##M:[more]##I moved to the West Windsor/Plainsboro area about seven years ago. Two things that really attracted me to this area were the great school system and the quiet environment. I ask everyone that has moved here recently to also think of why they took up roots in this area.
I moved here from a town called Iselin, which, when I was a child, was just like West Windsor is today — a nice neighborhood to raise a family. One of the things that Iselin is famous for today is being home to a transit center called Metropark. My parents still live in Iselin, and for a lack of better words, the town is a near ghetto.
Some benefits of living in Iselin today are: metal detectors in schools, crack vials in parks, traffic everywhere, and 18 karat gold shops on every other block.
Now if this is the West Windsor you want, then keep backing the businessmen posing as councilmen who have a vested interest in seeing traffic levels increase. If it isn’t, then rethink your drink.
It’s not too late to vote for people who want to maintain the sanctity of our community. I received a mailing today from a group that says they want to enhance a sense of community, the same group that is fully behind the “redevelopment” of West Windsor.
I fail to realize how the increase of retail presence is going to strengthen a community. A community is strengthened when people establish relationships with their neighbors. I have some wonderful neighbors here in West Windsor. My parents could not even tell you the first name of their next door neighbor in Iselin.
Promoting the frequent visit to retail centers, in fact, destroys a community. People no longer make the time to talk to their neighbors, and it brings more crime and traffic to areas with increased retail. This will most likely offset the benefit of “acquiring new business ratables.”
Cooperate with each other first before you start falling in line with the businessmen. Let’s keep our community from becoming another Iselin.
In a separate note, I’d like to thank councilman Will Anklowitz for addressing my issues from living on Penn Lyle Road. This road is a veritable drag racing strip and it was not being addressed until the councilman became involved. I thank him and Police Chief Joe Pica for their prompt attention to the matter. I hope we will see continued enforcement on Penn Lyle Road, because the speeding will continue.
I really dislike it when people push their political views on me, and tell me for whom I should vote. But it would make perfect sense to vote for someone who had the community and its citizens in mind, rather than the development of business. I hope I don’t have the opportunity in 10 to 20 years to say I told you so about the development.
Jerry Olcsvary
Princeton Junction
