Bench benefits - pro and con

City Council members will walk downtown Tuesday (Aug. 16, 2005) to see for themselves the effect of dozens of new benches that merchants say should be removed.

Seventy-four merchants signed a petition circulated by a downtown group, asking for removal of all the new benches on Front Street between Madison and Roosevelt avenues. Detractors say the benches are just perches for the homeless and those bent on crime, but others say they are a boon to shoppers, elders and even downtown employees who enjoy a sit-down break outside.

Cheryl Arana, representing the downtown group Merchants of Plainfield United for Progress, told the City Council Monday that merchants were very upset with the bench installation. However, no merchants or representatives of other merchant groups appeared Monday (Aug. 15, 2005) to back up or dispute her claim.

“I personally think there are way too many benches,“ City Council President Linda Carter said Monday.

Councilman Ray Blanco said when he first saw the proliferation of benches, he thought someone was making a movie, but later chalked the vision up to what he called “surreal Plainfield.“

Arana spoke late in the meeting, but earlier the council approved an application to seek a New Jersey Department of Transportation grant for $800,000 for a second phase of the downtown streetscape improvements that brought the custom-made benches to Plainfield.

Pat Ballard Fox said earlier Monday afternoon that the second phase, costing about $2.7 million in various grants, would expand the benches, street lights, new sidewalks and stamped brickwork to Watchung and Park avenues between Second and Fourth streets. The first phase cost a similar amount, she said.

Ballard Fox said the city should give some time before deciding on the effect of the benches.

“I think it’s sad that an amenity like a bench that makes for a more comfortable shopping experience for customers and merchants is viewed as an item that enables quality of life violations,” she said.

Among the unanswered questions Monday were the cost of each bench, speculated to be from $1,000 to $1,200, and why they did not match benches installed along Second Street at the four-story downtown Park-Madison project in the downtown district.

--Bernice Paglia

--Photos by Barbara Todd Kerr

KEYWORDS: city council, streetscape