To the Editor:
Stop Using Schools
As Polling Places##M:[more]##
The time has come for election officials of Mercer and Middlesex counties to remove voting locations from West Windsor-Plainsboro schools because it causes “detrimental interruption.” Under New Jersey law, (Title 19:8-2), “preference in locations shall be given to schools and public buildings where space shall be made available by the authorities in charge, upon request, if same can be done without detrimental interruption of school or the usual public services thereof.”
Clearly the risk associated with allowing strangers into our schools, the fact that students and teachers lose access to teaching spaces, and the increased traffic that interferes with the safe transport of our children, teachers and staff to and from school constitute “detrimental interruption.”
Election officials refuse to make this move. Their argument that polling places must be in proximity to the majority of voters, and that schools are the only places that fulfill that requirement, does not hold water. We no longer live in farming communities where public buildings were few and far between.
There are a multitude of venues — including municipal buildings, libraries, churches, fire houses, etc. — scattered around town that could be used for voting. And people don’t walk to voting locations; they drive. Moreover, residents can utilize absentee voting, since state law has been changed to allow any voter to vote by absentee ballot for any election, without a reason.
Simply because voting has occurred in schools for a long time is no reason to continue the practice. On the contrary, because we live in a different world than we did 20 or even 10 years ago — in our post-Columbine, post-9/11 world — our polling locations must now change. Our election officials from Middlesex and Mercer County have the authority to make this change, and they should do it now.
The board of elections has the power to change voting locations, but they have repeatedly refused when asked by individuals. However there is strength in numbers. That is why we are asking you, the residents of West Windsor and Plainsboro, to join our efforts to remove voting from the schools. Let’s make our voices heard. Please support the safety of the children, teachers, and staff of WW-P schools by E-mailing your election officials — Jim Vokral (jim.vokral@co.middlesex.nj.us) and Dominic Magnolo (boardofelections@mercercounty.org) — and tell them you want voting removed from our schools today.
SOS: Secure Our Schools
Virginia Manzari, co-chairperson
Rose Barkenbush, co-chairperson
Salary Petition Moot
But Issue Remains
I would like to thank the people of West Windsor for their involvement in and support of our petition to have the West Windsor Town Council’s salary increase brought to the ballot in November. Ultimately the issue was removed from consideration by Council President Will Anklowitz, and the petition rendered moot, but the support shown by the hundreds of residents who signed the petition, and those who took the time to speak at Council meetings was surely the impetus for that withdrawal.
Thanks also to Councilperson Linda Geevers, who was the lone member of Council to stand against the increase and speak for the taxpayers.
The increase was small in the grand scheme of things, but the message to Council was not. People became involved, their voice was heard, and Council listened.
Council’s “monetary” costs are officially documented as little for some to none for others. Council needs to take stock of the “actual” costs associated with voluntarily pursuing elected office, one in which they know the compensation will never equal the time devoted to it, which some of them choose to pursue again and again when it is election time, and one, I might add, that most people would consider a privilege to hold and then determine individually if they are each willing to bear those costs for the greater good of the community. If not, perhaps this is not the position they should be holding.
Thanks again for everyone’s involvement and support. It was immeasurably appreciated.
Michael Ranallo
Trenton
Who’s Behind Raise?
This is in response to Mr. Will Anklowitz proposing a flat rate reimbursement of $250 per month for council members: He must think that the people of West Windsor are complete idiots. That’s even more money at the end of the year than the 50 percent pay raise they are looking for.
When I was in the workforce, I didn’t get a raise until I was on the job at least three years. Mr. Anklowitz has not been on the job a year and he thinks he deserves a raise.
What the people lose sight of is the fact that after eight years on the council, you get a pension for the rest of your life. That will be very costly in the long run. I believe Councilman Charlie Morgan is behind this raise issue because he has the time in office to get the pension.
Frank DeFranco
Lanark Drive, West Windsor
Editor’s note: See story, page 18, for more on this issue.
Goldin Plan:
Nothing in It
But 1,”000 Condos
I’ve watched the Goldin redevelopment plans with great interest. I started out skeptical after the debacle that his company had in Hamilton’s redevelopment effort, but turned to a “show-me” fan after seeing what he proposed at a meeting a bit over a month ago.
I liked the plan Goldin had for the Acme strip mall at the second meeting. He didn’t show us the plans for his property at that time — just a temptation that things would be great with the entire redevelopment package. Then we get bombarded with the parking space ads — the same one he is using at the Edison pitch his company is making. The one that says it won’t cost the taxpayers anything.
What is the financing pitch — TIF, Tax Incremental Financing. TIF is being proposed to finance the infrastructure changes needed to support the redevelopment — and, yes, I chuckle when I see the developers call infrastructure changes like roads and sewer to support their redevelopment “amenities.”
Some of our fellow citizens think the Goldin redevelopment will increase our tax base — well, it does and it doesn’t. Yes, the Goldin redevelopment will increase the tax base, but that increase will go to pay the TIF bond holders. The actual increase in taxes raised will not be that much — and we are at big risk of infrastructure and other impact costs not being included in the TIF and actually having our taxes increase quite a bit by the Goldin redevelopment.
In the end, TIF is just another way for the taxpayers to pay for something. And, yes, TIF only uses the incremental taxes generated by some type of improvement, but it is still tax revenue that our township does not receive that we would if not for the TIF.
The best you can hope for is that people have been thorough when they decide how much needs to be included in the TIF to cover the impact of the development. I feel little comfort that conservative values will be used to calculate the Goldin TIF with Cosmo Iacavazzi, vice president and director of new business development for Commercial Properties Network and current Pennington resident representing our interests on the Redevelopment Finance review committee.
If you slice away the potential from the actual in the Goldin redevelopment plan you’ll find that most of the nice things for the community are really out of scope for Goldin. His company owns the land where the condos will be built. The parking, most of the retail space, the “Lick-It” center rely on other owners to build stuff. And it is their land, maybe they have no desire do anything that Goldin has pitched us as part of his redevelopment plan.
So what do we really have in the Goldin plan? Parking — no guarantee. Restaurants — no guarantee. Retail — no guarantee. Route 571 eyesore improvements — no guarantee. The only thing that is guaranteed in the Goldin plan is that we will get an additional 1,”000 condos in West Windsor. Other than Goldin’s company, why would anyone want this? What should we do? How about this:
Continue with the current work underway by our township government to set a plan for 571. The new JP Morgan Chase bank across from Acme looks nice. Let’s see what more we can get.
The West Windsor Parking Authority and NJ Transit are working on more parking. Let them finish their work on it. And I’m still a big fan of a big parking garage on Route 1 and a new Dinky stop for those passengers. The Goldin plan has an additional 4,”000 cars on our streets every day.
Stop all the plans for a massive influx of new housing — especially condos. The costs in quality of life, increased traffic, increased taxes and depreciation of home values are substantial.
Mike Baxter
Enough Talk:
Time for Action
As a resident of West Windsor Township, I have closely monitored the ongoing discussions and debate over the future of the Princeton Junction Train Station.
I agree with many of my fellow residents that any redevelopment at the train station must be carefully planned, have clear objectives, and be implemented under the watchful eye of West Windsor officials and residents.
In presenting his plan for the train station, Steve Goldin of InterCap Holdings has outlined how his plan will generate millions of dollars of property tax revenue for both the municipality and our public schools. I feel there are three issues that must be addressed:
1.) A plan to construct a parking garage for West Windsor residents at the train station;
2.) A plan outlining how local road upgrades will eliminate present and future traffic woes at the train station; and
3.) A plan to create a vibrant Town Center on Route 571.
InterCap Holdings has presented a plan that reportedly will raise the $74 million needed to cover the cost of critical infrastructure improvements through Tax Increment Financing (TIF). To make this plan economically feasible, condos and townhouses will also be needed in the Redevelopment Area to generate additional tax revenues as well as supporting the new retail establishments envisioned for the train station and the adjacent area along Route 571.
In the current economic climate, with local, state, and federal coffers drying up, we must pursue innovative ways to finance the needed upgrades in roadways and parking garages, that is, private investment rather than increased property taxes.
I know that housing in this area is a hot-button issue, as well as it should be! InterCap has come up with a residential plan that I feel has to be validated. It states it will be designed to limit the number of school children generated when the first housing units are introduced in 2012. InterCap said this will be achieved with the proposed 250 units of market-rate senior housing and 144 units of affordable senior housing. The balance of housing would consist of two-bedroom condos or townhouses that would attract young professionals and empty-nesters.
InterCap also offers the community something I liken to an insurance policy. If the West Windsor School Board raises a red flag that indicates that they are reaching capacity during the eight year build-out of the residential component, InterCap would convert the remaining housing units into senior housing. This is an excellent strategy that will protect the future tax interests of all West Windsor residents. I don’t know of any other developer willing to make such a promise.
The township has indicated that West Windsor will receive a credit of 134 affordable housing units if a redevelopment plan is approved by the state, which further underscores the need for this plan.
With all the data developed by Hillier Architecture and InterCap, as well as the input from John Madden and Gary Davies, I feel there is enough information to finally draft a sound redevelopment plan.
We need a redevelopment plan as soon as possible to allow the township to control the content and the speed in which this area is ultimately developed. If we lose this Redevelopment Area designation, any developer is then free to come in under an as-of-right designation as build as he pleases.
Both Hillier and InterCap agree that as-of-right development will lead to the highest population and traffic density in this area. This translates into a disaster for West Windsor. Now is the time to act and create a redevelopment plan and submit it to the state.
Edward M. O’Mara
Grande Boulevard, West Windsor
No Common Sense
I attended Intercap’s presentation on May 31 hoping to engage in a rational dialogue about what is needed to make the train station an even more valuable asset. What I experienced was a manipulative presentation that painted today’s West Windsor as grim and backwards followed by a rosy future “vision.” Unfortunately Mr. Goldin’s vision requires us to suspend our common sense.
To give just a few examples: Mr. Goldin wants us to believe that doubling the number of parking spaces will not increase the overcrowding on the platforms or trains.
He wants us to share his vision that the addition of 1 million square feet of office space, 1,”000 residential units, and scores of restaurants and shops will result in a Disney-like setting, when 700 or 800 commuters depart the afternoon train and, rather than rush home to their families, pause for an ice cream.
He wants us to believe that this will be an astounding success with a 97 percent occupancy rate while a drive down Alexander road shows multiple “For Lease” signs representing several hundred thousand feet of available office space.
He tells us that commuters won’t be willing to pay more than $100 per month for parking when commuters are paying $155 to $195 per month to park at the Trenton station. I just hope that the Township Council doesn’t lose its common sense when confronted by Intercap’s pretty pictures.
Michael Moorman
Trumbull Court
Goldin Plan Needed
Thank you to Steve Goldin for helping to make the redevelopment of the train station a reality. We need to do better at planning a place we can all go to and congregate. We need a sense that West Windsor is more than just a town with a train station. We need Steve Goldin’s plans for redevelopment, and we need it now.
Joe Iandolo
Woodhollow Road, Princeton Jct.
As a resident who attended the May 31 meeting, I want to thank Steve Goldin and his team on a fantastic job. They have painstakingly gone into West Windsor and heard what all of us wanted in our town. We all want a better West Windsor and the town cannot do it without raising taxes, which Steve’s plan will not do.
Council needs to stop listening to the small group of people who don’t want anything to happen because they are scared and xenophobic of redevelopment. My friends and neighbors and I want our Council to accept Mr. Goldin’s plans and move this thing forward!
Halle Madia
Cranbury Road, Princeton Jct.
