To the Editor:
Alarm Fee Outrage
I could not agree more with Henry Henkel concerning the new alarm fee (The News, February 22). This is a disgrace. I feel like we are being penalized. We pay such high taxes in comparison to neighboring communities and then they are going to compare us with those communities? And what’s up with having to pay someone for 20 hours a week for administration. Is this person writing a book?##M:[more]##
For someone to update these records, it should only take 20 hours a year!! This is an insult to our intelligence but they have been getting away with it for so long, why stop now? And what other made up fee can we look forward to next year if they continue get away with this one?
This is an absolute outrage and we really should protest this. But as usual we are all too busy working to try to pay these taxes! Give me a break, West Windsor. Moving as soon as possible!
Linda Calvo
P.S. I think West Windsor is going to try to make up wherever they can for all the lost monies spent on the gentrification of the train station! This is a typical case of the right resume but no common sense!
Speed Issues
I agree with Emily Bisio’s February 22 letter that “speed is a factor” when it comes to the safety of our streets in the West Windsor-Plainsboro area. However, merely reducing the speed limit to 25 miles per hour is unlikely to have an impact because of two factors: (1.) many people in the area (commuters especially) ignore the posted speed limits; and (2.) the speed limits are not effectively enforced.
Case in point — Harris Road. It’s that stretch of road between Alexander Road and Clarksville Road, also known as everybody’s favorite cut-through. As a resident of Harris, I see on a daily basis commuters, High School South students, and average citizens drive well in excess of the posted 25 mile-per-hour speed limit.
Every weekday on my walk to and from the train, and every weekend, I see people racing up and down Harris Road. It becomes especially dangerous when I try to exit or enter my driveway because people simply aren’t paying attention. In the year-and-a-half that we’ve lived here, only twice have I seen a police car parked on Harris Road clocking speed limits, and both times they were parked on Harris Road near the Harris Road/Alexander Road intersection. This is ineffective because people have to slow down for the stop sign anyway and aren’t likely to be speeding at that location.
Laws and regulations are only effective if they are observed and/or enforced. (NJ’s statewide ban on using handheld cell phones while driving is another example of laws that are rarely, if ever, observed or enforced in our area.) It is clear that drivers aren’t going to start slowing down on their own. Consequently, our local law enforcement must step up the enforcement of speed limits.
Brian R. Fitzgerald
Princeton Junction
Advice for Intercap:
Make Land Open Space
Here are some thoughts on the recent mailing by InterCap Holdings trying to develop our town.
I have been a resident of West Windsor for 18 years. I moved here with my family to get away from the congestion of Northern New Jersey. I have no interest in your office development or in seeing apartments go up at the train station. I commute to NYC each day, and I already fight for a seat on the train.
We need fewer people in West Windsor, not more. I’d suggest that you donate your land for open space so we can breathe easier and have less traffic and less pollution in the town, not more from additional development. It makes no sense to develop the town further by adding office development that does nothing for the current residents of West Windsor except have a negative impact on the quality of life in the town and only adds profits to the pockets of developers like InterCap. Peter and Helen Shriver
4 Evans Drive, Princeton Junction
Advice for Planners:
Don’t Attract Commuters
I would like to echo the sentiments expressed in the letter by Peter and Helen Shriver concerning the rape of West Windsor by developers.
I moved to West Windsor in 1971 when my company relocated from New York and West Windsor was a sleepy farm community of blue collar workers. There were about 150 commuters to New York City who parked across the street from the railroad station. I am told that we now have 6,”000 commuters.
The change has not been pleasant, since driving in town is to be avoided during the commuter rush hour, and our schools have been hemorrhaging by the inflow of commuters who find West Windsor a haven for their children to obtain a private school education at taxpayers’ expense.
I have a condo in Florida where I spend most of the winter, where my real estate taxes are $2,”200 a year compared with $16,”000 a year on my West Windsor home of comparable real estate value. I have seen the homes in my development change several times since this has become a bedroom community in which people move out once their children are out of school and senior citizens become nonexistent.
My original street is full of potholes and cracks, and I was told it would be resurfaced this last summer, just like the other streets in my development two years ago, but I was told that they ran out of money. As you drive in the so-called center of town by Acme, it looks like a sewer. Yet, our so-called planners want to spend more money on bringing in more commuters. Pretty soon it will look like New Brunswick. The more West Windsor creates a haven to attract commuters, the more will come, and eventually West Windsor will become gridlocked. Sam Greco
Princeton Junction
P.S.: It is intuitively obvious to anyone that the commuter parking lot is only 80 to 90 percent full on weekdays and 30 to 40 percent full on weekends and holidays. During the interim week between Christmas and New Year, the lot is only 50 percent full. It would make sense to allow West Windsor residents to park in the commuter parking lot after, say 10 a.m., on weekdays and all day on weekends and holidays.
A West Windsor resident who wishes to go to New York City could secure a sticker for a fee or free the day before by providing proof that he or she is a West Windsor resident. This would relieve the frustration of a resident who is unable to obtain a parking permit.
I would be interested in knowing what the town fathers’ views are on this simple solution to the parking problem.
State of WW:
Another View
Herewith is an excerpt of a presentation made to West Windsor Township Council on Monday, February 25, in response to the mayor’s State of the Township address and listing five recommendations to foster improved productivity and accountability:
(1). Length of Meetings. Short, succinct meetings are preferable to marathon meetings. Council meetings aim for 1.5 hours worth of entertainment and operational transactions. Township meetings should cease after two hours, not become mind-numbing mental exercises.
If you argue meetings cannot be abridged, please step down because you are part of the problem. For a real live template, visit Plainsboro Township Committee meetings and Middlesex County Freeholder meetings. Seriously.
(2). I and others are tired of being this township’s personal dust pan. The pictures I have of existing ordinances not being enforced would fill a book. We need real — not textbook — common sense management skills and accountability.
If the current “managers” cannot do their job, replace them. I am tired of mowing rights of way for the state and county and picking up illegal signs as litter. Strong township enforcement would fund compliance. Instead, after over three years of “illegal signs,” we get sustainable rhetoric.
It is not up to individuals to continually prod our paid professional employees to clean up this town. Our elected municipal representatives and staff employees need to get out of their offices to see what the residents see on a daily basis.
Set the standards for excellence, and you will transform this community into greater participation in a community to make its residents proud to call West Windsor its home. To encourage education and participation by stakeholders, I proposed a high school students annual community service requirement. This was rejected by the WW-P Board of Education and District Superintendent Kniewel.
(3). WW residents are not receiving sufficient financial information. Review tonight’s seventh annual State of the Township address and look for numbers any corporate or small business enterprise could use. If the information is public, why isn’t it routinely disclosed to the public?
Eliminate the “I think, I feel, I believe” sustained mantra and replace them with real numbers to support your positions. This quantitative base will reduce the subjectivity of your decisions. We need to see trends — from a minimum of five years’ data.
Stop running this township with no-bid professional services contracts. I am asking the mayor to disclose these contracts and their dollar values during his tenure as mayor.
I also want a return to taxpayers of the $600,”000 spent for the Redevelopment Area/Transit Village. This is a breach of their fiduciary responsibility. Like the area behind Ellsworths — a 14-year unfinished project — the Hillier “development” needs a negotiated settlement.
There is no TV mandate from the electorate because there was no referendum!
It took me two years to find $100,”000 in donations for the athletic field lights for High School North. Trust me: $600,”000 committed already with little to show for it is a lot of candy bars. I propose WW Township cease immediately all funding for the Transit Village/Redevelopment Area. Planning functions belong with the Planning Board — and we have the legal bills to prove it.
(4). This year’s municipal and school budgets must shrink. If there are contractual agreements, change them by negotiating four percent annual reductions for the next three years, by eliminating overtime, conserving costly gasoline via conspicuous consumption, and eliminate the “new” vehicles. There are many suggestions the average household has no control over. However, if you are going to be a politician, stand up, make some tough decisions, and show some moral and fiscal fiber.
WW needs better cost controls to know specifically where to cut costs.
But How? Everybody knows there is no fat in the budget. Really? Then offer a five percent cash payment to anyone who identifies irresponsible spending. Call it a “finder’s-fee.” The benefit? We spend $5 to find $95 in savings by people who know what is dispensible and unnecessary.
Demand profit and loss statements on each of our township-sponsored events and school functions. Build a history so you don’t repeat it. When school and township department heads say public accounting doesn’t function according to P&Ls, ask them to consult with any ninth-grade accounting student for guidance on revenues minus expenses.
West Windsor needs to reduce or eliminate the administration’s fiscal addiction to “free money” in the form of state, county, and federal grants. The current policy of “promising, planning, engineering, studying, legalizing” even the simplest tasks takes all the funding dollars. Professional services cannibalize critical funds that leave fewer dollars for actually doing a product, service, or improvement!
(5). Support a timely reversion to Township Committee form of government. The Mayor-Council promises over the past 16 years of lower costs and greater accountability have never been fulfilled. It is disingenuous, if not fraudulent, to call our closeted partisan government as being non-partisan. Where are the ethics?
Save some green? Last year I requested a cost-breakdown for the annual WW Recreation and Parks Program Directory. I believe we could “buy-down” the cost of this publication by offering advertisements within the publication. What are the print, production, and distribution costs? Now we know how much to charge for the advertisements and how many we need. So simple. a caveman could do it.
Special thanks for getting a middle school volunteer to assist with Saturday’s Council taping at the WW Senior Center. Congratulations to Council for moving its business meetings from the “mosh pit” to the dais. Thank you for improving the sound volume and equipment quality for those unable to hear. If only we could get a meeting’s minutes to reflect the cost of each meeting.
Peter R. Weale
144 Fisher Place
P.S.: This E-mail message was also sent to West Windsor Township Council and Township Administrator Chris Marion on Tuesday, February 26:
(1). I would like to commend WW Clerk Sharon Young and her office for the initiative in reducing last night’s agenda of West Windsor Council from four pages to two pages. This reduction was accomplished via two-sided copying.
If the same protocol were applied to the Mayor’s State of the Township address, the six pages could have be halved to three.
(2). In addition, I am delighted the January Council meeting minutes are catching up.
If Council will adhere to my suggestion I offered during last evening’s public comment window, shorter meetings . . . mean shorter meeting minutes.
(3). I will talk, write, and request less when Council and Administration accomplish more.
Artful Evening
The Board of the West Windsor Arts Council and the Cabin Fever Cabaret Planning Committee would like to thank the greater West Windsor Community for their outpouring of support to make our fundraiser, Cabin Fever Cabaret, such an amazing success!
On Saturday night February 23 at the headquarters of RMJM Hillier, approximately 200 community members enjoyed a wonderful evening full of the arts! Between enjoying performances by Beth Ertz, Craig Rubano, Carol Selick, John Bachalis, Dave Haneman, and Mindy Turin, and a comic skit by Sally Stang, guests had an opportunity to enjoy an art show and silent auction with donated items from more than 30 local artists and over 50 local businesses.
The bidding and sale were competitive — allowing the West Windsor Arts Council a wonderful start toward its Capital Campaign, Home is Where the Art Is. We exceeded our goal of $20,”000 — all ear marked toward creating the West Windsor Arts Center in the historic Princeton Junction Firehouse. With a capital campaign goal of $300,”000, the evening’s event was truly a success for the organization.
Besides our wonderful artists and performers, we have so many people to thank, including J. Robert Hillier and the staff at RMJM Hillier for the use of the wonderful building; Beth Feehan, Elizabeth Stelling, and representatives of the West Windsor Farmers Market for preparing and serving culinary delights; Intercap Holdings, The Boyle Family Foundation, PNC Bank, The Dreher Group, and Mack-Cali for their financial support; and West Windsor Township for the support of our organization’s mission.
We are grateful to McCaffrey’s, McCaffrey’s Wine Shop, and Whole Foods, as well as Jacobs Music, the Village Bakery, and Jerry Fields Design.
Additionally, the WWAC is thankful to the many dedicated volunteers who believe in our mission to create an Arts Center for the West Windsor community to gather in. Thank you for supporting us, in creating a home, a Home where the Art is!
Ilene Dube
Chairperson, Cabin Fever Cabaret
Ruth Kusner Potts
President, West Windsor Arts Council
However, when I discuss more than ONE issue, we get lost.
I tried that modus operandi with the illegal signs, the Nierenberg House, and the Trolley Line Trail contest I am certain to have won. (I have my e-mail submission.)
I fear submitting pictures and quantitative examples to support my arguments leave our leaders confused.
I have spent countless hours going through – and paying for – public information. For example, examine the files for the Trolley Line Trail negotiations with PSE&G and there are few records and no documentation of who negotiated the easements, legal fees, and financial agreements costing taxpayers over $250,”000. The point? No one cares.
Hey… Give it up, Pete. There is a State of NJ fiscal crisis and we cannot control agreements or decisions within our control.
