Though both Neil Lewis and Ginger Gold-Schnitzer ran unopposed for their Plainsboro Township Committee positions this year, they did not stop campaigning. The two still worked as a team, knocking on doors to hear their constituents’ ideas on the township and participating in voter registration initiatives.
“It’s scarier to run uncontested,” said Schnitzer, who has been a member of the Committee since being appointed to fill Linda Greenstein’s seat in March, 2000. “I would be okay with losing to another person, but it would be humiliating to get beat by a write-in vote for a ficus plant.”
Schnitzer’s comment is a sly reference to the township’s 2002 election, when long-standing Mayor Peter Cantu ran uncontested, with his closest competitor a ficus tree that received more write-in votes than either Mickey Mouse or any municipal Republican candidate.
Neil Lewis, the deputy mayor, is in his 12th year on the committee. This is the first time he has run uncontested. “In one respect it’s somewhat gratifying. Even though we still went door to door, it was done with a different sense of urgency. As a result most people who answered the door were more polite, since they knew we didn’t have to be there. Most people showed a lot of appreciation for that commitment.”
As a result of that appreciation, Lewis and Schnitzer both say the citizens felt comfortable discussing their concerns with life in the township. Says Lewis: “We saw that most people focus their attention on taxes, and a number of them comment with regard to traffic-related issues.”
Regarding taxes, Lewis says the township’s equalized tax rate is the lowest in Middlesex county. “Most of the taxes are incurred, and we as a community and elected body see if there are ways we can improve the fairness of the system. We have engaged in discussions with West Windsor, to urge them to consider ways we might be able to more fairly distribute the cost of school system,” says Lewis.
Regarding traffic, he hopes to see progress on Route 92, which he believes will help ease the traffic on township roads.
Schnitzer says that her first priority over the next term is “finishing the library. I wanted to run again to see that project through.”
She says that as a resident of Walker Gordon Estates, she has particular interest in the proposed hospital for Route 1 and Plainsboro Road. “The hospital move could mean a lot of good things for the township. We need to proceed very cautiously. I’m in the community closest to the hospital, and I know my neighbors and other residents have concerns about traffic. We need to carefully address those issues, and consider them along with all the good things that can come with bringing a major medical facility to a town.”
Schnitzer says she’s also focused on making the center of town more accessible for teens, seniors, and other residents who do not drive. Schnitzer says she would like the township to have more places to go and things to do for its youth. She feels a strong connection with Plainsboro’s kids, having been one of them. She grew up in town, before going to Douglass College at Rutgers University, then to law school at Villanova. She got a masters in government administration at the University of Pennsylvania, and currently works as a lobbyist for New Jersey Education Association.
She has a deep-rooted loyalty to Plainsboro and to Cantu. “I can remember my first job, when I was 10 years old, riding around town on my bike distributing flyers that said ‘Cantu for the Committee.’”
Her counterpart, Neil Lewis has been a committeeman since 1995. Lewis grew up in New York City, and attended CCNY before going to graduate school at Kansas University. He got his doctorate at Kansas University’s College of Pharmacy, and moved to the township in 1983 to work at Xenobiotic Laboratories. He is vice president of the company.
“Having lived in Kansas and the midwest, Plainsboro was very attractive to us for its open space and its remarkable school system,” says Lewis, echoing the reasons many current resident had for choosing to live in the township.
Lewis and Schnitzer will continue to serve along with Ed Yates and Michael Weaver on the committee, which also includes Cantu, who has been Plainsboro’s mayor since 1975.
