The ‘other guy did it’ won’t work as an alibi
GREG BEAN Coda
One of my favorite literary characters is a guy called Otherguy Overby. Otherguy makes his first appearance in a book by Ross Thomas called “Chinaman’s Chance.” In the book, it’s explained that Otherguy got his name because every time he got arrested for a crime, his alibi was that “some other guy did it.”
And you know, every time I hear something from South Brunswick Mayor Frank Gambatese and his Township Council, I think of my old friend Otherguy.
For the last few years, these guys have approved a frenzy of megawarehouse construction near the New Jersey Turnpike Exit 8A that has turned the once-quiet nexus of narrow rural roads – Cranbury Road, Davidsons Mill Road, Fresh Ponds Road, Deans Rhode Hall Road and Docks Corner Road – into a nightmare of truck traffic and the architectural landscape into a concrete nightmare that would even offend the eye and the sensibility of the contractors who build those block and mud houses in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2006 and 2007, they approved almost 7 million square feet of new warehouse construction in the area, and there’s more going up every day.
They’ve sacrificed this quiet corner of their township in their unceasing quest for ratables. And they’ve turned a deaf ear to anyone with the temerity to complain – the commuters who must use those roads every day, the people whose families have lived in the area for generations, the governments of the towns around them, and environmental experts.
They didn’t listen to the environmental experts beforehand, and they didn’t listen to them when things started going wrong. When the state Department of Environmental Protection laid most of the blame for flooding in the park at the feet of the warehouses, they said the experts from the DEP were wrong.
They were their own environmental experts, by golly. They were right, and that’s all there was to it.
When problems arose, like the serious flooding in Pigeon Swamp State Park, which almost everyone could see was caused by additional runoff from the warehouses, they dismissed the concerns with a blithe wave of the hand. Warehouses weren’t responsible for the flooding, they said, the runoff from the turnpike expansion was responsible.
Not our problem, they said. Some Other Guy did it.
Now, however, it looks like they’re gonna have to start facing the music.
Last week, representatives from the engineering firm PMK, which has been conducting a study of the flooding problem for the last year, gave the Davidsons Mill Road Area Committee (DMRC) a presentation of their findings.
And what they found was that the turnpike wasn’t the real culprit after all. In fact, the turnpike expansion was only responsible for 5 to 15 percent of the increase in stormwater volume since 1980.
The warehouses, on the other hand, were responsible for increases of between 50 and 150 percent, even though they met or exceeded design requirements for stormwater control.
For the last year, while the report was being investigated and completed, Gambatese and company have said they’d wait for it to be finished before embarking on any serious efforts to control the runoff, but they believed the turnpike was the authority that would eventually have to make the changes.
Now, Gambatese is saying he’ll wait until PMK makes a formal presentation to the council around the end of the month before commenting.
I just can’t wait to hear how they spin this disaster, now that the Other Guy has been virtually cleared of blame.
Meantime, I’ll meet you down at Gambatese Lagoon – formerly known as Pigeon Swamp – next time we get a really heavy rain. We’ll pull on our Wellies, fill our mugs with hot apple cider, and toast this shining example of municipal greed and planning run amok.
The passengers of that car were hurt. Three of the four occupants in Greenberg’s vehicle were killed.
I don’t know much about two of the victims – Kristen O’Hara, 19, and Alexandra Tenneriello, 19, both of Jackson – but I’m sure they were wonderful young women.
I know a bit more about the third fatality, Julie Tracy, 17, of Jackson.
Tracy was one of those bright youngsters who turn up a lot on the pages of community newspapers like ours. In our files, we have photos of her in various activities, and this spring she was featured in a profile in our Future Leaders special section. In that section, we have stories and photos of our area’s most promising young people.
There, we learned that Tracy loved journalism, and planned to pursue a career in that profession. We learned that she was active in community service. She read to preschool children at the library. She received several awards for scholarship and scholastic accomplishment. We learned that her goal was to make the world a better place.
I’ve read a thousand stories like this in the 30 years I’ve been in this business. You’d think it would get easier, your skin would get thicker.
It never does.
Yesterday, I read the letter Julie’s mother wrote when she nominated her daughter as a Future Leader, and it broke my heart. After describing how her daughter had faced illnesses in her family and other devastating trials with remarkable responsibility and love, she noted that through it all, Julie continued to earn excellent marks in school.
“She is an inspiration to my husband and myself, and family and all that come in contact with her,” she wrote. “She is truly a Godsend.”
Along with her letter of nomination, she included a poem Julie had written after two of her friends were killed in an automobile accident.
Included in that sadly ironic poem about the loss of bright, wonderful young people is the line, “We won’t forget.”
Neither will we, Julie. Our thoughts and prayers are with your family, the families of the other young people killed in that accident, and those who were injured. May God bless and ease the burden of your pain.
Gregory Bean is executive editor of
Greater Media Newspapers. You can reach
him at [email protected].