For West Windsor candidates, it’s now down to the wire

Voters to choose Tuesday a mayor and two members of council.

By: Emily Craighead
   WEST WINDSOR — Voters here will choose Tuesday between facing the future with "openness, integrity, action" or with a "community vision."
   Either way, over the next several years, residents will see a new Alexander Road Bridge, improvements to Route 571, and continued debate about a transit village and possibly a new hospital.
   The candidates for mayor are incumbent Shing-Fu Hsueh and Council Vice President Alison Miller.
   Council candidates Linda Geevers and Heidi Kleinman are running alongside Mayor Hsueh on the Community Vision Team.
   Council candidates George Borek and David Siegel are running with Ms. Miller on the Openness, Integrity, Action slate.
   During joint appearances — including forums sponsored by Village Grande, the West Windsor Retirees’ Group, the League of Women Voters, and the Colonnade Pointe and Canal Pointe Homeowners’ Associations — the candidates’ positions often differed more in style than in substance.
   At those debates and in their campaign literature, the mayor and his running mates highlighted their record of community involvement, while their opponents stressed open communication and giving residents a stronger voice in township decisions.
   "The experience of our team is critical," said Heidi Kleinman, an architect and Planning Board member.
   Mr. Borek said as a newcomer, he will bring fresh ideas to the council and maintain closer ties to the public.
   "We are allowing the citizens of West Windsor to know there are people willing to listen and to do things for the community," said Mr. Borek, a Jersey City firefighter.
   Mayor Hsueh said building communication and public involvement in the township — and encouraging residents to look at how prospective projects will benefit West Windsor as a whole — is essential to creating a sense of unity in the township.
   Ms. Miller maintains that the mayor’s task forces and forums seeking public comment on projects such as the Alexander Road bridge improvements and the proposed transit village are insufficient. Even the details, she said, should be presented to the public from the get-go.
   Her running mate, Mr. Siegel, agreed.
   "The main thing is we will provide a more expedient government while getting the public involved in the early stages," he said. Mr. Siegel is a professional software developer.
   Candidates on both slates have outlined similar visions for development projects throughout the township.
   The mayoral candidates have suggested mixed-use development on the former Wyeth property, without a significant number of single-family homes and with careful consideration given to traffic capacity on surrounding roads.
   Both sides generally agreed that the possibility that University Medical Center at Princeton might make its new home in West Windsor would benefit the township — if the township and the hospital proceed carefully.
   While the mayor said he is waiting to hear if the hospital will in fact come to West Windsor, Ms. Miller, a professional planner who has served on the council for 10 years, said she would initiate studies now to assess the hospital’s possible impact on the township.
   Those are just a few of the decisions the new council members will face during their four-year terms.
   Mr. Hsueh said that, if re-elected, he will look forward to working with new council members following the election.
   "I hope to see a council that will handle issues in a more professional manner," Mayor Hsueh said. "We don’t always need to agree, but we need to come together to get the best ideas to move this community forward."
   Voter turnout at Tuesday’s election is likely to be higher than it was in the last municipal election in 2003, when three council seats were uncontested. Turnout then was 7.9 percent. Turnout at the last mayoral election in 2001 was 34.6 percent.
   The candidates will be out in township’s neighborhoods talking to residents through the weekend.
   "I feel very confident, but I’ll be campaigning until the last hour encouraging people to vote," said Ms. Geevers, who just completed her second term on the West Windsor-Plainsboro Board of Education.
   Undecided voters can catch rebroadcasts of Monday’s League of Women Voters forum on local Channel 27 at 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Mr. Borek did not participate in that debate, because he was attending a work-related training program in West Virginia.
   Polls will be open between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. Tuesday.