Mayor's Update - November 24, 2020

[fyi]

Mayor's Update - November 24, 2020

Greetings Cranbury,

I hope everyone is doing well and hanging in there. I want to make sure that I give everyone an update on what is going on in your town. I also want to make sure to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. It will be, by necessity, a small and quiet celebration this year.

This does not change the fact that it is still the time of year when we begin to reflect on all that we still have to be thankful for. Besides my family, friends and my health, I give thanks for the opportunity I have been given in serving as your mayor in this past year of such disruption and solitude. Here’s to the start of the holiday season and to the end of 2020!

Library News: Governor Murphy has signed bill A4942 the Library Construction Bond Act. Cranbury will be receiving $2.39 million dollars in matching funds to fund the construction of our new library and community center! Congratulations to the Cranbury Library and all those who have donated their time and money over the years. The new library building will stand as a testament to our town’s sense of community, in our belief in a shared future and the high value we place on education and the written word. Here’s to breaking ground in Spring 2021!

EDAC: I hope that everyone has had a chance to take a look at the EDAC’s “Home for the Holiday’s “ Guide. It is a brilliant and handy guide for the holiday season in and around Cranbury this year. I am so pleased with the work the EDAC has done in producing it. My special thanks to Delpha Georges and Tamara Vostok in putting it together. Inside you will find local events, ways to donate, recipes and more. Please take a look: HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Old Cranbury Road: Through a state NJDOT/Municipal Aid Grant Cranbury has received $343,256 to go towards the repaving/milling of Old Cranbury Rd. We are hopeful that this overdue project will be begun in the Fall of 2021.

COVID: As you likely are aware the state is undergoing a not unexpected second wave of the COVID-19 virus. Cranbury has had a slight uptick in COVID cases in town. The numbers are not huge but are trending up.

Unfortunately the vaccine is not here yet. So all we can do is what we have been doing: Continue social distancing and continue to wear a mask when out in public. We also recommend that you keep your family gatherings this holiday season small.

Additionally, if you haven't yet, please sign up for the township’s NIXLE alerts here: https://local.nixle.com/register/ The NIXLE alerts put out by Police Chief Owens are the best way to keep updated on the latest COVID numbers and other relevant information.

Thanks, as always, Cranbury.

Mayor Matt Scott
mscott@cranbury-nj.com

https://www.cranburytownship.org/home/news/mayors-update-november-24-2020

[anon-rn6n]

new library bldg is pure folly with library's ineffective Director and Board.

[anon-po04]

YEP

[anon-1ror]

What a waste of taxpayer money. How much will this cost us non transient residents in the future?

[anon-89n0]

I'm glad the Cranbury haters m are back. Missed you guys. It was pleasant on this board for a while.

[Time to Get Over It-00q5]

Time to get over it.

Sure, it's a silly idea to build a bigger library when hardly anyone uses the one we have now.

It may be a waste of money to build a new building for seniors to gather in on the heels of the pandemic.

It may be that by the time it is built, 90% of the people who wanted it will have moved on.

We may find that the next generation of Cranbury School kids will still congregate in the library after school, much to the librarian's dismay. They'll just be more cold and wet when they get there.

But, all of those arguments, however logical or accurate, fell on deaf ears. Democracy at work... we get what we vote for.

[anon-6s59]

tax money spent on public relations firm;
tax money spent for hourly employees paid for weekly hours not worked march to june.
tax money spent to not plan for re-open contingencies.
tax money spent for Director Mullen lead a book club.

[New Library Disease-661o]

Now that Donald Trump is finally done we need to think more progressively and support our new President Joe Biden and our heroic leader Governor Murphy. Governor Murphy's mandates to close and limit movement in our state have saved countless lives. When President Biden takes office we will have more coordinated closures and mandates from the Federal Government that will save millions of lives in 2021 and beyond.

Why do we need to build a library? Building a large new library is Old non-progressive thinking. We have so much more work to do that is important than a new unsafe and unhealthy building. The township committee and library board only want to build a library so they can put their names on a plaque and say look at what we did.

Working From Home Is Here to Stay
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2020-11-28/your-weekend-reading-working-from-home-is-here-to-stay

If we are all working from home and not going to our offices why should we go to an unsafe and unhealthy library where the disease will spread and harm our friends and family.

We should rethink our policies and be preserving more open space and farmland so people can be outside away from the virus not inside an unsafe building where super spread events will happen.

COVID-19 will not be the last pandemic in our lifetime.

Much of the conversation about the coronavirus pandemic has focused, understandably, on “getting back to normal.” Yet the inescapable truth is that, in many ways, there is no going back to the world as it was before the coronavirus. In a global economy in which pathogens can spread more quickly than ever before, the question is not if there will be another global pandemic, but when.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/business/dealbook/covid-vaccine-policy-debate.html?

COVID-19 will not be the last pandemic in our lifetime we do not need a large unsafe building to spread disease and death.

Demand a modern library where we can use the library services from the safety of our own homes. Not a building that will spread disease.

[anon,oqs8-0076]

The New Library is a want not a need. It will saddle the taxpayers with an on going tax that is unnecessary in perpituity. We were supposed to get a "Community Room" when the faculty and Board of Ed begged for the school expansion. After we the voters were duped into voting yes we were then told they needed $300,000. plus $ for furniture. We the public really were never allowed proper access to that "Community Room". The "We Want a Library " Gang are only interested in a WANT not a need. Mr. Ferrante and Mr. Scott only care about that as another notch in their belts. If the public had an opportunity to vote on the Library it would FAIL. Its about time the WE Want A Library folks put this to a vote. If it passes then we get what we deserve not what others force on us. The transient "Nothing is too good for my child" folks will move on and the rest of us are stuck with their poor decisions --Look at the Ball Field of Dreams for just one example. Every one of the folks that were on that band wagon are ALL gone!!! Thank You Pari Stave, David Stout, Richard Stannard!!!

[anon-1pqq]

[anon-83r8]

Maybe you could run and do a better job

[anon-r652]

With our rotating Mayoral system, eventually everyone in Town will get to be Mayor. So we will continue to leap from one personal project to another.

[anon-po04]

With that being said, future mayor Ferrante should be developing a clown show where he will perform at center stage. He will finally get the attention that he craves and showcase his skills and ability to be a total clown.