A Crowded City Council Room 4/27/16
*Photo by Carolyn Maxwell

The Dominican Festival will go on as scheduled with the location that it has been held for the past 3 years. There were heated discussions both pro and con as to why it should or should not have been held at Wilentz field. The Council voted that it was all systems go.

Suggestions were made on how to improve this years Dominican Festival. Shuttle Service, utilizing public and private parking lots, more security and port o’ potties. The hours when entertainment should cease was discussed. It also was determined that the festival organizers did everything that was required under the present ordinance.

City Clerk Elaine Jasko said, “When the new Business Administrator Adam Cruz came aboard, he immediately took charge of some of the problems discussed by the residents who wanted the Festival moved. Cruz was not here when that petition was first presented by those residents.”

I’m not surprised at the outcome, because let’s face it – it was handled very poorly from the beginning. This issue had been festering for at least 6 months. What surprised me is that the Council Meeting was held in the Council Chambers with a crowd that surpassed the occupancy of the room. There is as sign posted on the doorway before you walk into the Council Chambers. I have been to at least 2 meetings in the past where the meetings had to be relocated because of large attendance. Clearer heads prevailed at these meetings and they were moved to either Olive Street Community Center or McGinnis School.

I thought it was a gentleman’s agreement between the Board of Education and the City to make larger spaces available if such incidents would occur. Was that agreement voided? If so, when did this happen? Everyone has a right to go to public meetings and to stay at those meetings until they are adjourned. There had been times when people have attended meetings with no intention of speaking. After hearing comments (either from the Council, public or administrators) many individuals have decided to speak.

Whose decision is it to call the shots when they see that the Council Chambers will not be sufficient to hold the crowd? Perhaps when they read the Notice of Meeting they should add, “If the occupancy of the room is exceeded then the following have the authority to change the location of the meeting in a reasonable amount of time to accommodate the public. It can be any one of these individuals: the presiding Council President, the Police and Fire Department. I suggest that this be added immediately.

I can’t remember if it was the Planning Board or PARA, but at the meeting when the City was deciding whether or not to build King Plaza, there was such a crowd that the first thing spoken by one Board Member was, “There is a such a large crowd here that there is a fire hazard. We must move the meeting to McGinnis School and reconvene in an hour.” They voted and the meeting was relocated to McGinnis School. In fact, at that meeting so many people came up to speak, they had to continue the meeting later on in the week.

At the beginning of the 4/27/16 Council Meeting, Council President Lisa Nanton asked those who spoke in regards to the resolution on the Dominican Festival if after they were finished if they could kindly leave to give others who wish to speak on this matter a chance to sit.

This is not right. Everyone who comes to a Council Meeting or any Public Meeting for that matter has a right to stay to hear what others say until the meeting is adjourned (Unless you are extremely disruptive). If there is insufficient space, the meeting should be relocated that night.

It’s refreshing to see this amount of people at a public meeting. It’s been crowded before. More people should attend public meetings and stay informed.

One woman who sat near me during the meeting came specifically because she wanted to hear about the controversy over the Dominican Festival. Later in the evening, a discussion came up in regards to the YMCA. She became concerned because she uses the Y for her child to attend the afterschool programs. She turned to me and asked me what was going on in regards to the Y. When I gave her a history about the money issues that some people that are concerned about, she said, “Perhaps I should come to more meetings.”

If this woman had left the Meeting as requested, she would have never heard about issues going on that affected her.

I had no idea the amount of people that were in the corridor

(upstairs and downstairs) and outside City Hall until someone told me the next day. Thank God that an emergency had not occurred. I would hate to think of what would have happened.  C.M. & K.M.