Yes, Lenny Yanchar, to answer your question (in the Jan. 18 Examiner), “the activists” have won in Upper Freehold.
As one of the unnamed “activists” Mr. Yanchar blames for starting “all the personal attacks” six years ago on pro-development public officials in the township, allow me to voice a different view on the current turmoil in the municipal government.
What we saw at the Jan. 4 Township Committee meeting were residents and community leaders who often disagree on many things, all agreeing that they are tired of pro-development officials controlling the town. Furthermore, they are sick of elected and appointed officials giving lip-service to preservation while, in fact, voting again and again to support development. Former Committeeman Sal Diecidue, who ran a pro-preservation campaign in 2003 with my support among many others, was thrown out of office in 2006 because he betrayed the voters on this vital issue. Much of the anger directed at Mayor Steve Fleischacker is because he too has betrayed the voters in the same manner. I expect Fleischacker and Deputy Mayor Bill Miscoski to be booted out of office in this year’s elections because what the activists were saying six years ago is now accepted as reality by the majority in Upper Freehold.
The activists have won, Lenny, because the people of Upper Freehold have figured out the con game played by the developers and their friends in township government. If you talk land preservation you have to vote preservation when elected on that platform.
The activists have won because the people recognize that the Township Committee is in the pocket of developers when it abolishes our Environmental Commission on Earth Day in an unsuccessful attempt to silence the only environmentalist on that commission. For an encore, the Township Committee then disbands its “Tree City” committee – again to try to silence the same lone award-winning environmentalist.
The activists have won because the people recognize high density “village centers” only benefit developers, not the taxpayers.
When farmer Bill Search, a highly respected 28-year veteran of the Planning Board resigns, and in doing so says that a pro-development political agenda made his continued service “futile,” it just confirms what we activists have been saying for the last six years.
I’m proud to take my bow as an environmental activist who in some small way helped create the majority consensus that public office in Upper Freehold should not be used to promote your private development interests. I look forward to more of us coming together to support the pro-taxpayer policies of Committeemen Steve Alexander and Bob Faber and giving them a working majority in the next election.
Chris Berzinski
Upper Freehold