December 19, 2002

Gerry Connery

Piscataway, New Jersey

In October 2000, Mark Hardenburg sent a letter to his constituents asking their opinion concerning Cornell Dairy Farm. I suppose this was a reasonable request, but I can't understand why a public official needs to hold up his finger in the breeze every time there is a difficult issue to be resolved.

After all, this is Piscataway, not national politics.

This issue is a no-brainer. The Halper family owes nothing to the township of Piscataway.

The simple fact that they have the last large tract of farmland places absolutely no burden on them to pay welfare to the township in the form of selling their land for less than it is worth on a fair appraisal.

In case Mr. Hardenburg doesn't get it, it is called stealing, and we in the township become collective thieves.

I, for one, want no part of this shakedown by our elected officials. Establish an agreed-upon price, get what money you can from the county, and the rest should come from a one-time special assessment to each resident.

Doesn't sound complicated, unless you are trying to cheat people; only then does it get complicated.

Read my lips: The Halpers owe us nothing. They bought that land fair and square, paid taxes and obeyed the law for many years, and their reward should not be a fleecing by our overzealous public officials or fellow citizens.

For 40 years the politicians have frittered away the single-family character of Piscataway by rolling over and playing dead for every bonehead project that came their way.

As long as the builders were pumping money into the coffers, Piscataway officials would have given permission for a tiger preserve if that's what the bosses in Perth Amboy, Edison and New Brunswick wanted.

For 40 years we have seen the land in Piscataway misused, with one apartment complex and high-density monstrosity after another. Now, after squandering our land, who do they blame? You guessed it! It's those evil, wily Halpers who want to make a profit from their land. What a horrible thought! You would think the Halpers invented the idea.

This arrogance of power is what we get and deserve when we go to the polls year after year and elect the same party hacks who begin to feel they own their offices. We need to have two-party rule to put a limit on this arrogance of office that I see as a result of one-party rule for such a long period.

It's time for the jack-booted "open space" storm troopers to grow up, bite the bullet and pay for what they want in a fair, above-board manner.

http://www.thnt.com/thnt/story/0,21282,655569,00.html