I just read your paper’s May 16th front page coverage on the Howard Hughes concept plan presented to the West Windsor Planning Board meeting held at WW-P High School South. I was in attendance and was public speaker number 4.
Your article accurately reported on key township resident gripes regarding the diminution of existing housing stock values, increased traffic congestion on already failing regional arteries and township roads and further public school attendance, which is tipping the tax scales in favor of fleeing New Jersey.
What you did not report on were the few voices asking Howard Hughes to rethink its plan and come back to the planning board with a bolder concept that would attract the type of regional economic investment in critical need to attract the global firms and talented millennial workforce routinely fleeing our region.
Howard Hughes controls a valuable asset strategically placed at the nexus of transportation, educated workers and talented student populations. A treasure trove worthy of a grander future than an enclosed mixed-use private community at the edge of an existing township in search of its identity and often defined locally as devoid of community.
West Windsor is more than its train station, bedrooms and classrooms. When will we have the foresight to seize our best days, which lie ahead? The true opportunity before us must not further exacerbate years of unsustainable property tax hikes and housing that feeds a public school juggernaut that chops up the communities of two towns based on an annual multi-million dollar student busing scheme.
Central New Jersey has long heard from forward-thinking leaders promoting ideas for road improvements and investment opportunities to attract the demand for next-gen education and training for current jobs that go unfilled. Our region can no longer afford to lose its best and brightest to other metro regions and states.
Smart-next-tech sector employment centers are being established across the nation and around the globe to meet fierce demand from many of the very corporations headquartered or invested in New Jersey.
Wall Street, big pharma, healthcare, biotech, retailers and hospitality industries are investing in regions able to provide the infrastructure and amenities of the self-sustaining jobs incubators and ecosystems, retooling the future advancement of global workforces. IT workers in demand are cybersecurity and data mining thinkers. These are the global changes taking place at lightning speed. These are the opportunities fueling tomorrow’s growth sectors.
Will New Jersey’s leaders have the foresight and planning to attract the talent and convince, universities and businesses to promote the development required to support the regional work, live, play communities of tomorrow? This is a very different formula than a mixed-use plan.
West Windsor must rejoin the chorus for the Einstein’s Alley proposal that former Rep. Rush Holt championed. This form of regional private/public strategic investment has never been more needed to rebalance a community that is draining income from residents rather than providing income streams that recycle and build wealth.
It’s time for a long overdue conversation on the best path forward. All residents need to be heard on the direction our town should take. Simply standing still and saying no to what’s being proposed is no longer an option.
— Barbara Pfeifer, West Windsor
