Save Dates for Forums

While you are marking your calendar for the panel discussion at Masjidullah on Oct. 13 (see item below), note these others:

At 5 p.m. on  Sunday, Oct. 27, the Plainfield Area NAACP will hold a Candidates' Forum at the Plainfield Elks Mohawk Lodge, 
1357 W. 3rd St.

The Plainfield League of Women Voters will hold a Candidates' Forum starting at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at Emerson School. The forum will include school board, Mayoral and 4th Ward candidates.

A Man of Many Hats

As of today, Al Restaino will have three titles when he becomes acting city administrator in addition to heading the largest of three city departments and also retaining his original title as director of the Office of Community Development in another department.

As acting city administrator, he will be in charge of all day-to-day operations in the city through the end of the year, as appointed by Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, who appointed herself for the role after the Sept. 23 departure of City Administrator Eric Berry.

As department head, he is in charge of Administration, Finance, Health and Social Services, which includes fifteen divisions. Originally just including fiscal operations such as tax collection, tax assessment, audit & control and purchasing, the department received health and social services in a reorganization under former Mayor Mark Fury. Most recently, IT and media were added to the department.

The Office of Community Development is responsible for submission of Community Development Block Grant requests to Union County. Click here for a link to all aspects of the division, which is in the Department of Public Works & Urban Development and was formerly Restaino's full-time job.

Restaino will receive one salary for all the varied responsibilities. Normally when a director is also acting city administrator, he or she receives the salary connected to the higher office. All three department heads report to the city administrator.

Mosque Hosts Mayoral Debate

Masjidullah Plainfield Inc. and The Muslim League of Voters, New Jersey Chapter will hold a mayoral panel discussion on Oct. 13.

The event will be from 2 to 4 p.m. at the mosque, 321 Grant Ave. A question and answer session will follow the panel discussion.

Mayoral candidates in the Nov. 5 general election include Councilman and Democratic primary winner Adrian Mapp, Republican Sandy Spector and independents D. Scott Belin and Mustapha Muhammad. Organizers of the panel discussion said all were invited, but Mapp has declined due to a prior commitment.

For more information, call Mahdee Najeeullah at (908) 208-1704.

Muhlenberg Study Needs Six Months

The planning firm up for consideration Monday for the Muhlenberg study projects a six-month process that includes four community meetings, two of which will broadly involve the public and stakeholders in a visioning process.

Public outreach is named as "Task 1" in the scope of services proposed by Heyer Gruel & Associates. A kickoff meeting with city planning staff will have three goals, according to documents in the packet for Monday's meeting: "to refine and confirm the work program and schedule; to define the community participation including preliminary identification of stakeholders; and to preliminarily identify key issues as the city and community sees them."

The early work will also include "a tour of the site and surrounding area with city officials and key project personnel to get a sense of the issues in the field."

To many in the quiet residential blocks around the shuttered Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center, the main issue is rejection of  the 600-unit apartment complex proposed by JFK Health Systems, owner of the property. JFK began promoting its plan last year and recently asked the City Council to agree to zoning changes that would permit the project. Last month, Rev. Gerald Lamont Thomas of Shiloh Baptist Church told the council he and others have been working for the last 14 months with JFK Health Systems "to keep a hospital presence as well as developing the land."

But not even possible loss of remaining medical services on the site has overcome the objections of residents who see the development as too much for the neighborhood.

The full document detailing the proposed scope of services for the study is available in the City Clerk's office and also in the council packet for Oct. 7 at the Plainfield Public Library's reference desk.

JFK Health Systems has made its rationale for development clear in this section of the Muhlenberg Moving Forward web site more than a year ago. Thomas conveyed a sense of urgency last month in his remarks, warning that JFK would leave if its proposal was not accepted. The proposed city-backed study may prolong the decision-making progress, but residents who have their back up over pressure from JFK are calling for a large turnout Monday in support of the study.

The meeting is 7:30 p.m. 8 p.m. in Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Ave.

--Bernice

Council To Hire Planners For Muhlenberg Study

Six hundred luxury apartments or maybe something else for Muhlenberg?

JFK Health Systems, owner of the former Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center campus on Randolph Road at Park Avenue, is actively promoting its plan that includes 600 apartments and is asking the City Council to approve zoning changes for it. See an animation of the development here.(Note: Video was deleted)

Meanwhile, Monday's City Council agenda includes a resolution to award a professional services contract to a Red Bank planning firm for a study of the Muhlenberg tract at a cost not to exceed $48,000. Bloggers will be checking the packet at the Plainfield Public Library today for more details.

At a March 2012 town meeting, residents and officials rejected the 600-unit apartment plan, but last month Rev. Gerald Lamont Thomas of Shiloh Baptist Church urged the council to accept JFK's proposal. See Plaintalker's follow-up Q&A with JFK's Adam Beder here. Beder, JFK's vice president for governmental affairs, said, "JFK does not object to the City hiring experts to help them in this process, but will not support added delays to this process."

The optimum result - restoration of a full acute care facility - appears to be fading as hospitals across the nation are facing the same issues that caused Muhlenberg to close in 2008, leaving only a satellite emergency room with links to JFK. That facility had been expected to close in August, but remains open as the debate on Muhlenberg's future continues.

The agenda-fixing session is 7:30 p.m. Monday in Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Ave.

--Bernice

Update on Cullen Salary

Although my OPRA request for compensation of non-union employees included a response that Glenn Cullen receives $80,000, I have received a correction from the City Clerk's office:
 The correct salary for Mr. Glen Cullen is $41, 920.00 annually at a rate of$800.00 per week.  The salary budgeted for said position is in the amount of $42,000.00.

Mantis - The Next Generation

While turmoil rules in the human world, the cycles of nature go on. My neighbor and I happened to be in the right place at the right time to see one of our backyard Praying Mantises create the egg case that will shelter her progeny until next spring.

This one chose an evergreen as the site for the ootheca, though most have favored a Forsythia bush in the past (six egg cases this year).

The foamy excretion provides a chamber for each of the 200 or so eggs produced.

It takes a long time to build up all the layers.

This ootheca will shelter the eggs over parts of three seasons, no matter what the weather. The adult Mantises die in Autumn. Watching and learning more about these insects is the highlight of my spring and summer backyard activities here on Block 832.

--Bernice