Published in the Star-Ledger, Wednesday, November 7, 2007
ESSEX BRIEFS
Bank blamed for delay in relocating business
EAST ORANGE: Nearly 1 1/2 years after a ceremonial ground- breaking was held at a city redevelopment site, developer Oliver Brown says he is still waiting for a new home for his business, Oveter's Construction Inc., to materialize.
About two dozen pieces of construction equipment -- mainly trucks, excavators and bulldozers -- dot the 5-acre site off Glenwood Avenue and Glenwood Place, but only an off-white trailer with a blue trim is housed on the site.
Bank financing is still needed to ensure the new home for the excavation, paving, demolition, site work, concrete and masonry firm business, Brown said yesterday.
"I'm waiting on the bank (financing), Brown said.
Brown said he was hopeful that financing would be in place within the next couple of months.
Brown's long-delayed dream -- outlined during an August 2006 ceremonial groundbreaking at the site -- calls for constructing a 9,000-square-foot, two-story office building, a 4,000-square-foot garage with four bays, and a concrete mixing plant.
Back in 2006, Brown predicted he would be able to relocate his existing businesses from Springdale Avenue in East Orange and Monroe Avenue in Plainfield to the new location by the end of last year.
The site originally was the business home of the N.J. Cement Stone Co., from 1911 to 1951; and then the Multiplex Concrete Co. Inc., from 1951 until the 1990s.
When the former owners stopped paying taxes and liens reached $2.3 million, the city foreclosed on the property.
It eventually turned into an illegal dumping site with hundreds of rubber tires and assorted debris before Brown took over and began cleaning it up.
Online story here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Monday, November 19, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Mailto syntax test
This post is to test the mailto syntax to generate a blank, pre-addressed email to invite questions for a public forum.
Click here to send your question by email.
or this one here.
or this third option here.
--Dan
Click here to send your question by email.
or this one here.
or this third option here.
--Dan
Friday, November 09, 2007
Schools - Courier - Interim Super offers resignation
Published in the Courier News, Friday, November 9, 2007
Three Plainfield school officials submit resignations
Interim superintendent, business administrator and assistant superintendent
site [sic] compensation in letter to school board.
By BRANDON LAUSCH
STAFF WRITER
PLAINFIELD -- Five months after the city's top school administrators suddenly resigned from the district, three replacements have told Board of Education members they are prepared to leave their posts over a private contractual dispute.
In a joint letter sent Wednesday to school board members, Interim Superintendent Peter E. Carter, Interim Business Administrator Michael Donow and Interim Assistant Superintendent Walter Rusak -- who also serves as high-school principal -- said "it appears that we have been unable to come to an agreement on the time required to adequately perform the duties inherent in these positions."
In the letter, obtained Thursday night by the Courier News, the district heads say they "agonized many hours and many days" following an Oct. 16 business meeting that "ended in an abrupt adjournment without the courtesy of at least recognition of our request for compensation for some of our plus forty work week hours."
"The message sent to us by the Board was clear," the letter states. "We are perplexed as to what may have caused such disrespect."
To ensure a smooth transition for the more than 6,000 children who attend Plainfield's 13 public schools, Carter, Donow and Rusak said the resignations will take effect Dec. 31 instead of within the next 10 days, as their contract allows. The search for a permanent superintendent is expected to end in February.
When Carter and Donow were appointed, officials said Carter would receive $850 a day for his service, while Donow would earn $700 a day. Carter, Donow and Rusak could not be reached for comment. City schools were closed Thursday and will remain that way today because of the New Jersey Education Association convention in Atlantic City.
Board President Patricia Barksdale, who early Thursday night was returning home from a trip, said, "I don't have anything that supports any resignations." She did not return a subsequent phone call. Other board members and a district spokesman did not return messages.
Former Superintendent Paula Howard resigned June 6. Just days later, the Board of Education hired Carter as interim superintendent, and he took the post June 11. The district has an interim school business administrator/board secretary because Victor Demming left the district in June, and has other interim posts because several of Howard's cabinet members were found to be uncertified for their jobs.
In the five months since Carter took control of the district, he repeatedly has underscored a "post-6/11" mindset he said he has instilled in city educators. In a recent community forum designed to address low scores Plainfield's schools received this year in a stinging state monitoring report, Carter assured residents that administrators have quickly responded to deficiencies identified by the state, improved teacher morale and worked to incorporate parents into the educational process.
The state report, released in August and known as the NJ Quality Single Accountability Continuum, revealed the district scored below 50 percent in four of five key areas. The analysis was one in a series of state evaluations that have placed schools in Plainfield, an Abbott district, below federal Adequate Yearly Progress standards.
Though Carter, Donow and Rusak said they "have been forced to sever our ties" with the school board, Carter said he will be making several suggestions at upcoming board meetings to ensure "important initiatives" aimed at meeting education guidelines continue after his departure.
Those suggestions will come during Tuesday's work and study session, followed by "recommendations for action" at the board's Nov. 20 meeting, according to the letter.
"It has been, and continues to be, our pleasure to be a catalyst in the vast improvement of the Plainfield Public Schools," the letter concludes.
Brandon Lausch can be reached at (908) 707-3175 or blausch@c-n.com.
Online story here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Three Plainfield school officials submit resignations
Interim superintendent, business administrator and assistant superintendent
site [sic] compensation in letter to school board.
By BRANDON LAUSCH
STAFF WRITER
PLAINFIELD -- Five months after the city's top school administrators suddenly resigned from the district, three replacements have told Board of Education members they are prepared to leave their posts over a private contractual dispute.
In a joint letter sent Wednesday to school board members, Interim Superintendent Peter E. Carter, Interim Business Administrator Michael Donow and Interim Assistant Superintendent Walter Rusak -- who also serves as high-school principal -- said "it appears that we have been unable to come to an agreement on the time required to adequately perform the duties inherent in these positions."
In the letter, obtained Thursday night by the Courier News, the district heads say they "agonized many hours and many days" following an Oct. 16 business meeting that "ended in an abrupt adjournment without the courtesy of at least recognition of our request for compensation for some of our plus forty work week hours."
"The message sent to us by the Board was clear," the letter states. "We are perplexed as to what may have caused such disrespect."
To ensure a smooth transition for the more than 6,000 children who attend Plainfield's 13 public schools, Carter, Donow and Rusak said the resignations will take effect Dec. 31 instead of within the next 10 days, as their contract allows. The search for a permanent superintendent is expected to end in February.
When Carter and Donow were appointed, officials said Carter would receive $850 a day for his service, while Donow would earn $700 a day. Carter, Donow and Rusak could not be reached for comment. City schools were closed Thursday and will remain that way today because of the New Jersey Education Association convention in Atlantic City.
Board President Patricia Barksdale, who early Thursday night was returning home from a trip, said, "I don't have anything that supports any resignations." She did not return a subsequent phone call. Other board members and a district spokesman did not return messages.
Former Superintendent Paula Howard resigned June 6. Just days later, the Board of Education hired Carter as interim superintendent, and he took the post June 11. The district has an interim school business administrator/board secretary because Victor Demming left the district in June, and has other interim posts because several of Howard's cabinet members were found to be uncertified for their jobs.
In the five months since Carter took control of the district, he repeatedly has underscored a "post-6/11" mindset he said he has instilled in city educators. In a recent community forum designed to address low scores Plainfield's schools received this year in a stinging state monitoring report, Carter assured residents that administrators have quickly responded to deficiencies identified by the state, improved teacher morale and worked to incorporate parents into the educational process.
The state report, released in August and known as the NJ Quality Single Accountability Continuum, revealed the district scored below 50 percent in four of five key areas. The analysis was one in a series of state evaluations that have placed schools in Plainfield, an Abbott district, below federal Adequate Yearly Progress standards.
Though Carter, Donow and Rusak said they "have been forced to sever our ties" with the school board, Carter said he will be making several suggestions at upcoming board meetings to ensure "important initiatives" aimed at meeting education guidelines continue after his departure.
Those suggestions will come during Tuesday's work and study session, followed by "recommendations for action" at the board's Nov. 20 meeting, according to the letter.
"It has been, and continues to be, our pleasure to be a catalyst in the vast improvement of the Plainfield Public Schools," the letter concludes.
Brandon Lausch can be reached at (908) 707-3175 or blausch@c-n.com.
Online story here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
DeFilippo - Ledger - State launches investigation
Published in the Star-Ledger, Friday, November 9, 2007
Probe focuses on Union politicos
Subpoenas seek info from top Democrats
BY IAN T. SHEARN
Star-Ledger Staff
State officials have opened an investigation into matters involving some of Union County's most powerful Democrats, The Star-Ledger has learned.
The focus of the ongoing investigation points toward county Democratic Chairwoman Charlotte DeFilippo, the former freeholder who heads the Union County Improvement Authority and is a legislative aide to Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union).
DeFilippo confirmed the existence of five subpoenas that demand documents and information about her public and private business dealings. The contents of the subpoenas, which were served in September and October, were described by DeFilippo this week in an interview.
"When you wear several hats, you acquire enemies over the years," she said.
DeFilippo is a towering political figure in Union County, where Democrats dominate most town councils and have held a 9-0 lock on the freeholder board since 1997. She does not hold elected office. But as head of the county committee, DeFilippo hand-picks the Democratic candidates for freeholder, mayor and council in the county.
According to DeFilippo, the subpoenas seek:
According to documents, Camelot's owners also include Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union), who said he was a "passive investor" with a 5 percent stake in the firm. Last year, he reported between $10,000 and $25,000 in income from Camelot on his state financial disclosure form.
"I haven't seen any subpoenas, haven't been contacted by anyone," said Cryan, who is also state Democratic chairman.
DeFilippo, who owns 10 percent of the company, is not required to report how much she makes from Camelot, and declined to tell The Star-Ledger. DeFilippo also said she has had no involvement with the operation of the company since she helped promote it during its startup three years ago.
"I'm a small piece of a cog of the wheel," DeFilippo said. Asked why she was brought into the partnership she said, "because I know a lot of people."
The late Sen. Joseph Suliga (D-Union) was a founding partner in Camelot, which performs title searches, sells title insurance and refinances mortgages, DeFilippo said. Other founding partners included Steve Edwards, she said.
Edwards is also the founder of Business & Government Insurance Agency, which does business with numerous governmental agencies in New Jersey, including six towns in Union County. Phone and e-mail messages left with Edwards yesterday were not returned.
DeFilippo said the Union County Improvement Authority had never used Camelot Title in any of its real estate transactions.
Real estate records do show that Camelot filed papers in 2005 as part of a deal in which the Improvement Authority sold land to a developer. But it appears Camelot was hired by the developer, and not the Improvement Authority.
"We have absolutely never issued any money to Camelot," she said.
A phone message left yesterday for Robert Sebia, who is Camelot's president, was not returned.
As for her $10,000-per-year job as a legislative aide to Cohen, DeFilippo said she has been doing that job since 1990 and provides Cohen analysis and recommendations on legislative and budget matters.
Cohen corroborated her explanation.
"She has one of the most brilliant minds in the state," he said.
Another subpoena directed at DeFilippo and the Union County Democratic Committee asks for all records pertaining to the 2006 Roselle primary, DeFilippo said.
Criminal Justice investigators have also served subpoenas on the county Board of Elections, officials have said, asking about the handling of absentee ballots during last year's Democratic primary.
DeFilippo said the state subpoena delivered to her committee seeks all records of the party's involvement in that race.
The subpoena served on the Improvement Authority is less specific.
"Basically they want to see everything we've done here since 2004," she said. "We'll be shipping it in a truck."
DeFilippo said she is complying with all the subpoenas and welcomes the scrutiny.
"I've been involved in politics for 35 years, and I do it in the most aboveboard and transparent manner," she said. "I just want to know who's going to say, 'Sorry, Charlotte' when this is all over."
Jonathan Casiano contributed to this report. Ian T. Shearn may be reached at ishearn@starledger.com or (973) 392-1671.
Online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Probe focuses on Union politicos
Subpoenas seek info from top Democrats
BY IAN T. SHEARN
Star-Ledger Staff
State officials have opened an investigation into matters involving some of Union County's most powerful Democrats, The Star-Ledger has learned.
The focus of the ongoing investigation points toward county Democratic Chairwoman Charlotte DeFilippo, the former freeholder who heads the Union County Improvement Authority and is a legislative aide to Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union).
DeFilippo confirmed the existence of five subpoenas that demand documents and information about her public and private business dealings. The contents of the subpoenas, which were served in September and October, were described by DeFilippo this week in an interview.
"When you wear several hats, you acquire enemies over the years," she said.
DeFilippo is a towering political figure in Union County, where Democrats dominate most town councils and have held a 9-0 lock on the freeholder board since 1997. She does not hold elected office. But as head of the county committee, DeFilippo hand-picks the Democratic candidates for freeholder, mayor and council in the county.
According to DeFilippo, the subpoenas seek:
- Financial and other documents for the last three years from the Improvement Authority, which each year awards millions in contracts to construction, law and engineering firms.
- An explanation of her duties as Cohen's aide. Cohen said he also received a subpoena in late October, asking for any records pertaining to his employment of DeFilippo.
- All records relating to the county Democratic Committee's involvement in last year's primary election in Roselle, in which allegations of voter fraud are being investigated by the state Division of Criminal Justice.
- A client list and financial records from Camelot Title Agency, a Woodbridge company in which DeFilippo owns a minority stake.
According to documents, Camelot's owners also include Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union), who said he was a "passive investor" with a 5 percent stake in the firm. Last year, he reported between $10,000 and $25,000 in income from Camelot on his state financial disclosure form.
"I haven't seen any subpoenas, haven't been contacted by anyone," said Cryan, who is also state Democratic chairman.
DeFilippo, who owns 10 percent of the company, is not required to report how much she makes from Camelot, and declined to tell The Star-Ledger. DeFilippo also said she has had no involvement with the operation of the company since she helped promote it during its startup three years ago.
"I'm a small piece of a cog of the wheel," DeFilippo said. Asked why she was brought into the partnership she said, "because I know a lot of people."
The late Sen. Joseph Suliga (D-Union) was a founding partner in Camelot, which performs title searches, sells title insurance and refinances mortgages, DeFilippo said. Other founding partners included Steve Edwards, she said.
Edwards is also the founder of Business & Government Insurance Agency, which does business with numerous governmental agencies in New Jersey, including six towns in Union County. Phone and e-mail messages left with Edwards yesterday were not returned.
DeFilippo said the Union County Improvement Authority had never used Camelot Title in any of its real estate transactions.
Real estate records do show that Camelot filed papers in 2005 as part of a deal in which the Improvement Authority sold land to a developer. But it appears Camelot was hired by the developer, and not the Improvement Authority.
"We have absolutely never issued any money to Camelot," she said.
A phone message left yesterday for Robert Sebia, who is Camelot's president, was not returned.
As for her $10,000-per-year job as a legislative aide to Cohen, DeFilippo said she has been doing that job since 1990 and provides Cohen analysis and recommendations on legislative and budget matters.
Cohen corroborated her explanation.
"She has one of the most brilliant minds in the state," he said.
Another subpoena directed at DeFilippo and the Union County Democratic Committee asks for all records pertaining to the 2006 Roselle primary, DeFilippo said.
Criminal Justice investigators have also served subpoenas on the county Board of Elections, officials have said, asking about the handling of absentee ballots during last year's Democratic primary.
DeFilippo said the state subpoena delivered to her committee seeks all records of the party's involvement in that race.
The subpoena served on the Improvement Authority is less specific.
"Basically they want to see everything we've done here since 2004," she said. "We'll be shipping it in a truck."
DeFilippo said she is complying with all the subpoenas and welcomes the scrutiny.
"I've been involved in politics for 35 years, and I do it in the most aboveboard and transparent manner," she said. "I just want to know who's going to say, 'Sorry, Charlotte' when this is all over."
Jonathan Casiano contributed to this report. Ian T. Shearn may be reached at ishearn@starledger.com or (973) 392-1671.
Online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
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