End one-party rule in Princeton Township
Township voters face increasing taxes, fewer service, exhorbitant maintenance expenses (such as Belgian block curbs which cost $3 per block) financed through debt instead of bugeted, and a 14% reduction in the police force. Presently the Township Committee is composed of same-party, think-alike people who patronize and chide residents who air opposing views at Township Meetings. The situation is similar at the county level.
It’s time for a change.
I’m honored to count as friends Gordon Bryant and Tom Pyle who are running for Township Committee, and Tom Mavis, who’s running for State Assembly. Gordon and both Toms are exceedingly qualified candidates who have been listening to our concerns. Their campaigns are based on four principles:
- Affordability
- Accountability
- Fairness
- Transparency
Gordon and Tom P. have issued a final appeal (pdf file), asking for your support.
I’m not alone in wanting change: Read these letters to the editor:
November 2,
It is time for some changes to be made in local governments, especially Princeton Township. We have people who have absolutely no regard for the taxpayers. They seem to have the attitude that there is an endless supply of money available from the taxpayers. Of course there are a few independently wealthy but I am not one of them. I spent most of my life in Princeton and Princeton Township and now I cannot spend my retirement years here and must sell out.
We must get new people such as Tom Pyle and Gordon Bryant to start making some changes. I am neither a Republican or Democrat. I just know that the Democrats are forcing me out of my home.
Princeton Township, in its Committee governance, has had 12 consecutive years in office as one-party rule, and the results speak for themselves — outrageous property taxes which threaten my future ability to remain in my home, along with the very obvious reduction of services manifested in poor roads and slow or no leaf and brush collection, to name just a few. It is unthinkable to me that the intelligent voters of this special community would re-elect the same mismanaging spend-thrifts to continue their irresponsible style of government.
There are two candidates running in opposition to the status quo who have the energy and financial expertise to make the necessary changes in the Township government, to stop the slide towards even higher property taxes and less services. They are Tom Pyle and Gordon Bryant, candidates for change. Therefore, this year, I and many of my Democratic friends and neighbors are going to change our votes. We are going to vote for Bryant and Pyle and I urge all my fellow Democrats in the Township to follow suit. Princeton Township can truly not afford, literally, continuing the current Democratic Committee incumbency.
Our financial concerns were dismissed with irrelevancies: Despite the fact that proposed road improvements would result in direct out-of-pocket expenses for street residents, we were repeatedly told that only 20 percent of our taxes went to the township, implying that given how little of the pie they get, we should be thrilled to spend money for their projects.
Clearly, the township officials believe that the proper place for residents is on the sidelines, cheering them on and rubber-stamping anything they care to do, as we are without the intellectual capacity to know what’s best for us.
This should be a warning to township residents who nurture any hope of being able financially to remain in the township. You have the opportunity on Nov. 8 to end the one-party rule of the Township Committee by electing two Republicans. Do it. And be prepared to replace the remainder of the township governing body in the future. The current ruling body clearly has a mistaken notion of how democracy ought to work. They need to find other employment
what is particularly irksome and infuriating to us here in Princeton Township is the fact that while local taxes regularly increase at rates more than triple that of inflation, Township Committee is reducing the services they provide.
Please join us in voting for Gordon and Tom before it is too late to get our fiscal house in order.
The time is right.
