Weisberg served on Township Council from 2000-2003.
By: Lea Kahn
When Township Council reorganizes at noon today (Thursday), it will do so without Councilwoman Doris Weisberg on the dais for the first time in four years.
Ms. Weisberg’s term on Township Council expired at midnight Dec. 31, and she has now returned to private life with an emphasis on spending more time with her husband, Dr. Jerry Weisberg.
"My husband retired from a demanding career as head of the emergency room at St. Francis Hospital," she said. "Our children are grown and they have settled down, and now it is time for us to spend some time together.
"I truly believe life is a spiritual journey, filled with adventure," Ms. Weisberg said. "Township Council was one adventure, and now maybe it is time for another adventure."
Ms. Weisberg, 69, was drawn to serving on Township Council.
For nearly 40 years, she said, she has been involved in local politics starting with her membership in the local chapter of the League of Women Voters, depending on where she was living at the time.
"It was a natural progression," she said. "Through the League of Women Voters, I was involved in politics in a nonpartisan manner. One day, I thought, ‘Hey, I can do this. I have something to offer, with all of these years of service.’"
So, Ms. Weisberg threw her hat in the ring and was elected to Township Council in 1999.
That background as a member of the League of Women Voters proved to be invaluable, Ms. Weisberg said. When she took office in 2000, she hit the ground running.
"I think I understood the process better than the average person," she said. "Nobody had to explain to me that an ordinance has to be read two times before it becomes law (if the council approves it). Being a policy wonk, I was fascinated with government."
Serving on the governing body also gave her a greater appreciation of how government works, and of how hard municipal employees work from the municipal manager down to the rank-and-file workers, she said.
Ms. Weisberg said she especially liked interacting with people. She said she met people whom she ordinarily would not have met people who brought new ideas to the council and who offered to serve on one of the advisory boards and committees.
"It is unbelievable to see the amount of talented people in town, who are willing to work as volunteers (on a board or committee) and expect nothing for it," she said. "People say volunteerism is dead. I am not sure it is. I don’t think the desire or the spirit is dead, but people are more cramped for time than they were 20 or 25 years ago."
Time, however, was not a problem for Ms. Weisberg.
Although serving on Township Council is time-consuming, she said that she had always been involved in one thing or another. She said she did not find the time needed to fulfill her duties to be "onerous."
Reflecting on her four years on Township Council, which included stints as mayor and deputy mayor, Ms. Weisberg said she was most proud of her role in spearheading the plans to revitalize the Eggerts Crossing neighborhood. The area is bordered by Drift Avenue, Eggerts Crossing Road, and the Ewing Township border.
"That is absolutely the best thing we have done in my four years on Township Council," said Ms. Weisberg, who was mayor when the issue of revitalization was raised in 2002. "That is our single greatest accomplishment."
Ms. Weisberg said she was approached on the issue by Harold Vereen, a former Township Council member who lives in the Eggerts Crossing neighborhood and who is now president of the Eggerts Crossing Civic League.
She advised Mr. Vereen to pitch the proposed revitalization of Eggerts Crossing to the Growth and Redevelopment Committee and also to the Planning Board. The two groups endorsed the proposal, and then it was brought to Township Council.
"With the two endorsements, Township Council did indeed adopt this as a project," she said. "There are some streets that have (either) no gas, no water or no sewer. I was really embarrassed that we had neglected that part of town for so long."
Ms. Weisberg also said she was proud to have proposed the fledgling Human Relations Committee the township’s newest advisory committee. The HRC grew out of the distrust and mistreatment throughout the nation of those who were "different" in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, she said.
"I read an article right after 9/11 that said people were being accosted in supermarkets because of the way they dressed. There were no incidents in Lawrence, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen," she said.
The committee is still in the formative stages, Ms. Weisberg said. One possibility is to divide the town into neighborhoods and seek representation from those areas. The goal is to get a diverse group of people on the committee. The group’s activities have not been finalized, but it is possible that an international dinner may be held in the spring, she said.
While Ms. Weisberg has some accomplishments to look back on during her term on the council, she said the highlight of her four years was the visit that she and her husband paid to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in England in 2002 when she was mayor.
Many of Lawrence Township’s earliest settlers came from the English town of Maidenhead, which has since consolidated with the Royal Borough of Windsor. Lawrence was originally known as Maidenhead Township, but the name was changed in 1816 in honor of U.S. Navy Capt. James Lawrence, who was mortally wounded in the War of 1812 and uttered the phrase "Don’t give up the ship," now a motto of the U.S. Navy.
When Lawrence Township celebrated the 300th anniversary of its founding in 1997, the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and her husband visited the township to take part in the festivities at the invitation of Lawrence Township officials.
"When I mentioned that Jerry and I were going to London on vacation, Steve Groeger (the township Superintendent of Recreation) suggested that we visit Maidenhead," Ms. Weisberg said. "Steve put it in motion. (Maidenhead officials) were so happy to return the hospitality."
Overall, Ms. Weisberg said, serving on Township Council has been a "great" experience. She said she learned more about municipal government and the town that she lives in.
"You get a chance to express your ideas and maybe make a change here or there," Ms. Weisberg said. "I most assuredly would encourage someone to run for Township Council."