a rather large bill for fitting it out and for condo fees. An anticipated vote in 2010 never took place, and as of mid-2012 the matter was supposed to have been in arbitration. The city as a condo owner appears to be an anomaly for municipal government, but it is a contractual matter that has to be honored at the rate of $2,750 per month.
Monday's agenda also includes correspondence from the mayor requesting appointments of Cecil Sanders and Charles Eke to the PMUA and City Solicitor David Minchello to the post of corporation counsel. Sanders is an alternate who only gets to vote when one of the five full commisioners is absent. No resolution is attached, but most likely Sanders will replace former Commissioner Tracey Brown, who just vacated her PMUA seat to take office as the citywide at-large council representative. Eke is nominated for an alternate's seat.
Minchello has been acting as corporation counsel since last spring in the absence of former Corporation Counsel Dan Williamson, who was named the new PMUA executive director in April. Williamson left City Hall permanently as of July 1, 2012 and Minchello has been the temporary corporation counsel ever since. If confirmed as corporation counsel, he will serve through 2013, when the mayor's current term ends, and then must be reappointed in 2014
The agenda-fixing session is 7:30 p.m. Monday in Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Ave.
--Bernice
Nelson worked tirelessly on plans for a new senior center at 400 East Front Street, constructed as part of a development with 63 condos on three floors above the center and a space dedicated to veterans' use. He passed away just before the new center opened. Former Council President Adrian Mapp pledged in 2012 to recognize a "Senior of the Year" and subsequently proposed naming the center for Nelson, but a group of seniors protested the move. Mapp proposed a plaque in Nelson's honor instead and the resolution passed.
Now that the issue has been reopened with a new council makeup, I call to your attention this post.
Regarding the center in general, it was vaunted as costing the city nothing, but later the developer submitted a rather large bill for fitting it out and for condo fees. An anticipated vote in 2010 never took place, and as of mid-2012 the matter was supposed to have been in arbitration. The city as a condo owner appears to be an anomaly for municipal government, but it is a contractual matter that has to be honored at the rate of $2,750 per month.
Monday's agenda also includes correspondence from the mayor requesting appointments of Cecil Sanders and Charles Eke to the PMUA and City Solicitor David Minchello to the post of corporation counsel. Sanders is an alternate who only gets to vote when one of the five full commisioners is absent. No resolution is attached, but most likely Sanders will replace former Commissioner Tracey Brown, who just vacated her PMUA seat to take office as the citywide at-large council representative. Eke is nominated for an alternate's seat.
Minchello has been acting as corporation counsel since last spring in the absence of former Corporation Counsel Dan Williamson, who was named the new PMUA executive director in April. Williamson left City Hall permanently as of July 1, 2012 and Minchello has been the temporary corporation counsel ever since. If confirmed as corporation counsel, he will serve through 2013, when the mayor's current term ends, and then must be reappointed in 2014
The agenda-fixing session is 7:30 p.m. Monday in Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Ave.
--Bernice
Friday, January 11, 2013
Gun Violence Strikes Again
Gun violence is in the news every day, along with the many other kinds of violence humans perpetrate on each other. After the expressions of outrage, what next? The seeds of violence can be detected in video games, movies, song lyrics blasting out of cars and real-life fights among teens at Park & Seventh as also happened Thursday. Recently someone sprayed graffiti, including death threats, on buildings on my block.
How do we get from a culture of violence to one of peace? Must violence among peers, between men and women or ideological factions, always be with us?
My thoughts are with this child and his family and all of us as his larger family in Plainfield.
--Bernice
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Campbell, Edwards Lead BOE
Wilma Campbell is president of the Plainfield Board of Education and Keisha Edwards is vice president for 2013, the first year of a new pattern for service.
School board elections moved from April to November in 2012. Candidates filed on June 5, the day of the primary election. November winners Edwards, an incumbent, and Jackie Coley took office immediately, as both were filling vacancies. Their new three-year terms and that of November winner Mahogany Hendricks began this month. Delois Dameron won a one-year unexpired term and will serve through 2013. Her term and those of Campbell and former president Renata Hendricks will expire on Dec. 31. Those wishing re-election and any challengers will have to file this year on June 4.
Routine news coverage of the school board is a thing of the past. The only story about new school leadership last week was one on Perth Amboy, although numerous districts held January reorganizations. Tuesday's Plainfield meeting at 7 p.m. clashed with a 6 p.m. PMUA meeting and a 7:30 p.m. Charter Study Commission meeting. Those who want to follow the action at the Plainfield school board will have to consult the district web site and attend board meetings, although as Dan Damon pointed out the initial information on the reorganization meeting date was wrong on the web site.
Plaintalker regrets not being able to cover school board meetings in addition to City Council and other governmental meetings. Anyone willing to take on the assignment can get guidance from The Citizens Campaign on how to start.
--Bernice
School board elections moved from April to November in 2012. Candidates filed on June 5, the day of the primary election. November winners Edwards, an incumbent, and Jackie Coley took office immediately, as both were filling vacancies. Their new three-year terms and that of November winner Mahogany Hendricks began this month. Delois Dameron won a one-year unexpired term and will serve through 2013. Her term and those of Campbell and former president Renata Hendricks will expire on Dec. 31. Those wishing re-election and any challengers will have to file this year on June 4.
Routine news coverage of the school board is a thing of the past. The only story about new school leadership last week was one on Perth Amboy, although numerous districts held January reorganizations. Tuesday's Plainfield meeting at 7 p.m. clashed with a 6 p.m. PMUA meeting and a 7:30 p.m. Charter Study Commission meeting. Those who want to follow the action at the Plainfield school board will have to consult the district web site and attend board meetings, although as Dan Damon pointed out the initial information on the reorganization meeting date was wrong on the web site.
Plaintalker regrets not being able to cover school board meetings in addition to City Council and other governmental meetings. Anyone willing to take on the assignment can get guidance from The Citizens Campaign on how to start.
--Bernice
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Mayors, More Sought For Charter Views
The commission is on a tight schedule to review the current special charter and make recommendations to the governing body by August. Its five members were elected in November, but election results were delayed by Hurricane Sandy, putting the commission a bit behind its normal course.
The largest anticipated cost for the commission is disseminating its findings to the citizenry, who must endorse any proposed changes in the charter or form of government. By donating their professional skills for many of the tasks ahead, commissioners expect major savings compared to other municipalities' charter study budgets, but will need to spend about $24,000 to print and mail approximately 19,000 copies of their final report to city residents. The commission will seek City Council approval for the budget.
The immediate task ahead is to interview numerous past officeholders on their views of city government under the special charter. Plainfield's charter calls for a city administrator in charge of day-to-day operations, three department heads under whom all divisions fall, seven council members representing four wards and an elected mayor with a four-year term. The commission may recommend changes in the 1968 charter or conversion to a new form of government.
At Thursday's meeting, commissioners compiled a list of names of potential interviewees, including past mayors, city administrators, department heads, corporation counsels and political party leaders. Some overlapped those interviewed for a 1990 study by a charter review committee. The commission hopes to begin the interviews with the two surviving mayors of the past 44 years at the Jan. 24 meeting and may also call on Dr. Harold Yood, nonagenarian blogger and close observer of city government.
The commission will both conduct all its meetings in public and perform outreach to neighborhood associations and other community groups to ensure maximum engagement by citizens. Study materials, minutes and agendas are posted on the commission's blog, set up and maintained by Commissioner John Stewart at no cost to the public. Commissioner Mary Burgwinkle is serving as secretary as an in-kind donation to the commission's work and will be making outreach as well as writing reports.
Click here to access the Charter Study Commission's blog. The next meeting is 7:30 p.m. Jan. 24 in City Hall Library, 515 Watchung Ave.
--Bernice
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
PMUA:Not Yet "In the Zone"
In the zone: Expression used to describe a state of consciousness where actual skills match the perceived performance requirements perfectly.
So yesterday (Monday) a PMUA truck arrives in our driveway and goes all 300 feet down to the trash bin. What's wrong with this picture? We are in Zone 8 and our pickup days are Tuesday and Friday, I rip the PMUA calendar off the refrigerator, throw on a jacket and go out to ask. I have my calendar, they have a clipboard. Something doesn't add up, even though they acknowledge the clipboard indicates Zone 8.
The locations on their paperwork are not street numbers, but tax lot addresses with sets of numbers. First one guy points out what he thinks is our location, but actually it is the street on the south side of our block. Ooops. He turns the page and finds another a location starting with 117. That must be it, he suggests.
By now, I realize he has never seen this calendar nor does he know that pickup had settled into Tuesdays and Fridays after a spate of mixups. Now it is back to random appearances of PMUA trucks, sometimes two in a row.
These workers are faithfully doing their jobs. So were the people who designed the calendar to inform the public. The mismatch between the two is preventing these workers from being "in the zone."
Maybe if they saw the same thing residents see regarding pickups, if the clipboard matched the calendar, there would be a better match. If indeed PMUA is helping individuals return to the workforce and learn job skills, it's only fair to align their performance with what PMUA tells residents they will be doing.
Just a suggestion ...
--Bernice
So yesterday (Monday) a PMUA truck arrives in our driveway and goes all 300 feet down to the trash bin. What's wrong with this picture? We are in Zone 8 and our pickup days are Tuesday and Friday, I rip the PMUA calendar off the refrigerator, throw on a jacket and go out to ask. I have my calendar, they have a clipboard. Something doesn't add up, even though they acknowledge the clipboard indicates Zone 8.
The locations on their paperwork are not street numbers, but tax lot addresses with sets of numbers. First one guy points out what he thinks is our location, but actually it is the street on the south side of our block. Ooops. He turns the page and finds another a location starting with 117. That must be it, he suggests.
By now, I realize he has never seen this calendar nor does he know that pickup had settled into Tuesdays and Fridays after a spate of mixups. Now it is back to random appearances of PMUA trucks, sometimes two in a row.
These workers are faithfully doing their jobs. So were the people who designed the calendar to inform the public. The mismatch between the two is preventing these workers from being "in the zone."
Maybe if they saw the same thing residents see regarding pickups, if the clipboard matched the calendar, there would be a better match. If indeed PMUA is helping individuals return to the workforce and learn job skills, it's only fair to align their performance with what PMUA tells residents they will be doing.
Just a suggestion ...
--Bernice
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Digitize Memories on Jan. 12
The Friends of the Plainfield Public Library will offer an opportunity for conversion of VHS tapes, movies, slides and photographs on Jan. 12, with 20 percent of revenues to benefit the library.
Digital Memory Media, a division of Innovative Document Imaging LLP of East Brunswick, will conduct the session. Fees range from $12 per video tape to 29 cents per foot of 8mm and 16mm film. For advice on conversion to DVDs, call (732) 613-7170. A complete price list is available at the library.
The conversion session will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan 12 in Room 4 of the Plainfield Public Library, 800 Park Ave.
Digital Memory Media, a division of Innovative Document Imaging LLP of East Brunswick, will conduct the session. Fees range from $12 per video tape to 29 cents per foot of 8mm and 16mm film. For advice on conversion to DVDs, call (732) 613-7170. A complete price list is available at the library.
The conversion session will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan 12 in Room 4 of the Plainfield Public Library, 800 Park Ave.
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