Bakery will be a welcome site in station area

EDITORIAL

By Ruth Luse
   We were pleasantly surprised to learn recently that the Hopewell Borough Planning Board is looking with favor at plans for a bakery at what was once our longtime home on Railroad Place.
   For at least two years now, work has been going on to restore the former Hopewell Valley News site at 5 Railroad Place, which also was the former home of Herald Printing Co. and the HVN’s predecessor, the Hopewell Herald.
   Starting in 1987, when the HVN was purchased by Packet Publications and moved to Pennytown (we’re now in Hopewell Village Square), the building next to Rose & Chubby’s on Railroad Place gradually fell into complete disrepair. Part of the reason was the need for an environmental cleanup, found to be necessary because of the kinds of materials used over many years to produce newspapers during the hot-metal era.
   Once that problem was addressed, the building became ready for use and is, according to a reliable source, well on its way to becoming a viable part of the Hopewell community again.
   For many years, those of us who worked at the old HVN site had the habit of stopping by at another former Hopewell landmark, the Eagle Bakery on Mercer Street. We remember well the "trolley buns" and other goodies that were sold there, and find it rather fitting that our old office may become the home of — among other uses — a bakery, the likes of which, we hope, will equal what Hopewell residents found when they shopped at Eagle.
   Hopewell hasn’t had a real bakery for a long time. We hope Eric Martin — who reports say plans to open the bakery — gets his approvals and can go ahead with his plans
   We agree with Planning Board member David Knights (also a Hopewell councilman) who said recently that this is the kind of business that will support the renovated railroad station and Railroad Place’s future health as a small commercial area.