As West Windsor residents are increasingly calling for clean-up of Route 571 in Princeton Junction, and the matter becomes a mounting issue during this year’s election season, council candidate Andrew Hersh has collected signatures from 85 residents calling for the business community, residents, and township to come together to focus on Route 571 before any other new development. He presented the petition to the township during the council meeting on October 13.
Hersh also plans to hold “571 Day” on Sunday, October 25, at 11 a.m. at the vacant Acme site, for residents to rally for revitalization.
“I believe and I know we can create practical solutions with the business community, township, and residents working together,” he said. “The start of that is 571 Day and the petitions.”
Hersh, who is also running for Township Council in November, said the goal of the event is to bring attention to the downtown area and allow residents and business owners to mingle with each other and come up with ideas to move forward.
Business owners will conduct meet-and-greets, and participants will partake in a walk from the Acme Shopping Center to Wallace Road, and back, to point out the need for safety improvements, walkway improvements and beautification. David Marconi of Silbert Realty, the company that now manages the Acme site, will speak about his plans for the property.
Hersh said he got permission from Marconi to use the Acme parking lot as the venue for the event. He said he called Marconi, explained to him the interest the residents had in the development of Route 571, and got his permission to use the site. He also asked Marconi to come out to speak to residents.
The goal is to inform the community and bring attention and focus to the area. “It should be a venue for the public to talk about what they’d like to see,” said Hersh. “While I don’t pretend to have the secret sauce, I do know that by taking everyone’s ideas and giving them a venue to put their ideas forward, we can map those ideas into a very workable and multi-faceted way to help the businesses along that stretch of road.”
Originally, Hersh had also planned to ask for volunteers to help paint the vacant Chicken Holiday building on the Dreher site. He had been trying to get permission from Dreher and said he asked the mayor during the October 13 meeting to talk to Dreher on his behalf.
A week later, the mayor announced that Richard Dreher, the president of the Dreher Group, which owns the Rite Aid site, agreed to demolish the buildings (see story page 14).
Hersh, in an E-mail to his supporters and those who signed the petitions, mentioned the update from the mayor, saying that “all politicians are clamoring for ‘credit’ on taking a leadership position on the issue.”
“To succeed, we need the business community, the residential community, and the township to fight this fight together,” he said. “The township is acting now because of your efforts. Let’s turn it up a notch and avoid becoming complacent by the assurances we have received for so many years.”
Hersh said he feels the reason why the township is releasing the information on the Route 571 progress is because of the petition. “The timing of the release and the speed of the release has a lot to do with the election cycle,” he said. “This news of the mayor taking action on Route 571 and the refocusing of the township’s attention on 571 demonstrates the effectiveness of the petitions and the leadership the petitioners have taken.”
Hersh plans to launch a formal group to tackle 571 issues. “We’re going to keep the petitions going, keep the focus on Route 571 first,” he said. “We want to fix what’s wrong before we do brand new development elsewhere.”
After the initial event, Hersh plans to hold more events, like street fairs and perhaps movies in the Acme parking lot to attract business back to Route 571. “I can see this turning into a rehabilitation group,” he said. “The petition signers could be the beginning of a network that forms that group. You have a bunch of people who use that shopping center and use that stretch of road who are extremely motivated to do something.”
Hersh, who has made the rehabilitation of Route 571 a priority in his campaign for Township Council, insists “571 Day” is not a campaign gimmick. Rather, he says he plans to continue with the movement long after the election. “This effort has to sustain way beyond this election,” he said. “Even with this effort, I’m not going to tie it to my campaign.”
“This is not sponsored by or paid for by Hersh For Council,” he added. “I’m doing this intentionally because I do not want this to end after my campaign. There are people in the community who have fought longer than I have, who have been working for years and years to try to bring attention to the area. They are working with me, and we will ensure resolution of this by engaging the broader community.”
A flyer for the event states that it is sponsored by the Citizens for a Better 571. Listed members include Hersh, Virginia Manzari, Meg and Giuliano Chicco, Mike Baxter, Hemi Nae, Susan and Joe Conlon, Arnold Sirota, and Councilman Charles Morgan.
Hersh sent invitations to all of the council members and the mayor for the event.
