BRIEF THOUGHTS

This is the provisions of the City Charter which is the basis of Wednesday night's  meeting..

2.8     Investigations; removals.

             (a)        The council may make investigations into the affairs of the city and the conduct of any city department, office, commission or agency and for this purpose may subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, take testimony and require the production of evidence. In addition to any other remedy, any person who willfully fails or refuses to obey a lawful order issued in the exercise of these powers by the council shall be adjudged a disorderly person, punishable by a fine of not more than $200.00, or by imprisonment for not more than 30 days or both.

            (b)        Council may remove any officer or employee, other than the mayor or a councilman, for cause, upon notice and an opportunity to be heard.

(boldface mine)

It is important that the Council follow through on this investigation. Although the dollars are small in the overall city expenditures it is significant in that it may indicate a pattern that has cost the taxpayers millions over the past  six years during periods in which no attempt was made to have responsible financial controls.

If there are improprieties  found then a   independent fiscal audit either by the city or thorough the AG's office of Plainfield's finances over the past six years should be mandatory.

If any particular individual or group are found to have willfully violated established  financial practices , then the Council must proceed  according to  part (b) 2.8. 

gross spelling errors and typos corrected 9:30A 9/21

WEDNESDAY COUNCIL MEETING

Wednesday night's Council special meeting will be held at 8 PM in City Hall library. There only two items on the agenda; the first being permitting will the high school band to march from the High School to the Hub Stein field on day the football games. That would take approximately 2 minutes. to dispose positively..

The second item is the investigation of the $20,000 be a to WBLS radio station. Due to the fact that the special meeting is scheduled in the small confines of the City Hall Library, and due to the fact that city employees will be there under subpoena is most likely that the Council is anticipating this portion of the special meeting to be held in closed session.

As previously written (Friday 916) there is a legal question as to the appropriateness of this action.  This meeting is not a hearing which is specific to the individuals expected to testify and has no power t take definitive action against anyone. Rather,  it is a general investigation in which the Public has a vested interest.  It would be nice if prior to the meeting the Council would post a legal opinion as to the rights of the public and the participants in this meeting.

There are other questions that have not been addressed. Among them is if any of the witnesses who have been subpoenaed retain legal aid, is the city responsible for the costs of same. Since, these individuals have refused to appear before the Council voluntarily it should not be the public responsibility to pay lawyers.

This question is also applicable to the Mayor if there should be a question of defending herself from charges of improper action. My bet is that in both incidents the answer is no; it is the person's responsibility.


Note that if any"action is taken" it will have to be done in the open meeting. That could be after the Council reconvenes it.

TIS THE SEASON FOR TV.

This couch potato's idea of the best in sports is when available; College Football and College Basketball, Pro Football  (Jets/Giants), and the Olympics.You may note that place College Football and Basketball first.

Professional sports should be perfect. I know it is not but in basket ball for instances the last five minutes of a game is always   a different animal. One wonders about effort  the first 32/3 quarters. Likewise Pro football  one finds excitement only when someone has goofed.. In other words in the Pro game  we expect perfection all of the time  and when the players do not deliver we can not sue them for mal practice.

The college games when between peer programs  is more exciting, the perfect performance is the bonus, the regular play is the excitement; when will something good/bad  happen?


For 10 hours yesterday, the last Saturday of summer it was the perfect NCAA football day several great games right to the  last tick of the clock.

Sanity in blogging will return tomorrow.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

 Alan Goldstein sent this comment concerning Friday's blog JUST POTPOURRI item on the Special Council Meeting for Wed 9/21/11 which I am re-posting here since his point merits in depth consideration by all.

"Our legal system doesn't leave room for "Star Chambers" held in secret.

Because the City Council is taking up the WBLS matter by choosing the route of issuing legal subpoenas, my question is, can it legally conduct its investigation in the privacy of executive session?

My sense is the Council ought to get a firm and independent legal opinion on this before willy-nilly deciding to close it to the public.

Once the subpoenas have been served, it is a legal issue and has moved beyond the lower bar of being a personnel issue.

Perhaps the Council can limit public attendence as courts may do under certain circumstances, but they may not entirely eliminate it.

Those subpoened are in jeopardy of a fine or imprisonment if they choose not to attend.

Our justice system demands the proceedings be held in the bright light of day, or the matter dropped.

City government is not a private club, and when the City Council sets itself up as judge and jury it must be done in the open before the people."

In a sense this investigation by a legislative body is analogous to a Congressional hearing which are not conducted as closed hearings except in matters of National Security. No one is on trial, this process is "fact finding" only. If  the investigation reveals improper or illegal action it then can take two forms of action:(1) Criminal Charges, (2) Executive Session action to determine administrative action.

Your comments are requested.

Addendum 11:30 AM; I would surmise that individuals testifying under subpoena would have the right to exercise their 5th Amendment rights.

JUST POTPOURRI

When I first started this blog in April 2008 I had no intention to become a reporter. My intention was to express my opinions on various subjects; occasionally relating to the day today affairs the city of Plainfield. I named the blog “Doc’s Potpourri” because of the variety subjects including; memories of my younger days, history of Plainfield the Great Depression on, autographs  photographs taken on are our many overseas vacations and  many to then exotic places, and even letters to the newspaper that I wished to post. .

To those who read my blog it is obvious that I am not a reporter. My take on meetings is a mixture of facts and interpretations. I feel sad that over the recent years I have had to devote most of this blog to Plainfield events. However, I welcome days like today when I can return somewhat to my original concept.

For instance, I learned today that Fort Monmouth has finally been closed. My fondest memory of that army base is limited to just one day; January 2, 1946.

That was the day I was formally placed on terminal leave from the Army. I had spent two years in service; 16 months was overseas in Europe with at least five months in combat, a great deal under actual fire.  On January 2, 1946 I was again able to hold my wife for the first time in 17 months and see my two baby daughters, one for the first time. During that time overseas in combat I actually accepted, not captured, the surrender of a German soldier. But that is a story unto itself.

More potpourri: Thursday’s Courier’s first page story was about the Council’s Special Meeting on Wednesday the 21^st. Members of the City Hall have been subpoenaed to appear and answer questions about the $20,000 spent in August 2010  in part to bring Rev. Sharp ton to Plainfield. These individuals have the right to be heard in private and I anticipate they will be there with their lawyers and that the session will be closed to the public. There will be some business on the agenda which properly should be the first order of business before the Council goes into executive session.

One should not interpolate the desire not to be publicly heard to be an indication of complicity but not necessarily wrong doing. They can also have a desire not to implicate by name other individuals in an open forum. That is the right and protection that our Charter and the State laws grant everyone employed in the city and must be respect.

Yesterday, Thursday I posted an excuse for not writing a blog and alluded to Greek gods whose names are still memorialized in our present language.   Of course his name has remained in our vocabulary as hypnotic, hypnosis etc..

Hypnos God of sleep had several sons. These three are known as the trio: 

      Morpheus, the god of dreams. We have retained his name in “Morphine

   Phobetor the god of nightmares that appears as animals or monsters. He specializes in surreal dreams          
   Phanatasos, the god of dreams that appear as inanimate objects. He lives in English as the word “fantasy”.

Relatives include Thanatos: he is Hypnos’s twin and is the God of death. Pasthea is the goddess of hallucinations. 

These are only a few of the relatives of Hypnos

One final thought; if you think the Democrats are not worried after Tuesday’s election in the NY 9^th district, guess again.  For a Republican to win that seat which by birthright has always been without question 90% Democratic demonstrates how vulnerable Obama is at this moment.

  

It has been part of the religious calling of the inhabitants in that district to consider the Republicans as the incarnation of the devil. The Democrats poured a fortune into this election, many times more than the Republicans, Even with a candidate with a name they lost soundly.

Of course they are poo pooing the results, but if the Republican’s have one ounce of brain power and  select a solid near central candidate, Obama will have no better chance than that proverbial snowball. Don’t worry; the Teaparty is blackmailing the majority in Washington, so there still may be a second term.

NOSTALGIA

A little bit of yesterday originally posted Saturday, May 10, 2008

Trolley Times

With all the concern registered about public access to MRC's replacements,I thought a brief and likely inaccurate essay would be appropriate.

In the twenties the local public transportation was provided by the trolley lines. The Public Service Transportation line ran from Bound Brook to Newark. It may have started in Somerville but I have no recollection of its exact route.

In Plainfield the tracks ran from the Dunellen border down Front St. to Watchung Ave. turned south to Fifth Street. The route continued east to Richmond St. then under the RR tracks to Third St. (I don’t believe it was Second but 60-70 years was a long long time ago.) and east to the city line.

After crossing Terrill Road, the tracks used a private “cross country” dirt right of way, finally entering Westfield on North Ave. The Jolly Trolley is so named because of the tracks that ran down the Street. I can’t recall where the tracks again ran south of the railroad, but between Garwood and Cranford there was again a private right of way south of the road.

In Elizabeth after passing under the Pennsylvania RR tracks into downtown Elizabeth the cars merged with “the main line tracks into Newark and Penn Station.

Sometime in the 30s the trolleys were replaced by ecological friendly ‘Trolley-Busses”. They ran on electricity from the overhead wires, and could manipulate as vehicles do today. Of course the tracks were abandoned or paved over. The Scotch Plains right of way became Midway Avenue. Many of the tracks were torn up for the steel during WWII.

There were two local lines serviced by “Toonverville Trolley"** like cars. Unlike the interurban vehicles of the main line (29) these cars did not have double trucks for wheels. The 4th Street line went from beyond Clinton Ave ( Evona???) to join the Public Service line at Watchung Ave and terminated its run downtown perhaps in New Street.

The other line I remember ran down Somerset Street in North Plainfield, then via the 4th St. route from Front Street to Arlington Ave, down Randolph to Park, past the Hospital, to South End Parkway, terminating at Hillside Cemetery.

We had a “Heinz Hound”, Rex, who was every child’s delight, and the Lothario of the West End as well as the Adirondacks. On warm days, Rex like to lie-down in the middle of 4th. St. on the tracks and absorb the sun. Obviously auto traffic was much less than it is today so he was never in real danger. The trolley operator would stop, clank the car’s bell and Rex would amble off to the side until the street was clear.

In as much as my memory is faulty on some matters, as always, I would appreciate comments from anyone who has a better recall

** a comic strip.

CORRECTION

I have been unformed that the warning about 90# is applicable only to PBX type switchboards and not private phones. The source of my information was one I considered impeccable and believed that it was her own experience but obviously it was a "fwrding" of an email.