A crumbling backbone

By: centraljersey.com
I recently read the editorial "America’s economic ‘backbone’ is crumbling," posted Oct. 6. As the chair of the 2007 New Jersey Infrastructure Report Card Committee, I want to thank you for raising awareness to imminent crisis of infrastructure decay.
Recent news events tell the story. Modern ships cannot enter NY/NJ ports because the Bayonne Bridge is too low to allow ships to cross safely. Crowded NJ Transit trains struggle to keep up with demand. Traffic jams on highways and interstates are increasing. Posted bridges force truckers to detour their routes through local roads. Posted bridges can also affect school bus and emergency vehicle routes. The list goes on and on.
New Jersey is in a precarious position, with many of the funding sources simply drying up. The Transportation Trust Fund is broke, the Environmental Infrastructure Trust Fund lacks the staffing and funds to secure financing for all eligible water/sewer projects, and the AmericanRecovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has been sufficient to fund only a small fraction of the overall infrastructure need.
New Jersey needs a new plan.
Andres M. Roda, P.E. director, N.J. Section American Society of Civil Engineers
Cann endorsement
To the editor:
As the election draws near, I’d like to state why I will be crossing party lines and voting for Jim Cann for Township Committee. I have known both Karl Feltes and Jim Cann for six years. I actually recommended Karl for the Zoning Board. Jim was my deputy mayor in 2009. I have in my hand the campaign literature for each.
Jim’s speaks of his community involvement on one side and his platform on the other side (sound fiscal policies, energy independence, sensible commercial growth, ending no-bid contracts, etc.). He gives me reasons to vote for him.
Karl’s letter (single spaced, 10 point Times New Roman) talks about his service on the Zoning Board and Environmental Commission, his years as a Trenton cop (from which he draws a pension) and his current work for the Dept. of Education (from which he will draw a second State pension. Yet he points to no accomplishment while on the Zoning Board and Environmental Commission, nor has he proposed any concrete, or even vague, platform of things he’d like to accomplish. If I were a cynic, I’d think he is running merely to pad his future state pension.
It is interesting to me that although both Karl and Jim have been at many Township Committee meetings this year, only Jim has spoken at them to express his opinions and propose ideas for the betterment of the residents. Karl has sat mute through important discussions ranging from feral cats, to the Town Center plan, to Bottom Dollar, to the budget, and to so many more. Perhaps it is a wise strategy to try to fly under the radar, but I need more than a pleasant smile as a reason to vote for a candidate.
By way of example, the reason Bordentown didn’t have to take the Turnpike and DOT to court over compensatory trees, as our neighbors to the north had to, is that Jim and I negotiated with the Turnpike and had our trees in the ground (and even more trees than we had at first negotiated) by last June.
Jim Cann has ideas. I agree with some and disagree with others, but I have always been able to have dialogue with him. It is hard to have a dialogue with someone who never says anything.
William J. Morelli The writer was mayor of Bordentown Township in 2009