First of all READ Plainfield Plaintalker's report on the Council session. We are so fortunate to have a professional reporter as our "house blogger". As I have previously written, my blog is a combination of facts and impressions. If the facts are wrong that is an inadvertent error.
The Circus came to town at 7:30 last (Monday night) and put on a performance in a small room known as the City Hall Library. No it was not the Cirque du Soleil, but rather a three ring circus involving a crowd of parents with over 50 young members of he Queen City Baseball League, The other s in the cast were the Mayor and the Council members The meeting's first 2 hours were occupied by a raucous presentation often marred by by the parents vitriolic exchanges between individuals including with the mayor or representing the Recreation sponsored committee.. The meeting ended ended nearly at 12:30 am after an acrimonious exchange between Councilor Reid and Council President McWilliams.
The QCBL parents complaints seem quite justified which I will try to put into perspective with a brief hearsay history which may not be accurate.
Twenty years ago when my grandson played little league (minors) I believe that the Plainfield league operated under the national's sanction. When that association was abandoned probably due to the costs of the franchise fee the PAL operated the leagues. When PAL stopped supporting the league two years ago some parents organized the QCBL and had a year of successful operation serving between 150 and 200 youngsters.
In the fall of 2009, Plainfield's recreation department received a County grant for salaries and maintenance. That department immediately announced that it would sponsor its own league. That brought forth an outpouring of parents to the October Agenda Session. The Council did remark that they would look into the situation, however a fact that the parents misunderstood was that Council has no authority over day by day city operations. This is the distinction betweeb "Executive'" or Administration and "Legislative" or Council.
Suffice to say, the first day of scheduled games when the parents and kids arrived at the Rock Ave field they found the locks on the equipment building,where the bases were stored, had been changed in the past 24 hours and no one with a key could be found. They were able to abtain makeshift bases for one diamond but the teams secduled for the other field could not play. The next incident happened during the first night games. With a batter at the plate the light sudenly went out. Fortunately no ball hit the batter.
To the Mayor's credit she did try to pour oil on trouble waters by producing a two sets of bases, equipment lockers and cases of bottle water all purchased on her American Express Card. However, as some one pointed out the bases were for Adult baseball not little league. The mayor also did provide two baskets of goodies to be passed around.
I will not be repetitious by repeating the Council's discourse and the Mayor's response. As noted that has been adequately covered by Bernice.
However, here are Ordinances that have been enacted regarding the time athletic field lights can be on. As Corporation Counsel Williamson pointed out, the only way to extend the time is by a revision of the Ordinance. The Council can not legislate by Resolution or otherwise order a change in hours, they must amend the law. Once again the Council's schedule of one monthly business meeting has a negative impact. Under present circumstances, even if a legally conforming Ordinance could be ready for a first reading Monday May 10th it would not be until the end of June that any new regulations as to field and light usage could be effective.
The Council does have a weapon that iot could use if it felt that the Director of Recreation has been deliberately impeding QCBL's functioning. That weapon is a resolution expressing its displeasure that six months have passed without a solution to the QCBL problem. Some might argue that a stronger resolution of censure would be in order.
It is disgraceful that a program which should help the kids has become the victim of egocentric power hungry adults who are trying to protect their turf or usurping others' domain.
There was enough material Monday night to fill blogs for this entire week. Stay interested.
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Given the more pressing issues in Plainfield it's absurd that Council President McWilliams allowed the agenda setting meeting to be hijacked by a dispute about children's baseball.
ReplyDeleteIt's also absurd that the meetings continue to be be held in City Hall Library, an inappropriate room to conduct serious business if more than a handful of visitors show up. It's also essentially home field for the mayor if she wishes to trot out bread for the masses.
I'd like to find out from the reporters and bloggers on the scene what the rational is for the city sponsored league. We've all heard about the egos and meanness, but what is the argument for the city league? Doesn't Scotch Plains and Westfield, two towns we love to compare ourselves to when looking to show how far behind we are, have town sponsored leagues? Does the QCBL have an inalienable legal right to use the fields, or is that solely at the discretion of the city's administration? And what make's the one year old QCBL so special that they seem to be getting the benefit of the doubt in all this? Is it just because the enemy of our enemy is always our friend?
It was dismaying to see the mayor enclosed away from the residents behind that absurd desk. What is she afraid of? It is very off-putting.
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