In the two weeks leading up to the Township Council’s introduction of the ordinances associated with West Windsor’s settlement with InterCap Holdings, it appeared as though there was not enough support to push the measure through.
That did not stop InterCap CEO Steve Goldin, who launched a campaign and a number of measures to gauge residents’ support of his plans. And the developer says that by his own measurements, most residents are in favor of what he is doing.
The move did anger some residents, who wrote to the News. Others explained their experience with the telephone survey Goldin’s company conducted after the council held off on introducing the ordinances at the July 18 meeting. The surveys and mailings were done leading up to the August 1 meeting, when the council voted to support introduction of the ordinances (see story, page TK) to move forward with the project.
One resident, Virginia Manzari, posted on the WW Community Discussion Group on Google Groups that she was called for the survey. She said the survey in its entirety lasted 30 minutes. The survey questioned residents about the likelihood they would vote in the next election; how they rated the job the current council was doing; how they felt about individual members of council, the mayor, and Goldin; and specifically whether they would re-elect Councilwomen Linda Geevers and Diane Ciccone and Councilman Charles Morgan.
The survey also questioned residents about their views on redevelopment, how it was handled, what they thought about Goldin’s plans for redevelopment, and who they feel “deserves the most blame for the failure of the redevelopment to move forward.”
Manzari said that one of the questions also stated, “Supporters of the redevelopment of the area around the train station say Diane Ciccone and Linda Geevers have spent $1 million in taxpayer money on redevelopment with nothing to show for it and now they are ready to spend another $1 million or more on unnecessary litigation. Township residents have waited too long for the old buildings to be cleared away for West Windsor to finally have a real downtown, and Ciccone and Geevers should finally allow the redevelopment to move forward. Having heard this, if an election were today, would you re-elect, consider someone else, or replace: Diane Ciccone, Linda Geevers.”
The survey also asked residents to rate how convincing various arguments for redevelopment sounded to them and also how convincing arguments against redevelopment were. It also asked for demographic information.
Goldin confirmed before the August 1 meeting that InterCap conducted a survey. “I think it probably takes a different amount of time for each person to answer,” he said. “I did see the questions that were going to be asked, and the amount of time varies.
“No one is obligated to stay on the phone; they can always hang up,” he said, but added that preliminary results were positive. “As we expected, the vast majority of people are in strong support of our plan, and they are very frustrated with the elected officials who are standing in the way of redevelopment.”
Goldin also pointed to the number of users who have “liked” the “Downtown West Windsor” page on Facebook. The number grew to 215 in just two weeks after it launched. The number of users as of August 10 was 260.
On the contrary, “in four years, the most virulent group of opponents have garnered 45 members,” Goldin said, pointing to the Google Group. “I knew anecdotally that people supported the project.”
The purpose of the survey, says Goldin, was to “confirm what we were thinking.”
“We wanted to understand what their attitudes were toward those members of council standing in the way of redevelopment,” he said.
In addition to the telephone survey, InterCap also placed full page advertisements in each of the local newspapers, calling on residents to urge the council members to vote for introduction and to avoid continued litigation costs. The ads contained the phone numbers of the three council members — Geevers, Morgan, and Ciccone — who appeared were not going to support redevelopment (Ciccone later voted in support of the measure on August 1).
InterCap also sent a direct mail flyer to every West Windsor resident. The flyer contained the same content printed in the newspaper advertisements. “We think it’s important for taxpayers to know the impact of elected officials’ decisions on their pocketbooks when it comes to litigation,” said Goldin.
Goldin said that residents have already taken positions on the redevelopment issue. “No one’s mind is going to be changed, and the survey shows you’re either for it or against it,” he said. “The reality is far more people support redevelopment and are frustrated with the positions taken by elected officials who are not supporting it.”
