LETTERS: Make Cranbury Library a priority

[Guest]

Guy Butterworth, Cranbury

It saddens me to hear that the PNC Bank has apparently been flogged for some commercial purpose, as I was fairly confident that it was a something of a “white elephant” too difficult to sell, and because I held out some hope that that the PNC Bank would see beyond short-term profit for long-range benefit and donate the property for use as a library. Alas, unless the deal falls through at the last minute, a unique opportunity to establish an appropriate community library will have “come a cropper,” at least for the fairly foreseeable future.

The news, however, leaves me wondering why the community did not rally much more enthusiastically around such an issue. Cranbury is a fairly smug place, always touting how wonderful it is compared to other towns. It seems willing to answer the calls for schools and athletic facilities and roads smooth enough on which to roller blade even while, at the same time, moaning about affordable housing mandates and property taxes.

More than 50 percent of my property taxes appears to go to paying for a Blue Ribbon school although I do not now and never have had children. Because I treasure education, I do not complain about my school property taxes. And because I believe fervently in the simple justice of the state Supreme Court’s Mount Laurel decisions (although I may have reservations about the political implementation of those decisions), I do not complain about “unfunded state mandates” in the other 50 percent of my property tax bill. I say this as a senior citizen on a more or less very middle-class fixed income.

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http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2009/11/05/cranbury_press/your_views/doc4af3502de38bc412413096.txt

[HistoricallyFiscal]

Ok Mr Butterworth let's discuss this your recommendation today in the CranburyPress about the PNC building in a bit more detail. What will it cost to retrofit the building and prepare it for Library use, since you wrote two article in support of this option, I am guess you have the full detail of what it would cost to implement the plan. Can you please share that with me (let just say for this exercise that the PNC DID indead donate the building, and ignor the impending sale) I am wondering what the costs would be to one, rehab the building and then equip it for a new use as the library. Please also include all new salary employees and fixed cost utilities for this idea of your.

[take a guest]

Dear Dan and Jay,
I suspect Mr. Butterworth did not vote for you. Better luck next time.

[Guest]

[exactly]

[bumpkin]

What exactly is being proposed for the PNC Bank if not the library? Have there been serious suitors for the property? Anyone hear anything as to what might move into the building?

[Guest]

I really really hope a Wawa or something like that

[Guest]

[Guest]

+4

[Guest]

I have heard that Sweetwater Construction will buy the PNC bank by year's end. They are currently out on Prospect Plains Road but have to move because of the turnpike's expansion. Someone said that they have about seventy-five employees.

[Guest]

Just curious... do the "guests" on this forum who like the public library just the way it is have children in Cranbury School?

[Guest]

I do and I like the set up.

[Guest]

My father, a senior citizen, has tried to use the public library during the day when he prefers to be out and about. However, the library has been too noisy for him to concentrate because the school library is being used to the fullest, as it should be in a blue ribbon school. I think that the combined library has a certain charm for families with elementary aged children. However, the public library does not work well for everyone in this town. Families with pre-school children find it hard to visit during the day time hours due to the restrictions in space.

[Guest]

[Guest]

Whenever I used to explain to friends, relatives and colleague about why I chose to live in Cranbury I would describe how I liked that it was such a small community with charm and where so many people knew each other. But I also used to describe how “smart” the Township was by sharing services with other Townships and the high school with Princeton, etc. And I always mentioned the library as an example of how clever and appropriate it was for a Township with less than 4,000 people to have a multi-purpose library shared with the school. Why does a tiny community need a stand-alone library?

[Guest]

We could use a public library that serves all members of our community, not just the families with children in the elementary school. As the other poster mentioned, seniors are not comfortable able to use the library during the day. Moms and dads with babies who are home during the day find the current library rather unwelcoming and overrun with elementary age children...there is no room for them. Homeschoolers would not find the noisy library great for them. Working adults or employees of local business that pay a lot of our tax dollars supporting the school and the library who visit on breaks, lunch hours or on a day home rather noisy and not conducive to their needs.