Downtown Grant Award

[James Taylor]

Today, Senator Greenstein announced that the state DOT in recognition of our downtown beautification improvements has granted our request for a 4th round of funding. The state is providing Cranbury with a $190,500 grant.

I want to congratulate the Downtown Beautification committee and our township engineer for their hard work and dedication.

A story on the award can be found here:

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2015/04/14th_district_towns_get_2m_in_roadway_improvement.html

[anon-257q]

Nice.

When is the Township going to finish the sidewalk on Old Trenton that they received a grant for years ago at the same time as the first phase of the Downtown work?

[anon;02q6-n68r]

Downtown Beautification!Well now we get another project for the elite on Main Street while the rest of the town and roads are falling apart. Main Street, Main Street, Main Street; it sure seems that some pile of money is spent in one location. One thing that I was told by a local politican is "Who Cares --Its GRANT money"--Well let me tell you that is one of the reasons that New Jersey is in such bad financial straights---Giveaways!Grant money comes from someone and that someone is each and every taxpayer . There is no reason why dollars from other folks should pay for anyone elses whims. I'm sure if we had to fork out the $$$$ for Main Street they would NOT be getting those improvements to benefit the businesses and Main Streeters. At some point both Cranbury and N. J. need to reach the realization that we cannot afford these GRANT giveaways. It can be said that if we don't get the money some other town will get it. That may be true and that is the crux of the problem. As I see it-- stop the grants--- and we all pay for what we do want with our own money. If that was to happen then I bet there would be much more frugal spending. One other thing is buying votes . Each and every time a politician both local township type as well as county and state gets some of this money appropriated they always get themself in the media to pat themself on the back just to keep themselves in the public eye. Hows about being a politican with the best interest of the constituants in mind and not self promotion.

[anon-5651]

Wow. Let's tackle your points.

1) Stopping grants may be the way to go, but then a town like Cranbury would have higher taxes. The town has repavedva number of roads with grants. In fact the Estates was just recently done. As Cranbury is not providing grants and our tax dollars rary come back to us your arguement means we would be funding more out of town projects even if it were not grants. The state would just do it look at Trenton High School.

2) To be clear your arguement is Cranbury should take a stand. Not file any grant applications, but let it go elsewhere. I think that is the worst idea. I believe the town last year asked that Brickyard Rd be done and then for the other aspect dealing with sidewalks did the downtown. I am trying to recall the Cranbury Press article, but think we had a choice of a road and something else.

3) the town this year allocated money from our taxes on Petty Rd. That I think is one of the few recent allocations from twp money for roads. How much more frugal could that be? One every a few years seems frugal to me. In fact perhaps too frugal.

4) we complain about politicians not providing information. Complain here and demand answers. The refrain has been go to a TC meeting. Now that Susan last year and Jay are trying to use this forum to provide updates you're saying it's grand standing and a self pat on the back? I didn't see that. In fact he thanked the volunteers of that committee. I for one like to get the updates. So thank you for taking your time.

5) in terms of Main Streeters and businesses. Let's not do anything for businesses. They only provide tax revenue without using the schools. This is the benefit. Residences for the most part are untouched. So I gladly support doing what we can to make businesses thrive, increase their value and thus increase the tax value of the business property.

[anon-no99]

[James Taylor]

In response to the Old Trenton Rd. question.

Initially it appeared that the grant was a New Jersey DOT grant, but instead it was a Federal grant administered by the NJDOT.

As a Federal grant there were a number of strings attached. Every aspect of the job had to be done in a certain specific way, and there would be frequent inspections that we were meeting the details (even if we disagreed). If at any time it was judged that we did not do the work in the prescribed manner, we would not be reimbursed for that work.

The risk was that Cranbury could be out of pocket for a lot of money. In speaking with contractors who had been involved with this type of grant in the past we were advised not to accept the grant.

We still would like to complete the project and will look for ways to accomplish the work.

[anon-32p0]

First and foremost a sidewalk connecting Old Trenton road to Main is a waste of money, and should not even be discussed when multiple township roads a literally crumbling away. Enough with Main Street. Also Old Trenton does not need a sidewalk as long as the speed limit is 35.

[anon-32p0]

First and foremost a sidewalk connecting Old Trenton road to Main is a waste of money, and should not even be discussed when multiple township roads a literally crumbling away. Enough with Main Street. Also Old Trenton does not need a sidewalk as long as the speed limit is 35.

[anon-sp0n]

[anon-32p0]

Will this grant be used to repair township roads that are literally crumbling away?

[anon-32p0]

[anon-32p0]