Monday Night's Council Agenda

The proposed copy of the agenda for Monday night's Council meeting suggests that it could be a long meeting.Since this is the Agenda Setting Session for next week's business session, citizens will have a whole week to inform their council person of any objections they have to any proposed Resolution.

Council President Burney deserves our commendation for four items on the agenda; the creation of Citizen Advisory Committees for(a) Economic Development,(b) for Information Technology, and (c) a Budget Advisory Committee, and for also(d) extending the Public Comment session at the end of the meeting to an hour from the present 30 minutes.

Other positive items include an application for a grant for Dudley House.

In these economic times times I question that if there is a substantial difference between concrete curbing and bluestone block curbing that funds that could be used elsewhere to repair roads should be spent on the later more attractive curbs. We need information.

There is one item that I would question for its appropriateness. That is the Mayor's request to hang a self praising banner across the City Hall. Since this is an election year , will any other candidates be given the same public exposure?

Looks like I will have to Tivo the championship game.

Without her permission I am taking the liberty of including the contents of an email from Dottie Gutenkauf, since it contains much of public interest that I feel should be shared:

"The legal briefs in the appeals of Commissioner Heather Howard's decision to allow Solaris to close Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center have been sent to the Appellate Court by the attorneys representing the City of Plainfield and by Bennet Zurofsky, who represents the People's Organization for Progress/Restore Muhlenberg Coalition. The state Attorney General's office, representing the Commissioner, will file a reply brief (Solaris may, too) and the moving parties will have an opportunity to respond. This could take a while, so stay tuned. And if you'd like to read the POP/RMC brief, shoot me an email and I'll send it to you--it's in Adobe PDF format.

Monday's City Council meeting will be held at the City Hall Library instead of Emerson School as previously announced. It's an agenda-fixing session beginning at 7:30 pm--public comment is at the end.

Be sure to pick up the Sunday Courier News--Mark Spivey has done another great story about Muhlenberg; it starts on the front page and continues on page 5. You can read it at http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090404/NEWS/904040317/1018/NEWS0401, but it's definitely worth the price of the paper. By the way, Mark recently received a first-place award from the NJ Press Association.

Sunday's 60 Minutes on CBS features the closure of an important out-patient chemo clinic in Nevada. 7 pm on Channel 2--you can preview it at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/03/60minutes/main4917055.shtml.

If you want to contact Governor Corzine about the proposed state budget, send him an email at JSC@JonCorzine09.com.

CHANGE IN MEETING DATES: The POP/Restore Muhlenberg Coalition has changed its regular meeting schedule to avoid conflicts with the new City Council schedule. POP/RMC meetings, all on Mondays at 6:30 pm at duCret School of Art (1030 Central Avenue), will be held on April 20, May 18, and June 22. Special meetings will be called as needed.


Dottie"