This letter is in response to Claire Edelman’s letter to the editor ("School Officials Deserve Praise for Proposed School Plan in Monroe") that appeared in the June 19 issue of the Sentinel.
I’d like to tell you, Ms. Edelman, that the education of the township’s children is more important than a tax bill. Mayor Richard Pucci is going to have to accept the fact that we may have to come in third or fourth in lowest taxes.
They lure people to this township with promises of low taxes and Blue Ribbon schools. The fact is that Cranbury already beat us in the lowest tax rate and the blue ribbons are fading as they are more than a few years old.
I would like to "dissect and decimate" the statements in your letter. First of all, the township has no business even attempting to try and acquire Green Acres property for its new school. I wonder where you get your figures from. I’d like to know where you get the idea that $24 million is being saved. Joseph Homoki, the school board president, isn’t in a position to tell us the exact cost of this proposed high school.
Did you get your numbers from Mayor Pucci’s crystal ball that always serves us well into the future? Also, the stadium at the high school is going to be redone to accommodate up to 2,500 spectators. Just how much is that going to cost, and who is going to pay for it? How many more acres of Thompson Park will be gobbled up for additional parking?
I will answer some of your questions about our Park Savers members. While it is true that a small fraction of our members live across the street from Thompson Park, that is all the better for our organization. You seem to forget, as does the Planning Board, the Zoning Board of Adjustment, Mayor Pucci and the rest, that if you live within 200 feet of a proposed construction, your rights are greater than everyone else’s. I live far from Thompson Park, but I am across the street from a Green Acres park and made my decision to buy my home based upon having a permanent view of trees.
Some of us have children in the school system, some will have children entering soon, some have no children at all. As for the other members of our group, many don’t even want to divulge who they are or where they live for fear of retribution from this township. This is sheer lunacy. As for the rest, they live out of town.
I don’t know how else to explain this, but Thompson Park is not Monroe Township’s property nor will it ever be.
Jennifer Dressel
Monroe