What a glorious weekend this Labor Day has been. It has given this reasonable man some time to pause and reflect on life here in West Windsor, especially with several recent letters to the editor published over the last several editions.
West Windsor has grown rapidly over the last four decades from several small farming hamlets (Dutch Neck, Edinburg, Clarksville, Grover’s Mill, etc.) and several small industrial neighborhoods (Penns Neck, Princeton Junction/Berrien City, Alexander Canal Basin and Port Mercer (though yes, the Port Mercer Canal House is in Lawrence Township) to a suburban township replete with many suburban style housing developments of various sizes and styles, still looking for its center of town.
What has evolved over the last decade or two are various elements demonstrating the Township’s attempts to define itself as it continues to evolve. First and foremost is its excellent regional school system including its outstanding faculty, staff, and facilities, shared with neighboring Plainsboro. Second is its train station, ranked second in daily volume among NJ Transit outlier stations (not including New York, Newark, and Hoboken).
More recently, several notable additions have occurred in town to help better define its sense of self. The evolution of the various sports associations, along with the assistance of the Township in its parks — West Windsor Community Park, Conover Park, Zaitz Park, and most recently Duck Pond Park — show the Township’s commitment to work with the associations to provide necessary irrigation and lighting, and other items to make the Township a very desirable place for our kids to remain active and fit. Also, within Community Park is the West Windsor Waterworks, which clearly provides a meeting location for members of the community during the summer.
Another recent addition to that sense of community is the West Windsor Farmer’s Market at the Alexander Road parking lot of the train station, which continues to grow in its seventh season. It is always crowded — a good sign. Many of the vendors are repeat vendors for multiple years. Always a good sign too!
Along with these sense of places are many community groups that attempt to shape their sense of place on and of the Township — a necessary component to an evolving community.
Finally, we have the grand opening of the West Windsor Arts Council West Windsor Arts Center at the Old Princeton Junction Fire House later this month, a project 10 years in the making. This is another example of the positive approach of private/public cooperation between the Township and its citizens. Funding has come both from the Township and from the WWAC; a cooperative approach that will demonstrate further that the Township through its citizens continues to craft and design our own sense of place; further proving that this is ongoing and evolutionary.
Yes, all is not perfect in this Township. We do have roads that are in need of repair (who doesn’t). Yes, we have 25-year-old neighborhoods that may be in need of public sewer hookups to rectify failing septic systems. And yes, we do have “plywooded” up buildings waiting for demolition and construction of new structures to house retail and professional activities in full view of our major transportation artery. Perhaps the WWAC and the local scouts can at least make the plywood a bit more attractive via a painting project, while the major commercial lending markets right themselves from this unprecedented real estate maelstrom.
Let’s think positive in these difficult times and take stock of what this Township has, in fact, accomplished in a relatively short time period. Let’s welcome our newest member to the ongoing sense of community, the West Windsor Arts Center, and let’s think of other ways to bring our community together, rather than diving it apart.
Richard Eland
West Windsor
