Tea Partyers, where have you gone, now that Sayreville needs you so? I am little acquainted with the Tea Parties, their adherents and their objectives. I do recall reading that their members are adamant in their opposition to too much government involvement in their daily lives.
According to an article in the April 22 issue of the Suburban titled “Sayreville Panel Issues Report on Main Street Bypass,” the borough of Sayreville experienced an advisory committee, assembled by the borough’s mayor and his assistant, which resolved that a bypass road was necessary to alleviate traffic on Main Street. In reading the article, one could not infer that there was a great deal of support on the part of the residents in several developments that would be affected by the construction. Indeed, based on quoted comments, they must be pondering the late President Ronald Reagan’s political joke, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”
The proponents effuse about the multitude of safety devices that would be installed to protect the residents. With so much overkill, one wonders if the proposed road is inherently dangerous.
While concern for the safety of the residents bordering Main Street is laudable, the lack of concern for the residents and travelers of Washington and Ernston roads is inexplicable. Traffic on those roads doesn’t need to be studied — it is painfully obvious. Every morning and afternoon, walking school children and school buses dominate both roads.
The Main Street bypass will not alleviate those situations. If safety is a primary concern, where better to concentrate it than on the children’s avenues?
In the April 22 article, a quoted comment by the mayor’s assistant was quite telling: “We have to look toward the future and how commerce is going to be conducted at the former National Lead site, since the bypass will go through to the site.”
Priorities? Cui bono?
Donald M. Gallagher
Sayreville