Letters to the Editor, Nov. 17

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, Nov. 17

Holt thanks voters, anticipates change
To the editor:
   
I would like to thank the voters of New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District for selecting me as their representative in Washington, D.C. I also thank my opponent, Joseph Sinagra, for conducting a positive campaign focused on substantive issues important to the voters.
   It is an honor and a privilege for me to serve central New Jersey, and I will continue to work forthrightly and diligently on a bipartisan basis to achieve a new direction for this country and results for New Jersey. I am confident we will have a very different working environment in Washington. The new Democratic majority will govern inclusively and embrace compromise and ideas from the minority. Among our many priorities, we will enact the recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission, raise the minimum wage, make college more affordable for students and families, and enact a legislative ethics package.
   Again, thank you, and I look forward to serving you and hearing from you.
Rush Holt
Member
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.
Lack of ‘interest’ foils blood bank
To the editor:
   
The University Medical Center at Princeton reports difficulty maintaining supplies in its "blood bank" (The Packet, Nov. 14).
   I have a theory why the "bank" is running low: It paid inadequate "interest" to Princeton.
   After the hospital moves, perhaps they can organize a blood drive among passers-by on Route 1 to collect adequate "deposits."
Dave Saltzman
Montadale Drive
Princeton
Time to take aim at unsightly poles
To the editor:
   
At Princeton University, on the "gown" side of our town, we find wonderful gothic buildings and the chapel, with soaring slender columns ending in gracefully curved arches.
   Along our streets, on the "town" side of our community, we find sturdy, wooden poles upholding a growing number of black cables with heavily hanging snake bellies between them. They don’t let pious hymns fill the air —they just carry telephone calls of salesmen at dinnertime, the latest TV soap operas and Google searches for arcane tidbits. Think of all that next time you look at those cables obscuring your front lawns and be duly inspired.
   The worst are the two poles sitting as a traffic hazard next to our imposing new library. They have been there for such a long time they should be included in the Register of Historic Monuments. This way, nobody can touch them any longer and later generations can see what kind of culture we lived in — or tolerated.
   As for all of the other poles in town? Sometimes we find two poles together, a new one and an old one right next to it. Some of the old poles are precariously leaning. Reminiscent of a more baroque style, some old poles are broken and tied with multiple swags of ropes to the new ones. Just look at the southeast corner of Library and Hodge. A bit of ruin-like decay does go well with architectural antiquity. Or is it just neglect? Are we used to this slow decay and don’t perceive it any longer — as a frog does not notice when sitting in water that very slowly gets heated, even if it kills him in the end? When will we wake up and demand that our town be cleaned up? When will the broken and second poles (more than 90 of them in the borough alone) be removed and the leaning ones straightened?
   What can we do? Our Public Works Department diligently contacted PSE&G many times for several months. PSE&G answered that our message was passed on to the right people and we would hear from them — but we never heard. Follow-up calls remained without response. Is it time that our mayor and council proceed to a meeting with PSE&G’s top management — like Rodin’s Burghers of Calais — and insist upon a cleanup of our town?
   The right-of-way regulation permits PSE&G to place poles along our roads as necessary for power distribution. PSE&G makes extra money from the telephone and TV companies by letting them utilize the poles for their own cables. When PSE&G has to install new poles, the telephone or TV companies don’t make the effort to transfer their cables to the new poles. They just remain on the old poles — until the cry is heard: Citizens of all Princetons unite. Notice what negligence you are sinking into. Don’t keep sitting there like frogs being heated. Insist on the cleaning up of our town now.
Helmut Schwab
Westcott Road
Princeton
Montgomery drops the other shoe on taxes
To the editor:
   
Many years ago, I moved my family to Montgomery Township because we were taken by the community’s rolling farmland, wide open spaces, dedication to community and value for education. We also were impressed with what we viewed as an open and transparent approach to governing within the township.
   Over the past six or so years we have heard the broken promises of the Montgomery Township Committee members who promised transparency in government, to resolve issues of high traffic volume and the increasing costs of township services. Over the past six years, we have received exactly the opposite. Presently proposed developments along the 206 and 518 corridors will increase the already unbearable traffic congestion and, along with the proposed township-funded cleanup and development of Skillman Village and lake, will require additional community assets and services.
   During this time, even though we have all heard our Township Committee leadership tout their financial prowess, and talk of their ability to keep costs low by keeping the tax rate down, we experienced the single largest home value assessment increase in Montgomery history — which also assisted in accounting for the largest single tax increase in Montgomery history. While many of our neighbors were focused on the school tax increase, the use of the assessment increase to raise additional tax funds did not go entirely unnoticed. We also heard of a Township Committee where decisions were being reached before all members had the opportunity to be informed and raise issues and before public discussion could take place, along with other issues of ethics and impropriety. Prior to this November’s election, we also heard Mark Caliguire, John Warms and Walter Geslak warn of future problems and financial mismanagement.
   With all of this, I wondered, as did many of Montgomery’s citizens and families who wrote letters and conducted polls, if our Township Committee’s leadership could be trusted. I wondered if there would be a time when the other shoe would drop, and I wondered how we were really going to pay for all of these municipal expenditures.
   Well, with the election safely in the past, the Township Committee permitted the release of the new home value assessment notices. On Tuesday, we received our answers as to trust and as to how we would have to bear the cost.
   I would like to know why the home value assessment letters were not mailed to homeowners in Montgomery Township until after last week’s election? The assessment Web page on the township site says the letters were to be mailed in October. Why did the Township Committee decide to delay this mailing? What about those promises of holding tax costs down? Please, don’t give us the "we kept the rate down" double speak. It just won’t do.
   Neighbors, it’s clearly time for a change — to get ready for the largest tax increase in township history.
Robert M. Church
Elm Drive
Montgomery
Proud of speaker, pleased with coverage
To the editor:
   
Packet Staff Writer Kristin Boyd attended the Oct. 16 meeting of the Women’s College Club of Princeton and wrote an excellent article (The Packet, Oct. 27) about our speaker, Alison Long. Ms. Long had just returned from Afghanistan, where she served as an intern at the Kabul Learning Center. She has strong ties with Princeton and was the recipient of one of our club’s scholarships awarded every year to female graduates of local high schools. We are very proud of her, as indeed we are of all our scholarship recipients.
   We are most grateful to Kristin Boyd for her warm professional interest and personal interviewing skills. Ms. Boyd established a rapport with many of the club members and is cordially invited to attend our programs in the future. Thank you for the information conveyed to the public, which can only result in community support for our goal of furthering education for women.
Kathleen Hutchins
President
Women’s College Club of Princeton
Duffield Place
Princeton
Campaign was positive experience
To the editor:
   
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many people who contributed their time and energy to my recent campaign for Mercer County freeholder.
   I am truly grateful to everyone who helped me along the way by volunteering time, financial aid and talent. Your hard work and dedication is a gift that I will always treasure.
   A special note to my family: Your support, patience and love are boundless. I am truly blessed. I would also like to thank each and every person who chose to vote for me and the principles that I stand for.
   Even though I was unsuccessful in my endeavor, it was an incredibly positive experience. The people I met and the new experiences that I en- joyed along the way will not be forgotten.
   My congratulations to the winners, you have been entrusted with the future of Mercer County. Remember that you are there to serve all the people of Mercer County. We will be vigilant.
   I look forward to continuing to work with friends old and new in the future. See you soon
Ashley Hutchinson
Hagemount Avenue
Hightstown