Mayor's Update - August 13, 2024

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Dear Friends and Neighbors,

It’s been a while since the last Mayor’s Update. Typically, during this time of the year, there is less business to address at the board and commission level as well as with the Township Committee. Hence, it’s not uncommon for there to be meeting cancelations.

The Township, however, has remained busy attending to projects at hand. I’m excited to share that the talk of the town is our newly installed inclusive playground! By definition an inclusive park is, “a space that allows people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds to participate together, regardless of their age, ability, or background.” The idea for this project started with a resident’s suggestion in 2021 and it worked its way through the planning and funding process until it became a reality. Members of our Parks Commission were most active in the planning, along with collaboration, later on, with our Board of Recreation. The two entities were merged into a Parks and Rec Commission this year and brought this project home! Funding was a big hurdle. This project was made possible because of State Funding that was secured for Cranbury Township through advocacy from Senator Linda Greenstein and her office! We will be planning a ribbon cutting ceremony in the near future. A big thanks to all those who brought this project to reality!

We had hoped to debut the inclusive park at our traditional National Night Out festival at Village Park, however, the weather didn’t cooperate. The torrential rains put a halt to all National Night Out events planned for that evening in all our neighboring towns. I wanted to extend my gratitude to our Police, Fire Department, DPW and Municipal Alliance, who had planned a lovely event for the residents. We look forward to next years celebration.

As many have noticed, the construction at the school grounds is in full swing. The auditorium has been demolished to make way for the new structure and the parking lot is in the process of being transformed. I’m pleased to say that despite this heavy construction, the school administrators were happy to accommodate the summer recreation program for our youth, and it was a roaring success!

During this school construction, a few accommodations had to be made. I wanted to thank the Pastor and staff at the Cranbury Presbyterian Church for welcoming our recreation camp students when they had to evacuate the school premises due to a gas leak. Their gracious and quick thinking made for a seamless transfer and enjoyable day! Additionally, as parking has become restricted, and the senior activities room less accessible, the senior lunches have been held at the Cranbury Public Library. I extend a warm thanks for the library staff who have embraced our seniors and facilitated presentations for them during the lunch program. We truly are a community of friends and neighbors!

With regards to neighbors, the Chinmaya Mission, a Hindu temple and community center, on Cranbury Neck Road celebrated it’s 10th anniversary this weekend. We congratulate them and thank them for being a part of our community!

At last nights meeting, I held a work session on senior interests. At the beginning of my term as Mayor this year, I launched a senior subcommittee and together we have been working to uncover the organizations that offer activities for seniors in town, outside of the township seniors. Seniors make up about 17% of Cranbury’s population and we look forward to meeting the needs of this community better.

Have a great week!

Eman El-Badawi
Mayor of Cranbury Township

https://www.cranburytownship.org/home/news/mayors-update-august-13-2024