Grassroots Groundswell

By Mark Williams, Chair NPCCR

The valiant effort on the part of the Save Muhlenberg movement has fallen short of its goal to keep the hospital open as a full service health care facility.

On Thursday June 26th five members of the State Health Planning Board voted to “recommend the conditional closure” of Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center. Over the objections of close to 150 Save Muhlenberg supporters and hundreds more who have been involved in the struggle over the past several months the 131 year old health care facility will cease to exist in its current form in as little as 4 mouths.

The board’s vote is only a recommendation to except the Certificate of Need for closure.

The final step is the signature of Health and Senior Services Commissioner Heather Howard. She has 120 days to act on the recommendation.

Included as part of the board’s vote was the acceptance of recommendations made by the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services, some of which follow:

• Extend from two years to three years the time Solaris should keep its operating license alive so a buyer could re-establish the downsized hospital to a full-service facility.
• Maintain a satellite emergency room at the Plainfield campus for five years.
• Add Trinitas Hospital in Elizabeth to Solaris’ transportation plan to address psychiatric and obstetrics patients affected by Muhlenberg’s closing.
• Create a Community Advisory Group.

Closed now. What will happen next? Borough Hall Annex? Youth Center? School for Adult English as a Second Language? Library? Affordable senior housing? Medical or professional offices? Charter school? Razed for single-family home construction?

Dottie Gutenkauf is a Plainfield activist. This is an e-mail alert from her about Muhlenberg Hospital’s closure and other health care issues.

HOT FLASH: We’ve received information that Solaris is announcing “clinical changes” to take place within the next two weeks. As of today “there will no longer be resident coverage to the Critical Care Units or to respond to emergencies elsewhere in the hospital.”

There’s more: after June 27 there will be no more Colon/Rectal procedures or consults available to members of the medical staff as the physicians are relocating to JFK; and “labor and delivery patients will no longer be admitted to the Maternity Unit at Muhlenberg” as of June 30. “Other medical/surgical specialties…will experience changes to service, coverage and consults over the next several weeks.”

AND THIS IS BEING SENT TO MUHLENBERG STAFF EVEN BEFORE THE STATE HEALTH PLANNING BOARD “CONSIDERATION” OF SOLARIS’ APPLICATION TO CLOSE THE MEDICAL CENTER!

DON’T FORGET THE STATE HEALTH PLANNING BOARD meeting/hearing on Thursday–June 26–to decide on their recommendation to Commissioner Heather Howard on Solaris’ application to close Muhlenberg; 9:30 am to 2 pm at the National Conference Center auditorium at the Holiday Inn in East Windsor.

Buses are being chartered–for information call Steven Hatcher (908-731-1518), Plainfield chapter chair of the People’s Organization for Progress, which has led the struggle to save Muhlenberg.

Yesterday, the POP/Save Muhlenberg Coalition’s “Community Watch” got a great reception from the public and was covered (with photos) by the Courier News.

PHOTOS

COURIER NEWS EDITORIAL

John Gostel’s letter

You’ll have to buy the paper to see Nancy Piwowar’s full-page ad on page 8 of the local section–it’s terrific! Thank you, Nancy, on behalf of all of us.

And here’s the Star-Ledger’s story on the DHSS staff recommendations:

Star Ledger Story

You can read Dr. Harold Yood’s comments on the recommendations at http://dpotpourri.blogspot.com/.

The entire package is posted on the web here.

IN THE LEGISLATURE: On Wednesday, I attended the Assembly Budget Committee meeting and testified on our Muhlenberg crisis in the context of the proposed state budget’s drastic cuts in hospital and health care funding. Also testifying on issues of hospital distress resulting from cuts in “charity care” funding were representatives of other hospitals and nursing homes, as well as the head of the NJ Hospital Association and other hospital representatives, who are well aware of our situation in Plainfield and the surrounding area and its potential impact.

Two relevant stories appeared on page 11 of the June 12th Star-Ledger. Here are the headlines: “U.S. life expectancy climbs past 78 years” and “Underweight newborn rate spikes in U.S.”

I cited both stories in my testimony on Wednesday–they bolster our case for the need for adequate and available health care for our most vulnerable patients.

My husband, Joe Gutenkauf, joined me on Thursday for another session of that Committee, and we both testified on A-2809, which establishes a process for special grants to hospitals in fiscal distress that have a chance of recovery. (The proposed budget includes $44 million for this Hospital Stabilization Fund; there is a $35 million federal match.)

Our position in a nutshell: it places too much power in the hands of the Commissioner of Health & Senior Services with little accountability and no fiscal, legal, or legislative oversight. Acknowledging the good intentions motivating the legislation, I pointed out the usual destination of the road paved with good intentions, and said that if this bill had been passed last year Muhlenberg and the Plainfield area would not be in our current position.

Joe cited the DHSS staff’s recommendations to the State Health Planning Board and Commissioner Howard’s earlier statement to the Senate Budget Committee, saying they reminded him of the trial in “Alice in Wonderland” — “sentence first, verdict afterwards.”

We were both impressed with Assembly Budget Committee chair Louis Greenwald, and we appreciated the positive feedback from him and a number of other committee members including Joe Cryan, Nellie Pou, Gary Schaer, and Joan Quigley, who is getting a copy of the Kean/United Way study and will share it with the committee. Assemblyman Cryan, while voting to release the budget bill from committee, expressed his concern that budget cuts would hit Union County hospitals hard, and added, “I really have a problem with this budget…We’ve got a lot of work to do before Monday.”

MORE ON THE BUDGET: Budget comes to screeching halt, says the Star-Ledger: A $32.9 billion state budget that imposes no new taxes but cuts homestead rebates and aid to towns and hospitals stalled in the Senate Budget Committee last night after it had cleared its counterpart in the Assembly.

The Assembly panel approved the spending plan by a party-line vote of 7-4, with all of the Republicans voting against it. It recessed about 7:30 p.m. and is scheduled to reconvene this afternoon, as is the State Senate Budget & Appropriations. Both houses expected to vote on the final version of the budget Monday, but today’s extraordinary committee sessions may interfere with those plans–and both houses have scheduled meetings for next Monday and next Thursday.

For the Star Ledger story, click here.

HEALTH CARE LEGISLATION: Health care coverage for all is moving in the Legislature–one step at a time: New Jersey took another step toward providing universal health care as both the Senate and Assembly budget committees approved a bill yesterday that mandates all children have coverage and permits 20,000 middle-class parents to participate in a low-cost state program.

The cornerstone of the plan is the expansion of FamilyCare, which already provides some 200,000 children and working-poor parents with HMO-style health care. The budget that is expected to go into effect July 1 includes $8.9 million for this effort.

I have scheduled a meeting next week with Senator Joe Vitale, the sponsor of this bill. For the Star-Ledger story, click here.

I suspect that both houses of the Legislature may be wrapping up the budget next Thursday–at the same time as the State Health Planning Board meeting–if they are unable to finish on Monday (which seems unlikely at the moment).

AGAIN - DON’T FORGET THE STATE HEALTH PLANNING BOARD meeting/hearing on Thursday–June 26–to decide on their recommendation to Commissioner Heather Howard on Solaris’ application to close Muhlenberg; 9:30 am to 2 pm at the National Conference Center auditorium at the Holiday Inn in East Windsor.

Buses are being chartered–for information call Steven Hatcher (908-731-1518), Plainfield chapter chair of the People’s Organization for Progress, which has led the struggle to save Muhlenberg.

Area physicians are being contacted by Save Muhlenberg Coalition activists Nancy Piwowar and Gayle Jones, and are being urged to attend and be heard.

DRIVING DIRECTIONS: Take the NJ Turnpike to Exit 8 and go right after the toll on Route 33 East toward Freehold/Twin Rivers. Turn left at the first stop light (Woodside Avenue); turn right on Monmouth Street–the hotel is at 399 Monmouth Street.

Full report here:  Muhlenberg Decision

Excellent overview article here (Dan Damon’s Plainfield blog).

Excerpt:

Staff Recommendations:

Based on this documentation of compliance with regulatory and statutory criteria, Department staff recommends approving the closure of Muhlenberg for the following reasons and with the conditions noted below:

Reasons:

1. Financial conditions preclude the continued operation of Muhlenberg and also place the future viability of JFK Medical Center at risk.
2. Since 2005, Muhlenberg has had low and declining ADC [average daily census] and occupancy in both maintained and licensed beds.
3. Surrounding hospitals have sufficient inpatient capacity to accommodate the 2007 patient census from Muhlenberg. 

by Greg Hatala

There was a recent article discussing the various committees and boards in North Plainfield. One thing I just can’t understand is how some of them have what should be the ideal situations for communication, but don’t manage it.

Case in point:

In early June, the Recreation baseball season ended. The younger boys play at East End School. The grass on the baseball fields at East End has not been mowed for, literally, a month. It got so high that you could actually lose a baseball in the field, and not see where it was.

Now, one member of the Recreation Commission is Ray Dodd; his wife is on the school board, if I’m not mistaken. Another member of the Recreation Commission is Tom Allen, and he himself is a member of the Board of Education.

Since it’s the school maintenance people who maintain these fields, wouldn’t it have made sense for someone to have suggested the grass get cut so the kids weren’t playing in what was, for them, almost calf-high grass? And since these guys have direct lines of communications, what was stopping them from addressing it?

Or do the third and fourth grade boys just not matter? And whether they’re playing at the fields or not, I imagine someone gets paid to mow the grass there; how is it that it went undone for so long, and no one even addressed it?

Report from Danielle Rassa for Friends of the Library -

We had a successful clean-up and planting at the library this past Saturday, despite the heat. Several “Friends” showed up to help with the heavy weeding and planting and also donated flowers and plants from their own gardens. Ballas Florist was also very generous with their donation of a flat of annuals.

We’re looking forward to our next event - the June 21 Street Fair - where we will hold a membership drive. We will be hosting a booth next to the NP Library and will be selling bottles of water and baked goods as well as signing up new members.

As always, the Friends will be giving away free books at this event.

I have two requests for assistance from the group.

VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED TO:

1. Water the newly planted garden at the library every few days. The Friends have donated a hose to the library and it is there for our use.
2. Staff the FONPL table at the Street Fair on June 21st. At least 1 additional person is needed to help with set-up between 10-11am, and from 12pm - 4pm (for 1/2 or 1 hour slots).

Someone to help with clean-up at the end of the day is essential. Please contact me if you are available and what time you can be there. E-mail address is friendsnorthplainfieldlibrary at yahoo.com

Thank you for your continued support!

-Danielle Rassa on behalf of the Friends of the North Plainfield Library

An account of comments made about Villa Maria development during the June 9 Council meeting.

Developer Robert McNerney’s application will be on the Planning Board’s June 25 agenda, 7 p.m. at Vermeule.

During public comment, Fred Jones brought up developer Robert McNerney’s plan to apply for permits to build 55 single-family homes at the site, pointing out that the three main scenarios for the parcel in recent years have been 225 age-restricted condominiums, 55 single-family homes, and a park in the wooded portion of the parcel nearest to Stony Brook combined with a handful of large, half-acre or one-acre single family lots along Interhaven and Grove.

Mr. Jones noted that the market value of the property is now a matter of public record, since McNerney bought the property in late March for $3.93 million (far below the estimated value of tens of millions thrown around previously).

He said there’s an opportunity for the Borough to intervene by coming up with a proposal to preserve the wooded area as a public park for Borough residents (pointing out that there are many Borough residents who live in apartment complexes north of Route 22, where there are no parks) and either permit McNerney to build large-lot homes, or take the property through eminent domain and then sell large lots to individual builders.

Mr. Jones offered to work with Council members to help them network with county and state funding sources. He advocated adoption of a small municipal open space tax (to make the Borough eligible for open space funding). And he advocated the Shade Tree Commission ordinance as a means to protect the woodlands from destruction, emphasizing that the Council members’ purported concern about loss of Mayor and Council authority to Shade Tree Commission members is misplaced, since all commission decisions would be appeal-able to the Mayor.

“If you’re worried about loss of control, just read the ordinance,” Mr. Jones said. “I’m sure you [Council members] don’t want 55 houses…We have time, but it’s not on our side. I’d like to recommend that we move on this.”

Bill Campbell of Green Brook agreed with Mr. Jones, noting that former Green Brook Mayor Pat Walsh, who attended Planning Board hearings last summer to object to the ARC development plan, is now a Somerset County Freeholder with new contacts and resources she could leverage on North Plainfield’s behalf.

Mentioning the Supreme Court’s recent rulings in favor of eminent domain for public purposes, Mr. Campbell emphasized “You can do it. You have the right to do it.”

Mr. Campbell also pointed out that, if single-family homes on average house one child each, McNerney’s proposed development would add 55 children to the public school system. Estimating $10,000 per child, [it's actually $13,841for 2008-2009] he said that would add up to at least $550,000 per year [actually at least $761,255] in added school budget costs for Borough taxpayers.

Mr. Campbell contrasted that with the likely smaller annual principal and interest payments taxpayers would incur on a $4 million loan to purchase and preserve the wooded portion of the parcel and permit a handful of large-lot homes along Interhaven and Grove. [Such a loan would also eventually be paid off, unlike school costs, which are an ongoing public obligation.]

“So it does seem that the cost of money is lower than the cost of schooling those children,” Mr. Campbell said.

Barbara Habeeb (prior to her appointment to the Council, which was among the last items on the agenda) agreed with Mr. Jones and Mr. Campbell, adding that she’s done “a gazillion research” on possible ways to save Villa Maria and concluding: “I think that this is something that we can do together, as at team.”

[Ms. Habeeb later observed that the Borough currently does not need to provide additional affordable housing as per the Council on Affordable Housing's Third Round Rules, although we are obliged to rehabilitate existing low-income housing. Ms. Habeeb is currently seeking a copy of the settlement that ended the Villa Maria nuns' 2003 COAH lawsuit.]

At the June 9 Council meeting, Margaret Mary Jones (a past and perhaps current member of the Somerset County Planning Board) noted that new COAH requirements will kick in IF the Borough permits new home construction, pointing out that COAH rules require one new affordable housing unit for every five market-rate homes built. In other words, if the developer builds 55 new homes, the Borough must see that 11 new affordable homes get built somewhere in the Borough, at Villa Maria or, if the developer refuses, elsewhere in the Borough.

“The burden will be upon the town to build those houses,” Mrs. Jones said.

Council members did not comment on the issue.

Following is a summary of topics addressed at the June 9 Council meetings. 20 - 25 Borough residents attended the meeting.

RED CROSS RENTAL OF VERMEULE

Frank D’Amore asked about the status of this issue, and Mayor Janice Allen said the Red Cross withdrew their application and she’s heard nothing further about it.

GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION

Dr. Harry Allen testified about ongoing remediation efforts, as covered in this previous post.

MORE BUS STOPS IN THE BOROUGH

Council President Skip Stabile reported that the NJ Department of Transportation has reached out to Borough officials to begin discussions about establishing more bus stops throughout the Borough. Most Council members seemed inclined to cooperate with the DOT, noting that as gas prices rise, more people will become more interested in public transit, and improved services would benefit Borough residents. Councilman Hitchcock noted he doesn’t want bus shelters that have advertising on them.

On a related issue, Borough Administrator David Hollod announced that the Architectural Design Review Board met last week to discuss, among other things, the style of bus shelter they’d like to install at Mountain Avenue at Graybar Drive (near Route 22), where there’s currently a rough bench for bus riders and a trash can emptied by a nearby homeowner. The design review board selected the “Trenton style” bus shelter, dark green frame with a peaked roof. If Mr. Hollod mentioned when the shelter would be installed, I didn’t hear it.

SATELLITE DISH REGULATION

Council President Skip Stabile said many residents have complained about the cluttered, unattractive appearance of multiple satellite dishes on residential roofs. Stabile said in the past, technology required one dish per television, but newer systems can hook all the household televisions to one dish, so he’d like to see the Council adopt an ordinance limiting homes to one dish per home, with fines levied for too many satellite dishes. Councilman Bob Hitchcock said he’d like to see the Historic District treated separately in any such ordinance. Stabile also observed that multiple satellite dishes might be a sign of overcrowding/illegal apartments within the house. During public comments, Mark Williams noted that older systems may still require more than one dish per household, and that many satellite companies don’t want the old dishes back when residents move out, which may lead to an accumulation of dishes with rental turnover.

PROPERTY MAINTENANCE STUDY COMMITTEE

Council members generally supported this idea, covered in more detail in this previous post, and later unanimously adopted the resolution as part of the consent agenda.

MASSAGE PARLOR ORDINANCE

Covered previously here, resolution adopted unanimously at the June 9 Council meeting.

PODS ORDINANCE

Covered previously here, resolution adopted unanimously at the June 9 Council meeting.

SICK LEAVE ORDINANCE

I don’t know anything about this issue, but I think the Council adopted the measure unanimously.

CONSENT AGENDA

The Consent Agenda included accepting one of the new bids for construction at the North Plainfield Memorial Library, a project repeatedly delayed due to the Borough officials’ incompetence in infrastructure maintenance, protection of public health, and bidding procedures, covered previously here. The winning bid for the work was $224,558. I don’t know where the money will come from; the project was originally allocated $135,000 in the 2007 Capital Budget. Tracking down all the bid documents for the library repairs over the last four or five years would be a good use of time for interested readers, as would an investigation into how many of the items in the 2007 capital budget were actually purchased, from whom, and for how much, and how many were not purchased and will be carried over (or not) into this year’s capital budget.

MISCELLANEOUS PUBLIC COMMENTS

Frank D’Amore asked for a progress report on an incident last year in which money went missing from the building office, asking if the money has been recovered, if any policies or procedures have been revised, and if anyone has been disciplined. Borough Attorney Eric Bernstein replied that the matter is still an ongoing personnel and law enforcement matter.

Frank also asked about the potholes at Sycamore and Rockview, and was informed by Borough Administrator David Hollod that resurfacing that stretch of road is part of the Borough Engineer’s application for state aid.

Mr. Hollod also said he met with the Somerset County Economic Development Incentive Program committee regarding the Borough’s recent application for $85,000 to further fund facade improvements along Somerset Street. The Borough’s application was ranked second out of seventh, and the County awarded the Borough $70,000, subject to Freeholder approval.

[Corrections and clarifications welcome, especially from Dr. Allen]

Dr. Harry Allen, Chair of the Environmental Commission, gave a presentation to the Council last night regarding trichloroethylene contamination caused by industrial processes at the former Lockheed Martin site (where Watchung Square Mall now stands).

TCE is present in the groundwater under Watchung Square Shopping Mall, North Drive, Crystal Ridge condos, Ray’s Sports Shop, Crab Brook, Regency Village condos, and as far west as the Villa Maria parcel.

Dr. Allen, Mayor Janice Allen and perhaps other Borough officials participated in a May 15 meeting with NJ Department of Environmental Protection officials to discuss progress to date on the 40-year remediation effort which has now been officially underway for 2.5 years, and to review the latest groundwater sampling data from 2007, summarized in a March 2008 report written (I think) by TRC Companies, Inc.

TRC is the contractor hired by Lockheed Martin to perform the environmental cleanup (link here - TRC Companies Inc.,) The company installed several monitoring wells to track the dissipation of the TCE throughout the area groundwater supplies, and installed one ground water recovery system (pumping station) in July 2003, at the intersection of North Drive and Route 22.

Information about trichloroethylene, known as TCE, is here, including TCE’s link to kidney cancer. The 1998 film A Civil Action dramatized the real-life experiences of the residents of Woburn, MA, battling corporate contamination of their groundwater with TCE.

Copies of Dr. Allen’s complete report are probably available upon request to Borough Clerk Gloria Pflueger. If anyone obtains a copy that way, or by calling Dr. Allen direct, please provide a copy to Grassroots Groundswell to make it easier for your fellow NP residents to access the information contained in the report.

Dr. Allen said the contamination - down to a depth of 200 feet - was first discovered in 1993, when an “industrial site recovery” effort began. Contaminated soil was removed and a “vapor recovery” effort conducted to vacuum off the TCE gases at the site.

The Environmental Commission got involved in the late 1990s, Dr. Allen said, to monitor the TRC company’s monitoring of the water quality. The Borough did not want to “go broke going after Lockheed-Martin,” by trying to establish and enforce liability against the “big guns” of a large corporation with deep pockets.

Instead, the Environmental Commission entered into a “friend of the state” arrangement, to partner with the DEP in jointly monitoring Lockheed-Martin’s remedial activities, and has taken an “amicable” stance toward Lockheed Martin, rather than an “adversarial” stance.

Dr. Allen said that in New Jersey, all groundwater is classified as “drinking water supplies” unless the state grants a waiver due to factors such as toxic contamination.

The state is considering granting one of those classification exemptions to the North Plainfield groundwater supplies contaminated by the TCE plume.

The latest data show that there has not been a significant reduction in TCE contamination levels over the last few years, and the size of the plume as of 2007 was larger than the plume size projected by statistical models.

The report presented last night apparently contained plume maps showing the size of the plume in 2003 and the size of the plume in 2007.

Again, anyone who obtains a copy of that report or any of the related reports reviewed at the May 15 DEP meeting or submitted to the DEP by North Plainfield officials, is strongly encouraged to send copies here for others to read.

Dr. Allen said he sent a written review of the situation to the DEP and expected to hear DEP objections to his negative findings, but got no response from the DEP, causing him to assume that the state officials agree with his negative assessments.

[Editor's Note: Interesting lesson there for those of us frustrated by non-responses from Borough officials regarding negative assessments of other Borough conditions.]

Dr. Allen said other upcoming measures may include:

• overlaying new sampling data with the electronic tax maps, to get a more up-to-date plume map;
• having the DEP sample all unsealed wells in the area, since only a small portion of area wells have been sampled;
• having the DEP re-evaluate the remedies being used, to see if there are additional measures that could be taken to clean up the contamination faster;
• having the DEP measure and analyze “vapor intrusion,” or the off-gassing of TCE into North Plainfield homes and businesses above the contaminated groundwater; and
• having the DEP step up measures to force Lockheed Martin to comply with environmental clean-up requirements.

Dr. Allen said the topic comes up for discussion at just about every Environmental Commission meeting.

The next EC meeting will be Wednesday, June 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Vermeule Community Center, so readers interested in more information about this issues are strongly encouraged to attend that meeting.

Gary Lewis, member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, said the Zoning Board back in 2003 originally required monthly public reports to Mayor and Council, when the Zoning Board approved installation of a pumping station building for the groundwater sampling, located at the northeast corner of North Drive and Route 22. The pumping station is to pump ground water up, filter it to remove contaminants, and then pump it back into Crab Brook where Crab Brook flows under Route 22.

[Editor's Note: If those monthly reports have been submitted to the Council, it would be good to request copies for posting and review by interested readers.]

Just in from Josh Lambert:

A second public hearing to gain input on the fate of Muhlenberg Hospital is scheduled for Thursday, June 5 from 6 - 8 pm at Plainfield High School, 950 Park Ave, Plainfield, NJ.

The hearing was scheduled in response to the overwhelming turnout at the first hearing and will give residents an additional opportunity to voice their opinions on the proposed closure of Muhlenberg.

The hospital serves the healthcare needs of Plainfield and the surrounding communities. In 2007, the emergency room treated 35,000 patients, and the loss of this hospital would be a blow to public health in the area. Please plan to attend the public hearing to show your support for the continued presence and service level of Muhlenberg Hospital.

Also plan to attend the rally organized by People’s Organization for Progress outside Plainfield High School that will begin at 4:30 pm and immediately preceed the hearing. Public health in the region needs your support.

[Editor's Note: Barbara Habeeb will be speaking at the meeting in support of Muhlenberg Hospital.]