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HILLSBOROUGH: Congressman, Lt. Governor participate in ceremony to rename town hall

It’s now the Peter J. Biondi Building

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
   Peter J. Biondi helped acquire the land for the township municipal building in the 1980s. He was mayor when it was built. As he moved up the political ladder to state office, he often came back for public events.
   Now, his name is permanently affixed to the hall — the Peter J. Biondi Building.
   In a ceremony Saturday, Mr. Biondi’s widow, Joan, pulled the rope to reveal the lettering over the main doors off South Branch Road.
   ”This may not be the most beautiful building in the world but it is what he meant it to be,” she said. “It’s a project brought in under budget and a centrally located facility for residents where all major services are in one location.”
   ”Thank you,” she said. “Hillsborough will always be close to our hearts.”
   Mr. Biondi died Nov. 10, two days after being elected to an eighth term in the state Assembly.
   He was mayor from 1983 to 1987, at the time the municipal facility, which combines township and school administrative offices, library, police headquarters and community meeting areas, was planned and built.
   Mr. Biondi followed his term with a stint as a county freeholder before running for Assembly.
   Mr. Biondi’s sister, Madeline; daughter, Jennifer, and grandsons, Jason and Matthew sat in the front row. The boys posed with a giant pair of scissors on the ceremonial ribbon, then struggled with human-size shears to snip the textured band. (As they did, Congressman Leonard Lance, standing to the side, smiled and quipped softly, “It’s always hard to cut red tape.”)
   Mr. Lance roused the crowd by exclaiming, “Pete Biondi would have loved this day,” referring to the crisp and sunny weather, and pointing to the police and emergency service officers in uniform. Mr. Lance said Mr. Biondi would have known virtually everyone in the audience — by first name, last name, spouse and grandchild, he said.
   ”And he would said to everybody else in town the next day, ‘Why weren’t you there?’” said Mr. Lance.
   ’”Mr. Lance said he would not have run for Congress in 2007, when GOP incumbent Congressman Michael Ferguson opted against seeking reelection, if Mr. Biondi had wanted to run. Mr. Lance said he would have backed Mr. Biondi, but it turned out the other way.
   Mr. Biondi’s support “was one of the two or three principal reasons I serve in Congress today,” said Mr. Lance.
   The congressman called Mr. Biondi “fearless in his devotion to his principles, his township, county and state. I will forever consider Pete Biondi a brother with me in policy matters in this state,” he said.
   State Sen. Christopher Bateman said he and Mr. Biondi were, in a way, related. When Mr. Bateman’s Labrador retriever had pups, Mr. Biondi chose one, a dog he named Murphy.
   Mr. Bateman said he got to know Mr. Biondi well through hours of commuting to Trenton and the long sessions on the Assembly floor.
   ”Of all the titles he ever had, the one he liked best was mayor of Hillsborough,” Mr. Bateman said. He said he thought Mr. Biondi’s favorite events were the Veterans Day breakfast in Hillsborough and the Neshanic Station Memorial Day parade.
   ”If you were a friend of Pete Biondi, you were a friend for life,” he said.
   Through hours over cups of coffee at the Wawa convenience store off Route 206, Mr. Biondi got to know the pulse of the people, he said. Most people weren’t aware of the myriad of causes — like domestic violence and the Resource Center of Somerset County — in which Mr. Biondi was involved, he said.
   Mr. Bateman said Mr. Biondi was an incredible golfer who gave up the game after breaking a hip tackling Mr. Bateman’s son in an informal football game.
   The building, which opened 1991, will be marked with Mr. Biondi’s visage on a plaque that was on display at the ceremony.
   Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno praised Hillsborough as the most advanced economic development team in New Jersey, and reminded she was always there to help.
   ”The legacy of Pete Biondi will be realized more by his grandchildren as they look back on a public servant who put service beyond himself,” she said.
   Mayor Carl Suraci. hailed Mr. Biondi as the patriarch of modern Hillsborough.
   ”As a mayor, freeholder and assemblyman, he remained committed to the betterment of Hillsborough,” said Mayor Suraci. He concluded by declaring “from this day forward, the building shall be known as the Peter J. Biondi Building.”