Grassroots Groundswell

By Katherine Watt

I wanted to write up a kind of goodbye message, gathering together the main points of what I’ve learned into a few pithy sentences before I move into the background as blog editor. It hasn’t been coming together in such a tidy package. So here it is, in an untidy package.

Leadership v. Dictatorship

A leader asks you to question everything and trust yourself to find answers. A dictator asks you to question nothing and just trust the dictator.

• Question everything.
• Trust yourselves.

Three main obsevations I’ve made over the past year or so.

The “System” is broken.

The People are not.

The People can fix the System, but probably only by starting over from scratch with a new set of contracts between the governed and the governing.

By the “System,” I mean the local councils, boards and commissions, the ordinances and the local government staff who implement those ordinances. I mean the county freeholders, boards and commissions, and the county staff who implement the county programs. I mean the state legislature, and the state courts, and the federal Congress and federal courts, all of whom pre-empt the local authority of ordinary citizens to make decisions on behalf of the local communities in which they live.

Those ordinary citizens are who I mean by “the People.”

I disagree with Emory Layne that the root of the North Plainfield problem is the specific people who have been in charge in North Plainfield for more than a decade. They may be incompetent morons, inept at wielding the limited tools they’ve got for local self-governance, and more interested in cementing personal friendships than governing openly and wisely in the interests of the whole community.

But the tools themselves were designed by and for a world no one lives in anymore, if we ever did - the world of infinite natural “resources” and infinite economic “growth” obtainable by resource extraction, development, utilization, exploitation, whatever you want to call it.

The only thing I hold the local politicians responsible for is not fighting back. Not having the sense to see that the tools don’t work, and not having the courage and the ingenuity to speak openly about the problems and start trying to design and build better tools.

How this all got started - Machines and Gardens

I started blogging for the Courier-News in March 2007. I did a post about Villa Maria. Villa Maria came up at the Planning Board in early May 2007, and in late May, I presented a proposal for alternative, community-supported uses of the parcel, to the Borough Council.

To be clear: Villa Maria is not the only local issue. It just happens to be one place where all the local issues converge and crystallize - the lack of local authority; ecology and planning; history; public accountability; population density; property taxes; litigiousness; affordable housing, health care, senior housing; public education, and so on.

I didn’t know, early, how very rigged the process was.

The tip-off was David Branan, Planning Board (and School Board) member, who wrote a blog comment clarifying that the Planning Board’s role in public decision-making, like the School Board’s, was and is a mere rubber-stamping formality, by statute, and that the crucial decisions are made earlier and elsewhere, by others. Land use rules were and are made by the state legislature far off in Trenton, and court decisions regularly upheld and uphold the primacy of private property rights over public community rights.

Many people misunderstand the roles and limitations placed by New Jersey state laws on various municipal governing and advisory bodies. I have found this quite common with my experience on the Board of Education and see it also holds true with respect to the role of a local town planning board. Unfortunately, we don’t have the power to block a particular development purely based on the feelings of a portion of the town populace whether a majority or minority. Our role is that of an adjudicator based on the demonstration of an applicant compared to clearly defined laws. Unlike supreme courts, we do not have even the implied authority to make laws or issue advisory opinions based on our adjudications. I strongly recommend that those who are interested in this issue, obtain a copy of the Municipal Land Use Law Chapter 291, Laws of N.J. 1975 which is the law establishing the existence of Planning Boards in the state of New Jersey as well as the rules govening their role. You can also find valuable information at the New Jersey Planning Officials website http://njpo.org.

I took him at his word. I looked it up. He was right.

And that was wrong.

Which launched a year of tinkering with the machinery of our so-called American “democracy,” pushing lots of buttons and pulling lots of levers, just to see what would happen, to see if the gears still move, if the machine still works, and if ordinary people are able to operate it effectively to identify and achieve common public goals.

I tapped on the microphones to see if they’re turned on, or connected to anything.

They’re not.

I sent letters to so-called decision-makers to see if they’d respond meaningfully to raised concerns and facts.

They didn’t.

The more buttons I pushed and levers I pulled, the more the machine clanked and groaned.

The gears don’t move very well. And ordinary people are not able to operate it effectively.

So I looked around for more information, and found the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, a group of people - revolutionaries - who have designed an entire organizing strategy around their experiences and observations of these same undemocratic phenomena.

And that gets to the gardening metaphor, because with Antoinette, Mark and the rest of NPCCR, we’ve been breaking the ground to loosen the clods to prepare the soil, to plant a few seeds, water them, weed them, tend them, for something different: a living democracy to replace the rusted-out, broken down democratic machinery that’s not working for the People anymore.

Eggshells: Break them

In recent weeks, it’s become clear to me that Barbara Habeeb has less power as a Council member than she did as an ordinary citizen, which is an extremely important piece of information that we could not have learned without her appointment.

Barbara is only one step up from the voter level, and already it’s arguable that she was put on the Council to “shut her up.” It may have been a shrewd decision, because before her appointment, she was a bold, vocal and articulate advocate for things like open space, historic preservation and community rights.

Now, she’s walking on “eggshells,” afraid to speak up for fear of drawing a lawsuit against the Borough or jeopardizing her election chances in November. She’s feeling around to find the sides of the box to see how far she can go, and I wish her well and will support her with research and writing and whatever else she needs. But it’s a box nonetheless, and Barbara, like every other living creature, was not made to live in a cage. Nonetheless, just after Barbara’s appointment, Cheryl Reardon, representative of Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions and founder of Concerned Pilesgrove Residents, warned:

Barbara now has to be careful as a Council member to not ever state that she is AGAINST this proposed development in any way. That could open her and your Town up to a lawsuit from the developer.

It’s fine for Barbara to state her concern for certain issues based on possibility of environmental/water/community impacts, but NEVER should she use the word AGAINST or OPPOSED.

It’s ok for a resident to say that, but when an elected official says it, the developers are quick to file lawsuits. Our Town currently has a lawsuit against it because our Mayor made a statement something to the affect of he would prefer not to ever see another house built here. Also, a Judge ruled against our Town in another lawsuit and part of her ruling was that our Township was prejudiced against developers and therefore made it difficult for their applications to move forward in a reasonable manner.

That’s a preemptive gag order, imposed on free American citizens, by land developers, via the state judiciary. That’s a marker that the informed consent of the governed is a thing of the past, and the abdication of human freedom is a prerequisite for holding public office.

That’s the model of local self-governance we’re operating under: that elected officials have no judicially-recognized right to free speech, no recognized right to clearly and unequivocally state, on the record, what they believe is and is not in the best interests of the townspeople, on controversial issues of broad public concern and long-term local importance, and certainly no recognized right to implement those visions of community wellbeing that they’re not allowed to openly state to begin with.

And it’s not an accident.

Real flesh and blood lawyers, lawmakers and judges established that model, piece by People-paralyzing piece.

This is part of the System. Coopting the boldest and most vocal public advocates and neutering their power. Judicially quashing “prejudice” against builders, but not quashing prejudice against local communities interested in maintaining or improving their quality of life.

And each person can accept it, and go down mute, or go down swinging, saying: “To hell with that. God gave me a voice and I’m gonna use it.”

The state can’t give you free speech, and the state can’t take it away. You’re born with it, like your eyes, like your ears. Freedom is something you assume, then you wait for someone to take it away. The degree to which you resist is the degree to which you are free. - Utah Phillips

Turning Points, Choices and Risks

We can have a revolution, or we can stand by and watch a further consolidation of corporate-state dictatorship. Like an assault victim, we can fight back, or we can lie there and take it silently and wait until it’s over.

But it’s never over.

And not fighting back has enormous consequences, both for the lifelong dignity of crime victims, who often hold themselves responsible for the abuse they’ve endured and lose the ability to call a spade a spade, and for the perpetrators of the violence, who get a free pass to escape accountability both public and private, and go on to terrorize the next victims, the next communities.

The biggest mistake anyone can make - whether governed or governing - is to think that the costs of silence are less than the costs of speaking up, that the costs of acquiescence are lower than the costs of struggle. Submissive silence has its own consequences, and submissive silence doesn’t protect you from your share of responsibility for those consequences.

Delay is not a win

Delays may keep the trees up at Villa Maria for awhile, and they may gain North Plainfielders some time to put together a workable purchase and preservation plan. But they may also end up as simply a grinding down tactic used by the builders to wear down local resistance.

The builders are few and focused.

We are many and often disorganized.

The builders have ample funding and the prospect of huge profits if they get to build.

We have little money, high taxes and the prospects of less money and higher taxes, whether they build or not, particularly under threat of lawsuits.

They can afford to wait us out.

We can’t afford to let them.

Sportsmanship

I had an opportunity recently to hear Mabel Hansen, matriarch of the local Dems and mentor to Mayor Janice Allen, and her family, talk about “sportsmanship” to the third and fourth-graders at West End Elementary School.

It struck me, at long last, that this is probably the notion that fills up all the spaces in the minds of the status-quo defenders among Allen’s administration. They don’t think it’s “sportsmanlike” to criticize. They don’t think it’s fair play to demand accountability for fumbles and poor judgment.

Here’s another way to look at that, within the Villa Maria controversy:

It’s not good sportsmanship to gag and bind and break the kneecaps of the opposing team before the game, as the builders have done to communities through the preemptive land use statutes.

It’s not good sportsmanship to walk off the field before the game, as the Borough Council and Planning Board have done.

Most importantly, self-government is not a game.

It can be fun, but it’s a very serious, very difficult, time-consuming, labor intense process, and the stakes are higher than backslapping and high-fiving at the end of the game, or even trophies at the end of the season.

The stakes are the lives and wellbeing of the people who live in North Plainfield - a gathering of souls that does not include Robert McNerney.

What is a win?

It’s a little mixed up. We’re kind of in a win-win situation, and we’re kind of in a lose-lose, damned if we do, damned if we don’t situation.

If the Borough fights hard against Villa Maria destruction, the builder will probably file lawsuits that will be costly for the Borough, and the builder will probably win those lawsuits, because builders almost always do. If the Borough doesn’t fight the new development, then all the bad, expensive stuff related to the development: flooding, traffic, school overcrowding, etc. will fall to the citizens anyway.

Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t.

Rock and the hard place.

Lose-lose.

But…

If a significant proportion of the Borough’s residents get extremely active and involved and start pushing buttons and pulling levers all over town, all over the county, all over the state, there’s a chance, a tiny chance, that a few of those gears will actually engage and it will turn out that traditional democratic mechanisms are functional when well-maintained and regularly used. You might get what you want - local control, smart local decision-making - by using the regular channels.

And…

If a significant proportion of the Borough resident’s do all those things, and are thwarted at every turn (as we have been so far), then it will become increasingly, blindingly clear to many more people that the system is broke, it’s time, and they’re ready to create something new, something that fits the current realities and meets current and future needs.

My working hypothesis is that that last scenario is the most likely.

But being wrong would be as good as being right.

Win-win.

Anarchy

Many people have apparently been convinced over the last year or so that I’m an anarchist, interested in nothing other than tearing down the existing structures so there’s nothing.

Not true, in a couple of ways.

The enemy dictates the choice of weapons, and if the enemy here is a corporate-state structure that completely disempowers people and communities trying to step up and govern themselves using the tools and trappings of “democracy” to petition the government for the redress of wrongs and secure the public health, safety and welfare, then the corporate-state is driving the people toward anarchy, not the other way around.

More importantly, there’s never nothing.

There’s always change.

The question is, who’s leading the change, and in which direction? The dominant form of change is now being led by corporations, in the direction of greater consolidation of corporate power, by continuing a centuries-long process of withholding and/or stripping that power from ordinary people.

One of the most pithy summaries of rights that I’ve ever heard is: “My right to swing my arm ends at your nose.”

But it implies a few other questions.

Whose noses matter to the courts and the police?

Whose noses don’t?

The builders’ noses matter.

North Plainfielders’ noses don’t.

But with enough effort and enough organization, here and in other communities, people may be able to reclaim our inherent rights, lead the change, and lead it toward true local self-governance.

Resistance and Organization

Out in TV Nation under darkening skies/the resistance is just waiting to be organized. - Ani DiFranco

My provisional conclusion?

Ani DiFranco is right. Out in TV Nation under darkening skies, the resistance is just waiting to be organized, and more importantly, it’s organizing itself. North Plainfield is proof positive.

But it doesn’t go in a straight easy line.

Kris Kristofferson wrote it and Janis Joplin sang it:

“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”

John Mayer’s carrying it forward:

Even if your hands are shaking,
And your faith is broken.
Even as the eyes are closin’,
Do it with a heart wide open.

Say what you need to say…

A second Meet the Candidatesʼ Night will be held at the August NPCCR meeting on August 7th at 7 p.m. at Vermeule Community Center. All candidates must be present to be recognized. No written statements will be accepted.

By Emory Layne

Folks, in our eagerness to join the grassroots groundswell that has gone beyond being planted in North Plainfield, and is now blossoming, let’s remember to stay focused on the root causes of the situation that sowed the seeds of discontent in the first place.

Each and every situation that we now debate, every problem for which we seek a solution, can be traced back to a common cause:

Individuals or small groups of people who, through a combination of deceit, secrecy and double-talk, took it upon themselves to run North Plainfield in a way that did not and does not reflect the desires and needs of the vast majority of its residents.

We must remain focused on removing those individuals from positions of authority, and making sure that anyone who replaces them is truly different and truly what we need.

A case in point would be the Villa Maria situation. Most recently, I read that there is a suggestion to use the property for a stand-alone middle school for the Borough; subsequently, there is discussion of the pros and cons of such a thought.

Using this as an example of ‘staying on point,’ here’s my take: North Plainfield doesn’t need a stand-alone middle school.

First, the comment about high school and middle school children interacting too much is the only time I’ve ever heard that from any person with children at these grade levels. We can’t start branching off onto different tracks because of one person’s stated belief any more than, say, the town should immediately begin seeking a new team mascot for the high school because Emory Layne thinks a woodcutter is silly.

Second, residents’ taxes are already high in part because of past expansions and renovations to schools; taking on more expense for a reason other than dangerous overcrowding is just plain dumb.

And third and most important, remember why we’re debating this Villa Maria issue at all in the first place. That’s “the point” we must remain on.

The issue was not one of different people having different opinions.

The problem is that the residents were kept in the dark.

Has everyone forgotten the Council meetings held with the bare minimum notice posted on public holidays?

Or the attempt to force through a zoning ordinance change without there being anyone from the general public in attendance?

How about public statements that reflected either ignorance (the need to meet COAH standards which had already been met, for example) or gratuitous lying?

And let’s not forget being kept totally in the dark about things like back taxes (about which we only receive information when officials are pressed by NPCCR members), slanderous comments by public employees, and even threats from lawyers toward concerned residents.

ALL of this came to our attention because of the Villa Maria property.

There is ABSOLUTELY NO NEED for any action to be taken on the Villa Maria property between now and November, except perhaps to collect back taxes that are owed on the property.

No need whatsoever. Our current administration has shown repeatedly that it feels the best way to address any issue is to form a committee to ‘look into’ the situation . . . do the same here. Form another bogus committee to meet occasionally and flap gums about the topic.

There will be no tragedy if the property sits for a few more months as it has for the past few years.

We need to focus our attention and efforts to continue exposing the kind of political and administrative shenanigans that permeate this situation and numerous others.

It’s painfully simple. Whether the Villa Maria, or borough hall renovations, or enforcement of zoning ordinances, or management of legal contracts, or traffic enforcement, or school board decisions or any of a ton of other smelly issues in North Plainfield, the KEY is rooting out the people behind the questionable or completely screwed up actions and holding them accountable.

And the best way to hold them accountable is to extricate them from their positions as both the policy makers and paperwork protectors.

As we draw closer to the November elections, I and others I know will be posting some personal situations and interactions experienced over the years with the current administration; these are things that rarely if ever have seen the light of day.

Dirty politics? Hardly. If sharing documented, verifiable situations is “dirty politics,” then hidden agendas, refusal to release information and taking actions totally at odds with the taxpaying population are politics so filthy that even Billy Mays would back off.

I invite those of you who have had similar experiences, but might find it difficult to present them in article format, to communicate with me at emorylayne@comcast.net. I’ll be glad to assist in editing, and present them in whatever manner you are comfortable with.

Why?

Because this is the whole point. No matter how many different opinions and different points of view may arise in any given situation, something resembling a solution can’t be achieved without addressing the common basis for them all - the clique of politicians and employees who have held unaccountable power for far too long in North Plainfield.

Step One will be defeating the loyal followers of this group in November.

Step Two will be holding those who win to the standards North Plainfield residents deserve.

And Step Three will be NPCCR’s continued efforts to determine what was done or not done when, by whom, and whether or not those people can be further held accountable, apart from losing their political positions.

Stay on point. Expose the mismanagement. Expose the arrogance. We’ve lived with this mess for a decade or more; waiting a few more months isn’t impossible.

By Barbara Habeeb

At the Street Fair, I had the opportunity to speak with Department of Public Works (DPW) employee Angelo Costello, who was recently discussed on the NPCCR Blog. Someone from NPCCR had a concern that DPW workers were using town vehicles for personal use, because someone had seen a DPW vehicle in Angelo’s driveway.

Angelo pointed out to me that he is a supervisor on call 24/7. Because he is a supervisor, he is allowed to take the vehicle home in case he needs to respond to an emergency after hours. Only a supervisor has this privilege. He stated that the vehicle stays in his driveway every night and over the weekend and he does not use that vehicle for personal use. He does however drive from his home, to work and back.

He made mention of the fact that when he does drive the vehicle after hours, it is for town business only. For example, last Tuesday evening there was a tree that came down, and he had to drive the vehicle at night to respond to the call. He stated to me that his truck has lettering on both doors that anyone, at anytime could see. It would be easy for someone to assume when they see his vehicle being driven after hours, that it is for personal use.

Angelo wanted to clear the air and let people understand the reason the truck is in his driveway and why it would be driven after hours. I asked him if I could post his statement on the Blog, and he agreed. He hopes this will clear up any misunderstandings people have about this issue.

By Leslie A. Coder, North Plainfield resident; registered, unaffiliated voter; Co-chair Project Graduation and PTO for the 2008-2009 school year.

After being up all night chaperoning for Senior Smash (the all night party that is sponsored by Project Graduation for the graduating NPHS seniors), I was at the Street Fair handing out information pamphlets on what Project Graduation is in front of the High School PTO table. The goal was to increase awareness of the High School’s PTO and Project Graduation efforts and answer any questions.

Well, Mike Giordano comes walking down and I approached him trying to give him a pamphlet, well he nastily shoos me away and almost runs me over to go over to my friend who is thinner and prettier to shake her hand and then walks away.

I should not feel to bad, later in the afternoon, I observed him shooing away two little boys that had Alex’s lemonade stand (a charity) shirts when they approached him too.

I guess that Mike Giordano must think that he does not need to be pleasant to win a election. My take on it is, if he is that dismissive during a time when you should be campaigning then he will be dismissive in office.

Lastly I want to thank Frank D’amore Sr, Gary Lewis and Robert Gatto for their help in chaperoning senior smash until 2am, which I understand they have been doing for quite a few years.

By Morgan Shevett

What ensues is my report on tonight’s council meeting.

Before the meeting began there was already tension in the air as a large contingency of firemen and PBA officers entered the room en masse and took up positions along the perimeter.

Council members eyed them warily. All of the excitement soon fizzled though as we found out that the issue that they were there to protest wasn’t going to be brought up for consideration at this evening’s meeting.

I was amazed at the number of microphones. There were 12 microphones. Does a town this size really need this many microphones for a council meeting? I have worked Broadway musicals that didn’t have this many microphones. To top it all off, the room wasn’t that big. I was afraid to let slip a mystery fart for fear that it would be heard by everyone and I was unmiked. We could probably lower property taxes in this town by eliminating the audio cable budget.

Having no previous knowledge of the town council and it’s members I was immediately struck by one of the name placards: Frank “Skip” Stabile, our council president. I would think that once one reaches the responsible position of Town Council President that they would politely tell their friends to drop the whole “Skip” thing. I felt like I should be concerned that he was going to use town funds to throw a kegger for his friends while his folks were out of town.

Anyway, Frank D’amore Sr. got up to express his opinion that the proposed occupancy ordinance was useless and that time would be better spent enforcing the laws we have rather than creating more. Frank is a smart guy and an awesome neighbor so I am going to side with him on this one. I have always thought that governments like to make laws to create the illusion of action rather than take any real action.

Next there was discussion of how the town needed to send out estimated tax bills instead of actual tax bills because the state government hasn’t passed a budget yet. Nothing of real issue except Councilman Hitchcock wanted there to be a letter added to the estimated tax bill explaining that it was only an estimate. I guess he felt the word “estimated” on the bill wasn’t going to be clear enough.

The discussion then turned to the rental occupancy ordinance. A Mr. Rodino [DPW Director and Zoning Officer] spoke about how he had created the ordinance by using a combo of other town’s similar ordinances. I am not sure I want my town’s laws to be based on the appetizer platter at Chili’s.

He spoke numerous times of how fees for C of O [certificate of occupancy] inspections and permits would offset the cost of inspections and the hiring of extra inspectors. He offered no numbers or written information to back any of this up. We should just trust him on this and, “see how this plays out.”

It is based upon his presentation that I plan to introduce an ordinance that everyone in town give me 5 dollars. I will use the money to better the town at an equal amount to what I receive.

Trust me.

Councilwoman Forbes didn’t like the idea of inspections only when occupancy changes and wanted them annually.

She expressed that people couldn’t be trusted to call in violations and that the town needed to protect them from themselves by having annual inspections. She is definitely pro-government and anti-personal responsibility. That could also be the way I heard it through my libertarian filter so please excuse me Mrs. Forbes if that wasn’t your intent.

It is now over 30 minutes into the meeting and I regret my earlier microphone comments, especially in regards to Councilman Righetti. He needs more microphones. While I did hear a low, sub-sonic rumbling I could not testify that he used actual words when questioning Mr. Rodino.

I won’t describe the seemingly endless explanation of how sisters can share rooms, brothers can share rooms, brothers and sisters can’t share rooms, fathers and daughters cant share rooms, etc.etc.etc., but a demonstration with dolls and shoeboxes representing bedrooms would not have seemed out of place.

This all ended with Councilwoman Forbes again expressing her disdain for “human nature” and wanting forced yearly inspections.

Next it was the taxicab ordinance.

Vice-President Giordano, looking nice with healthy tan and nifty patterned tie, mentioned a desire to have the drivers of taxicabs and not just the owners to go through an extensive background check. I always assumed that the government did that when they issued drivers licenses. Why do we need to pay for that just so they can drive a taxi?

Now arriving, The Satellite Ordinance.

Seems the town wants people to have to get a permit to have a satellite tv. This was obviously proposed by the historic preservation committee. Councilman Hitchcock became noticeably more attentive as this conversation started.

Don’t get me started on the historic preservation committee. I am all for owners maintaining an historic district to a community standard but some of these historic homes have siding, asphalt driveways, Pella windows, etc. There doesn’t seem to be any historic standard other than committee members’ personal opinions.

I own one these historic homes and I didn’t vote for any of them. I don’t have any say on who gets to decide how I live in my home. Mr. Hitchcock, who could not have been more obviously gung-ho about this ordinance, did not even know that satellite dishes have to face south. He just knows he don’t like looking at ‘em!

Again, it was time for public comments. Frank D’amore Sr. got up to mention that state law and FCC law might supersede any ordinance that they might want to pass and that it should be looked into it.

He is a smart guy! Why isn’t he on the town council? A young lady then got up express displeasure with the rental occupancy ordinance. She said it put unfair restrictions on property owners and created conditions akin to a police state. She was very passionate about the subject. Next, a woman named Carmella got up to complain that council members do not return her phone calls. I was glad that the room was full of fire-fighters in case we needed the jaws-of-life to save her from her excruciatingly restrictive blue jeans. Ouch!

President “Skip” then thanked people for the successful street fair. He confused me when he thanked people who manned booths as I thought he said man-boobs. Luckily he said it again and I figured it out.

It was after this that he said the meeting was over and that the regular meeting would begin after a five minute break. Feeling a sudden loss of my will to live, I sped a hasty retreat to my home and a glass of Shiraz.

by Councilwoman Barbara Habeeb

This week, I called and spoke to a woman named Courtney Wald-Wittkop; she is in charge of the  Somerset County land acquisition programs for the  NJ Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres projects and funding.

I asked her about the money that’s available. Basically, she told me I need to first find out if that land will be available to North Plainfield to purchase.

She suggested talking with Borough Administrator David Hollod, Borough Engineer Daniel Swayze and Borough Attorney Eric Bernstein to find out if they can approach the landowner, Robert McNerney, to see if he would be willing to sell us the land.

We DO have a right to take the property through eminent domain (with the support of the townspeople) and Green Acres WILL fund eminent domain property. It’s a long legal process though.

If the land is accessible, we’d need to find out if the town is willing to put up a temporary bond, until we get the money back from Green Acres. The process takes up to a year to get the funds approved.

If we work to get an open space tax on the ballot in November and work on an Open Space Recreation Plan, they will consider us for the 50% matching grant. As long as they see we are working on it, they will do this.

She said we would have a good chance to receive funding because of our dense population.

Ms. Wald-Wittkop is willing to come and talk with us about what we need to do IF we know we can get that property.

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?

[There's a little background about last year's contracting process posted here.]

Press release from Donald Sternberg, Business Administrator for North Plainfield School District:

Contract Hearing Notice

“Pursuant to NJSA 18A:11-11, the North Plainfield Board of Education will begin discussions regarding the Superintendent of Schools [Marilyn Birnbaum], Assistant Superintendent of Schools [Robert Rich] and Business Administrator [Donald Sternberg] contracts.

A public hearing will be held at the Board of Education meeting on June 18, 2008 [at 33 Mountain Ave. at 7:30 p.m.].

Following the public hearing Board action may be taken.

A copy of the proposed contracts will be placed on file in the Board’s business office [33 Mountain Ave.] and will be available for review prior to or at the public hearing.

The Board, pursuant to NJSA 10:4-12(b), the Open Public Meetings Act, shall not publicly discuss personnel matters and shall not respond to comments made by members of the public.

The subject of this hearing retains the right of privacy and shall retain all rights regarding defamation and slander according to the laws of Ne Jersey. The Board shall not be held liable for comments made by members of the public.

Chilling, eh?

It’s almost like they’re expecting a crowd of taxpayers to come out and vigorously challenge the job performance of the school administrators (particularly Dr. Birnbaum) and angrily question why Birnbaum’s salary is approaching $200,000 (as covered in Sunday morning’s Courier-News in a followup to the Keansburg golden parachute fiasco) when Governor Corzine’s salary is capped at $175,000 (although he actually only collects $1 per year ’cause he’s so rich from his former life in the private sector.)

The School Board seems to be expecting that public outcry, and intent on ensuring that no member of the public expressing public views at the meeting will have any hope that what is said by members of the public will impact the School Board’s ultimate contract decisions in any meaningful way.

I’ve also heard a rumor that Dr. Birnbaum may be at the end of one five-year contract and planning to retire or move to another district before a new contract is negotiated. Some readers have noted that many school administrators are part of a “revolving door” culture and move from one district to the next every few years, upping their salaries by a few thousand dollars with each move.

Whatever the situation, and whatever the Board’s willingness to listen and respond, show up anyway.

Ask your questions, even if they don’t get answered.

Share your thoughts, feelings and ideas about the schools and the administrative salaries, even if they aren’t considered important enough for a verbal response from Board members.

Show up, not for the School Board members’ benefit, but to be there for each other, to hear each other, to meet each other, and that way, to build a stronger community consensus that - eventually - they won’t be able to ignore anymore.

On a related issue, if the charter amendment to change from partisan to nonpartisan elections wins a majority in November, North Plainfield voters will have another (May) election date to remember and pay for in addition to the February presidential primaries (every four years), the April school elections, the June non-presidential primaries, and the November general elections.

There’s a bill in the legislature (A-15) to move the school elections to November.

As this June 2 article from the Philadelphia Inquirer states, the intent is partly to reduce municipal election costs, and partly to increase voter turnout on school issues, which tend to be decided now by a fairly small proportion of the eletorate that bothers to vote in school elections at all, which may also be because participation is somewhat meaningless, as voter budget decisions can be overturned by municipal councils and the state education commissioner.

Another legislative bill (A-10) is aimed at cutting administrative spending by 10% over the next three years, covered in this May 12 article from NJ Politicker.

Two bipartisan measures Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Jr. is championing to enhance local voters’ ability to hold elected school board members accountable for their fiscal and policy decisions and to slash inefficient non-classroom administrative spending in public schools were released today by the Assembly Education Committee.

The bills would move school board member elections to the November ballot (A-15) and require 10 percent cuts in administrative non-classroom spending in certain districts over the next three years (A-10).

Of interest for North Plainfield - If these bills clear the Legislature and are signed by Governor Corzine, then school election questions would appear on the November ballots in a special section called “non-partisan” since School Board members are already elected on a nonpartisan basis.

If North Plainfield voters adopt the nonpartisan charter change, under the current terms of office (barring Council or Mayoral resignations in 2009), my understanding is that 2010 would be the first year for implementation of that new schedule.

So, losing the April school elections and gaining May municipal officer elections would mean the Borough taxpayers would about break even as far as election costs.

And, if the legislature deems voters smart enough to understand a nonpartisan school portion of the November general election ballot, then eventually the nonpartisan municipal elections might also be moved onto the November ballot, streamlining and cutting the costs further.

Personally, I think increasing voter engagement in democratic self-governance year-round is worth much larger investments of public money, time and energy than that effort currently gets (for example, I support public funding for campaigns, as a way to involve candidates who can’t finance their campaigns out-of-pocket or can’t bring themselves to grovel for campaign donations only to have to pay back those donations with legislative favors later.)

But I do see the value of bundling important electoral events in packages, to increase the number of people participating.

By Emory Layne

This discussion is predicated on a concept from the NPCCR-sponsored “Meet the Candidates” night.

At that meeting, GOP candidate Frank D’Amore noted that he had ideas about reducing expenditures to free up approximately $500,000 a year in the Borough , but said he didn’t want to “give away” the “secrets” of his plan at the time, lest the incumbent democrats (his opponents) steal them.

Unfortunately, this is what North Plainfield has become.

And I’m calling on the challengers to the incumbents to walk the walk and change it.

You can look at Mr. D’Amore’s sentiment from two sides. He may feel very strongly about his ideas, and, as a candidate, seriously fear that his opponents (who are in power and would have the means to implement good ideas) would use them and ‘steal his thunder.’

Or, he might be playing the same kind of game that politicians inevitably play, hinting at wonders that never come to fruition.

I lean strongly toward the former. Mr. D’Amore has made enough personal effort without compensation (money or votes) over the years, to support the conclusion that he simply doesn’t want to be ripped off.

But in my opinion, Mr. D’Amore, it’s a baseless fear.

A year ago, you might have had more to worry about. Now, there’s this blog. Now, there are monthly town meetings. If you clearly delineate your ideas, they’ll be a clear part of the public record, with clear dates and a clear source.

IF seated officials were to implement those ideas, wouldn’t that be a benefit for the taxpayer? And then, no matter how many claims to the contrary they might make, it would be abundantly clear where those ideas came from. “I was going to do that anyway!” might still fly in kindergarten arguments, but it wouldn’t carry any weight here.

It would be a win-win situation for both you and the residents of the town.

If the incumbents did “steal” your ideas, there would be immediate savings for the taxpayer … and the source of the ideas would be right here in black-and-white.

Truth be told, I think the challengers are missing a golden opportunity here.

For elections going back more than a decade, North Plainfield voters have been provided with little more than table scraps. Puffy election pieces come out shortly before voting, blowing smoke about “pride” and generalities, but providing no real substance. Candidates state their positions in the newspapers, and the profiles read like the same person wrote them all. On occasion, a last-minute election piece is rushed out, making claims that are at best too all-encompassing, and at worst, false.

Too often, come Election Day, voters choose the party of the people they’re voting for in state and national elections anyway.

In a sense, voters can’t be blamed too mercilessly; rarely do they have anything substantive to go on at the local level.

Of course, this has become the general nature of politics. To this day, media classes in college are still shown the ‘classic’ Daisies ad that the Lyndon Johnson campaign ran against Barry Goldwater in 1964 as an example of mass persuasion. And since that time, mainstream candidates have been scared of taking too firm a position on any issue, for fear that it could backfire on them.

I think what they all forget is that when the voting is done, 50% of them go home losers.

Being a campaign manager has to be a better job than being a weather forecaster. As the ‘brains’ behind a political campaign, if you win, you’re assured of lifelong employment (”He’s the guy who got so-and-so elected!). If you lose, you just make a lot of excuses and end up a talking head on any of the scores of political talk shows … with pay.

I’ll do it here for nothing.

Challengers - DIRECTLY address the issues. Between the information you’ve dug up on your own and the information unearthed by Katherine “the Excavator” Watt, you have a wealth of source material previously unavailable in these dust-ups.

What do you possibly have to lose? If there’s something going on in town that smells like feet, say exactly what you plan to do about it.

It is now June of 2008. In exactly five months, voters will make their decisions. I will say with a lifetime of experience as backing that those who’ve been in power for years and years in North Plainfield are NOT capable of ‘raising the Titanic’ in that brief period of time. They do NOT have a stranglehold on information in town; too much has come out on various websites to believe that people would actually think YOUR ideas were theirs.

But let’s hear it.

There are perks up and down the system at Borough Hall. Instead of saying generally that you can “save money,” for example, list out who’s getting what, by name, item and cost; show that it’s waste; and state you will put an end to it. How many votes do you specifically lose by doing that? Two - the person getting the perks and his or her spouse. Heck, in some cases the answer would be none, because some of these beneficiaries don’t even live in (and, thus can’t vote in) North Plainfield.

If you address an issue, sure as shooting someone will come along bleating inanities against you.

That’s politics.

As this blog showed in the debate about illegal housing, the complainers are usually (a) lacking in facts and (b) alone.

Talk about flawed legal services.

Talk about do-nothing committees.

Talk about employees without oversight.

Then, state specifically what you’re going to do when elected.

Because if you do that, I honestly believe the word will be “when,” not “if.”