Plainsboro Mayor Peter Cantu is running unopposed for a 14th term on the Plainsboro township committee. This year is Cantu’s 40th year on the committee, and his 34th year as mayor. His next three-year term will expire in 2017, though Cantu says he has no specific plans to retire. No other committee seats are up for election.
Cantu is proud of the permanent preservation of 50 percent of Plainsboro’s open space, and he cites the vibrant corporate community and diversity of housing opportunities as past accomplishments that contribute to Plainsboro’s quality of life. In addition, Cantu says Plainsboro has the lowest municipal tax rate in Middlesex County. Plainsboro is also one of 21 New Jersey communities with a Standard & Poor AAA credit rating, first gained in 2010 and reaffirmed in late August this year.
Looking forward, Cantu highlighted Route 1 traffic issues as a major challenge for Plainsboro and neighboring communities in central New Jersey. Despite recognition of the problem, Cantu says there has been a lack of financing to support roadway improvements, particularly from the state.
“We need to continue as a group, not just Plainsboro, but as a group of mayors and other interested parties, such as major development interests to cooperatively come up with solutions with the State Department of Transportation,” Cantu says. “And these issues occur principally outside of Plainsboro. As you go south you have tremendous bottlenecks and these bottlenecks need to be addressed.”
“This community was under intense development pressure [40 years ago], and I came in with the promise and goal to establish a plan, a master plan, a development plan, for the community to deal with future growth,” Cantu says. “My goal is to continue doing things the way we’ve been doing, hopefully meeting the needs of the community and doing it in a cost effective way.”
