To the editor:
Each spring, members of a South Brunswick community preservation group known as PRIDE gather as friends and neighbors and treat Raymond Road with the respect due a quiet country lane rich in history. We clear dead and fallen limbs, overgrown brush, and fill bags with trash thoughtlessly discarded by assorted slobs who seem to regard South Brunswick as their personal dumping ground.
"It’s the economy, stupid" was a catchy slogan coined by Bill Clinton at the beginning of the bubble economy of the ‘nineties. A paraphrase occurred to me this past spring, as I contemplated what would cause people to so liberally litter South Brunswick roads: "It’s the consciousness, stupid." And it doesn’t begin and end with pigs throwing their garbage out the window. It speaks to every concerned resident of South Brunswick about the future of our town.
South Brunswick’s elected Township Council members work very hard at what is sometimes a thankless job for which there is little pay and considerable personal sacrifice. But despite their best efforts, South Brunswick has become a lightning rod for out-of-town interests who seem to relish the destruction of what was once a beautiful rural community with enormous promise to grow better as it grew bigger. Despite our best efforts, it has begun to look like other New Jersey communities that have let urban sprawl and a disregard for quality of life produce a state of entropy. The exclusion of South Brunswick from the Safe Corridor Highway Safety program exacerbates the problem. The same consciousness that throws garbage out of car windows seems to influence our state government to diminish our quality of life.
It is useful to remember that Trenton legislators are politicians, not leaders; they need to be told what to do by caring thoughtful taxpaying voting citizens with vested community interests, otherwise they do what is political. Municipal waste trucks barreling down residential roads at excessive speed results from political decisions or indecision at the state level, not leadership consciousness aimed at maintaining quality of life. The N.J. Turnpike and other highways were built to handle heavy truck traffic. Ridge, Raymond, New, Sand Hills and Henderson roads are just a few of the peaceful residential roads in our community on which a kid should be able to safely ride a bike.
Progress is important, but it can be achieved without the escalating assault of truck traffic and noise pollution from those passing through South Brunswick. Residents of this township, nearly 40,000 strong, form a significant voting block. We can, if only we will, lock arms and instruct Trenton that residential roads in South Brunswick are neither dumping grounds nor shortcuts for truckers.
Our local representatives need all the help they can get. There is a meeting Aug. 21 at the Municipal Building regarding the demented proposal to put a dangerous diesel truck stop on Route 1, which would draw even more truck traffic to the area. It is important for the quality of life in South Brunswick that concerned residents attend, stand up and be counted.
William Dredge
South Brunswick
