Progress in Plainfield ?

I recently commented that, in spite of some bumps in the road, Plainfield was making progress. To which a citizen wrote back:

"You state that Plainfield has made much progress. Would you please tell me what progress has been made? I've lived here for 20 years and do not see any. To the contrary, the town has continued to decline. ..something I didn't think was possible."

I stand by my statement. Here's why:

• in the last 10 years, after decades of neglect, we began to rebuild our infrastructure. We installed storm drains and repaved North Avenue. We have a roads program underway. We have replaced police and fire division equipment. We have new equipment for road maintenance which will save Plainfield millions of dollars into the future.
• we improved tax collections significantly from 87% to 95% within a 6 year period
• we removed two of the three biggest obstacles to downtown development with the redevelopment of the Park-Madison and Teppers sites (perception of crime is the major obstacle left). Virtually all downtown stores are open for business, a far cry from 15 or 20 years ago.
• Many of the abandoned buildings in town are now replaced or fixed up.

I could give more examples but these are the major developments.

But don't accuse me of wearing rose colored glasses. I see significant problems that we need to solve. Most of our roads need fixing. Downtown is still perceived by many as unsafe (even though crime stats reflect a much less negative picture). The tax collection rate should be more like 97%. We have eyesores and overcrowding problems in some residential areas and still no coherent plan to address this. Progress mentioned above is exactly that, positive steps towards outcomes we have yet to achieve.

Why is it so important to recognize progress and put it in a historical context? Because without understanding where we we started, how we got to the present state of affairs and where we are heading , we will never get where we want to be. You have a right to criticize the Park Madison or Teppers projects. I certainly didn't like some of the design features. But it is a big mistake to ignore what they mean to the future of downtown Plainfield. You have a right to be frustrated by the sorry state of certain roads. And our proposed solutions will not satisfy most residents in the near term. It will take many years to fix what took many years to deteriorate.

Criticism is important and we need more of it. There certainly is a reluctance in city hall to speak out on our problems. But criticism is only effective when backed up by facts, by understanding. Without the facts, criticism can be harmful. I got involved in local government because I got sick and tired of giving and hearing criticism that led nowhere.

Our progress has been slow and unsteady at times. But progress it is and it provides hope for Plainfield. That's what keeps me motivated.

I thank the person who posted the comment at the top of this blog. It would be a healthy debate to continue - are we moving forward or not. Successful businesses answer this question by tracking measurable objectives over time. I hope this debate is about that rather than blanket statements for or against the performance of government officials.

Cory Storch

PS - I recognize that the frustration of citizens is, in part, a lack of faith in their government at all levels. I will try to respond to this mistrust in the local levels of government in my next blog.

Police Chief vs Police Director

An ordinance is supposed to have lasting influence, not be a temporary, short term measure. I am asking myself what the impact of this proposed change to Police Director will have not only on this administration but succeeding ones as well. My vote will be based on what is best for Plainfield in the long run.

The advantage of Police Director is in the short run. The disconnect between public safety policy and implementation could be solved this way. The disadvantage is that political influence on the police force, already considerable, will likely increase.

This is a tough decision for me because both sides of the argument are strong. I will be voting against the change to Police Director because the political influence argument is a stronger one in my opinion.

Political influence can be positive or negative. At its best, "political" can mean finding common ground between opposing groups to find a solution that all can live with. Ray Blanco comes to mind when I think of political in this positive way. At its worst, it means finding jobs for friends and supporters even though there are more qualified people available for the job or the commission appointment. This is a real concern for me in Plainfield. We have had a culture of connections over qualifications for a long time. This definitely goes back decades. I think we started to move away from it and I do not want to see us take a step backwards. A Police Chief clearly provides a better shield than a Police Director from elected officials requesting promotions, disciplinary actions and hirings.

A City Council member is from the legislative branch of government. As such, a vote on this ordinance should be about the position and not the people involved. I do not believe my Council colleagues are out to get the Police Chief. If they vote differently from me, I believe they are seeing the issues in a different light. And I expect that, if Plainfield chooses the Police Director position, they will work with me to make sure that political influence in the police department is of the good kind and not the other.

My take on the 2008 Plainfield City Budget

The budget is approved, finally, 8 months into the municipal budget year. Under state budgeting rules, towns cannot do the sensible thing: approve a budget before the year begins. Most towns declare budgeting victory if they can get it done 4 months after the fact. For urban municipalities that depend on the special tax relief called "extraordinary aid", the best we can do is 6 months late. So blame New Jersey for the first 6 months and Plainfield for the last 2 months delay.

By the way, waiting for that extraordinary aid was well worth it for Plainfield. We got $800,000. Credit Assemblyman Jerry Green for that.

Given the time we had to produce a budget, how did we do as a city? I give us a mixed review.

On the positive side the Mayor and her administration made some tough spending decisions to deliver a budget to the Council that had an 8.5% tax increase. It might not sound that good until you understand the mandated salary increases from union contracts and state health and pension costs that are way out of control. Also, the Council was not tempted to dip into surplus to lower taxes. In another blog, I will explain the downside of using surplus as a one time fix for property tax relief.

Area's for improvement:

1. Get the budget approved earlier in the year, certainly no later than early to mid December. This goal is for the administration and is directly related to hiring and retaining qualified financial leadership, a serious problem for this administration.

2. Increase revenues! Money coming in to offset our continual cost increases is a must. We have to get back to the increases in various revenue producing activities that we saw in the last administration.

3. We have cut a lot of fat out of local government in the last 10 years by looking at budget line items. Now we have to take aim at systems to make sure we are getting our money's worth as Plainfield residents. Some of the questions we need to ask are:

• Do we need 3 fire stations given how Plainfield and surrounding towns share firefighting assignments. Can we do this without sacrificing response time.
• Are we getting value from the deployment of property code inspectors to closely regulate each and every house that is sold. Instead, should we use them more strategically to address eyesores and serious safety problems.
• Can we significantly reduce legal and workers compensation costs through a comprehensive risk management program.
• When will information technology and public relations become more than a hole to pour money into. When will it result in a more efficient government that is more convenient for the people and more cost effective as well.

The 8.5% tax increase was reduced to 6.5% as a result of the extraordinary aid and some cost reductions made by Council. I voted against this budget but I am relieved that it passed. Tax bills need to be sent out. I will vote for a tax increase if residents are guaranteed that every effort was made to keep taxes as low as possible and that they will receive the best quality services.

We are not there yet although I have seen some improvements in recent years. Most important for me is that the potential for significant progress exists in Plainfield. The pace of progress is directly connected to citizen participation in government. Get (or stay!) involved.

Cory Storch , City Councilman, 2nd Ward

Public Safety and the Police Chief

I was unable to attend the Council meeting that approved the submission of the layoff plan to eliminate the Police Chief position. No, I did not stay home to avoid voting against the resolution. But I do feel obligated to state my position and to add something useful to the discussion that has begun on this controversial topic.

As Plainfield enters into this debate, we need to be focused on the real objective and separate it from the political agendas and personal feelings that swirl around Chief Santiago. It is that Plainfielders need to be safe in their homes, neighborhoods and community. And they need to perceive that they are safe as well.

Before I give you my thinking on the layoff idea, a comment on crime statistics. The homicide rate is a critical measure of community health but is not an effective measure of police effectiveness. Police cannot prevent homicides directly. So beware politicians using it. We have, however, proved in Plainfield that the homicide rate can be used to elect a mayor.

Crime stats can be useful. The numbers comparing burglary, assault and other, more common crimes from year to year in Plainfield are very helpful for police strategy. The national, regional and local trends over time are also useful to see whether Plainfield is merely following the overall decrease in crimes or, as we fervently hope, beating the downward trend. My opinion as a citizen (I am not a public safety professional) is that we are not improving as much as we could and not doing enough to narrow the crime gap between Plainfield and surrounding towns like Scotch Plains, Westfield and Dunellen. This is where the Police Chief comes in.

We have all heard that some high crime cities have made major strides in crime reduction because of a progressive police chief exhibiting strong leadership and using creative policing strategies. I have come to believe that Plainfield needs to emulate these cities. I do not believe we have done so yet.

We have an excellent police force. Local elected officials, in my opinion, understand the importance of public safety and have the desire to do what is necessary for improvement. Chief Santiago is a truly honorable and dedicated Chief. Who could be more responsive to citizen complaints than our Chief? So why isn't Plainfield beating the national crime reduction trends. I believe there is a disconnect between the stated desires of elected officials and citizens on one hand and police policy implementation on the other.

The message I hear from our Police Chief is - we are doing a terrific job (I agree for the most part) and - we are doing everything we possibly can (I disagree). I am not quoting him but paraphrasing what I have heard him say about the departments performance over the last four years. He deserves our respect and gratitude for what he has accomplished in Plainfield under the current policing approach. The real question is how do we improve public safety going forward. I want to see a Police leader who is bringing us new public safety initiatives and lessons learned from other cities. I am not seeing that. Council members have continually asked for more quality of life enforcement and I do not see a satisfying response. I do not see a coordinated effort to implement police policy between the Chief and the city administration (current and previous).

If I was in attendance at the last Council meeting I would have voted in favor of submitting the layoff plan to the state. I believe the citizens want the mayor and council to do a better job with public safety, more than satisfaction with the current approach, more than proclaiming a drop in the homicide rate. The administration deserves the opportunity to try some new approaches in our police department.

Further City Council action will be needed to switch from a police chief to a police director, assuming the state approves the layoff plan. I have not yet taken a position on future steps. I have questions about state law and regulations that I need to answer. For now, I think we are pointing in the right direction. We need to make changes. We must be very careful to do this effectively. I do not want to see a good police force become less effective. We could do a whole lot worse than where we are right now. But we need to do better. I hope our discussions are based on an honest assessment of where we are today in the public safety domain, what we want and the best way to get there.

Cory Storch
City Councilman, 2nd Ward

PS - I missed the last Council meeting because I have been accepted as a fellow in Leadership New Jersey. Thursday night was part of a mandatory training session to set the stage for a 12 month program. Leadership NJ brings together leaders from all walks of New Jersey life to identify and and work on the states' problems. Plainfield has been represented in the program in past years by Kaili Baucum, Andrea West, Reverend Gerald Thomas and Jim McGreevey among others.

Redevelopment in 2008

Development activities in Plainfield and around New Jersey in general have slowed down. My colleague Rashid Burney explains why in his recent newsletter. Along with the obvious disadvantage (we do need redevelopment!) there is an advantage to our being in the down part of this economic cycle. We have more time to plan and to get it right. We can make the shift from reactive to proactive. In a reactive approach, you wait for developers to tell you where, when and what they want to do. Being proactive means the partnership with developers becomes more balanced toward big picture thinking with an emphasis on local preferences. Here is what we should be doing in 2008:

1. The Planning Board must continue its work to revise the Zoning Ordinance so that we increase density around the downtown train station and the central business district while protecting the lower densities in our residential neighborhoods.

2. The Council and Administration should do an economic development plan for the whole 4 mile railroad corridor.

3. Once we have consensus on what we want in the way of commercial development and business retention, we should develop and implement a marketing plan to attract new businesses.

4. The city should continue to study sustainable building and land use and approve an ordinance that promotes use of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

5. The city should conduct a traffic and parking study that will tie together all proposed redevelopment impacts.

6. The city should identify buildings in our redevelopment areas that can be preserved through adaptive re-use. After all, historic architectural features distinguishes Plainfield from most of its competitors.

7. The city needs a planning process that ties the above elements together with an emphasis on local input. Residents and business owners do not feel included and their partication will lead to buy-in (and less threat of lawsuits).

Comments are welcome and can be emailed to corys37@aol.com. Please indicate if you do not want me to post your comments on my blog and if you do, with mention of your name or anonymously.

A Netherwood Christmas

Thanks to the Netherwood Neighborhood Association for organzing the luminaria display the night before Christmas. The organizers and block captains should feel proud to have continued a long tradition with what was the biggest display yet.




AS I walked around the neighborhood that night, I was thinking how special Plainfield is and how lucky I am to have such great neighbors.

No insult intended to the photographer ( my daughter Alexa) but pictures don't do justice to the actual sights that night.

The Road Taken

I am talking about road paving, not poetry. Until recently, talking about Plainfield's roads was not a pleasant topic. There is now good news on the horizon. Plainfield is now the proud owner of new road repair and maintenance equipment. Our road crews starting doing repairs with it this week.

If you want to check it out drive over to Oak Lane off Watchung Avenue - the lower portion. It was on my list as the worst road in the 2nd Ward and probably the whole city (with Central Street close behind). The new equipment does large patches with milling and paving machines. It is not the same as total road reconstruction but it will last a good amount of time, it is much cheaper and it will make life more livable for residents until we can work our way through the road reconstruction list.

Our new equipment will save us millions of dollars in the long run. We have not maintained our roads for decades. As they get worse, a less costly milling and paving will not suffice. A total reconstruction will be necessary. This costs twice as much. It is shameful that we have allowed some roads to reach this point.

Instead of allowing our roads to continue their deterioration, the new maintenance program will prevent the need for total reconstruction. Just go to a shopping mall parking lot and look at the asphalt cracks. They are regularly sealed. This will become part of our program too.

Thanks go to the following for this improvement in city services:

Al McWilliams, whose administration got the ball rolling

Sharon Robinson Briggs, whose administration followed through with the equipment purchasing

John Louise, Public Works Superintendent, who has been the driving force behind the road maintenance program start up

The DPW work crew, who now are the envy of the surrounding towns for the training and new equipment Plainfield has provided

The 2004 City Council who embraced and funded this program (including current council members Rayland Van Blake, Linda Carter and yours truly)

Its nice to highlight an initiative that I can truly be proud of, one that will be nicer for our vehicle tires and suspensions, and will save Plainfielders lots of money for many years.

Cory Storch
2nd Ward City Councilman