On July 22 I asked council to help my neighbors on Cranbury Road by installing sidewalks on this dangerous street; I also wrote a letter to the editor stating that the mayor ignored this request for years. Mr. Payne accused me of trying “to mislead, distract and criticize for the betterment” of a small group. Disparaging a resident’s concerns about safety/inaction of the mayor calls into question Mr. Payne’s fitness to represent us on council.
Since when is speaking out in support of your family and your neighbors “shameful” and an “attempt to divide our community”? Mr. Payne accused me of being divisive and misleading; I’d like to address those accusations.
First, he states that I was misleading when I mentioned that Mr. Hsueh has been a council member/mayor for 20 years. In fact, Mr. Hsueh was a West Windsor Council member for 8 years (1993-2001) and mayor for 12 (2001 to present).
Mr. Payne stated that he and the mayor worked together to eliminate the turning restrictions at Route 1/Washington Road. What he omitted was that the mayor did not prevent the turning restrictions from happening in the first place. Nor was he the driving force in getting those roadblocks removed. That was due to the efforts of residents both protesting and signing petitions (which I also signed).
Finally, as Mr. Payne knows, although the jughandles were reinstated, the DOT just replaced the problem. They extended the lights on Route 1, causing more traffic along Washington Road.
Just a few months ago Mr. Payne was quite upset with Mayor Hsueh. Mr. Payne learned about proposed DOT plans from Princeton’s mayor, who shared the plans with council and the public, while Mayor Hsueh tried to keep it under wraps. Mr. Hsueh’s explanation was that “it was a rookie mistake” by Princeton’s new mayor.
Personally, I would rather have a rookie mayor who shares information and gets input from the public before making decisions. On issue after issue, our mayor has hidden plans from council and the public until they are finalized behind closed doors and it’s too late to amend them. Even Mr. Payne didn’t like this practice — until he became the mayor’s running mate.
Finally, Mr. Payne accused me of political motivation, while in the same issue of the paper the mayor had Ms. Ward, a paid employee of West Windsor Township, write an overtly political letter defending Mayor Hsueh’s policies with regard to Cranbury Road. Is it not political to use a paid township employee to do the mayor’s bidding through letters to the editor?
Again, I encourage you to look for the truth and examine each candidate carefully. The future of our town depends on it.
Virginia Manzari
