While West Windsor’s mayoral and council candidates all have one platform in common — reducing the burden on the township taxpayers, especially amid troubling economic times — it is evident that they have different approaches to achieve that goal.##M:[more]##
During a debate sponsored by the West Windsor Retirees Group on April 27, the candidates highlighted their positions on budgetary issues and redevelopment — two issues that seemed to dominate the discussion. The debate was attended by about 60 people. The final debate is scheduled for Tuesday, May 5, at the Village Grande Civic Association clubhouse at 7 p.m. On Tuesday, May 12, the polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The mayoral candidates are incumbent Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, Council President Charles Morgan, and resident Pete Weale. Running for the two council seats are incumbent Linda Geevers and Kamal Khanna, who form the West Windsor First slate with Hsueh; and Anupam Gupta and Nitin Shah, who are running on Morgan’s Best 4 West Windsor slate.
The debate often focused on to the AAA bond rating and the council’s vote last year to increase their salaries as well as the mayor’s salary.
In recent budget discussions, Morgan has made a campaign issue out of the township’s AAA bond rating, which he claims has ended up costing the township more money than it saves. Morgan has been adamantly proposing to reduce the township’s surplus by $2.45 million, which he claims will lower the tax rate in this year’s budget by 4 cents (see page 22).
Mayor Hsueh and his slate have argued that such a dramatic reduction in the surplus is nothing more than “political budgeting” that will negate the good financial position the township has developed over the past few years.
Mayoral Candidates. Hsueh, who is seeking his third term as mayor, began by telling the audience that to date, he has secured over $43 million in funding for projects around the township, including the Alexander Road bridge and roundabout and the dredging of Grovers Mill Pond. He said he was proud that the township finally has a redevelopment plan for the 350-acre Princeton Junction train station area that he can take to state officials to negotiate for infrastructure improvements. “If we continue moving this town in that direction, I am certain we will improve traffic circulation,” Hsueh said.
The plan calls for a total base number of 483 housing units consisting of 311 market-priced units and 172 affordable housing units. As for non-residential development, the plan proposes 207,”910 square feet of retail with the potential option to increase retail floor area in District 1 — which encompasses the 25 acres off Washington Road owned by InterCap Holdings — by an additional 67,”500 square feet along with 7,”500 square feet of added office space. If the option for 75,”000 square feet of additional commercial space is implemented, it would add an obligation for nine more affordable housing units. This would bring the total redevelopment area residential unit count to 496, with 311 market units and 185 affordable units.
Right off the bat, however, Morgan said he supported redevelopment, but only on a “small scale,” and that includes “nothing like the 1,”400 housing units” he says could potentially come later as redevelopment moves forward.
“I stand for parking garages at the train station now and yesterday,” said Morgan, who also touted his work on writing the redevelopment principles and the Princeton Junction overlay ordinance, which sets development guidelines along Route 571 in downtown Princeton Junction. He also cited his work in work in getting a light put in at the intersection of Edinburg and Village roads.
Morgan also made a jab at Hsueh for the dissolution of a nonprofit organization Hsueh created after he was first elected. The nonprofit, the West Windsor Township Community Foundation, collected money, including what foundation officials say was a $50,”000 donation from Roszel Road-based Tyco, and recently disbursed those funds to groups like the Friends of West Windsor Open Space and the West Windsor Arts Council as a result of its dissolution. Morgan has questioned the timing of those disbursements. “Where has it been in the last five years?” he asked, stating also that he did not even know about the foundation as he was calling for a nonprofit to be founded for the same reason over the last three years.
He said during the debate that he is in the process of creating his own foundation to help raise money from major companies like Tyco and NRG to help fund community initiatives without using taxpayer money. He says no township employees will serve as trustees on that foundation.
Hsueh has defended his nonprofit organization, saying he set it up but did not perform administrative duties, but rather left it up to volunteers to run. “I stayed out of the operation, and I stayed out of any decision-making,” he said. He even donated $9,”000 of his own money to the cause, he said.
Weale said that as a candidate, he is “less interested in affordable housing and more interested in making housing in West Windsor affordable.” He said that Hsueh has had 5,”840 days — including his time on council and as mayor — and that Morgan has had 3,”650 days to try to reduce costs to taxpayers. “There’s been a minimum of 10 to 16 years out there to do so,” he said, saying it was time for a change.
He also said he was not interested in worrying about which developers were suing West Windsor or whether the fair share housing plan the township created to fulfill its third-round state Council on Affordable Housing regulations was challenged. “The state of New Jersey rewards people who do not do a good job of taking care of their house,” he said, adding that when municipalities are failing finaincially, the state comes running to their rescue.
The candidates were also asked what they felt were the pros and cons with the redevelopment plan adopted by council in March. “As long as the township has a redevelopment plan, the township can regulate growth in the future,” Hsueh said. By having a plan, state agencies like New Jersey Transit and the state Department of Transportation are required to work with the township in solving the traffic and parking problems, he said.
He also pointed to the loss of $159 million in state funding for Route 1 improvements and $19 million in state funding for Vaughn Drive last year. State officials cited the township’s lack of a plan for the train station area as a major reason they dropped the projects from their priority list.
“You have to work with the state and work with the county,” Hsueh said. “You have no choice because they own a lot of the property.”
Morgan, however, called the redevelopment plan process “horrible” and criticized the state for calling for a regional transportation center. “We shouldn’t be paying 50 percent of it ourselves,” he said.
He also criticized the plan’s inclusion of affordable housing, in which some zones feature only housing that is deemed affordable. “Why would we pass a plan that is undoable?”
Weale, similarly, said he did not think the township needed more housing, but he said he also did not think it needed more commercial or retail. He also criticized what he said was over $1 million spent for work on the plan by the township’s two attorneys. He referred to Township Planner John Madden’s comments that the plan was “‘not an end; it’s a beginning,’ and that concerns me greatly.”
Hsueh said that NJT and the DOT have already hired consultants and are willing to work with the township in solving the issues at the train station. He also said that “in terms of affordable housing, this is the reason we have to have a redevelopment plan to control this growth.”
And since the redevelopment plan has passed, the township has already secured $63,”000 in grant money from the state to help cover the costs for testing at the compost site as the township plans to remediate it. And, bringing up the state’s budgetary woes is not relevant because the money is already earmarked for this funding, he said.
In response, Morgan said, “I’m not opposed to moving forward. I’m opposed to moving forward blindly.” Weale said there have been so many other projects that have been ignored, like the Alexander Road S-Curve, he says. “The promises from the state of New Jersey are worthless,” he said.
Candidates were also asked how they would dedicate their time to township business. Weale said he is self-employed and does not have an issue with time. He did say, though, that he felt the township council’s “marathon meetings” were unnecessary. He also advocated the use of volunteers to assist with township business.
Hsueh responded that there are already over 100 volunteers working in the township. Like Weale, he said he has made himself available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even resigning his position as a professor at Rutgers University.
Morgan, however, said that the township asks its volunteers with already busy schedules to try to squeeze in time for township business, but might need more motivation to want to do so.
Morgan then suggested increasing that person’s salary — referencing the salary increases for the council and mayor he supported last year — and paying the mayor more money to compensate for the time. “Get rid of the administrator, who gets paid as much but is not elected by you,” he said.
Candidates were also asked how they would lower the cost of West Windsor’s government. Weale said he would look at furloughs, eliminate overtime, seek greater employee contributions for healthcare, reduce garbage collection from twice a week to once a week, and work with the school board to try to reduce school taxes, which make up the largest portion of a resident’s property tax bill.
Hsueh said he would go to Trenton to continue to push the state for funding. He also said the township council and township staff would continue budget discussions on Monday, May 4, during the council’s meeting.
Morgan, on the other hand, said he would not support furloughs because he thought township employees did a good job and that they have been already short-staffed. He said he has been asking for years for the administration to negotiate costs with the Blue Cross/Blue Shield healthcare insurance provider.
In response to Morgan’s encouraging comments about the township staff, Hsueh said, “That’s not what I heard Thursday night,” in reference to Morgan’s comments at an earlier debate in which Morgan criticized the township staff, saying they did not know how to use “standard deviation” when working on the budget.
Weale said his vision in West Windsor is to make living here affordable. He said it is a known fact that people move out of West Windsor after their children graduate from the school district because it is too costly. “Out of the last 10 to 16 years that those two candidates have been in office, in how many have your taxes gone down?”
Morgan said his ultimate vision for the town is to have an open, transparent government, avoid holding more reserve than necessary, keeping taxes down, and listening to what the residents want.
Hsueh said he feels overall, progress has been made step-by-step in the township, and he wanted to continue that. “As the mayor of West Windsor, I have the responsibility of guiding the township through these most trying times,” he said, adding that he will not “manufacture stories,” nor will he “constantly contradict or change my positions.”
Weale focused on other projects and issues in town that he says have been neglected as a result of the redevelopment process over the past few years. “I am Mr. Less government, Mr. Quality of Life,” Weale said, holding up a campaign sign for the Hsueh, Geevers, and Khanna slate. Weale has been calling for more township enforcement in eliminating temporary signs in town. He has brought signs to the council chambers and lines the walls, once causing Morgan to walk off the dais.
With regard to financial issues, Weale, referring to Hsueh’s comments about grant money from other agencies, said that bringing in funding from county, state, or federal agencies to fund various projects does not mean that taxpayers have not paid at least a little into those projects because those agencies also collect taxes from West Windsor and other residents. “I believe that you should have the money, not the government,” he said.
Weale, in responding to a question about how he would go about determining the “best interests of West Windsor,” said that rather than knocking on thousands of doors and asking people to participate in essay-writing contests and word finds — a jab at the contests the Morgan/Gupta/Shah slate has advertised to draw people to their site — he would use two important forms of the media — the Internet and through the local Cable TV channel.
Hsueh, on the other hand, said that not only has he gone from door to door, but he has accepted invitations to attend meetings and events held by local civic organizations and school children; he has kept open-door policies; and he has already held over 15 town hall meetings solely to exchange information with residents and gather their input on township-related issues.
Morgan said the answer was simple: “Listen hard and act.” For example, Long Meadow Road residents were facing noise issues from the train station, and he said he is currently working on new wording for the township noise ordinance to address the issue. He also said he would make the township website more interactive and would move forward with administering a survey on redevelopment, rather than having a simple referendum question. However, he said if it is really important, and a single question could be worded in a way in which it could carry the issue, he would support it.
Council Candidates. The council candidates seemed to echo the same goals and platforms held by their mayoral running partners.
Right off the bat, Khanna, of the Hsueh slate, said the simple answer is yes, he wants to reduce taxes, but he said that he is not willing to sacrifice the AAA bond rating the mayor has worked so hard to get and the surplus the township has built. He also disagreed with assumptions made by Morgan and his team that the redevelopment plan would yield as many as 1,”400 housing units, and that the plan states there is a base of 487 units. And specific site plans that come to the township will come with impact studies, he said.
But the salary issue from last year’s budget season quickly entered the debate, when the candidates were asked how much time they were willing to devote to their duties as a council member that comes with only a $4,”941 salary a year. Last year Morgan and council members George Borek, Will Anklowitz, and Heidi Kleinman voted in favor of raising council members’ salaries by 50 percent, or from $4,”941 a year to $7,”500 a year, and raising the mayor’s from $17,”685 to $25,”000, with Geevers voting against it. While the measure passed, the mayor vetoed it.
Gupta, of the Morgan slate, said he loved West Windsor and that he is not motivated by money at all. He said his goal was “primarily to work as a team here with the mayor,” and work for the benefit of the citizens, he said. Among his main concerns was fixing the parking problems at the train station, he said.
In her response, Geevers pointed to the fact that she was the only council member to vote against the salary increases. “This is an elected position, but it’s volunteer work,” she said. Among her concerns was holding the meetings at more convenient times for residents to attend and be involved, and she said she wanted to ensure that those meetings featured at a least a quorum (see story page 20) of council members.
Shah, of the Morgan slate, said he came to the country with no money, stayed with his aunt and uncle, juggled a job schedule in which he was working 60 hours a week while attending school, and still managed to graduate with high honors. He said he was not running for the money. Rather, he was running to help lower taxes, keep urbanization out of the town, and have an open government.
Shah said he and his wife are “future retirees of this town — at least, that’s what our goal is.”
Khanna said he would take no salary at all so long as the country is in a recession. “I will figure out a way to run this job efficiently,” he said.
Redevelopment also took center stage. Shah said he “strongly opposes” the redevelopment plan as it has been adopted currently by the council. “I do understand we have to evolve and change is a must, but there’s a limit to what can be done and what can’t,” he said.
Khanna said that every site plan will be reviewed, and he would ensure those plans do not burden the schools, that it provides West Windsor residents with more parking, that it is tax positive, and that it improves traffic circulation.
“The plan says it is 487 houses, and that’s what it is,” he said. “It is not 1,”000 houses,” and the other candidates keep “putting incorrect information out there.”
Geevers echoed the sentiment, saying she has never supported 1,”000 units. She also said the redevelopment plan was reflective of much public input, including from groups like the Planning Board, Parking Authority, Environmental Commission, and others. “We took their recommendations practically verbatim,” she said. “This plan became more of the people’s plan.”
She also said that developers would be required to conduct a fiscal impact analysis before their plans are approved to ensure that what they want to do will be tax positive. Addressing criticisms from opponents of the plan who say the plan is faulty because no fiscal impact study was conducted prior to the plan’s adoption, she said it “doesn’t make sense to do a fiscal impact analysis when there are no specifics.”
Still, Gupta said the plan was “greatly flawed,” and that he feels the plan will allow developers to eventually build up to 1,”000 housing units because it leaves room for negotiations and the language states that the project must be economically feasible. “If my opponents are saying it’s not a plan, then what the hell is it?”
Shah asked, “Would you move into an empty lot before a house is even built there?”
In rebuttal, Geevers said the plan set 487 as a base and that the number could even go down as a result of negotiations, or for example, if the COAH regulations change.
“You think COAH is going to change the rules?” Gupta retorted. “You must believe in the tooth fairy.”
When the candidates were asked which municipal services they felt were most important, Khanna said that quality of life is of utmost significance. “I think as long as we can come up with a great quality of life, that encompasses everything,” Khanna said.
Shah said that parking was crucial. “What have we done in the last eight years to relieve that?” he asked. He said the distance between his home in West Windsor to his office at Merrill Lynch is 6.2 miles. With no traffic, it is a seven minute commute. In the morning rush hour, however, it takes at least 25 minutes, which he says is a quality of life issue.
Gupta says the important issues are reducing costs and taxes, especially for senior citizens, who might be faced with distress amid the recession. He said he is also very concerned about keeping the open space in town from “vanishing.”
Geevers said in addition to ensuring the senior center project is completed, she also wanted to ensure that the police and emergency services were sufficiently staffed, and that the township would probably need to hire a new EMS crew member soon to help in the ambulances.
Shah also said that technology does wonders, speeds communication, and allows one to reach every corner of the world. “I think this township has not taken advantage of this era,” said Shah, adding that he would like to increase the communication between residents who do not have time to attend town meetings.
In closing, Khanna said, “I’m an optimist — I feel we all have what we need to fulfill our own destiny,” he said. “We do not have to accept the status quo.”
Gupta emphasized that it was time for change and fresh ideas “to move this city in the right direction. We need to talk less and do more. We don’t need a grandiose scheme,” he added.
