Letters

Ratables pushed at the expense of residents

I was reading Greg Bean’s column on the opinion page in the Aug. 18 Sentinel. We have a situation on this side of Route 1 also involving development.

To paraphrase this article, I don’t know for certain where the members of the South Brunswick Planning Board live, but I would be surprised beyond belief to find that any one of them lives near … the South Brunswick Square Shopping Mall. You have trucks, warehouses and disappearing farmland. We have Route 1 and its traffic, a developing Home Depot, and a soon-to-be-developed, unknown, 190,000-square-foot mall, as the sign reads.

The real problem here is the Sentinel announced in February 2004 that The Home Depot is coming to the mall. We received no notice, though we live in the front of our development, but apparently not within 200 feet. Then, another notice was sent out to the buildings within 200 feet, but not us. My friend had gotten these notices and he informed us.

In August 2004, while no one knew of the meeting — thus, no one was in the audience — the redevelopment of the South Brunswick Mall was approved. I happened to have tuned into Channel 3 at the point where ex-mayor [Debra] Johnson said, “Where are all the merchants and residents?” And she abstained. No one knew the meeting was to be held that night, and so no one was in the audience to say “yea” or “nay.”

You want to hear noise from sun up to sun down every day? You want to hear the ripping apart of the mall for months, the beeping of the trucks, forklifts, and other equipment as it moves backward? You want to ride in the dirt left on our roadway by the dump trucks?

I remember at the Planning Board meeting in September 2004, every seat was taken by outraged residents who were not given a chance to express their opinions of having a Home Depot in their front yard.

I remember the chairman of the Zoning Board running up to the microphone in disbelief that this project was approved. The Zoning Board had turned it down as well as the traffic engineer (I believe).

So, to sum up, the majority of the Planning Board doesn’t live anywhere near this mall.

One of the Planning Board members made a stupid remark after he voted for Home Depot — “Now I can buy a lightbulb.” Couldn’t he buy a lightbulb in the four Stop & Shops we are saddled with? Or how about The Dollar Store?

Ratables yes, but for whose benefit? The townhouses? The condos? The vast development of rentals? Or the contractors who build these homes? Talk about protecting the residents who supposedly have the voting power …

Stanley J. Agines

Monmouth Junction section

of South Brunswick

Tapes a reminder of the bravery of EMS responders

New York City’s recent release of more 9/11 tapes hopefully makes the public aware of what we in the emergency medical services community already knew: EMS responders — volunteers included — played a much more vital role in the day’s events than reported until now.

The overall feeling is that the day’s EMS efforts and losses largely were overlooked in the enormity of the situation. As one of the many New Jersey EMS volunteers who responded to the city on 9/11 while thousands more stationed to help on this side of the Hudson River, I witnessed innumerable acts of compassion and selflessness as everyone attended to victims.

With the civilian losses, we mourn the rescuer casualties suffered on every side of the police/fire/first aid triad. Without wanting to minimize anyone’s grief or suffering, however, EMS responders can’t help but reflect on their own colleagues who died that day. Although far fewer than in the other departments, the number of EMS lives lost was devastating nonetheless.

In light of the latest EMS accounts and with this new view of 9/11 fresh in our minds, now would be an excellent time to focus on strengthening the often-forgotten EMS side of the triad, starting with adequate funding for volunteer EMT education, training and equipment.

Sue Van Orden

northern area vice president,

New Jersey State First Aid Council

Lincoln Park