Letters to the Editor, Oct. 26

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, Oct. 26

By:
Wake up, America.

This is war!
To the editor:
   How nice it was of you to put the poem by the 13-year-old orphan on a separate page from the one-two-three punch from the three Princeton letters which mostly filled the first page of your Oct. 19 Town Forum. If this young lady saves your publication of her poem, it would be sacrilegious for it to have been on the same page with that drivel.
   How do the authors of these three letters manage to squeeze so much misinformation into that one page? Obviously not one of them seems to have been hit, like that orphan, by the holocaust at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, nor do they seem to have blue stars in their windows. It must be comforting for them not to be personally affected by this maelstrom swirling around us.
   Wake up, America. This is war! I must admit that I am getting terribly depressed with what has insidiously crept into America’s psyche. Let us endeavor to use the sacrifice of our new Six Thousand Martyrs in order to embolden us to wipe out all hyphenated words in describing Americans. Just as bronze comes from fusing of tin and copper, both soft metals, America is a living testimonial to this type of phenomenon. Hyphenated words have eroded our unity and sapped our strength. United we stand — divided we fall!
   If, during this time of awesome danger, one is sincerely, a conscientious objector, I pray that he modulate his voice until some future time when our brave men and women in the armed services are no longer in harm’s way. As I write this, these modern-day patriots are endeavoring to restore to us any sense of security which we have had stripped away. It is downright treason to tell the good readers of The Packet to lobby our representatives in Congress to stop the bombing and thus consign our armed forces to hand-to-hand combat in their mission of rooting out the network of Al Qaeda throughout the world. Maybe they also want us to take away their guns.
   I am a newcomer to this area, and I am suddenly overwhelmed with yet another real oxymoron — "Princeton-America." In the meantime, dear Princeton-Americans, please stand down!
Bradford Saivetz
Otter Creek Road
Montgomery
Assistance appreciated

by victim’s family
To the editor:
   I am a new widow, the result of losing my husband in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. During the painful weeks that have followed, through endless mounds of paperwork, I have been assisted by several organizations and individuals.
   I particularly want to thank state Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein and her staff for taking so much time to help me get information and smooth the process along the way. The local chapter of the American Red Cross has also been supportive and I have made a number of contacts through the United Way’s Mercer County Chapter.
   It is perhaps instructive to understand, while so much attention is focused on New York City, that at leasthalf the victims’ families are residents of New Jersey.
Nikki Stern
Sayre Drive
Plainsboro
We’ll find solutions,

if we don’t give up yet
To the editor:
   The Princeton Township Committee, in order to encourage senior housing, is considering an "overlay" plan that would change the zoning of three environmentally fragile areas, permitting extremely large buildings (four times the size of the new township municipal building). I am concerned out of civic interest, but not self-interest — I don’t live near the three areas, and I am not yet ready for senior housing myself.
   Township Committee members are clearly acting out of the very best of motives. They obviously care deeply about the welfare of seniors. Unfortunately, they have been persuaded that the only way to obtain senior housing is to sacrifice environmentally fragile areas. Thus, the Township Committee is effectively being blackmailed. Anyone who opposes the overlay plan can be labeled "anti-senior" — a clever method by which developers can force our communities to rezone in their favor.
   I think the Township Committee is giving up too soon. It is possible to protect the environmentally fragile sites and still obtain excellent senior housing. It will just take some time, persistence and creativity.
   Here’s why I think so: This past year I have been involved in planning the very small high school site, working with the Princeton Regional Board of Education to fit in enough athletic fields, green space and parking. It was extraordinarily difficult. The goals seemed to be in direct conflict, just as protecting environmentally fragile areas and building senior housing seem to be in direct conflict.
   The school board could have adopted a flawed site plan early on, saying that it was impossible to do better, just as the Township Committee can adopt the deeply flawed overlay plan. Instead, school board members kept working on the site plan and stayed open to new ideas. After a year, a plan was finally developed that fulfills nearly all of the goals. Because the school board didn’t give up, it found a win-win solution.
   I urge the Township Committee to adopt this model of decision-making — to reject the overlay plan, but to make the development of senior housing an urgent priority. For example, the Township Committee and Borough Council could create a Senior Housing Task Force and provide it with resources. The task force could first determine how many seniors want housing in Princeton, what kind of housing, in what location and in what price range — information that we currently lack. The task force could then systematically explore all possible building sites for senior housing, working closely with landowners, developers, Princeton Future, seniors and others.
   The Task Force could also try to develop creative, "out-of-the-box" ways to obtain more senior housing or help seniors remain in their homes. For example, a township ordinance permits homeowners to renovate their homes to add rental units, and Mayor Marvin Reed is working to permit borough homeowners to create apartments for seniors in their houses and to permit seniors to create income-producing apartments in their own houses. "Out-of-the-box" ideas like these, combined with some of the available building sites, will almost certainly provide much better, more appropriate senior housing than will a massive building on one of the environmentally fragile sites.
   Let’s not accept a forced choice between the environment and seniors. We’ll find win-win solutions, if we just don’t give up yet.
Phyllis Teitelbaum
Hawthorne Avenue
Princeton
PHS parking plan

violates golden rules
To the editor:
   At its Oct. 23 meeting, the Princeton Regional Board of Education voted to approve schematic plans for expansion of Princeton High School. The board in effect gave the green light for its consultants to prepare an engineered site plan. In so doing, the board violated two golden rules.
   The first golden rule – referred to at the hearing by a neighbor – is the rule that asks large institutional uses to treat their neighbors gently. In this case, the board has instructed its engineers to draw plans for a 40-space parking lot on a heavily wooded lot scant yards from a neighbor’s house. In the process, the board is engineering the destruction of a truly special place in the neighborhood, the kind of space that the planning literature refers to as a "place of the heart." Even if labeled a "last resort" – and it is not clear who, under what circumstances, and using what criteria, will make the fated decision to bring the bulldozers onto the site – the mere intention of thus locating this parking lot indicates a lack of concern for the well-being of the host neighborhood.
   Sadly, while parking (or the perceived lack thereof) has driven much of the recent debate surrounding the high school expansion, no serious study of present and anticipated parking needs has been made available to the public. The emotional debate over high school parking has lacked an empirical basis. The ability of the surrounding streets to accommodate additional on-street parking has been discounted. Efforts to reduce parking demand by encouraging more walking and bicycling have not been pursued.
   The second golden rule violated that evening is the community design rule that states "thou shalt not place parking in the front yard of a civic building." Parking is a supportive, albeit necessary, use. We do not place parking in front of our civic buildings for the same reasons that we do not locate dumpsters, recycling sheds and other supportive, albeit necessary functions in such a prominent place. A parking lot in front of our graceful, historic high school building will degrade it as a civic institution.
   The school board is under the mistaken impression that it must resolve every need on its own site, and that its responsibilities end at the lot line. In fact, we expect our agencies of local government to exercise leadership and work jointly to address community issues. If pedestrian and bicycle conditions were improved, parking demand would decline, at the high school and elsewhere. We might propose a third golden rule here: that the school board engage the borough, the township, the Regional Planning Board and the neighborhood in a focused, problem-solving exercise to resolve this issue in a constructive, dignified way.
Carlos Rodrigues
Moore Street
Princeton
Deer, not people,

are suffering
To the editor:
   In the past few days in Princeton, I have seen more than one suffering deer, wounded by arrows, left paralyzed to die an agonizing death.
   Princeton allows this cruel "sport" for the small minority of New Jersey residents who are hunters. The rest of us are left to suffer emotionally as we watch the endless suffering of the animals.
   But to hear township officials tell it, it is Princeton residents who are "suffering" from the depredations of its deer "overpopulation."
Township officials, with the support of Princeton Packet editorials, praise their deer-management plan of cruelty, with its bows and arrows and high-powered rifles, and they promise to continue with what they say is their "thoughtful" deer plan of mass slaughter.
   In spite of proof, ignored by Township Committee, that mass slaughter leads to increased birth rates, Princeton’s plan is to bait and shoot 1,000 deer in the next few years at a cost of a half-million dollars.
   Suppose it actually were possible to reduce and stabilize the deer population by half by shooting 1,000 of them? The township would still suffer half as many car-deer collisions. Why would this be satisfactory? Other, less urgent problems, such as damage to ornamental plantings, would hardly be affected. The complaining residents would still be forced to fence in their ornamental plantings, or have them nibbled upon.
   Paramount is the deer-car collision rate. There is a terrible problem with the township’s roads — narrow, winding and badly lit; brush close to the narrow shoulders results in poor visibility for both drivers and wildlife. Hundreds of cars pass through this road network every evening and every morning, and dead or near-dead deer are picked up nearly every morning. This is a problem that should be thoroughly investigated by traffic-safety specialists. Ultimately the township could have built in the same safety measures that keep down the deer-car collision rate on state and interstate highways.
   The suburban deer question has so many diverse and thus far unexplored aspects that it should be the subject of deliberation by an interdisciplinary group of professional planners and engineers, as well as citizens with diverse viewpoints. The present Township Committee has repeatedly refused to establish such a bona fide committee. It has deliberately denied those Princeton residents who oppose lethal measures any participation in decisions of gravity involving discharge of weapons in our local parks and wildlife "preserves," and humane treatment of native wildlife. There is no authentic suburban deer-management committee, only a "kill-is-the-only-answer" committee.
   I urge the Township Committee to go back to the drawing board, inviting professional and objective public participation, to amend the existing plan in a way that will provide safe and thoughtful protection of both the human and deer populations in a suburban setting.
Susan K. Ferry
Hemlock Circle
Princeton
Living memorial

at battlefield
To the editor:
   The Memorial Bulb Planting Day, which took place at the Princeton Battlefield Colonnade on Oct. 20, was a wonderful success. A bulb was planted to honor the memory of each victim of Sept. 11.
   We would like to thank the area garden centers and businesses that donated the thousands of Dutch Masters bulbs and all the supplies, equipment and advice necessary to complete the bulb planting. Many thanks to The Hidden Valley Nursery, Stony Brook Gardens, Rosedale Mills, Peterson’s Nursery, Muller’s, Kale’s, ADR Bulbs, Obal’s and Belle Mead Agway. The Gallup Organization, Luttmann’s, Celebration Party Rental, McCaffrey’s, Shop Rite, Pennington Market, Taylor Rental and Friendly Rental also contributed to make the event possible. Very special thanks go to John Mills, curator of the Historic Clark House in the Princeton Battlefield State Park, and to Barbara Gallup and George Hettmann, our bulb-planting masterminds.
   We are especially grateful to those members of our community, of all ages, who came with trowels and tools in hand to plant the bulbs. It is our hope to meet again at the colonnade in the springtime when the daffodils are in full array. We extend an invitation to everyone in Princeton and surrounding areas to join us at that time in a dedication of the daffodils as a living memorial to the thousands of men and women who died on Sept. 11.
Dorothy Plohn
The Contemporary Garden Club
Milly King
The Garden Club of Princeton
Pam Switlik
The Garden Club of Trenton
Meg Gorrie
The Stony Brook Garden Club
Groups organize

wonderful tribute
To the editor:
   A wonderful tribute to the families and victims of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center tragedy was organized by the Trenton, Princeton, Stony Brook and Contemporary garden clubs last Saturday. A living memorial planted by the community is a special way to remember those who were lost.
   It is a beautiful gesture, and I am very grateful to the volunteers who made it possible. Thank you.
Susan Gordon
Carnegie Drive
Princeton
Time to rein in

wild exaggerations
To the editor:
   When I hear campaign statements — "The new township hall has taken over eight years to build" — I wonder if the speaker was really paying attention during that period.
   Early in the 1990s, the Township Committee engaged a firm of architects to design a new municipal building plus police station. In January, 1995, a new mayor, Michelle Tuck-Ponder, suggested that before embarking on the planned construction there should be one more effort to study consolidation with Princeton Borough. In November, voters on both Princetons authorized the formation of a commission and elected five commissioners from each municipality.
   The commission engaged local architects Kerht Shatken Sharon to study space needs of a merged municipal government, using as guides plans for enlarging Borough Hall and the projected township spaces, including police requirements. They provided analyses of structures on borough and township sites used in various combinations, all contained in the final report of the commission.
   In November 1996, borough voters rejected consolidation. Subsequently, the Township Committee of 1997 re-examined the earlier plans for a new structure and, taking into account new ideas on what would be needed, engaged KSS to design the current building.
   That is why "eight years" is a wild exaggeration.
Patricia N. Cherry
Member of Consolidation
Study Commission, 1996
Dempsey Avenue
Princeton
Committee has

focused on issues
To the editor:
   In his letter of Oct. 19, Carl Mayer makes the baseless claim that the Princeton Township Committee has not taken action on what he calls the "key issues facing this community" — open space, traffic, senior housing and taxes. To the contrary, here is what the record shows:
   Open space: On its own, or in partnership with nonprofits and individual donors, the Township Committee has recently preserved the Institute Woods (600 acres), the Weller farm, renamed the Barbara Smoyer Park (38 acres), the Woodfield Reservation (51 acres), Coventry Farm (162 acres), the Johnson estate (60 acres) and the Gulick farm (acquisition pending, 40 acres). The last three properties were preserved just within this last year.
   Traffic: The Township Committee has lowered speed limits and banned large trucks on many of our streets. We have also hired three new police officers whose primary responsibility is traffic control. We worked aggressively to convince the Department of Transportation to reduce the speed limit on Route 206 and to persuade Gov. Whitman to ban large trucks on Route 206. We were also forceful in our opposition to the Millstone Bypass, resulting in a new planning process for this regional issue.
   Senior housing: The Township Committee has adopted ordinances that resulted in the construction of a 100-bed assisted-living facility and a 125-bed nursing home. Other ordinances permit the construction of continuing-care retirement communities and independent senior housing. We have actively worked to assist Princeton Community Housing in its plans to build an additional 68 affordable senior housing units at Elm Court. Finally, we have asked the Planning Board to develop a new senior housing zoning overlay.
   Taxes: We work hard to ensure that necessary services are provided in the most cost-effective manner. After reviewing township operations last year, the deputy director of the state’s local government budget review commented that "the team found the township to deliver a high level of service in a cost effective manner," and that "the township is well run." This August, we received a AAA rating from both Moody’s and Standard and Poor. After a thorough review, Moody’s commented that the township has "sound financial operation" and a "favorable debt position." The township’s share of the total property tax bill has remained constant at about 21 percent over the past 15 years (most of the tax bill is for school and country taxes).
Steven B. Frakt
Deputy Mayor
Lake Drive
Princeton Township
Green Party vote

good for township
To the editor:
   Nov. 6 will be a significant election in Princeton Township. After years of accumulated problem debris and ever-escalating taxes, we have the opportunity to elect fresh leadership to Township Committee.
   Emily Cook and Jeff Gorman are energized and genuinely committed to confront the challenges that have piled up: pot-holed roads, deteriorating school facilities, utterly inadequate senior housing, humane and harmonious deer-people environment sharing, municipal garbage collection. And looming over all, that fiscal and architectural monstrosity, the new (unfinished after four years and millions of dollars) municipal building. While our taxes continue to go up and up and ever-up.
   We need an infusion of intelligent and conscientious "out-of-the-box" thinking. Jeff and Emily offer just that. Emily’s background in social work and Jeff’s as computer company owner provide both stability and community orientation. Their energy and grasp of the issues will enable them to truly represent us in overcoming the problems we have inherited. Your vote for these Green Party candidates on Nov. 6 will benefit you personally and the whole of Princeton Township.
Marget Pack
Cherry Hill Road
Princeton Township
Re-elect Marchand

in township
To the editor:
   Election season is often called the silly season, and right on cue was the ridiculous letter by Carl Mayer (The Packet, Oct. 19) claiming that Mayor Phyllis Marchand hasn’t done anything about open space, traffic and various other issues.
   The township has been aggressive in purchasing open space (just in the last year alone, it acquired the Johnson Estate and Coventry) and has taken action to ban large trucks from residential streets, reduced many speed limits and fought the Millstone Bypass.
   Mayor Marchand has also been a strong advocate for senior housing and has worked hard to provide cost-effective municipal services.
   I urge township voters to support Phyllis Marchand for re-election on Nov. 6.
Elaine Schuman
Jefferson Road
Princeton
Fresh ideas needed

on committee
To the editor:
   Nov. 6 is a crucial day for Princeton Township voters. It is a day when citizens can make important changes in the makeup of their local government by electing representatives who will truly serve the people’s interests — not party line interests.
   For too many years, the party in power has been one particular party and with age it has become immune to many of the cares and concerns of the individual taxpayer. It has tended to become egotistical and in many ways arrogant in its attitude toward public concerns.
   This not to say that the party in power is totally immune from the public’s cares but that it has not involved the public in its decision-making process to the extent it should have for many years. (One example is the fiasco of the extravagant municipal building.)
   It is about time to vote for fresh ideas not tired parties that have lost their verve and are devoid of new and innovative ideas.
   Two candidates, Emily Cook and Jeff Gorman of the Green Party, represent new and creative thinkers who can help correct some of the decision defaults that has been occurring in the Princeton Township Committee for these many years.
   Use your vote wisely. Don’t continue to repeat past errors which is inflating our local taxes and reducing services.
   Democrats, Republicans and Independents, Nov. 6 is your chance to bring about a real and positive change in your participation in the running of our local government.
   Vote for Cook and Gorman for Princeton Township Committee.
Steve M. Slaby
Ewing Street
Princeton
Reject tyranny,

vote Green Party
To the editor:
   Every American responds to the tragic events of Sept. 11 in his or her own way. I, for one, am even more committed than ever to our democracy, our diversity and our rights as Americans, including the right of free expression against public policies that I oppose. In spite of the constant intimidation, insults and slander recently directed at me on these pages and elsewhere by the incumbent mayor’s surrogates, I urge Princeton Township voters to reject the arrogant tyranny of one-party government and to vote for Emily Cook and Jeff Gorman for Township Committee on Nov. 6.
   During my 11 years as a Princeton Township resident, the incumbent administration has been responsible for the following:
   1. The gross mismanagement of the new township municipal building, which, among other problems, has been invaded by irremediable mold and which will incur huge cost overruns in the millions of dollars. Aside from Princeton Township officials, who among us asked for this building in the first place? According to the incumbent regime, insurance companies are anxiously waiting to bail it out for its total incompetence. None of it will cost us a dime. Sure thing!
   2. A failed campaign against Princeton’s wildlife that has reached monomaniacal proportions beyond reason. While the new township building was literally rotting from mold, the incumbent mayor was wasting valuable time, energy and resources lobbying the New Jersey Legislature in order to push for her favorite means of killing deer. The result of the ill-conceived White Buffalo project is more deer than I have ever seen before, a phenomenon called compensatory rebound.
   3. Instead of lobbying the state for more deer killing, the mayor should have been demanding that the state stop the endless caravan of speeding 18-wheelers that continue to menace us each day and night on Route 206. Aside from the serious threat to our safety, the noise is totally disruptive to the peace and tranquillity of our neighborhoods.
   4. Traffic chaos that has been completely ignored for all of the years that I have lived here, including the total mess that exists between the Fleet Bank and the municipal complex.
   5. A Princeton Township municipal tax rate that has increased by a staggering 60 percent in the past 10 years and 30 percent in the past five years. Have the quality and quantity of our municipal services increased accordingly during that time? Municipal trash collection in return for such high taxes is rejected time and time again.
   6. Disgusting, shameful incidents of harassment and intimidation against law-abiding taxpayers by municipal employees under the control of the incumbent mayor, including 1984-style helicopter surveillance and raids on homes that have been designated in typical Nixon style as politically unfriendly to the incumbent administration, including my own.
   For the sake of our precious democracy, the voters of Princeton Township must act on Nov. 6 to stop the prevailing tyranny within our own community. On Nov. 6, vote for Emily Cook and Jeff Gorman for Princeton Township Committee.
Frank Wiener
Loomis Court
Princeton
Candidates work

for better schools
To the editor:
   I am writing in support of the Plumeri, Greenstein and Guear candidacies for state senator and state assemblypersons respectively. All three candidates have held public office, work extremely hard and effectively for the average citizen and hold the same values that most people of New Jersey live by. I would like to mention one issue that is very important to myself and my family and that is our public school system.
   Our public schools, especially in the 14th Legislative District, are of the highest quality in comparison to the rest of the country and world. People have moved to central New Jersey because school districts like West Windsor-Plainsboro, Cranbury and South Brunswick are top-notch. I do not want to destroy any of these fine school districts through privatization of our educational system. If anyone has a child in these school districts, it is my hope that they realize what harm can and will be done to your individual schools.
   I am proud of our public schools and I will fight hard to make them even better, but I certainly will not discard them. I believe Jim McGreevey thinks the same way as I. I also believe most people who live in our area feel the same. If there is any reason to vote this year, it is to vote for people like Sam Plumeri, Linda Greenstein and Gary Guear, people who look to implement positive changes that will, in turn, be positive for all our children.
Scott A. Lee
Franklin Drive
Plainsboro
Legislators backed

in 15th District
To the editor:
   The New Jersey Environmental Federation’s bipartisan political arm, the Vote Environment Committee, is pleased to announce Sen. Shirley Turner, Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson-Coleman and Assemblyman Reed Gusciora as part of its 2001 Green Team.
   All candidates portray themselves as environmentalists, but it is VEC’s job to separate the solid leaders from the hollow followers. After careful scrutiny of past records, questionnaires and interviews, VEC is confident that Sen. Turner, Assemblywoman Watson-Coleman and Assemblyman Gusciora are indeed some of the solid leaders.
   Mr. Gusciora was a sponsor of a bill to protect the coast by closing a loophole that promotes shore sprawl. Ms. Watson-Coleman has been an environmental watchdog on the Appropriations Committee. Ms. Turner has the best pro-environmental voting record in the state Senate.
   Together, they have the most pro-environmental legislative district team in New Jersey. All three are in the top seven on NJEF’s scorecard. They have led efforts to prevent the labeling of garbage incineration as a renewable energy source, have ensured open-space funding goes where voters intended and have maintained public participation and cleanup standards at toxic site cleanups.
   Turner, Watson-Coleman and Gusciora’s past efforts to protect the environment and their pledge to continue doing so make it clear — they are this year’s environmental candidates for the 15th Legislative District. I ask you to vote environmentthis Nov. 6 and vote for Turner, Watson-Coleman and Gusciora.
Lauren Muller
Pennington Road
Ewing
WWW slate backed

in Montgomery
To the editor:
   With patriotism on our minds, there is no simpler or more powerful act to support our democracy than voting.
   Having been actively involved in Montgomery for longer than a decade, and with real concerns for sky-high taxes, unrestrained development and the current process for saving open space, it is clear to me that now is the time to elect candidates who will bring new energy and vision to the Township Committee.
   We are fortunate to have the opportunity to elect three strong women — Wilson, Wall and Wintress — to the Montgomery Township Committee in November. And this opportunity should not be missed.
   While displays of the flag are a public expression, the vote is most personal. I am hopeful that together, with a large turnout, even this private decision will be seen as public affirmation that apathy before Sept. 11 is a sentiment of the past. Don’t forget to vote.
Brian M. Cige
Sourland Hills Road
Montgomery
Don’t be misled

by exaggerations
To the editor:
   I write in response to two recent letters in The Packet. One was a Candidates Forum piece by the Democrat candidates for Montgomery Township Committee, attacking the planning process in Montgomery as one that encourages sprawl. Nothing can be further from the truth.
   "Sprawl" is a planning term invented by some urban planners who want everyone else to live in high-rise buildings in close proximity to their jobs. Recently, I read an article in an issue of "The National Geographic" magazine that discussed "sprawl." The pictures were of tightly packed homes on small lots filling the landscape as far as the eye could see. I can’t speak for all the citizens of Montgomery, but most of us moved here to avoid just such development. Montgomery presently, and in the future, if current planning is carried out, does not and will not resemble these pictures.
   Montgomery has been planned to provide a wonderful home town to its people with housing mixed with open space, together with enough other uses to help pay for it all. Most of Montgomery is planned for single-family homes on large 1-, 2-, 3-, 5- or 10- or more-acre lots, not the endless rows of look-alike homes on one-quarter acre or smaller lots which Democrats state and the word "sprawl" implies. Montgomery, by its rigorous efforts, has preserved over 26 percent of township land as open space — the best record of NewJersey’s 566 municipalities. It looks to me as though the Democrats are in search of an issue, as usual, exaggerated.
   The second matter is the statement in her letter to the editor of Ms. Bird of the Hopewell Township Planning Board in which she criticized me personally as chair of the Montgomery Planning Board. While it is possible that I may have said, "officials are obliged to zone land for development," I do not recall saying those words. What I frequently do say is that the Municipal Land Use Law requires that all land be zoned for a "reasonable use." Such reasonable uses are indeed constrained by the character of the land and the character of the surrounding area. To do otherwise is to zone the land into what the law refers to as "inutility," one of the grounds to justify a use variance. Ms. Bird must know this and has perhaps allowed her partisanship to cloud her judgment.
   Finally, I would like to congratulate The Packet on two of your three picks for Montgomery Township Committee while suggesting instead that Republicans Paul Kadri, Fred Gladstone and Mark Caliguire are the three best candidates to vote for on Nov. 6.
Richard O. LeTard
Meadow Run Drive
Montgomery
Wintress supported

for one-year term
To the editor:
   As The Packet pointed out in its endorsement editorial of Oct. 23, the race for the one-year seat on the Montgomery Township Committee features two strong candidates.
   Both Democrat Karen Wintress and Republican Mark Caliguire are energetic and earnest, highly educated and intelligent. Caliguire is a smooth-talking lawyer who has the gift of gab; while Wintress, an insurance executive, is taciturn and thoughtful.
   The real difference between these candidates, though, is in their record of public service. Mark Caliguire’s volunteer service consists entirely of coaching sports teams — a worthy contribution, but compare that with what Karen Wintress has done:
   Karen Wintress has served on the New Jersey Commission on Environmental Education, including a stint as chair of the communications committee. She is a member of Leadership Trenton Working Group, working with Thomas Edison College to design a year-long program focused on building leadership capacity within Trenton. She founded and serves on the board of BEES (Building Environmental Education Solutions), a nonprofit environmental education program focused on connecting New Jersey’s high school students with local environmental issues. She is an active member of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association.
   Karen has served as president of the Alliance for New Jersey Environmental Educators, a statewide network of 300 environmental educators. She served as Granville Academy’s 10th-grade program co-coordinator in Trenton for several years. The academy, an evening program, is focused on bringing business skills and concepts to minority youth in order to better prepare them for college.
   It is clear why The Packet wrote, "The talented Ms. Wintress … is a thoughtful, energetic, public-spirited individual who has demonstrated her deep commitment to environmental and social issues both in her work with American Re-Insurance and in her volunteer efforts."
   On Nov. 6, please join me in supporting Karen Wintress, whose actions and accomplishments speak volumes on her behalf.
Ellen Greenfield
Hollow Road
Montgomery
Democrats’ actions

show leadership
To the editor:
   For many years, I have beena registered Republican. However, in local politics, I have always evaluated each candidate on his or her individual record and character. My party leanings do not lead to an automatic vote. It is more important that I vote for those who truly have Montgomery’s best interest in mind and who have the character to lead. I was always taught that actions speak louder than words, and that one’s leadership is best evaluated by one’s actions.
   Recently, I watched the Republicans on the Montgomery Township Committee vote to allow a road to be built on land purchased by the town for open space. These are the same Republicans who ran on a campaign platform of open-space preservation. These same Republicans stated, on the record, that the 100-year-old trees that will be cut down on this dedicated open space are "a renewable resource." (However, they are not renewable for – that’s correct – 100 years!)
   If the road solved a problem, the decision might be defensible on some level. But it does not solve a problem at all. It is a pointless giveaway of public property and contributes to the destruction of one of Montgomery’s last historic landmarks.
   The Township of Montgomery faces many tough decisions in the coming years. We have the traffic issues at the northern and southern borders of town, we have the issue of whether and how to develop the few remaining large tracts of land, and the impact that such development will have on our town. The solutions to these problems will require long-range planning and careful thought.
   A vision for the future of this township is not just a good idea; it is a requirement for the leaders we are electing today. It is clear that this vision is lacking in those presently in control. As leaders they must look five, 10, 25 and, yes, even 100 years into the future when making decisions.
   Louise Wilson’s voice on the Township Committee has been the voice of reason. She has not been afraid to voice her concerns about children’s safety, or her concern about the precedent created when the Republicans voted to use township-owned "open space" land for a roadway, or on any other issue before the committee.
   Wilson, Wall and Wintress recognize that there are existing problems that need to be fixed, and they recognize that the future of this township is in the hands of the leaders we elect today. The present leadership has simply watched the traffic congestion problem get worse, they have not yet come up with a solution for the North Princeton Development Center and still do not have a vision for the remaining undeveloped land in this township.
   Wilson, Wall and Wintress have put forth a platform with a clear vision for solving these problems and more. They have taken the time to put forth concrete ideas for solving the problems of today and tomorrow. Their actions demonstrate, in one word, leadership.
Mark A. Petraske
Opossum Road
Montgomery
Democrats have

vision, goals
To the editor:
   Montgomery residents face many choices this election. As a parent who has volunteered extensively in our schools and in Montgomery recreation, I urge Montgomery residents to elect candidates who have a broad vision and clearly defined goals for what they want Montgomery to look like in the future. For the one-year seat, I urge them to look carefully at the qualifications and background of Karen Wintress.
   Karen is an exceptional woman. She is a proven leader in the corporate and nonprofit world, and she has a history of community involvement. She works quietly, but with focus and determination, to understand the issues and reach a consensus.
   Karen has her MBA and is vice president at American Re-Insurance, with expertise in strategic planning and risk management. She developed the nationally recognized environmental education nonprofit organization known as BEES (Building Environmental Education Solutions), which focuses on connecting high school students with environmental issues in their communities.
   Karen is an independent, nonpartisan thinker. She was appointed by former Gov. Christie Whitman to serve on the New Jersey Commission of Environmental Education. She was president of the Alliance for New Jersey Environmental Educators, a statewide network of 300 educators.
   Montgomery Township has some serious issues that need to be addressed soon. Traffic clogs our streets, the development and future of NPDC is uncertain and the western part of the township still has huge tracts of land vulnerable to more development. Karen has lived in Montgomery for a decade, in three different neighborhoods, and she sees that there is serious work to be done to protect our quality of life and prepare Montgomery for the future. If elected, she and her running mates, Louise Wilson and Jennifer Wall, will address these issues.
   I feel very strongly that these three women are the right people at the right time for Montgomery. They have demonstrated their commitment to our community and have earned our support.
Barbara Devaney
Updikes Mill Road
Montgomery
Don’t dump traffic

on rural road
To the editor:
   The Master Plan for Montgomery Township is generating both conversation and controversy. The Linton Drive extension is an especially strong emotional issue for the community.
   Well-meaning township residents who live in the vicinity of Linton Drive are searching for alternatives. For some, the suggested solution is to straighten out the curve on Cherry Valley and pave Mountain View Road, which then replaces Linton Drive in the Master Plan as the principle traffic artery between Cherry Valley Road and Route 518. A few salient facts are overlooked in this suggested scenario.
   Mountain View Road cuts through a very active residential neighborhood. There are homes immediately adjacent to the road. There is significant pedestrian traffic. Children play on Mountain View Road. As you come off 518, you immediately see a sign, "Watch Out for the Children." Mothers are wheeling baby carriages along Mountain View Road, because there are no sidewalks. On a typical day, other neighborhood residents are walking, jogging or exercising their dogs on Mountain View.
   There are no residential dwellings or children playing on Linton Drive. Mountain View Road is more than a road for automobiles and SUVs. It is an active residential street. If you live, play or walk on Mountain View Road, as many area residents do on a daily basis, it is a flawed alternative as a substitute artery for the Linton Drive extension.
Calvin L. Hodock
Nassau Court
Skillman
PU development

despoiling area
To the editor:
   I think it is time that Princeton University’s role in despoiling the area surrounding Princeton be made public. In its quest to develop the land they own, the university is riding roughshod over the interests of neighboring community and residents, to say nothing of the ecology of the area.
   In its campaign to develop the former Princeton Nurseries (220 apartments), the university showed no concern for the effect of more than 400 additional cars on the Delaware & Raritan Canal, the village of Kingston, St. Joseph’s Seminary and the residents of Windrows and Princeton Landing.
   Most recently, in the university’s campaign to develop the northern section of Forrestal Campus (800,000 square feet of office space), it refused to complete construction of Campus Road to connect it to College Road and instead propose to funnel more than 950 cars onto Route 1 during the morning and evening rush hours. Many of those cars will attempt to use the Sayre Drive interchange, which was never designed for volume traffic. That interchange is the sole access in and out for the 600 families who live in Princeton Landing.
   If the university’s development plans for the Forrestal Campus continue unabated, they will add a total of 2.1 million square feet of office space. That translates into an estimated 2,750 additional cars. The traffic on existing roads during rush hours is already unmanageable. This additional load is unconscionable. Something must be done to curb and control this development. If the university won’t act responsibly, then the government must.
Sara M. Roche
Sayre Drive
Plainsboro
PU has dark side:

unrelenting bully
To the editor:
   There can be no doubt. Princeton University is one of the world’s most prestigious and respected educational institutions. It offers a first-rate education to its students, wonderful programs for the community and is the essential asset of Princeton both economically and culturally.
   However, Princeton University also has a dark side. It is an unrelenting bully. This is reflected time and again in its insatiable appetite for expansion no matter what the consequences to people and communities. This Princeton University is not about education and programs but rather about greed that is focused solely on it own tunnel-vision, expansion goals.
   Such is the case, and there are numerous others, of the reconstruction of the intersection of Sayre Drive in Plainsboro. This intersection is being entirely revamped, against the community’s wishes and contrary to the general development plan. As presently drawn, it will result in the destruction of numerous mature trees, a many-fold increase in traffic, serious safety issues and a significant deleterious effect on our community. This travesty is being done in order to satisfy the further development of Forrestal Center. Although the community of Princeton Landing suggested other alternatives that would have a less negative impact, the university is unwilling to satisfy this simple accommodation.
   Unfortunately, Princeton University has far-reaching power and clout, and this extends beyond Princeton itself. The Plainsboro Planning Board is apparently no exception to this tremendous influence. Instead of supporting the citizens of its own community — the people who live here and pay taxes in Plainsboro — Mayor Cantu and company have chosen to throw their hats in the ring with the powerbrokers.
   In these terrible times, one would think that even an impersonal, multi-national corporation like Princeton University would have the sensitivity to somewhat reorder its priorities. Sadly, that is not the case. It profits any institution not at all, no matter how large their endowment, if they have no heart. Princeton University, we would like to see some heart.
B.L. Huttner
Sayre Drive
Plainsboro
Wise decision on

grade configuration
To the editor:
   Thanks to West Windsor-Plainsboro Board of Education members Cheryl Larrier-Jemmott, Michele Epstein, Linda Geevers, Stan Katz, Stephen Smith and Henry Wieck for displaying great courage and sense in voting to retain the current elementary school configuration.
   I believe that most of the community is in favor of their decision and relieved that the full board will now be able to move ahead with other important educational matters. They will surely face difficult decisions in the future, but the lessons of this discussion should help them work together for the benefit of all the children in this community.
   I wish them well.
Sandra Shapiro
Wycombe Way
West Windsor