Sabino makes bid for West Windsor Council

Councilwoman Rae Roeder and Barbara and Cornell Edmonds have picked up nominating petitions.

By: Gwen Runkle
   WEST WINDSOR — John Sabino, a vice president at Merrill Lynch and director of Friends of West Windsor Open Space, announced his candidacy for Township Council Monday.
   In addition, Councilwoman Rae Roeder and Barbara and Cornell Edmonds have picked up nominating petition forms from the Township Clerk’s office, said Township Clerk Sharon Young. The election contest will center on the remaining two years of the council seat formerly held by Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh.
   Currently the seat is being temporarily filled by Ms. Roeder. She was unanimously selected to fill the seat by Township Council July 1.
   As of Monday, Mr. Sabino was the only person to have filed the petition with the Mercer County Clerk’s Office. Deadline for filing petitions is Thursday and the election will be held Nov. 6.
   Mr. Sabino, who was recently appointed by Mayor Hsueh as an adviser to the township Planning Board and serves as Planning Board liaison to the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional Board of Education, said his campaign will focus on quality-of-life issues in West Windsor, specifically preservation of open space, traffic and tax issues.
   "We need a new face on council and a different style of leadership," Mr. Sabino said. "I can bring a fresh perspective and new ideas. We need to plan appropriately for the expected commercial development along Route 1 and how it will impact us. We need to balance the need for tax ratables with possible negative impacts to traffic and nearby neighborhoods."
   Ms. Roeder had decided in February not to run for a third term, but has said that the state Supreme Court’s decision to hear the township’s appeal regarding affordable-housing regulations on the Toll Brother’s site on Bear Brook Road made her reconsider.
   She said the many years she has spent following the litigation against Toll Brothers’ 1,165-unit Estates at Princeton Junction development would help the township to victory in the case, which will be heard sometime this fall.
   In addition, while she admits being busy as president of the Communications Workers of America Local 1033, a union that represents 6,500 state workers, she felt positive she could commit to the two-year term.
   Mr. and Ms. Edmonds were not available for comment.