Reverend Tracey Brown to host Thursday conversation

According to a press release, Reverend Tracey Brown will host a community discussion tonight about violence and how to move forward in improving the city. There were twelve murders in Plainfield last year, and four in December – just last month. In January one person has already been killed. Other quality of life issues will be…

Councilwoman Williams reverses course, sinks local pay-to-play restrictions

Last night in Plainfield Municipal Court, the City Council voted 4-3 on first reading to reverse it’s 2011 pay-to-play restrictions on vendors. I wrote about the ordinance, and its political significance, here on Monday. As expected, Councilors Mills-Ransome, Goode, and McRae  – who had never taken a public position on pay-to-play – voted the party line by supporting MC 2017-02,…

City Council may turn back the clock on pay-to-play

In 2011, the Plainfield City Council voted to enact strong pay-to-play legislation through a set of ordinances. These set strict limits for vendors’ political contributions to local candidates who’d control awarding of contracts. The ordinance with the most teeth was MC 2011-11, which notably set a $300 local donation limit for individuals associated with vendors, and $2500 for…

Clark Mayor addresses Black Puppet

By now you’ve likely heard about the controversy. The Plainfield High School Girls Basketball team found a black puppet with bulging eyes in their locker room – with a string around its neck and a basketball dangling above. You can read the story per NJ.com here. One Clark parent went on to say the puppet was supposed…

On Violence and Building in Plainfield

On Wednesday evening, I attended one of the most energetic grass roots meetings in recent memory, at 320 Park Avenue. It was facilitated by Project Hope, YES, and OPEN (Our People Effecting Neighborhoods), in response to the surge in shootings and murders in our city. The most recent had been 18 year old Manuel Berrios, who…