Council On Election Hiatus
Under the City Council’s new schedule, the governing body is taking off for a month until June 19 for an “election hiatus.“
But unlike past years, 2006 offers no local primary contest on June 6.
City Council incumbents Rashid Burney and Rayland Van Blake have no party opposition. Nor do Republicans Angela Perun and Arlington Johnson. It won’t be until Nov. 7 that Burney and Perun will vie for the 2nd & 3rd Ward at-large seat and Van Blake and Johnson will go head to head for the 1st Ward seat.
One contest on a sample ballot received this week is one for three Union County freeholder seats, pitting three entrenched, incumbent Regular Democrats - Deborah P. Scanlon, Alexander Mirabella and Chester Holmes - against three upstarts - Stanley J. Moskal, Joseph Aviles and Michael Romano - running on the “Union County Democrats for America” slogan.
Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Robert Menendez also faces a challenge from James D. Kelly Jr., running on the slogan, “End Corruption in the Government.” The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, State Senator Thomas H. Kean Jr., is opposed by John P. Ginty, running on the slogan, “Republicans for Conservative Leadership.”
But given the stranglehold Regular Democrats have on the freeholder board and the widespread notion that the November contest will be Menendez vs. Kean, the primary contests seem a bit uneven. All the usual election work must still be done, but voter turnout will likely be very low.
The only spice for Plainfield may be to see whether any independent candidates file on Primary Day to try to cause a ruckus in the general election on Nov. 7.
But anyone suffering from City Council withdrawal through those weeks will get a major fix next month, with the June 19 agenda session, conference meeting scheduled for June 20 and regular meeting on June 21.
The conference meeting is an innovation this year. The first one was on crime and drew about 100 residents to Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center’s Centennial Hall, where a panel of public safety officials held forth before two hours of public comment. The public comment portion had only been scheduled for 15 minutes.
The conference meetings are supposed to help the council develop policy. Because of Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow’s strong stand on the need for security cameras to fight crime in the West End, one upshot of the crime conference meeting has apparently been to derail an $800,000 proposal for security cameras downtown. City Council President Ray Blanco removed the resolution from consideration on May 21 until issues of location and staffing can be resolved.
Blanco is still mulling the topic for the June 20 meeting, with economic development or Inspections as possibilities.
At this point, Inspections might be the hotter topic. The council just repealed a comprehensive ordinance aimed at combating overcrowding and ensuring safety in rental housing. Renters make up half the city’s households and are at the mercy of landlords who may choose to obey or disregard the property maintenance code. The Inspections Division is the front line of defense for the code, but former Mayor Albert T. McWilliams said the division generated the most complaints from residents of any aspect of city government during his two terms. Hence, the “Safe Homes Registration and Inspection” ordinance that was just tossed out at the behest of the new administration.
A special seven-person unit was organized to enforce that law, but new Public Works and Urban Development Director Jennifer Wenson Maier told the council the unit wasn’t working and should be disbanded.
The city still has a Certificate of Compliance law on the books that calls for an inspection of each house or apartment at the time of sale or rental. But the property owner must call Inspections to initiate the review and must pay a fee for it.
Economic development is a worthy topic, considering that the outgoing administration had more than a dozen redevelopment schemes on the books at the end of last year.
The council decided to shut down all action on the proposals until the new administration had time to review them, and so far there has been no update. At a 100-day report in April, the new administration proposed four “transit villages” as the focus of redevelopment - two around existing train stations and two more around defunct stations that would have to be rebuilt.
There has been no comprehensive status report on the 13 redevelopment plans that Pat Ballard Fox was working on as former deputy city administrator for economic development. The former Economic Development office was dissolved and its functions placed under Wenson Maier when the administration changed hands.
For the time being, citizens can lounge evenings and weekends on lawn chairs and picnic blankets until late June, when council-watching will mean sitting on hard seats and benches for three nights in a row.
--Bernice Paglia
But unlike past years, 2006 offers no local primary contest on June 6.
City Council incumbents Rashid Burney and Rayland Van Blake have no party opposition. Nor do Republicans Angela Perun and Arlington Johnson. It won’t be until Nov. 7 that Burney and Perun will vie for the 2nd & 3rd Ward at-large seat and Van Blake and Johnson will go head to head for the 1st Ward seat.
One contest on a sample ballot received this week is one for three Union County freeholder seats, pitting three entrenched, incumbent Regular Democrats - Deborah P. Scanlon, Alexander Mirabella and Chester Holmes - against three upstarts - Stanley J. Moskal, Joseph Aviles and Michael Romano - running on the “Union County Democrats for America” slogan.
Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Robert Menendez also faces a challenge from James D. Kelly Jr., running on the slogan, “End Corruption in the Government.” The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, State Senator Thomas H. Kean Jr., is opposed by John P. Ginty, running on the slogan, “Republicans for Conservative Leadership.”
But given the stranglehold Regular Democrats have on the freeholder board and the widespread notion that the November contest will be Menendez vs. Kean, the primary contests seem a bit uneven. All the usual election work must still be done, but voter turnout will likely be very low.
The only spice for Plainfield may be to see whether any independent candidates file on Primary Day to try to cause a ruckus in the general election on Nov. 7.
But anyone suffering from City Council withdrawal through those weeks will get a major fix next month, with the June 19 agenda session, conference meeting scheduled for June 20 and regular meeting on June 21.
The conference meeting is an innovation this year. The first one was on crime and drew about 100 residents to Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center’s Centennial Hall, where a panel of public safety officials held forth before two hours of public comment. The public comment portion had only been scheduled for 15 minutes.
The conference meetings are supposed to help the council develop policy. Because of Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow’s strong stand on the need for security cameras to fight crime in the West End, one upshot of the crime conference meeting has apparently been to derail an $800,000 proposal for security cameras downtown. City Council President Ray Blanco removed the resolution from consideration on May 21 until issues of location and staffing can be resolved.
Blanco is still mulling the topic for the June 20 meeting, with economic development or Inspections as possibilities.
At this point, Inspections might be the hotter topic. The council just repealed a comprehensive ordinance aimed at combating overcrowding and ensuring safety in rental housing. Renters make up half the city’s households and are at the mercy of landlords who may choose to obey or disregard the property maintenance code. The Inspections Division is the front line of defense for the code, but former Mayor Albert T. McWilliams said the division generated the most complaints from residents of any aspect of city government during his two terms. Hence, the “Safe Homes Registration and Inspection” ordinance that was just tossed out at the behest of the new administration.
A special seven-person unit was organized to enforce that law, but new Public Works and Urban Development Director Jennifer Wenson Maier told the council the unit wasn’t working and should be disbanded.
The city still has a Certificate of Compliance law on the books that calls for an inspection of each house or apartment at the time of sale or rental. But the property owner must call Inspections to initiate the review and must pay a fee for it.
Economic development is a worthy topic, considering that the outgoing administration had more than a dozen redevelopment schemes on the books at the end of last year.
The council decided to shut down all action on the proposals until the new administration had time to review them, and so far there has been no update. At a 100-day report in April, the new administration proposed four “transit villages” as the focus of redevelopment - two around existing train stations and two more around defunct stations that would have to be rebuilt.
There has been no comprehensive status report on the 13 redevelopment plans that Pat Ballard Fox was working on as former deputy city administrator for economic development. The former Economic Development office was dissolved and its functions placed under Wenson Maier when the administration changed hands.
For the time being, citizens can lounge evenings and weekends on lawn chairs and picnic blankets until late June, when council-watching will mean sitting on hard seats and benches for three nights in a row.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 6:39 AM
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