This is the first reply to my question of the Mayoral candidates regarding revitalization of downtown or " Center City". As soon as I receive replies from the other two, and from the Assembly Candidates I will post them.
Doc,
Here is my answer to your question about revitalizing "Center City": Revitalization of downtown Plainfield is a key to economic revitalization of the entire city, and our downtown image needs to be spruced up from the train station outward. This includes items ranging from code enforcement as to appearance to sensible development of mixed-use retail/residential buildings. It must be kept in mind that to be truly attractive to rail commuters, residential buildings must be located as close to the train station as possible. We all realize that attracting outside people to visit downtown is a must. The opening of “destination” businesses (such as one or two jazz clubs) could be a catalyst, but we may have an excellent catalyst already in place. With the influx of people from Latin American and the Caribbean, Plainfield already has a wide variety of small, interesting restaurants in the downtown area of the type that can’t be found in the surrounding communities. They could be one of Plainfield’s best assets for attracting out-of-town shoppers, and the city should help them to expand and make improvements to attract customers from beyond the boundaries of Plainfield. Of course, we need to market ourselves, including these restaurants, to outside communities, but this hasn’t been done very effectively by the present administration. The poorly-attended Concerts in the Plaza are a prime example of this. Targeted advertising in the print media is one thing that would be more effective.
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ReplyDeletePiv's eceonomic growth plan which is purchase advertising leaves a lot to be desired.
ReplyDeleteThat strategy may be OK for a ma/pa shop selling trinkets, but for a city the size of Plainfield reveals how little experience, knowledge he actually has on this matter.
Piv was correct on 2 points: the Briggs/Green duo have no plan; the key to community revitalization is the redevelopment of the core business district which reaches from Front Street to 7th Street and east & west of Park Avenue. A plan of this scale would attract major developers not the pay-to-play crowd. It would jump start the residential appeal of the entire community certainly the abutting neighborhoods such as the Crescent and Van Wyck Brooks Historic Districts. Doc, Piv might want to expand onyour question/challange!
ReplyDeleteBill, I happen to agree with you that my concept of "Central City" is bigger than basic Watchung/ Madison:RR tracks/ Front Street.
ReplyDeletePerhaps when the Council's Econonmic Redevelopment convenes it will address this issue in detail as well as the RR track east/west corridor. I will hope if it can accomplish anything positive that its life will be extended by subsequent Councils with replenishing of membership as needed.
The most important issue that Plainfield needs to deal with is overcrowded/illegal housing. Our homes are being destroyed from within by housing too many people. If and when this condition of overcrowding ends, those properties will only be worth demolishing. Reducing the density of occupancy will also impact the quality of businesses attracted to downtown.
ReplyDeleteI realize this can be viewed as a racial/ethnic slur, but nothing is further from my mind. My concern has nothing to do with ethnic issues, but PROPERTY DESTRUCTION.
Isn't that issue a matter of "code enforcement" which has been lax. Another for the candidates to address.
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