Looking ahead to 2007 with some hopes for long-discussed projects that really need resolution.
By: Hank Kalet
Resolution: It’s a word that, at this time of year, has come to mean a setting of goals.
Most of us do it, announce with some level of personal fanfare our good intentions: We resolve to lose 10 pounds or quit smoking; we’re going to exercise, get to bed earlier, work less (or more), volunteer, save money and so on.
Most of us, if the pollsters are correct, follow through for a few months, our resolve fading with the year.
I was going to resolve, for instance, to be a more consistent runner than I have been in 2006, to eat healthier and to not put off doing house maintenance (raking leaves, fixing the hole in the shed, painting the bedroom) just because I find it unbearable.
But I’m not going to offer them as resolutions. The reason? Too much pressure. I’d just be setting myself up for a fall.
I can say now, with all confidence, that I’ll follow through on the running, start well on the eating and completely ignore the maintenance. I think it’s in my DNA.
But resolution has more than one meaning. It means a fixedness of purpose a synonym, if you will, for stubbornness. For example, "President George W. Bush, in showing resolution of purpose, has made a mess of things." Another example of how resolutions get you nowhere.
It is worth looking ahead to the new year, however, which is where another, perhaps more common usage of the word comes in resolution, as in the act of reaching a decision or finding a solution, the culmination or ending of a process. Example: "The Mets have reached a resolution in their negotiations with free-agent pitcher Barry Zito that will bring him to Shea Stadium (wishful thinking?)."
Or: "The decades-long Route 92 saga has reached a resolution with the N.J. Turnpike Authority coming to its senses and pulling the plug on the project."
Rather than setting goals, then, whether for me or for the rest of the world, I want to offer a list of issues and debates that I hope will find some resolution in 2007:
1. The MOM Line. Like Route 92, this thing has been on the table for far too long with no resolution in sight. MOM which technically refers to a three-county transportation region (Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex) is shorthand for a badly conceived and overly expensive transit plan that would run high-speed trains through the center of Jamesburg, Dayton and Monmouth Junction in an effort to alleviate traffic along Route 9.
This thing has been on the table for 15 years or so and is likely to remain on the table for the foreseeable future. NJ Transit wants consensus, something that is unlikely given that the towns most affected (Jamesburg, Monroe and South Brunswick) would see little or no benefit, while the likely beneficiaries (commuters in Ocean and Monmouth counties) would see little of the negative impact.
Enough is enough. Bring this thing to resolution it’s not fair to anyone to let this discussion drag on and on.
2. Property tax reform. How many years have we been talking about this? If we had just charged every politician a penny for each word uttered on the topic since the tax revolt of 1990, we not only could have slashed property taxes but built hundreds of new schools and bought up every piece of undeveloped property in the state.
3. A new Monroe high school. There is a sense among members of the Township Council and school board that the state will grant final approval shortly for the proposed land swap (allowing the school board to build a new high school on 35 acres of the county-owned Thompson Park in exchange for 175 undeveloped acres around Monroe). The school board expects to go out for bid in the spring and wants to break ground on the new building this year.
I hope it can.
The land-swap plan remains the best solution to a difficult problem, allowing for the new high school to share some facilities with the current high school building (which would become a middle school), reducing costs.
But I’m not optimistic, owing to unsettled litigation filed by several environmental groups over the swap. While I think the courts will rule in favor of the council and school board, progress has been slow and the courts tend to work on their own schedule.
Hank Kalet is managing editor of the South Brunswick Post and The Cranbury Press. He can be e-mailed by clicking here. His blog, Channel Surfing, can be found at www.kaletblog.com.

