This letter is in response to a few letters to the editor that appeared recently in the Sentinel attacking the Monroe Township Board of Education’s land exchange proposal in Thompson Park to construct a new high school.
The $24-million cost savings from the referendum plan that was defeated last September has been documented by Wayne Holliday, school business administrator. These savings are factual and very real, and not imaginary as some letter writers would have you believe. The savings are the result of no land acquisition expense, existing water and sewer service on Schoolhouse Road, and no duplication of existing high school athletic facilities.
Thompson Park loses nothing; 35 acres of soccer fields will be replaced near the post office, and 77 acres are added to the park in exchange for this parcel. This is a win-win situation for both Monroe Township and Middlesex County residents.
Despite the continuing distortion of the truth by Park Savers, most of the residents with whom I have spoken fully support this plan. In these tough economic times, with limited outside funding assistance from the state and federal governments, we should all be applauding Mayor Richard Pucci, the Township Council and the Board of Education for thinking "outside the box" and developing creative ways to save local taxpayer dollars.
It is time for Park Savers to give up its negative crusade and provide the real facts. Its members’ passion is to be commended, but their position is full of holes and devoid of the facts.
Arthur N. Wolke
Monroe