Peter Cantu marks 40 years on the Plainsboro Township Committee
By Pam Hersh
It all started, said his wife, when her husband would pace the floor late at night, while sometimes quietly muttering, sometimes loudly “ranting,” about lack of infrastructure, lack of planning, lack of a master plan in the town in which she was born and which he adopted when he married her.
So like a good wife, she offered her words of wisdom — “do something about it.” And with his wife backing him up every step of the way, he did do something about it and has been doing something about it since the early 1970s.
Exhibiting great integrity, negotiating skills, a sense of humor mixed with prickly impatience, and single-minded commitment to the welfare of Plainsboro residents, Plainsboro Township Mayor Pete Cantu — in his 40th year on Township Committee, and 34th year as mayor — has managed Plainsboro’s transformation from a sleepy farming community where, people joke, “the cows outnumbered the people,” to a sophisticated, suburban, socially, economically, ethnically diverse community of 23,000 people and internationally renowned corporations and research facilities.
All of that was accomplished with “not a little help, but a lot of help from my friends and colleagues over the years,” said the mayor, citing in particular those who were there from the beginning, such as his wife Gale Thompson Cantu and former Planning Board/Township Committee attorney Joe Stonaker.
The mayor, who was elected to the Town Council (a now defunct advisory body to Township Committee) before he became a Plainsboro Township Committee member, never considered himself a change agent, but rather a change manager. He made sure change occurred in the “right” way, “right” being his sense of what was best for the residents of his community. The changes in Plainsboro, incorporated in 1919, were coming fast and furiously in the early 1970s — it was the Wild West of local land use development. Like a sheriff, Pete came in to impose order that made the community thrive, while retaining its character of collegiality, diversity, and a rural ambiance.
Thanks to my various employers during the past four decades, I have had a ringside seat in the Cantu arena of local government leadership. When I asked him why he has devoted more than half his life — and about half of Plainsboro’s life — to serving on Township Committee, his response never included the word “I.”
His goal simply was “to do the right thing for Plainsboro and its citizens, to be their advocate… to get the best for Plainsboro.” As long as I have known him, he never sought the spotlight or personal fame or fortune. He never even cared much for making speeches, which, like his Township Committee meetings, are thankfully brief. In the springtime when the days are longer, Plainsboro Township Committee meetings often conclude before the sun has set. Not a fan of pontificating, he is direct, tells it like it is, and has been known to exhibit irritation for those who waste his time with self-promotion and “schemes that do no good for Plainsboro.”
Although I have observed how arguing with Pete can be somewhat intimidating, his colleague, Plainsboro Deputy Mayor Neil Lewis, said Pete actually relishes being challenged. He has a “tenacious, no-nonsense approach” with a laser focus on “making Plainsboro a great place to live, work and visit… My experience in Township government since 1995 made me appreciate that Pete enjoys an intense debate, and he appreciates it when people dig in on their opinions if they think his view needs adjusting. While it requires some fortitude (on the part of the challenger), he respects it when people do not back down when making their points. In the final analysis, he is watching out for the people of Plainsboro and the most effective way to benefit the Township. His leadership during the past 40 years has been key to Plainsboro’s recognition as one of New Jersey’s most outstanding and well-run communities.”
This opinion was echoed by another longtime Township Committee colleague Ed Yates. “Pete has created a culture of group/team effort — not personal gain. Sure we disagree, we fight hard, but the underlying motivation is the same for all of us — to benefit the town — and that tone has been set by Pete,” he said.
A letter Pete Cantu wrote in 1974 announcing that he was running as a candidate in the primary election for Plainsboro Township Committee explained — with the characteristic Cantu directness — his motivation for becoming involved in local government, as well as why he was running in the Republican primary, a surprising fact to those who have known the mayor as a longtime influential Middlesex County Democrat.
”The Township of Plainsboro is undergoing substantial growth and change. Your vote in the June 4 primary election can influence the direction of this growth and change during the next few years. Since there has been no filing on the Democratic side, the winner in the Republican primary will in all likelihood be the next member of our three-man Township Committee…
”I am 34 years old, married and the father of two children. I have been a resident of Plainsboro for 13 years and am employed as a Divisional Procurement Representative with IBM Corporation in Dayton, NJ. My activities have included: active membership and former presidency of the Plainsboro Volunteer Fire Company, membership and vice president of the Plainsboro Lions Club, and honorary membership in the Plainsboro Rescue Squad… member of the Plainsboro Town Council, which acts as an advisory capacity to the various… boards and the Township Committee…”
”I believe that for some time the citizens of Plainsboro have not truly been given balanced representation in township government. In the case of the Planning Board, six of the nine members have either major land holdings in the township or have recently sold t heir land to developers. This is a situation that has existed for many years and I see no inclination on the part of my opponent to correct this imbalance.
”We must in my opinion actively work for a unified community and insure that representation is provided, not for a select few, but for all the citizens of the township.” (Between 1971 and 1975, the town approved 6,500 units of housing for Lincoln Properties — approvals that to Pete’s incredulity came without any cohesive land use master planning or infrastructure planning.)
”In the past both through my position on the Plainsboro Town Council (the defunct citizens advisory council to the Township Committee) and independently, I have urged that we provide the planning necessary in order to property guide the development of the community and to meet future township needs. I have strongly supported balanced representation and community participation in township government. If elected, I am committee to continuing these efforts.”
And he certainly made good on his 1974 promise. Among his proudest accomplishments for the community include:
— Corporate ratables bringing direct and indirect revenue to the township; the town is home to such big-name corporations as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novo Nordisk, Munich Re, Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, Firmenich, and the recently announced Sandoz Pharma. “Key to the smart, successful, classy development in Plainsboro has been our partnership with Princeton University and its Princeton Forrestal Center Campus, as well as with Princeton HealthCare System and its Health Campus within the newly established redevelopment zone,” said the mayor.
— Community master plan and strategic planning, a careful balance of business development with residential, retail, for-profit, not for profit, educational, health, and recreational priorities, including the new $13.4 million library, the anchor of the town center.
— Open space: More than 50 percent of the community’s 12.5 square miles is permanently preserved open space, with the jewel being the 1,000 acre Nature Preserve.
— Affordable housing: Plainsboro was a leader in getting its affordable housing plan certified by the state.
— Infrastructure to support development (roads, sewers, public safety, building codes) transportation, including the new NJ Transit 655 bus, Princeton Junction train station shuttles, Middlesex County M6 bus, sewers, public safety, building codes).
Before the Cantu era, the town’s claims to fame, said Gale, were all related to farming: the Walker-Gordon Dairy, its Rotolactor, a giant merry-go-round that could milk 50 cows at a time, and the Walker-Gordon’s cow “You’ll Do, Lobelia,” who served as the first live incarnation of Elsie the Cow, the Borden Dairy Company’s advertising cartoon symbol.
More comparable to the Energizer Bunny than Elsie, Mayor Cantu is still fulfilling his 1974 promise. He announced that he just keeps on going — by running this year for his 14th term on Township Committee. “There is still a lot to do, stay tuned,” he said.