Barring the appearance of a successful write-in candidate, David Bander and Ed Yates will be reelected to the Plainsboro township committee. The two Democrats are unopposed on Nov. 8.
Yates is running for his seventh term on the committee. He has been on the committee since 1998 and serves on the Plainsboro Planning Board.
A township resident since 1986, he lives in the Gentry. Last year he retired from Local Union No. 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and he currently works as a resident engineer for the consulting firm Arcadis.
Bander is running for his second term. He moved to the Hampshire in 2013 and is a former chief of staff to state senator Linda Greenstein. Currently he works as a labor and employment law attorney for the Woodbridge-based firm Mets, Schiro and McGovern.
What is one goal important to each candidate?
“I’d like to see more development of restaurants in Plainsboro,” Bander said. “I’m a foodie I guess, and we have a number of very fine restaurants. Given the size and diversity of our community, I think we can see some additional restaurants in town.”
“What I’d like to do is to investigate senior housing needs,” Yates said. “I’d like to address senior housing needs, not necessarily age-restricted but housing for seniors. The town is aging and we would like to keep our residents and not have them look for housing elsewhere. One option is smaller sized homes in some of our developments.”
In other Plainsboro news, the new Panera will host a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wedneday, Nov. 2 at 10 a.m., at the new retail space on the corner of Schalks Crossing and Scudders Mill Road. A Five Guys is also slated to open at the location, which is an extension of Plainsboro Village Center.