Letters (07.19.07)

Anger expressed over long wait for ambulance service
To the Editor:
On July 8, my father fell ill, he was having heart problems and dizzy spells. I had to call an ambulance for him. I was appalled at the length of the response time by the ambulance. Officer John Glenn was there in minutes and was very helpful. Shockingly, it took over 10 minutes for an ambulance to get to my father’s house. As a resident and taxpayer in Lawrence Township, I find this unacceptable.
   I have been keeping up through the newspaper concerning the arguments that went on about whether to keep Lawrence volunteers or go to a paid service. I am troubled that now the residents of Lawrence have to pay for ambulance service. I feel our taxes should be used to pay for ambulance service, as they do for fire service and police service. What’s next? If you have to call the police will you be charged for that? How in good conscience can you have the residents of Lawrence pay for ambulance service and have an ambulance take over 10 minutes to get there?
   My father was fortunate and will be OK, but I can tell you this, many people will die if ambulances are taking 10 minutes to get to them. I would like to state that I was a volunteer member of the Lawrence Township first aid squad for five years and know during that time we would not find it acceptable to take over 10 minutes to get to a call. This is not the first time I’ve had an experience like this. A few months ago, I had to call an ambulance for an elderly neighbor in Lawrence and once again it took over 10 minutes for an ambulance to get there. That ambulance came from Ewing!
   It seems to me with the slow ambulance service response time and town council not wanting a hospital in Lawrence that the people in town council do not give a damn about the residents of Lawrence. That is a shame and a fact that us as voters will have to rectify come November.
Angelo Longo
Northbrook Avenue
Resident responds to comments made regarding hospital move
To the Editor:
Mayor Puliti, please do not insult the intelligence of the residents of this township. The hospital is not being built in Lawrence because you and your fellow democratic council members did not want it built there, supporting your party in Trenton. You opposed it at every turn, even taking the unprecedented step of all showing up at the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services hearing on Aug. 3, 2006, in East Windsor to give a lengthy opposition statement to the move. We saw you and Pam Mount, Richard Krawczun and former Mayor Powers sit with Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer in the audience, united against the move and make simultaneous opposition statements to the committee. It is obvious where your allegiance is, and it is not with the resident’s interests of this township.
   And despite your statements, the committee recommended the move based on the merit of the proposal. It was and still is the right move and it will be in Hopewell now instead. This will be your council’s legacy.
   The fact is if you want it to happen in Lawrence, it will. If you don’t, it won’t, so spare us the excuses. You want to talk about traffic, talk to the people who live near Quaker Bridge Mall when the expansion of stores happens. No problem with that traffic. The committee makes that happen, but the hospital gets treated like a nuclear power plant because the Mayor of Trenton made a phone call.
   We need leaders with character and ethics in this township. We need leaders that are willing to speak the truth about a subject and not just politicians that follow the party line then make excuses why they made the decision.
Dave Holland
Woodlane Road
Council’s handling of hospital move ‘irresponsible and shortsighted’
To the Editor:
Of course Lawrence Township officials are not surprised that Capital Health System has chosen to abandon Lawrence in favor of Hopewell Township for the site of its proposed state-of-the-art hospital — they did everything they could to block CHS from coming to Lawrence, without ever giving the public an opportunity to be heard.
   The council’s decision-making process on this issue was irresponsible and shortsighted. It didn’t commission experts to study the benefits and costs of a new hospital to the community, hold public hearings to listen to the views of residents, or weigh all the pluses and minuses in a thoughtful way. Instead, without ever hearing from the people it is elected to represent, it essentially told the people of Lawrence and Capital Health, "We don’t care what you have to say; we don’t want a hospital."
   To see how it should be done, just look at Hopewell Township. Their council has taken a much more thoughtful approach. They hired an expert to evaluate the impact — positive and negative — a new hospital would have on their town. They’ve held public forums to listen to the concerns of their residents. And they worked cooperatively with CHS to find a way forward, which benefits all parties concerned.
   Twice last year, when CHS was still hoping to come to Lawrence, this newspaper called on the council to hold public hearings on this issue. On May 25, 2006, the Ledger pointed out that, "In the 18 months since CHS announced its plans, the council has not held one public discussion of the CHS plan." Two weeks later, the Ledger editorialized that the council’s "wait and see approach is not only foolish but poor public policy."
   Unfortunately, the Council ignored calls for a public meeting on this issue. Instead, several council members went to the State Health Planning Board and opposed the proposed plan, without ever soliciting the views of Lawrence residents. At that hearing, then-mayor Mike Powers joined with Trenton mayor Doug Palmer (who was desperately trying to keep the hospital from leaving his city) in categorically opposing the hospital. He was followed by council member Pam Mount, who flatly stated, "zoning and planning will not be changed."
   Apparently, it didn’t matter to them that both the state board and the state Commissioner of Health thought a hospital in Lawrence made good sense, from a public health standpoint. And by refusing to hold a public meeting, they clearly weren’t interested in what their constituents thought.
Bob Bostock
Springwood Drive
Bob Bostock is a Republican candidate
running for town council in November.