Since the end of the 1990s, West Windsor has been making the transition from a community struggling to cope with break-neck-speed development to a town near full buildout. That fact has been illustrated clearly during this year’s municipal election.##M:[more]##
In the past candidates debated over the best ways to slow or stop residential growth in undeveloped areas of the township. But now, with almost all of the town’s prime parcels already filled with developments, development approvals, or preserved as open space, much of the debate in this year’s election has revolved around the re-development of one of the township’s oldest sections — downtown Princeton Junction.
That’s not to say that this year’s campaign has been the positive one that both sides still claim they want to conduct. As election appraoches, allegations by both teams of lies and dirty tricks by their opponents have started to surface.
Up for grabs in this year’s Tuesday, May 10, election are the mayor’s job and two seats on township council. All positions are for four-year terms. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh is the only incumbent running for re-election. The mayor assembled a slate called the Community Vision Team with council candidates Linda Geevers, who just ended a six-year stint as a member of the WW-P Board of Education, and Heidi Kleinman, an architect and planner who is serving as a member of the planning board.
Challenging Hsueh for the mayor’s job is long-time Councilwoman Alison Miller, a former political ally and slate member with Hsueh. She has teamed with Jersey City firefighter George Borek, and David Siegel, a software developer on the Openness, Integrity, Action slate.
For more information on the candidates and their views, see the League of Women Voters election guide starting on page 18, and articles in the April 1 issue of the News for mayor, and the April 15 issue for council candidates.
Most differences between the teams are more style than substance — there is agreement between both sides on issues like the need for redevelopment of downtown Princeton Junction, but Miller, Borek, and Siegel argue that the planning process needs to be more inclusive. They argue that Hsueh has not allowed for enough public involvement in making key decisions regarding the future of the township.
Hsueh, on the other hand, believes that he has allowed ample opportunity for residents to be involved.
In the past year, the township held two meetings with New Jersey Transit to allow residents to comment on an ongoing vision study for a transit village at the Princeton Junction train station. The Community Vision Team promises that once the study is released — expected sometime before this summer — there will be more opportunity for residents to be involved in the process.
Hsueh also points out that several years ago he required public forums to be held on the American Cyanamid tract when it was being considered for development by Rouse.
“I plan to continue to reach out to the members of our community and provide forums, such as quarterly town hall meetings, for increased public involvement in local government issues,” says Hsueh.
Geevers also favors the transit village concept, but agrees the public needs to be included. “A village scale center on the west side of the train station with a diversity of land uses has the potential to create the pedestrian friendly center with a sense of place that is sorely missing in our community. The mix of housing, shops, and restaurants would serve as a focal point for bringing people together in an attractive atmosphere. The input of the public during the planning process will enrich the outcome and reflect the unique history of township.”
On Route 571, the Community Vision Team pledges to pursue immediate safety improvements on the highway and work with township council, residents, and Mercer County to develop a final plan for the road and then to pursue funding for the reconstruction.
The township is also conducting a study as to whether the area of the Junction east of the train tracks — including the current downtown business district — qualifies as an area in need of redevelopment as defined under state law. Such a determination would open the township to additional sources of funding to implement a plan for that area.
Kleinman says that she and Geevers are “independent thinkers” who are running with Hsueh to work together as a team with common goals. She also points out that her slate has been endorsed by the three council members who she would be working with after the election — Kristin Appelget, Franc Gambatese, and Charlie Morgan. “We look forward to four years of mutual respect and open dialogue on issues concerning our township.”
Miller and her teammates agree that the township needs to look at redevelopment of Princeton Junction, but believe that the transit village should not be the sole focus of those efforts.
“We already have a village (in downtown Princeton Junction),” says Miller. “People like not to think of it that way because it wasn’t designed as one, but we can have a walkable village there. We can enhance it, or we can throw it away and say we can do better from scratch (with the transit village). I don’t believe in throwing away our existing neighborhoods. I believe in preserving them.”
“West Windsor is too big to focus on a single center, we need several,” says Siegel. “Ideally we should convert several of our existing shopping districts, which are now more like strip-malls or big-box malls, into main streets for the township.”
Miller says her main reason for challenging Hsueh is that she believes he does not allow enough community involvement in his decisions.
In addition to limiting public involvement, Borek maintains that Hsueh spends too much time studying issues and not enough taking action. “We have to get things moving forward and set our sights on getting things accomplished. We have to make the community a better place and involve everyone in decision-making processes. We need people who say, ‘let’s go out and get this done.’”
On Route 571, Miller says that she would meet with Mercer County officials and find out the proposed timeline for both short- and long-term improvements. “I would develop architectural standards for new buildings and explore means, including designating an area in need of rehabilitation, of ensuring upgrades to existing development such as the Acme shopping center.”
Siegel asserts that action should have been taken many years ago to improve the area around Route 571 and make it safer. “Until very recently we haven’t been moving at all. We should have been moving on this issue years ago.”
“Road improvements, sidewalks, and lighting improvements are all vital to this process, but a change in the character of the buildings is needed,” he adds. “This should start with the buildings that are currently planned or proposed. Then we can consider how existing structures can be made to fit in, and wind up with a true village center along Route 571. I want to improve what we already have, not tear it all down and start over, and not abandon it for a totally new center, such as the transit village.”
Although the major issues in this year’s municipal contest are different, some of the nastiness and allegations of dirty tricks common to prior West Windsor campaigns have started to rear their ugly heads.
Borek, in a letter to the media and subsequent interview with the News, has alleged that the mayor is looking for council candidates who would act as a rubber stamp for his agenda.
Borek says that in early 2005 he was interested in running on Hsueh’s team as a candidate for council and was interviewed at a meeting that included members of the mayor’s campaign team including Hsueh, Council President Franc Gambatese, and Planning Board Chairman Marvin Gardner, the Community Vision Team’s campaign manager.
“We spoke about different issues and my stand on them, and then Mr. Gardner asked me if I could be a yes man for the mayor,” says Borek. “I was taken aback by the question. I looked around the room, and told them that’s not who I am. Government officials should want someone open-minded and unbiased to serve with them, not someone pledged to support a mayor’s agenda, sight unseen and particulars unanalyzed.”
Hsueh and members of his team say that Borek’s allegation is an outright lie. “The notion that a candidate interviewing committee would pose such a question is so absurd as to be almost laughable. This complete falsehood and concocted story by Borek raises serious questions about his integrity and the unprincipled measures he would take to achieve victory,” states a joint statement released by Hsueh, Gardner, Gambatese, and Fu-Grand Lin, who was also present at the interview. “Borek should not be poisoning the political environment by mudslinging and uttering untruths. Ugly gutter politics will not be tolerated by the electorate.”
“It’s troubling that they (the Openness, Integrity, Action slate) would go to such extremes to say a question like that would be asked in an open forum with five people present,” Gardner said in an interview with the News this week. “What they were trying to do was attack each and every other person involved in the interview. We interviewed 10 people, and none of the others have even so much as suggested that we asked a question like that.
“It calls (Borek’s) credibility into question,” Gardner continues, “and his credibility should be an issue. He’s running on a slate that has integrity as part of its slogan. If they raise the issue that they are a team with integrity, this makes me begin to question their integrity.”
“I don’t like getting into this political smear business,” says Gardner laments. “It’s disgraceful. They’re trying to get at Shing through me.”
This week, one of the potential candidates interviewed by Community Vision backed Hsueh’s story. “There was no line of questioning even suggesting that the committee was seeking individuals who would blindly support the mayor,” said Diane Hasling, a former member of the WW-P School Board who served during the same time as Geevers. “I do not understand what questions this candidate (Borek) may have perceived as such.”
Gardner says that his campaign was looking for candidates who shared the same philosophies as the mayor, but would also be independent thinkers. “Most importantly, we were looking for a candidate who is clearly concerned with the best interests of the township. Somebody who is conversant with current issues of town. Someone who is a clear thinker and was able to provide ideas that were distinctive but beneficial to the township. Someone who at times would be prepared to exercise their independence if they felt their position benefited the township.”
Meanwhile, Borek maintains that he is telling the truth and is willing to take a lie detector test. He adds that it’s his opponents’ integrity that should questioned.
“Government officials should put the best interest of the community first,” Borek says. “Officials who throw away their integrity and merely vote as they are told are the reason people get turned off to politics. No one will ever question my integrity.”
Gambatese has also made allegations that Openness, Integrity, Action may be playing dirty tricks with Community Vision’s campaign handouts.
Gambatese says the campaign was contacted by an official from the Princeton Junction Post Office and informed that they would be fined for leaving campaign materials on residents’ mailboxes in the Princeton Chase development. Under U.S. Postal regulations, it is a violation for anyone but a postal carrier to leave documents in, or on a mailbox. Such an act is punishable by a $350 fine per instance.
But according to Gambatese, all campaign workers have been informed not to leave campaign materials on mailboxes. He says he believes that someone from his opponents’ team may have collected Community Vision materials and purposely put them on the mailboxes to create a violation.
Miller says the allegations are untrue. “It’s complete and absolute nonsense. We don’t do that. Actually, I have been contacted by a number of people who said they have received Shing’s literature on their mailbox, and I myself got one in my mailbox.”
“I am running a positive campaign and I’m trying to point out the differences between Shing and myself,” Miller adds. “I do not mislead people. Shing does.”
Community Vision Team officials have also claimed that their opponents, in an effort to generate votes, are spreading fear throughout Canal Pointe and Colonnade Pointe over the possibility that the University Medical Center at Princeton may be moving into their neighborhood. Residents of both developments have expressed opposition to the hospital locating on the adjacent Carnegie Center West tract (see story below).
“The idea that people cannot be upset on their own when their area is under discussion without me is insulting to everybody,” says Miller. “Before the campaign even started, I received some incensed E-mails from people in Canal Pointe (expressing concerns about the hospital).
Mayoral Candidates Challenged on Junction
Princeton Junction is a major issue in this year’s municipal election. That fact was reinforced in an April 15 letter to the editor of the News by Bear Brook Road resident Farrell Delman, one of the organizers of the Princeton Junction Neighborhoods’ Coalition (PJNC).
Delman, a supporter of Hsueh and Miller in past elections, was also a candidate for township council in 1993 and a member of the West Windsor Planning Board.
In his letter, Delman threw down the gauntlet to both Miller and Hsueh, and also criticized the way the current planning board operates. “Both candidates for mayor in West Windsor are extremely competent and should dedicate themselves to proactive planning. Sure we need vision, but we also need action. We need leadership that believes in making visions real. And we need a planning board that meets more than once a month.”
According to Delman, members of the PJNC are expected to meet with candidates from both teams to see “how well they address the concerns that we put to them.” Delman is also careful to add that he was only speaking for himself with his letter, and was not expressing the sentiments of the PJNC.
“At the April 4 meeting of the Princeton Junction Neighborhoods’ Coalition, it became clear to some that we will need to work very hard to be part of the municipal planning for Route 571 since it costs the town money to have engineers work with the community and the administration does not wish to spend this money — preferring instead the short-term goal of saving the taxpayers this money, also an important goal,” said Delman in his letter.
“With money from the county, West Windsor will finally be on the way to an improved Route 571 through Princeton Junction. But as we heard at the March 16 Planning Board meeting (at which a concept plan for the 571 redesign was unveiled), our township planner said that issues associated with road widths are complicated by the fact that there is no design for village center style buildings along the road. So as it stands now, we are first designing the road but not the village through which it runs, kind of like the land version of a ‘River Runs Through It.’ This is backwards planning.”
In an interview with the News, Delman says that whoever is elected mayor should expand the planning process. “My concern is that we’re letting others do our planning for us. I think the town’s residents would understand and accept that planning does cost money. To have money for a plan would not be a reach. Doing things piecemeal is very costly to us.”
“But then you’d also have to have a planning board that’s proactive, and we have one that rarely meets,” Delman adds. “I haven’t seen such inactivity, ever.”
Planning Board Chairman Marvin Gardner defended the board in response to Delman’s statements, arguing that the there are no development applications being submitted to the township. He adds that board business will pick up later this year.
Within the next few months, the state is expected to release the transit village vision study and a feasibility study on Bus Rapid Transit in the Route 1 corridor. The township’s planning department is also finalizing a study that will determine whether downtown Princeton Junction qualifies as a redevelopment area as outlined under state guidelines.
“We have no choice with respect to doing more. The only commercial applications that are coming in are seeking extensions of existing approvals because the office market is slow,” says Gardner. “And there are no residential applications.”
He also points out that the planning board conducted a complete review of the township’s master plan in 2001.
