Eight Meetings? What?

The normally meeting-adverse governing body is now on the hook for two agenda-fixing sessions, one regular meeting and five budget sessions in December.

This schedule puts a big strain on councilwatchers who may have other things to do in December, including holiday observances.

Earlier this year, the City Council agreed to hold just one agenda-fixing session and one regular meeting per month, down from two agenda-fixing and two regular meetings as per the traditional schedule.

Now budget concerns have apparently added intensity to the December schedule.

According to a legal notice, there will be four budget sessions and one on the capital budget in December.

Curiously, the City Council had scheduled a series of budget meetings in early spring, although budget information for the year beginning July 1 would not have been known by that time.

It remains to be seen what the governing body and its Citizens Advisory Committee will come up with to trim costs for the budget year that began July 1, 2009.

Plaintalker's gratuitous advice is to stop adding food to every public occasion and not to let new patronage jobs turn up at City Hall since the incumbents won.

--Bernice Paglia

Not All Want Solar4All

Image: Solar panel at sunset.

New solar panels on utility poles in historic districts caught preservationists by surprise over the holiday weekend, but the Solar4All program was proposed by PSE&G in February and launched in July, according to published reports.

In e-mails forwarded to Plaintalker, preservationists call them unsightly and wonder how they escaped the scrutiny of the Historic Preservation Commission.

For a concise report on the program from Reuters, click here.

The Historic Preservation Commission reviews and makes recommendations on all changes to the exteriors of buildings in the city's six residental historic districts, the city's North Avenue Commercial Historic District and the Civic Historic District around the War Memorial and City Hall, among other responsibilities. Land use boards must take the commission's recommendations into account when hearing applications.

It is not clear whether the HPC's jurisdiction extends to new uses on utility poles.

The panels need to be installed where tree branches or other objects will not block the sun. They are fixed and cannot follow the sun's rotation. According to a PSE&G Solar4All fact sheet, "PSE&G will install solar panels on up to 200,000 utility poles in neighborhoods throughout PSE&G's service territory - the largest pole attached installation in the U.S."

Click here to read the full fact sheet. A South Plainfield firm, Petra Solar, received the contract for installation. PSE&G won approval last summer from the Board of Public Utilities for the five-year, $515 million project. It is expected to generate "hundreds of good-paying green jobs" in addition to creating savings on energy bills over time.

City Hall was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, but you can bet on Monday preservationists will be looking for answers from somebody on the sight that ruined their appetite for the traditional feast.

--Bernice Paglia

City Council Sets Budget Sessions

Note: Chalk it up to BWE (blogging without eyeglasses), there are some glitches. The first session is Tuesday, Dec. 1. Also I read "senior center" and didn't look at the address. The legal notice has the address of the old senior center, which is now vacant. Seniors were advised on Veterans Day to park behind 305 East Front (the old location) and walk to the new center at 400 East Front. I alerted City Council President Rashid Burney to that issue.

The City Council has advertised five budget sessions in December.

On Tuesday, Dec. 1, budget talks will be held in City Hall Library, 515 Watchung Ave. On Thursday, Dec. 3 and Wednesday, Dec. 9, the sessions will take place in the new senior center at 400 East Front Street. On Wednesday, Dec. 16, talks will be held in Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Ave.

The final discussion listed is for Dec. 17 on the capital budget and will also be held in Municipal Court.

All sessions will be from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Click here for something to do with your tax dollars while they are still yours.

--Bernice Paglia

Visit Park Hardware

When Doug, Bill and Rich Borchers began Park Hardware in 1978, nails were sold by the pound. They still have the old scale used to weigh nails, but now sell them by the box.

Entering the store at 617 Park Avenue in the Park & Seventh business district, you can see hundreds of items that builders, contractors, homeowners, gardeners and fix-it folks need and want.

"Some people thank us for being here, because it's easier to get in and out," Rich says, contrasting the store to big-box outlets.

Rich and Doug are on hand from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, to locate just the right plumbing or electrical part or the best tool to get a job done. For heavy items like mortar mix or bags of potting soil, customers can pull up to the rear door off East Seventh Street for easy loading.

In a city where half the residents are renters, new keys are an ongoing necessity. Locks are on hand in many styles as well. But with all these wares at the city's main east-west, north-south crossroads for more than 30 years, people are still discovering the hardware store and the district, which also has two pharmacies, a florist, a bakery, a computer store, beauty salons, eateries and a surgical supply store.

"People don't know they are there," Doug says.

Once they get out of their cars and walk around, visitors are often surprised to see what's available at Park & Seventh.

"To me, there is more diversity than there is down on Front Street," Doug says.

While adapting to modern needs of customers, the brothers are perfectly happy using this old rotary phone to do business. Ring them up at (908) 754-9137. And even though they have a digital cash register, they have kept their old electrical one that has a hand crank in case of power failures. It's down in the capacious basement, which has the same footprint as the store. The Borchers said the store was once an A&P supermarket and the lot across the street had houses that were demolished to make way for a new shopping center, now dominated by the popular Twin City supermarket.

The basement is also where the tiki torches will soon go as the brothers get ready to sell snow shovels and windshield scrapers. They have no computerized inventory management, but just go through everything in stock two or three times a year.

"We're still old school," Doug says.

On Friday, the brothers' father, Don, was visiting. He said one important feature of Park Hardware is the ability for customers to speak directly with Doug and Rich.

"People need advice," he said.

So next time you're at Park & Seventh, stop in and look around. The slide show below gives a glimpse of what is available and there is plenty more.

This is one of a projected series on the Park & Seventh business district.

--Bernice Paglia

Park Hardware

Eid Mubarak

People in Plainfield and all over the world unite today in observing Eid al-Adha, The Feast of the Sacrifice. Click here to learn more.

Our city's diversity is very broad and the more we learn about each other's cultures and religions, the better it will be for all.

If you know someone of the Islamic faith, you can say "Eid Mubarak," or Blessed Eid, as a greeting.

--Bernice

FUSP Volunteers Cook, Serve Holiday Dinner

The First Unitarian Society of Plainfield had its largest Thanksgiving crowd yet on Thursday, numbering more than 300 guests.

Church members provided turkeys, traditional side dishes and desserts. Volunteers of all ages staffed the serving tables. Guests included people in need as well as those who just wanted to enjoy a nice dinner in the company of others.

The kitchen was a hive of activity as church members ferried pans of food from ovens and the stovetop to hot plates in the Parish Hall. A cleanup crew (including this writer) washed pans for more fill-ups.

From noon to about 2 p.m., the crowd was steady and very appreciative. Many took home extra dinners for later enjoyment at home or for relatives who could not get to the church.

FUSP makes the same effort for Christmas and Easter and all are welcome. The genius behind food provision at FUSP dinners and its food pantry is Cass Cochrane, who is also a mainstay of its Act IV Productions theater events.

FUSP's Plainfield origins date back to 1899 and one of its original benefactors was Job Male, the first mayor of Plainfield. For more information, see www.fusp.org or visit on Sundays at 10 a.m.

The church has a new minister, The Rev. Tracy Sprowls-Jenks, and is looking forward to a greater presence in the community. Rev. Tracy has already joined with other local ministers to see how best they can serve Plainfield at large as well as their diverse congregants.

--Bernice

Give Thanks

Best wishes to all for a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

I am personally thankful that I can still get around on foot without needing new knees or hips, and that Plainfield has a high degree of walkability with good transit links.

I give thanks for all the new voices in the local blogosphere. With many more people studying city issues, the more likely solutions are to be found. Blogs have also increased celebration of the city's attractions and have opened a new window to the world on life in Plainfield.

--Bernice