Candidates night to be held

[Guest]

CRANBURY - The Woman's Club of Cranbury Public Affairs and Social Services Department will host candidate's night again this year.

It will take place Tuesday, Oct. 12, at 8 p.m. in the Cranbury School cafeteria. All members of the public are invited to attend.

Candidate's night is a traditional pre-election forum for candidates running for Township Committee to present their positions and to answer questions from the public.

The candidates, Democrat Glen Johnson and Republicans Dan Mulligan and Art Hasselbach, have agreed to participate.

This is an opportunity for Cranbury's voters to discuss issues with the candidates before making their decision Election Day.

[Guest]

How did it go?

[Guest]

I never heard so much about parking as I heard last night. It seemed there were a number of people there whose sole focus was our parking "problem".

[Guest]

[Guest]

[Guest]

Theree were multiple people bringing up the subject and it was mentioned by people who have businesses and do not have businesses in town along with people in the village and outside the village area.

[Guest]

[Guest]

[Guest]

I'm not sure whether this post and the previous are related. But my point is simple.

Presenting posts that ridicule another person's view (parking, bussing, etc.) is not productive and often is done in a manner that I believe is not especially mature.

This post, however, raises a valid point re: tax payer expense. If you, as a taxpayer, object to the use of town resources to purchase space for parking then stating such a point in the manner you jsut did is respectable. Ditto if someone disagrees and presents their case FOR public investment in parking.

I stepped away from reading this posts when I began seeing silly, mean-spirited (anonymous, of course) posts. If intelligent debates can be made here, I am all for it.

But more importantly, make your feelings known to the town committee (or another relevant town board). Cynics may say they don't listen, but I believe they often do give serious consideration to public input. But such input tends to be very limited.

And if your position does not come out on top, perhaps it is because another position was better stated or supported by more people.

So, please, get involved in our town governance.

[Guest]

That a fair point.

It just gets so ridiculous to read over and over here and occasionally in the Cranbury Press about our "parking problem" even though no compelling facts are every presented to back it up. If someone wants to demonstrate we have a problem please use facts. How long does someone have to wait for a spot to open up or search for a spot? How far (over 1/4 of a mile?) does someone have to walk between the nearest available spot and their destination? Etc. The only evidence I have read is anecdotal and, frankly, laughable, when people say they “couldn’t go to the Blue Rooster because they couldn’t find parking.” As someone who is up and down Main on most days multiple times a day and parking there all the time, this just isn’t credible unless their definition of “finding parking” is within a few hundred feet of the destination. And the real point is if that is the criteria, that just isn’t a real parking problem. I can grant that it may be a real issue for a small subset of people with disabilities or trouble walking, and perhaps we need handicapped spots directly in front of our key establishments or something. But that’s not the same as suggesting we have too few spots overall that would warrant investing public dollars in property acquisition, which likely wouldn’t help people who need to be right in front of the Blue Rooster anyway.

[Guest]

Was parking the main issue of the night? What did they say about COAH?

[Guest]

[Guest]

COAH, dam repair, the governor's campaign to force consolidation of small townships, future budget issues since we should assume even further state budget cuts next year, etc. Or even where do they stand on getting new blood onto Township volunteer boards -- planning, etc. -- and not only appointing people from whatever party currently holds the majority in the TC as recent adinistrations have done.

These are all vastly more important issues than parking.

[Guest]

[Guest]

[Guest]