With election season picking up steam, at least one more issue has become one of contention for the two mayoral candidates — determining the projects for which West Windsor officials should ask for funding as part of President Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus plan.
This became a heated issue after Council President Charles Morgan put a resolution on the table during a council meeting earlier this month calling on the state Department of Transportation to “take necessary steps” to ensure the allocation of federal stimulus funds for infrastructure needed to support redevelopment at the Princeton Junction train station. Council passed the measure with a 4-0 vote.
Morgan said he drafted the resolution after hearing that the state DOT will play a major role in the allocation of funds from the stimulus package. He said he did not want to wait until those funds are already dispersed elsewhere.
However, Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh later expressed frustration, saying he had already been meeting with Congressman Rush Holt and with other high-ranking state officials to draft proposals for the projects to fund. He had also expressed frustration that a redevelopment plan would not be approved in time for the February 23 deadline for requests.
Hsueh had pointed to the loss of $159 million in state funding for Route 1 improvements and $19 million in state funding for Vaughn Drive last year, during which state officials cited the township’s lack of a plan for the train station area as a major reason they dropped the projects from their priority list.
A little more than a week following the adoption of Morgan’s resolution, the council president issued a last minute press release indicating a meeting was to be held on February 16 in council chambers to discuss ideas for township projects residents wanted to see included in a proposal for funding. Morgan said he would be submitting ideas coming from the meeting to Hsueh and Holt to try to get them included in any funding requests.
Morgan’s own press release was sent out on council letterhead, but was not noticed as an official council meeting. Neither other council members nor the mayor attended what turned out to be a discussion between eight residents and Morgan about projects that should be included.
Morgan had been critical of the mayor in the few days leading up to the meeting, saying that he was “appalled that we have not gotten the West Windsor name out there on the list of towns asking for federal bailout money.” Said Morgan: “I’m going to be proactive rather than merely reactive. I just believe in making everything open and transparent.”
Further, Morgan said the stimulus plan was a “very important opportunity” and that “we need to be doing a filing. The mayor doesn’t seem interested at all in doing a filing with Rush Holt.”
Hsueh, however, said he has been having his own discussions with state officials and other mayors along Route 1. He also pointed out that the government is looking to fund “shovel-ready projects that are already approved,” a debate that came up during Morgan’s meeting over whether certain projects met the criteria.
“He didn’t consult with other council members,” Hsueh said. “We are working with the state and Rush Holt’s office. They have to be projects that have already been in the pipeline. For him to conduct this meeting, I really don’t know what the motivation is for him to do it.”
“We already talked about West Windsor’s projects,” Hsueh said of his own discussions with state officials. “We are going to come up with all of these packages for Rush Holt’s office and also the state DOT.” Hsueh says included in the list already are improvements to Route 571, Penns Neck improvements, the Vaughn Drive connector, and close to “hundreds of millions of dollars” worth of funding.
Hsueh also said he was coordinating ideas with five other mayors — from Princeton Borough and Township, Lawrence, Plainsboro, and South Brunswick — along Route 1 and the Penns Neck area.
On February 19, Hsueh, along with mayors of five other towns, including Plainsboro, released a joint letter stating their consensus that funding for the Penns Neck Bypass Project, which includes Route 1 improvements at Route 571 and Harrsion Street and the Vaughn Drive Connector. The letter, addressed to the state Department of Transportation is meant to show solidarity and bolster the chances that these projects be funded by DOT as it disperses federal money from the stimulus package.
Morgan “never talked to me; he never communicated with the administration or myself,” about the meeting, Hsueh said.
During Morgan’s meeting, where eight residents gathered to discuss their ideas with him, new ideas did come out.
The first idea that was suggested from resident Andy Bromberg was a request for funding for sewers in developments like Princeton Oaks, which has 250 homes and is 25 years old, said Bromberg.
Morgan said he agreed and that “one of my items was completion of the sewer systems, and Princeton Oaks is Exhibit 1.”
Another resident, Russell Wojtenko Jr. suggested asking for funding to support a bus that traveled around the township to bring people to and from the train station. “It would be nice for residents to wait on every corner and just take maybe even a school bus to get there,” he said. Morgan said the idea was good, but probably would not fit under the infrastructure category in the stimulus plan.
Alison Miller, a resident who holds positions with the West Windsor Parking Authority, West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance, and Friends of West Windsor Open Space among others, suggested the Route 1 improvements and road cut be a top priority in the list of projects for which township officials are requesting funding because federal officials will see its value not only to West Windsor, but it would alleviate traffic congestion regionally, and allow more cars to get to the train station to increase ridership. This goes hand-in-hand with the Vaughn Drive connector road and other Penns Neck Environmental Impact Study improvements.
Morgan and residents debated the definition of “shovel-ready,” with Morgan questioning at which point a project is designated as such. Even though some projects may not be entirely shovel-ready currently, “by the time we get around to talking to them (federal officials) about it, it will be shovel-ready. It will probably be three to six months before the money actually comes.”
Morgan also suggested asking for funding for work at Duck Pond Park, which is being done in pieces because the township could not afford to do it all at once.
The question was also raised whether West Windsor would find it hard to obtain funding while it is going up against cities like Newark and Camden, which have advantages because they can tell the federal government that they have the room to create new jobs right in their own cities to take care of the projects.
One resident suggested that when the proposal is made, particularly for the Route 1 improvements, that the township should specify that the highway improvements would be beneficial to many more people than just those living in West Windsor.
Resident Al Lerner suggested a request for funding for a pedestrian bridge over the train tracks that would connect the east and west sides of the tracks, making it easier for commuters to get to either side. “It’s something that could be done quickly, it’s simple, and it doesn’t cost a lot of money,” said Lerner.
Miller said the parking authority had been very interested in this idea already because “it makes it easier to park on either side and get to your destination.”
Wojtenko also suggested moving the power substation from its current vulnerable location to another site that is more thoroughly protected from any outside threats to safety. Miller and Morgan agreed that it would probably catch the attention of the federal government, which would want to spend the money wisely to help with infrastructure, but also make it safer.
Other ideas included putting a track that would be run by police and school district officials in a secluded area, perhaps near Quakerbridge Mall, to teach young drivers how to navigate their cars in adverse weather conditions; asking for funding to refurbish the “fifth” track that runs between Plainsboro and West Windsor, to and from the train station, so that Plainsboro residents will not have to drive to the station; including all projects in the township’s capital budget and five-year plan for funding; and funding an acceleration lane on Old Trenton Road to help those who are leaving the Village Grande development.
Morgan said he would be meeting with the mayor to go over the list of ideas to pass on to Holt.
In response to Morgan’s allegations that the administration has not worked hard enough to try to get funding for West Windsor, Hsueh said that Morgan had not even sent him a copy of the first resolution that council voted to send to the DOT. “I’ve been working with the commissioner and all the regional mayors of all the stimulus package.”
Hsueh said Morgan sent him the recommendations from his meeting on February 16, and that he would review them. Still, he says he knows most of the money — $19 million is expected to come to New Jersey all together — will be going to the DOT to distribute around the state, meaning the decisions will probably be made from a statewide perspective.
“That is also one of the reasons I’ve been coordinating with the mayors,” Hsueh said. “I’m working and communicating with the commissioner and state agencies to make sure we try to back up each other for it. The projects we are working on and making sure we submit for consideration are more or less in the pipeline.”
