Cleveland & Fourth Parking Lot
This lot is just down the hill from the main train station and therefore a potential prime location for permit parkers.
Unfortunately, it is a bit dicey, as these glass fragments from a break-in attest.
It seems the lot needs a bit of maintenance.
How long has this phone been out of service?
The City Council approved a demolition contract for 401-407 and 409-411 Cleveland Avenue, which would seem to pertain to this location.
At some point, it was a gas station. As one can see, the larger building is accessible by vagrants through the unsecured opening at the lower left.
Given the level of decay, the demolition contractor doesn't have to strain himself to get rid of these buildings.
At the City Council meeting where the demolition contract was approved, resident Nancy Piwowar expressed the concern that no historic structure would be demolished. While not historic in some ways, the fate of the slate roof on the structure should at best be a recycling of the slates.
A while ago, my neighbor and I took a walking tour of the blocks between East Seventh and Front Street and Park and Watchung avenues, finding many concerns about illegal usages of stray buildings and embarassment about the dilapidated conditions.
Who knows what goes on in a building like this, so out-of-sight, out-of-mind? At least now we know the city intends to demolish them.More of these hidden places need to be documented and removed.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 7:45 PM
4 Comments:
I don't understand why the area residents are not screaming about these abandoned homes. Why should anyone in this city have to live amidst such squalor.
Where are the angry voices?
The voices are silent because it is a business area in front of the train station. Mostly commercial.
It doesn't matter. Unfortunately it simply doesn't matter. Since our Assistant Mayor Sharon Briggs doesn't care about it, it won't be handled. She obviously has NO interest in furthering Plainfield. She can barely accomplish something when she does care about it. If only Mayor Jerry Green cared about Plainfield then the assistant Mayor might do something...Bend over..place lips firmly on the right buttock and SMOOCH!! Now, go collect your paycheck assistant Mayor!
I was recently speaking with a friend who lives a few towns down the railyway. He was asking why every other town has rebuilt their downtown areas surrounding the trainstations and Plainfield hasn't done a thing. Every day his train stops in Plainfield and all he can see are abandoned/boarded up buildings. This is why it's never occurred to him to venture this way to see what type of commerce we might have available. [That's when I ducked my head and replied, "Practically none."]
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