I read with some fascination the guest column by Deputy Mayor Steve Alexander in last week’s Examiner.
It appears that Mr. Alexander has fallen in the same trap as we inAllentown occasionally fall into — letting our emotions get the best of us. I’m sure anyAllentown official could present an entirely different point of view regarding the facts of disagreements betweenAllentown and Upper Freehold .
When I first moved to Allentown, Upper Freehold and Allentown (under a Democratic mayor) weren’t getting along, and I was told that it had been that way as far back as anyone could remember. I spent many a sleepless night trying to figure out why.
Could it be that Upper Freehold is still mad that Allentown separated from Upper Freehold because the citizens of Upper Freehold needed services that Allentowners didn’t want to pay for, as was typical across New Jersey at the time? No, that couldn’t be still it. Could it be that Allentown doesn’t pay its fair share? After some investigation, I reasoned that that was not quite the problem either. Could it be that the persons leading both the town and township were incompetent nincompoops who wished only evil on one another? No. Then what, pray tell, is the problem? It’s not the personalities.
Allentowners (including to an extent Greater Allentowners) and Upper Freeholders have had different visions of what the town and township should be at any given time, and therefore their interests are different.
For instance, Allentowners generally see the borough as a place that should be a good place to live, work, and a place to receive services and worship. Upper Freeholders seem to see the borough as a place to worship, recreate, work and receive services. In this context, services include both public- and private-sector services, including education and shopping, among many.
Right now, the people who live in Allentown and Upper Freehold agree on most of the roles of the borough, but differ on one. Upper Freeholders do not understand the issues that make Allentown a good place to live. It can’t just be a place to use, because the roadwork simply cannot handle every building in Allentown going commercial, as is the typical pattern as villages grow into towns. Allentown would go downhill fast.
Likewise, Allentowners cannot grasp how desperately Upper Freeholders need to use Allentown to provide services and solve some of Upper Freehold’s problems, causing the governments to react in an adversarial manner.
Many of these issues will work themselves out as time passes and issues are resolved.
Ann Garrison
Allentown