Budget hearing for Special Improvement District

PLAINFIELD - SPECIAL HEARING (6/27/05) - The hearing on June 27th was a time to review the second-year budget for the city’s Special Improvement District (SID) projects -- an ambitious program that includes a quarterly magazine and student “ambassadors” to greet train arrivals.

The budget will be up for a vote at the July 5, 2005 City Council meeting.

Half of the $227,200 budget will come from a 3 percent tax assessed on about 400 property owners downtown and in the South Avenue business district. It will be matched with $113,600 in Urban Enterprise Zone funds, a special program that holds sales tax money for designated projects in the zone.

$113,600 - 3% tax paid by business district property owners
$113,600 - Urban Enterprise Zone funds
$227,200 - Total for fiscal year 2005-6

The budget covers the fiscal year starting July 1 and will also provide for hiring a professional management team, creating signs to mark the district, new holiday decorations and completion of a door-to-door inventory of more than 600 businesses for a membership directory.

The proposed student ambassadors will provide city information to rail travelers as part of “quality of life” improvements that also include graffiti removal, security cameras and dusk-to-dawn streetlights in darker parts of the district.

The idea for creating a Plainfield Special Improvement District originated with the city administration. Like the PMUA, however, the SID is a self-governing body. The SID organized in September 2004, selecting officers and approving bylaws after months of preparation.

At a June 16 Planning Board meeting, SID president Elissa Cohen of Suburban Jewelers questioned why city officials had not included the group in redevelopment talks on downtown projects that could cause business and property owners to have to relocate.

“Why does the city feel the SID should not be involved? she asked.

The redevelopment questions and related concerns about the streetscape project come even as the newly revitalized Chamber of Commerce has hired an executive director and established an office at Park Avenue and Seventh Street, another part of the SID.

Residents expressed considerable passion and a significant amount of confusion at the June 16 meeting about the many redevelopment efforts under discussion. In order to address citizens’ concerns, city planners will devote the July 21 Planning Board meeting to explain the city’s many layered projects in greater depth.

Longtime resident Nancy Piwowar said Monday, “What I just saw tonight, it’s evident that all departments that deal with each project all need to talk to each other.”

COMMENT: Is the city showing progress or turmoil in all these changes? - B. Paglia

--Bernice Paglia

KEYWORDS: Budget, public hearing, Special Improvement District, redevelopment