Lies Came in the Mail Today - Opinion by Stacey Fox

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Lies Came in the Mail Today. Let’s Talk.

First - this is my opinion. Facts are facts and this paper holds submissions to account. I invite anyone with any opinion to submit a letter to the editor. My opinion is not that of the publication. This is not an editorial, it is solely my opinion alone. 

This publication fact checks and today I am fact checking the political campaign materials you likely received in the mail and probably via email as well, possibly illegally via the NIXLE email notification system which is NOT intended for political use by the Mayor’s campaign. If you receive such an email, when you only signed up for notifications about road closures or other boring town topics, please report it to the Mercer County Board of Elections as it can be construed as election interference. This occurred the year I ran for Council. On behalf of the incumbents who I imagine the mayor felt he had complete control over, you’ll see why in a moment, about 8,000 emails were sent to unsuspecting residents (a list of 2,000 hit 4x according to residents who received them). The emails were sent full of lies, fabricated “alternative facts” about our campaign, so those recipients were denied the right to vote based solely on the truth. Considering Ben Finkelstein and I lost by a small handful of votes, I'd say their email smear campaign worked. This was an abuse of power and I want to put everyone on alert so that if it happens again, it is reported and treated as it should be. I regret not pursuing justice at the time but election fatigue was real and overwhelming. I was happy to put it in the rearview mirror. Read about what happened here.

Forward such emails to:

BoardofElections@mercercounty.org

Call:  609-989-6522

Fax:  609- 278-2713

Don’t Fall for Political Lies about Bridge Point 8

West Windsor’s Republican Mayor of 8 years, Hemant Marathe, like a broken record, repeats his twisted version of the truth about Bridge Point 8, which is, in earnest, the most destructive warehouse project this area has ever known. It has been covered extensively and his math debunked. Yet Hemant Marathe still regurgitates the same scenarios he dreamt up to justify his poor judgment back in December of 2020, when he used his power to illegally change our zoning laws to make an otherwise impossible project possible. How did he do this? Under lock-down, the Governor issued a mandate that all town meetings have a remote participation link (zoom or the like) so that the public could participate despite living on lock-down. Marathe did not do this. He held a private meeting, masked up and spread out, behind closed doors, where his then fledgling council did exactly what they were told. They signed an agreement to allow the mayor to enter into the agreement that would promise to add warehouses to the existing zoning ordinance for that property. What that is, is a list of, in this case, 40 acceptable commercial uses, dictating what landowners are permitted to build. What was NOT on the list you ask? Residential was not on the list as a permitted use… but we keep hearing that argument. And warehouses were not on the list either. The mayor lacked the creativity to imagine that any one of those 40 permissible uses could be built. Instead, he brokered a deal with big money players to build 5.5 MILLION square feet of warehouses, on wetlands, next to route 1 (that becomes a lake)... His big argument was that it had to be either homes or warehouses - neither of which were even a permissible use in the first place. So tired of this story…

At the time, the mayor was absolutely stellar at informing the public about Covid related things. The constant updates were so appreciated but he did not say a word about what happened behind the closed doors that should have been open to the public. So, maybe they put some tiny ad in a paper that nobody ever reads and called it public notice. But if the mayor had wanted the public informed, he would have been stellar about that too. Instead they were having an illegal meeting in secret to change the zoning to allow for warehouses, and still, no residential - that was never a thing.

Unfortunately, under the cloak of Covid 19, residents didn’t notice until it was too late, myself included. The statute of limitations closed the door on justice and because we were all busy stressing over how to work from home AND teach our kids from home, AND pondering whether to vaccinate or not… That’s where our minds were then. His mind was on the industrialization of our hometown. Full disclosure, I am one of two residents that sued to stop Bridge Point 8. I regret to report that I recently learned that we lost the appeal. More on that later.

So, why did I speculate that the mayor’s goal is to have complete control of his council? Here he is text-begging for a vote to achieve just that in a previous election he was not even running in: 

In my opinion, this behavior is grotesque.

Back to the lies that came in the mail. Numerous residents reported that Marathe stood on front porches, canvassing in his last election, and lied directly to residents’ faces saying that warehouses would never happen.  We already have our first one, which experts have determined to be flawed in plan and based on outdated flood maps, which is so West Windsor, promising to damage and even devastate a local neighborhood and the township knew this - their own engineer raised the red flag about it and no substantial correction was made. I tried to stop that one too, but with Bridge on my plate, I was too late to that table. Yes, I am tired of fighting to correct the bad judgement of this administration. 

One of Marathe's “promises” that came in the mail today was that he would advance stormwater infrastructure. Wait... What? Now he's gonna care about stormwater runoff? Why did he not do that with this last warehouse when we brought in experts to show them how the locals would certainly suffer severe damage from runoff? They fought to discount our findings and they got away with it. Why not demand that Bridge be designed based on current stormwater data? HUGE 5.5 million square foot opportunity missed right there. So, it’s clear there will be no improvement to our stormwater management since he doesn't care about the massive flooding problem we already have, that Bridge will exacerbate, why should we believe his “promise” now? I posed the question to him directly, in a recorded Council meeting, about the flooding problem on Route 1. He answered that the runoff from Bridge would be Lawrence Township’s problem. Gotta love a good neighbor!

And for his “promise” on traffic and pedestrian safety, will 200-800 tractor trailers per hour, 24/7, be easy to navigate for cyclists, new drivers and pedestrians? How will that diesel-infused air feel going into your lungs? Last year, 3 people in their 20’s were killed by a tractor trailer on Route 1. The debris field was a football field long. The mayor said nothing. Two of those young people were from West Windsor. Crickets. Read more here 

I am not feeling authenticity in the traffic and pedestrian safety promise.

The municipal taxes are nominal and a non issue, but purchasing open space to manage growth?  Would've been a great idea for the Bridge property. It could have been a revenue generator for the town and it sold for a song. A neighbor, Ann Jacobs wrote to the Voice with a solid concept that would piggy back nicely on that promise. She wrote:

West Windsor needs to hire non-profit development companies like Monarch Housing Associates or The Affordable Housing Alliance that build affordable housing without forcing towns to permit three times more market-rate units. I live in Walden Woods, which initially was an all-affordable development, spearheaded by Bootstraps Self-Help homes. We built our own houses and contributed 16 homes to West Windsor's affordable inventory without requiring the construction of an additional 58 market-rate homes. If the Planning Board and the Affordable Housing committee do due diligence to permit a beautiful design and site for the development, West Windsor will be able to welcome a new generation of teachers, nurses, nurses aides, and policemen and women to our town without having to undergo the massive development required by the builders' remedy, which saddles us with the need for new schools, infrastructure and teachers' benefits for generations to come. I don't mean to stint on teachers' benefits, far from it, but as a town we need to remember the obligations we incur when we rely on the builders' remedy.

Anne, I am with you 100%. Unfortunately, our mayor only deals with the greedy big developers. He claims defeat before he even tries. I put the suggestion to him a couple of years ago and he insisted, “Trust me, I know what I am doing.” That’s not an answer. I pushed and he told me that developers would never build only affordable housing. They don’t make enough money. I repeated the “non-profit” part and was ignored. So, if he wants to purchase open space to manage growth, what does that look like? More diesel trucks killing our youth? Giving us asthma and COPD? Slowing down commutes? He clearly does not like homes, or the 40 other acceptable commercial uses permissible on the ordinance in question. So, I guess this promise is for more warehouses. Good to know. That’ll be a promise he can keep and we should fear.

The Vaughn Drive and Penns Neck bypasses have been sitting for so long, supposedly at an impasse. In all 8 years of his “leadership,” he has not moved the needle on those much needed improvements. Seems like filler for the mailer, in my opinion. But let’s be hopeful.

“Expand our environmental initiatives” feels like filler too. Not even worth commenting on. A couple of Tesla chargers somewhere maybe? We give up a lot to developers to get a car charger most  townies will never use. Most of us plug in at home. 

I will say I give this administration kudos for fostering a sense of community. But showing up to a gratitude walk, Kumbaya moments and volunteering - none of those things guarantee good judgment. His eyes are on the money. Mine are on balance. Quality of life, health and safety first… worth any price.

WW has enough resources to be able to offer the best to their residents AND rake in the dough with some creative planning and people-first leadership, and nobody has to die in a crash. We do not need to settle for this path he is leading us down. 

This one cracks me up… On his mailer, he wrote under “Here are the Facts:” Pause for boisterous laughter... 

“Despite rumors (and I guess actual developer plans don't count) to the contrary, the width of Clarksville Road beyond the railroad bridge will not change.” Let’s unpack that. First, he did not say in which direction “...beyond the railroad bridge" he was talking about. Either way he is wrong.  The developer plans for 8 lanes of Clarksville and 8 lanes of Quakerbridge road… for real. Insane right? Clarksville is a County Road, all of it, even the part that runs through our town. West Windsor has zero say in what happens to it. If the road cannot handle hundreds of tractor trailers per hour, OR if the 90 degree angle of the intersection of 571 and Clarksville will just not accommodate all those big rigs, which it won't, then it would have to change. There is already talk of expanding that intersection for that reason. It is a legal truck route and once the new bridge is in place over the train tracks, the trucks will come. In 2022, I was informed by a County Commissioner, who shall remain nameless,  that if this development hypothetically comes to pass it is absolutely possible that a widening can occur. It is a legal truck route and it will have to accommodate the traffic. Period. Where we have power is to not invite insurmountable truck traffic and create the problem, that the County will have to solve, in the first place. 

Marathe falsely (FC) claimed that there are “protections in place for residents built into the plan” WRONG!!!!! He can ask for whatever curb cuts or limits he wants to but it is a County Road and WW has zero say in whether or not the trucks can drive a legal truck route through our town, past Maurice Hawk and HS South, alongside our young children and new drivers. And how many times per week or month have you observed an alert stating that Route 1 is fully or partially closed? I get that notification often… and where will all the trucks divert to when they can’t burden Route 1? Right through our town. Bad planning. PS, The 40 other permissible uses were a dream compared to this nonsense but his big money partners want what they want.

Mayor Marathe cannot control the DOT, nor the County. We told him from day 1 that there are too many warehouses in Mercer Cunty and he defended the idea. When I asked what if they sit vacant, he said we would repurpose them! With so many vacancies all over our county, what on earth will we do with 5.5 million square feet of warehouse space? …besides ameliorate flood damage. That’s 5.5 x the QB Mall including the parking lot. If they do sit vacant, how is that good for anything? They are permanent! They are not a mistake you can fix. They should not be Lawrence Twp’s environmental disaster to handle. Now, on his mailer, he is actually using the vacancies as a selling point! Bad planning as a selling point! That’s a new one!

As for the taxes argument. We can be selfish and have it all. We have 40 awesome permissible uses before Marathe’s illegal zoning change. Some would increase our quality of life and not negatively impact health and safety AND bring in tax revenue. No bad planning needed, unless the goal is to pad the pockets of the big out-of-state developers who don't live or work here. Why not support local businesses owned and operated by people who actually care about the people and this place we call home.

Eight years of Marathe is enough. Vote for change. Don’t let this all Republican slate have 4 more years of misleading a majority Democratic town. And no, changing affiliation to "independent" for the election does not make one less a Republican when one was registered and voted in a history of primaries. This is public information so stop calling yourselves non or bi partisan - that’s a lie.

Under our “nonpartisan” form of government, nobody gets to know the party affiliation of who they vote for. The word “partisan” has been twisted into a negative thing when in this context it just means that in a partisan election, you get to know the value system of who you vote for as opposed to a nonpartisan election where the right gets to play hide-your-MAGAts.

So, I mentioned that I lost the appeal. I have no comment on where this fight goes from here. If this loss is the end, you need to realize that this is the single greatest issue that will make or break our quality of life, health and safety in this town and neighboring towns. This project will negatively impact your way of life, home values and endanger your loved ones, besides all of the extraordinary environmental impacts. If this monstrosity is built, when the first fatal accident occurs, and they will occur in numbers, what will he say? Is it worth it? Is it the price we pay so we can have more revenue? Sounds familiar. The other 40 revenue earning uses were infinitely better and maybe a new administration can keep us safe from this impending dumpster fire.

See, if you spew revenue predictions, you are bound to meet with accountants: Read truth to power here.

The last statement on his mailer says that “Bridge Point 8 is a win-win for West Windsor.” Pause here and let that sink in. He calls Bridge Point 8 a win-win… If you add thousands of massive trucks to our roads every day, and through the night, it is statistically inevitable that people will die, like they did last summer  just a mile up Route 1. Are these loved ones or collateral damage?Like the victims of gun violence who do not choose to die for our second amendment rights...  If for no other reason but to save lives, VOTE for the candidate that is against BP8 and will hold them to a much higher standard if it should come to pass. If this loss is the end of my fight, and Bridge Point 8 comes to pass, who do you want in office? The man and his minions who brought this God forsaken atrocity upon us or a team of democratically minded, people-first driven leaders? It's a no-brainer for me. 

Protect our people, way of life, property values & the future of West Windsor

VOTE -  Singh - Tomar - Winters