Grassroots Groundswell

Piece of Paper (Candidate for North Plainfield Mayor and Council!)

Thank you, mystery slide-show-creator.

By M. Emory Layne

What to write about today … what to write about today ….

I’d love to write about what the current crop of Borough politicians have said in the media over the years, and contrast it against what’s gone on in town. But no matter how hard one searches, there’s just so little actual content. No one goes on record on much of anything. I’ve pretty much tapped that area dry; years worth of elected officials’ statements in an open forum can be found and read in the time it takes to finish a fresh Green Brook Dunkin Donut and coffee.

Oh, sorry about that; that topic was declared off-limits.

I’d love to go over some figures from a variety of departments at Borough Hall. But I don’t have the time to stand and wait while someone finds the appropriate ring binder or file, and then write out lengthy longhand notes, still standing. I’d just ask for copies, but it starts to run into some serious money. Not only do I have to pay taxes to fund the salaries of Borough Hall employees, and fund the equipment located there, I then have to pay to get copies of the documents that delineate how my taxes were spent.

And I have to feed the meter to park there.

If there’s a space.

I could ask some questions of policy and decision-makers in town, but this peculiar thing happens every time I do that - instead of answers, I get questions thrown back at me. Or I get a whole lot of absolute silence. (The first time I heard Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First?” routine, I thought it was hilarious; by the hundredth time, I wanted to strangle Lou, even if he was dead already.)

If, just once, I asked a question and someone showed me I had a sliver of importance to them by answering it plainly and clearly, I believe I would vote for that person.

Imagine … just really think about this for a minute … if WE could live our lives the way the people who we pay and the people we elect deal with us.

Cop pulls you over, and asks to see your license registration and insurance; you get to charge him a fee to get them. Or maybe you don’t have a license, and you just choose not to answer him when he asks for it. Yeah, that’s ridiculous, right? Nope, that’s Borough Council meetings. You can’t ask questions - you can just make ‘statements.’

I’ve got an idea - I’m going to build a 100-foot-tall roller coaster in my backyard. I’ll make scads of money this summer. That little problem with it being totally illegal under Borough zoning ordinances? Bah. Ordinance, Shmordinance. I want to build it. I’ll just do it. I’ll count on Borough officials driving by all the cars, and the ride itself, and assume they just don’t see it. And I DARE any of my neighbors to complain - they’ll get told some harebrained story about how I have rights or something. Meanwhile, I’ll be counting the money.

I might not even have to worry about any of that, because I’ll bet if I ask really nice, they’ll change all the zoning rules for me to put it up. Probably make the decision in some “executive session” that the public can’t attend, or at some meeting they throw together at the last minute.

When my tax bill comes due, I plan on not paying it. Eventually, when they get around to asking me why I didn’t pay, I’ll tell them that I’d love to share the reasons with them, but it’s really complicated stuff and they probably don’t have the experience and background to comprehend. I’ll ask them to just trust me - eventually, I’ll get around to doing something about it. Like once every four years or so.

I’m planning on starting my own religion. It’ll be a not-for-profit, of course, with me designated God. For all the higher ups in the religion, I’ll name a bunch of my friends and acquaintances; the last thing I need is someone causing a problem by not going along with the flow. They’ll have meetings, sometimes, but most of the time they’ll just hang out socially and handle whatever comes down the pike over drinks.

I assume that eventually, I’ll get some inquiries about exactly what my religion is doing aside from annually tithing my parishioners. But I’ll be ready for that. A few of my parishioners (not us higher up holy men) will be designated to memorize a bunch of big words like “partisanship,” and “xenophobia” and use them in every sentence. Meanwhile, we, the chosen few, will maintain an aura of quiet contemplation, occasionally mumbling something about the ‘best interests of our flock,’ how nice and well-loved we really are, and the fact that we planted some trees one weekend.

Oh, oh, oh - this is the best one. No one can ever criticize me ever again for anything! I have determined that this is a new, all-encompassing rule of life. No matter how much I get involved in, and no matter how much I either completely overlook or royally screw up, anyone who criticizes or questions me is evil. Not just ‘evil’ evil; Richard Burton in “Exorcist 2 - The Heretic” eeeeeevvillllllll.

I’m amazed this never occurred to me before; why have I wasted so much time in my life explaining things, or providing supporting documents and data? All I ever had to do was just respond to inquiries by accusing the askers of being horrible people. Do you realize all the kids I could have beaten up on the playground when I was a kid if I’d known of this approach back then? I could have been king of the playground, or maybe even Mayor!

You see, all I ever REALLY wanted to do was just pay my taxes, avail myself of services, and live in a small town in New Jersey. As senile as I’m getting, I believe I recall having been able to do that once. But all I find now is that every time I encounter something that’s just … that’s just THERE, staring everyone in the face, no one will say “Yep, it’s there.” They either tell me it’s not, or spin me around to look in another direction.

I would say it’s a safe bet that most of the readers of this blog have purchased a car at some time in their life. Simple question - if you asked about something to do with the car, and the seller (dealer or homeowner) didn’t answer or changed the subject, did you just shrug your shoulders and buy the damn car anyway?

Yeah, okay, I guess some people did.

But for the rest of you, did it ever occur to you that this is what you’re encountering with the price-of-a-used-car you lay out each and every year in taxes?

And until this blog came along, it didn’t appear anyone was even asking; they just kept buying ‘72 Pintos.

If my parents didn’t read this blog, I’d probably use other words…

Here’s a copy of the Democratic Club’s recruiting letter and event schedule for the next few months.

Democratic Club Flier

Club members will be meeting this Thursday, March 27, at 8 p.m. at Vermeule Community Center for an open club meeting that will, presumably, include candidate selection, since there are no other meetings scheduled before the nomination deadline of April 7.

Or maybe not.

Maybe the leaders of the Democratic Club don’t even go through the motions of pretending to seek member input on candidate selection, and just do it in a dusty broom closet down in Borough Hall, the night before the filing deadline, by candlelight.

Hard to tell from the undated, untitled letter, which  may not have even been seen by the purported signatories, whose signatures are simply typed on in computer script…

Here’s a quote:

The role of the Democratic Club is primarily social, but we do provide support for our local candidates in the form of money and “people power”…

One of the first events this year will be an open club meeting on March 27. We are asking members to invite neighbors to come to the meeting with their questions and concerns about the Borough. This will help determine a platform with issues that come straight from the people…”

Those poor Democratic bozos on the Council and in the Mayor’s office.

If ONLY there were some easier way for them to find out what’s on the minds of Borough residents than to have to schedule a social hour and invite club members by U.S. mail…

[Wavy, dream sequence lines wafting toward the top of the page, with electronic harp music playing in the background...]

In an alternate universe, the Mayor and the six Democratic Council members might have some easy, perhaps twice-a-month way to find out what’s on the minds of local residents.

 There might be some sort of pre-established format, including public comments, ordinance proposal and review, reports from departments and other Borough committees.

In that alternate universe, there would be microphones, so everyone could hear each other well.

WAIT A MINUTE!!!

We already have that!

It’s called Council meetings!

But, well, maybe that’s still just too hard for them to figure out how to use.

All those rules, and the wires for the microphones, and those sticks with ink in them, and notepads for taking notes.

Bah.

In an alternate universe, maybe really lucky Democratic Mayors and Council members would have access to some sort of electronic communications medium, where they could present useful information about Borough services and programs to residents, and have a “feedback” form, or a “contact” address, so residents could let them know what problems need attention.

Maybe in that alternate universe, there would even be a variety of producers of electronic content, giving different perspectives on those local issues, and storing it in some retrievable, searchable way.

Hold the phone!

We already have that here.

It’s called the Borough website, (although there’s no feedback form) and the nj.com forum, and the local GOP website, and Grassroots Groundswell. 

All KINDS of information is swirling around out there about what lots of local people think about lots of kinds of local issues, and what kind of local leadership they’d like to see.

Then again, maybe the Democratic Mayor and Councilpeople are all living on the wrong side of the digital divide.

Still, in an alternate universe, maybe really, really lucky Democratic Mayors and Councilpeople live in a place with some kind of civic organization completely built around providing information about Borough activities to the residents, gathering input back from residents, compiling it and presenting it to the Democratic Mayor and Council members to promote informed, responsive action.

Not here, I guess. Our Mayor and Council are just not that luck—-wait just a gosh-darn second.

We HAVE one of those civic organizations here in the Borough.

It’s called NPCCR.

Those busy little beavers have organized a half-dozen well-attended Town Meetings, produced reams of compiled information about Borough resident concerns and ideas, and forwarded that information - on paper sometimes! - right to the Democratic Mayor and Council members. 

Hmmmm.

It is a great mystery indeed.

[Flash forward to the present with a screech and a bang!]

Hope to see you at the Democratic Club meeting Thursday.

Maybe we can discover together what kind of strange, alien, otherworldly creatures we have inhabiting the earthling bodies of our Democratic Mayor and Councilmembers, so that the only setting in which they can gather resident input to better inform their municipal decision-making, and perhaps even share their own views on municipal decision-making, is a “social hour” less than two weeks before the nomination deadline of an election year.

What is up with “fjdisneo3ckw” over at nj.com, firing little spitballs at local gadflies for doing our local gadfly duties?

And what’s up with the commentators over at the Courier-News, trying to paint NPCCR as the main roadblock to local improvements, when the main citizen demand - since way before NPCCR came on the scene - has been that the monopoly Democratic administration get their collective heads out of their collective asses and simply perform their basic governing responsibilities in a competent, open and fair way?

The spitballers never have anything to say at all, positive, negative or indifferent.

If there’s a positive record to point to, go ahead and point, and cough up some documentary evidence while you’re about it.

This forum, and the nj.com forum, are open for business, as always. No charge.

Nor do Janice Allen, David Hollod, Eric Bernstein, Skip Stabile, Frank Righetti, Mike Giordano, Doug Singleterry or Mary Forbes speak up. Bob Hitchcock and Jenny Flynn speak up occasionally, but rarely on their own initiative.

Why don’t they?

Here’s a positive spin on North Plainfield.

The sun rose today, as it does most days. Most people woke up at home in their beds, ate something for breakfast, had showers, got dressed. Some people took their kids off to school. Some people drove off to work. Most of them probably arrived at their destinations safely, on reasonably well-maintained roads.

The wage-earners will work all day and come home. The kids will be in school, and the caregiving parents will run some errands and do some chores until school lets out at 2:30 or so. If someone gets sick, they’ll probably get better. If there are club meetings, the members will probably attend.

Then everyone will come home and have dinner, watch some TV and go to bed.

Positive?

Perhaps.

But boring as hell.

You don’t take your car to the garage and ask the mechanic: “What’s right with my car?”

Just as you don’t look around your community for some way to contribute and say: “Hey, who can I cheerlead for today?” Well, maybe some do.

But most people look around for what’s wrong, start thinking about how to fix it, and start looking for people who are going to help you make those positive changes, from bad situations to better situations.

Bah.

I’ve been mulling over the problems outlined in the Update on the Town Meeting 5 Report - the fact that so many local people - elected, appointed, volunteer public servants, paid public employees, and citizens - do not know how to disagree in a respectful way. It occurred to me that it would actually be a giant step forward if the following exchange were ever to take place in any local public forum, Council Meeting, Town Meeting, anything. It was a sad realization, how far we are from changing the political culture around here to where we could begin to make tangible changes for the better.

NOTE: THIS IS AN IMAGINARY CONVERSATION; IT IS NOT A REPORT ON AN ACTUAL CONVERSATION.

NPCCR Representative 1 - Our group believes that local government should be open, in the sense that citizens should be able to easily get answers to their questions and should have easy access to the information decision-makers use to make decisions, and a strong role in decision-making as citizens.

Mayor - Well, I respect your position, but I disagree. I believe that the best local governments are the most closed.

In my lengthy experience as a public servant, and in my observations of how other communities work, I’ve learned that better decisions are made about things like budgets, economic development, property tax controls and similar things, when the fewest possible number of people know about what the problems are and how they are to be addressed.

So, while I can see where you’re coming from, those are the reasons why our policy is not to answer questions from the public in public forums, and not to provide ready, business and after-business hours’ access (on-line or in a document collection at the library and at Borough Hall,) to things like budgets, master plans, audits, reports, economic development studies, environmental studies, correspondence with other agencies and other facts and figures that go into local decisions about key local issues.

I just don’t think those are things that the public needs to be informed about or involved in to any great depth. I can’t really point to any other towns that exemplify this successful model better than right here in North Plainfield.   

NPCCR Representative 2 - It worries me to hear you say that, because I don’t think things are on the right track around here. Our property taxes are very high, but the level of services is fairly low, and that doesn’t seem right somehow. For example, there are problems in how ordinances are being enforced. It seems kind of haphazard on the big issues, like overcrowded housing and non-resident school attendance, and sometimes selective and retaliatory on more minor issues. How do you feel about how things are going around here?

Council President - I’ll field that one. First off, I disagree with you that there’s any relationship between property taxes and level of services, or between who makes local decisions, how they make local decisions, and how high the quality of town services is. Property taxes are high because stuff is expensive, and there’s really nothing that we can do about that. I agree with the Mayor; there’s no need to back up that position with facts or evidence that would confirm or refute it, because the best public decisions are made behind closed doors by small groups of expert insiders.

Secondly, on the property code enforcement issue, I don’t think that codes are meant to be enforced consistently and fairly, so the Department of Public Works is, from my perspective, doing a fine job. I think code enforcement should be more like random traffic stops on New Year’s Eve to prevent drunk driving. If everyone knows that they might get a notice for a violation, most people will tend to take care of their property properly, so there’s no need to actually provide comprehensive enforcement, or, for that matter, to document enforcement efforts for review by the public.

Overall, I think things are going great here. We have residents who pay their taxes and live in things like houses and apartments, and we have streets people drive on, and we hold meetings and stuff, and sometimes fun parties like the Street Fair. Everything’s going great.

NPCCR Representative 3 - Do you have a vision for the Borough’s future or think that a community-created, community-supported vision for the future would be helpful as a frame of reference for making public decisions?

Council Member - Not really. Vision seems like a very wishy-washy thing to me and I don’t have a whole lot of imagination to begin with. I view my role as a Council member as just show up at the meetings, say “Aye” when the roll call comes along, and then go home. Plus, I’m a volunteer, so it doesn’t really matter what I do or how I do it, because I don’t get paid.

NPCCR Representative 4 - What about appointments to boards and commissions? There’s a lot of concern that many of the folks serving on those committees don’t really care very much about the duties of those committees, don’t get done what the committees are supposed to do, and that they should be replaced with more interested local residents. But then we hear that the Talent Bank applications often get thrown away or “lost” before new people with new ideas can be appointed.

Mayor - Well, that’s true. I have a circle of friends and relatives of friends that I’m particularly comfortable with, and it matters to me more that people like me than that the work of the committees get done. So, I tend to appoint those friends and their friends, rather than take a chance on an outsider who might disagree with me sometimes or push the committee to take responsibility for its areas of responsibility.

I really don’t like to be disagreed with, and I especially don’t like to change my mind in response to debates in which my opponents bring up persuasive points. That’s why I tend not to even get involved in public conversations about local issues. I like best to be around people who support me unconditionally. It’s just more comfortable that way…

You get the idea.

Sometimes the sheer bullheadedness of that elusive, slippery band of evil villains at 263 Somerset Street gets to me. (See GRC Response post below.)

So, making faces and flexing my puny muscles this evening while pacing around my living room growling at the imaginary Bernsteins and Hollods in my head, I thought about “Hulk angry!” from my late 70s, early 80s childhood, did a Google search, and found some comic relief at The Onion. Check it out.

Back to local politics…

It doesn’t seem like such a radical idea - that government should let the governed know what the government is doing, and that keeping secrets and bashing secret-seekers breeds generalized resentment, especially when combined with a long record of individual abuses against individual residents racked up over years and years.

It’s also frustrating (I know I repeat myself) that the secretive, back-room political culture is SO entrenched, and SO many people have been battered by retaliation, that people are terrified to step forward and speak out, even with the cover provided by NPCCR.

That may change as the group grows and strengthens - we’re young yet - but building that critical mass is a frustratingly slow process, even a chicken-egg process. We need people to get past their fear and speak out, so that people can get past their fear and speak out. Sigh.

I also agree with neosporin’s comment below, that a crack team of pro bono attorney, accountant and union expert, supported by citizen researchers, would help us unravel a lot of the shenanigans a lot quicker.

Apart from the general public, there are even folks inside Borough Hall who would like the internal machinations to stop. But they haven’t yet started blowing those whistles, because they would probably get fired if they did.

Note to potential whistleblowers: anonymous, plain brown envelopes with interesting documents may be delivered to the shadowy doorsteps of any NPCCR folks you care to entrust them to.

Back to comic relief, on employee-slapping, disinformation, pulling together, homeownership and many other topics… (Yes, it’s been a busy evening, surfing the SatireWire archives.)