Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Hey NO-MegaMallers - Guess Who Approved Highway Access Behind Your Back?

In 2004, a small faction of politicos decided to make da Route 33 Village project their pet project to delay, delay, delay da Cadre way. They went as far as to make outrageous claims to local residents that a XXX movie theater would be built there, a bus depot, low-income apartments, condos, and scared local residents into believing it would even be larger than da Freehold Mall.

They tried everything to block its building, using stall tactics which included study after study after study. Traffic studies, impact studies, studies about studies. One can only imagine some engineering firms reaped these windfall study profits. They even did a study about a road that was actually closed for construction at one point!

Then there was da "No MegaMall" campaign, a campaign that included a website that had ties to da Cadre. There were also promises made by certain politicians that promised it would never be built.

Well....

With absolutely no fanfare whatsoever - and not to be found in da local Snoozepaper - it appears that da "MegaMall" recently received what it wanted and needed all along -- direct access from Route 33. Back in 2004, it proposed a 500,000 square foot plan. That same size plan size is what they wanted back then, and it was EXACTLY what they were approved for now. Da difference -- it won't be a "Village" concept with parks, greens, walkways, a bandshell, recreation facilities and shops with an anchor store. Instead, it will be just another large strip-style mall with a large 2,500 space parking lot, much like da abandoned Value City department store strip mall where Target is on Route 9 -- exactly want area residents didn't want.

Should you be happy with this?

We have to wonder how much money was spent for da engineering firm to come up with da thought that traffic would be alleviated from Millhurst Road if there was access to da Village from Route 33. A 4 year old could have figured that out, and not at taxpayer expense.

The super-geniuses who did da study also figured out that Millhurst Road needs to be widened. Maybe since Manalapan approved 3,000 homes down da road from da Village it had something to do with that????


Now, there is nothing that will stop da "Village' "Strip Mall" from being built, along with its 2.500 parking spaces. Maybe that's good news though. It's not like Manalapan really needs a "Village-style" shopping area. Marlboro is going to build one within walking distance of Manalapan's border on Route 9 by Route 520. They approved that across the road from Pathmark and the Marlboro Plaza, and across da street from Lowes and Starbucks. Manalapan meanwhile not only has one of da lowest ratables in the county, placing da burden of taxes directly on homeowners, but one of the worst ratios in da entire state!

So, Manalapan residents driving on our roads will still be heading to Freehold and Marlboro and other places to shop, and one can only guess that's apparently OK to da Manalapan Township Committee's Gang of Three and their supporters.

Oh, and by da way, more congratulations are in order.

Da Manalapan Township Committee, despite a new governor who's anti-COAH coming into office, along with major dissent from Manalapan and Englishtown residents decided to build that low-income housing apartment complex after all. Da last we remember, didn't da Gang of Three apartment builders promise to do a traffic impact study on this project? If they did, could they have done it in just 2 weeks time?

Since we can only wonder how that came out - daTruthSquad decided to create a completely satirical encounter between an engineer and a politician:

Gang of Three member: "Hey engineer, you know, da one we put into office, we need a traffic study on Route 522. We need it in less than 2 weeks. Can you do it?

Billy Bob Engineer: "Sure, anything for someone who we donated money to. It will be both comprehensive, and cost about $10,000."

Gang of Three member: "Money is no object, especially when da taxpayers are paying for it!!!!"

(a week later)

Billy Bob Engineer: "Hey Gang of Three member, here's that 1000% Blue Ribbon comprehensive traffic impact study you wanted. We determined that Route 522 is a paved road that runs from Manalapan to Englishtown. Cars and trucks can use it. And, it's a pretty shade of asphalt with two really nice yellow lines down da middle of it."

Gang of Three member: "Are you sure traffic can actually use this road?"

Billy Bob Engineer: "I'd stake my reputation that that asphault road can be used by cars and trucks, much like most any road in Manalapan."

Gang of Three member: "Great, that's da best $10,000 of taxpayer money we've spent since we tried to shred da First Amendment against daTruthSquad!"

(laughter)

So, Manalapan will build what Englishtown residents have deemed "Love Canal II," since da land must first be remediated of contamination in da soil. We're all sure that will make all da low-income residents who will live there feel better when they're walking a quarter-mile on land without sidewalks to da nearest bus stop.

DaTruth is, much like da last minute politician spending spree in Trenton as Con-zine departs and an actual governor comes on board, Manalapan's Gang of Three have also been busy doing what they do best. After years of stonewalling, it seems da Village Strip Mall will actually be built. Hopefully - and we really hope this - it will attract da kind of shopping we people on da southern side of Manalapan need so we don't have to jump in our SUV's to Freehold, Howell and Monroe. And, as for our TruthTellers in da northern end of town, you get a 80-unit apartment complex for low-income residents to only partially help alleviate a COAH problem.

But wait, there's more....

As an added bonus, da Manalapan Township Committee will be sticking you with a larger bill - $600,000 larger - as you will see when you follow da bouncing ball of corruption!!!!!

You see, as COAH standards go, since da 110 units have been reduced to 80, that means da township taxpayers will have to pay more. If Manalapan built 110 units, taxpayers would only have to pay $1 million. But since it was downgraded to 80 units - and you get da project anyway, you da taxpayer will now have to pay $1,600,000 instead from its affordable housing trust fund!!!! Math, courtesy of da Asbury Park Press and da state.

So, in effect, you get da low-income apartment building anyway, you get da added kids to da schools, you get more people walking on Route 522, you anger da neighbors in Englishtown, you might even get more speeding tickets in Englishtown, and you pay more for it too!

Not a bad day's work by da Manalapan Township Committee.

All in all, just another day in Manalapan Town Hall. And that's daTruth.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

As someone who lives near Route 522 and near where this project is going to be built, I'd like to thank the Manalapan Township Committee and Mayor Lucas (who doesn't live anywhere near it) for making my kids a little less safer today.

Englishtown residents against Love Canal II said...

As an Englishtown resident, I for one am outraged at our Manalapan neighbors for not heeding our warnings against this project. The land is contaminated, there are no sidewalks, no place for these new residents of yours to walk to to shop, and out schools are already overcrowded. I hope you know traffic on Route 522 will be triple as worse as it already is now when this monstrocity is built. Thank you very much for not listening to the residents of both towns who are against this. I guess our next step is a long legal challenge, which will cost your town taxpayers even more money.

Anonymous said...

If there's any lawyers looking to take on a case against Manalapan, come to the next Englishtown town meeting.

Anonymous said...

question.
at the last meeting relative to the coah project.Mr klauber mentioned that englishtown was building there own housing project right up the road.

if this is true,why is the englishtown comittee so upset.if they can do it,why cant we?????????

Anonymous said...

Because theirs was already set and approved long before the election. This one only adds overcrowding to the area and makes it worse for people to get around.

Anonymous said...

I find it interesting that those who were 100% set againstthe Megamall aren't compalining at all that it will now be built. It almost makes it seem like it was a tool to be some election stunt to get votes, much like what Roth did to Chief Brown during her "rage" mea culpa.

Anonymous said...

There's a great posting by none other than Larry "Because I Hate Italians" Roth on the HATE website. He claims that Steve Catanao wrote an editorial in a newspaper about airline safety, but instead believes the Italian-American gentleman has other motives. Roth wrote "I'm not convinced that public safety is his main concern. More likely, he is looking to get a discount on his airfare whenever he flies."

Thanks Larry, for showing us your true colors.

Anonymous said...

(Because theirs was already set and approved long before the election. This one only adds overcrowding to the area and makes it worse for people to get around.)

So what your saying is.we can do what we want,but any surrounding towns need to check with us first.you made your point very clear.originally i was opposed to this projest...NOW I SAY BUILD!

Anonymous said...

"much like what Roth did to Chief Brown during her "rage" mea culpa."

When did she give a mea culpa statement? Was it at a TWP meeting or to the chief?

KBee said...

If you missed Roth's Mea culpa where she says things like Chief Brown is a danger to women and he has rage against woemn, then watch this Roth YouTube moment from a Manalapan Township Committee meeting where she was either trying to get women to vote for her, trying to start another lawsuit that taxpayers can pay for, or wanted to set women's rights back 20 years IMHO.

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ltgAzep3oA

Anonymous said...

When we wanted to build our COAH obligations, don't you think they followed the law and posted that they were having meetings about this. Manalapan residents could have complained, but there was nothing to complain about. I guess that means if we wanted to build anuclear power plant on the borde of Manalapan, you folks would be OK with it? This project of yours will add more traffic to a road we use, and you have absolutely no infrastructure to support it. Obviously you just want to build this. It wouldn't surprise me at all if those involved in the construction gave to some political campaigns. And the Squad makes it very clear taxpayers will have to pay more because of the less number of units. No wonder there's outrage on the Manalapan side too. Get your facts straight. Manalapan doesn't need Love Canal II.

Anonymous said...

what i find more interesting is,all the englishtown residents who BORDER this project,are opposed because they dont want a development put on a hazardous waste site.but its ok to live right next door to it?as they do.

why havent the officials of englishtown pressured the state to clean this site,ya know for the great people of englishtown.

Anonymous said...

mea culpa

Meaning

I'm to blame. The literal translation from the Latin is 'through my own fault'. Even those who don't speak Latin could probably make a guess that this phrase means 'I am culpable', or words to that effect.

Did Roth say she was at fault for blaming the Chief for something he did not do? That would be a mia culpa.

Did she say she started the heated exchange of words with the chief? That would be a mia culpa

GH said...

What ever happened to that "investigation" by the Township into Chief Brown? The one that he didn't know about which is a violation of the law? The one that claimed there were many women the Chief allegedly harassed? Whatever happened to it? Who were the women?

More lies from Team Roth?

Anonymous said...

Mia Culpa....I used to date her in high school.

Anonymous said...

Question of the day:

how many haters does it take to plan a breakfast meeting?

KBee said...

Question of the day:

Answer: Ask the 3 or 4 people who post on KB's Manalapan HATE website.

Anonymous said...

Someone asked about that investigation into Chief Brown. Did that all of a sudden disappear?

I really do wonder now if that was just an election stunt by Roth to get women's vote. I wouldn't putthat past her or her handlers and cronies.

And isn't Roger McLaughlin, the new township attorney for Manalapan one of the Manalapan Dream team lawyers from the Moskovitz case?

Anonymous said...

I have to admit that I wasn't questioning the move by Rick Klauber to build that low income COAH apartment building in Manalapan. However driving down Route 522 into Englishtown yesterday it took me 15 minutes on a Sunday to get through the traffic light. I am in favor of it being built, but are we 100% that Route 522 is the right place? Isn't there somewhere else it can be built? Maybe closer to where the Village may be built? Or Route 33 where there's more open space? I think the traffic concern is a valid one.

Anonymous said...

If you thought Sunday on Route 522 was bad, try during the week.

FYI, I was listening to the radio the other day, and Ray Rosse on the jersey Guys radio show said more than once they are going to build this housing project on a "brownfield" and he sounded like he was even questioning the location. Do the math - traffic + brownfield = TROUBLE.

Anonymous said...

Here's another FYI for you: Ray Rossi is a Manalapan resident. He should know about the area very well.

Anonymous said...

I still want an update on the alleged "investigation" into Chief Stu Brown. Maybe that other commenter was right when they said Roth's attack against Brown was just a publicity stunt.

Anonymous said...

ask the chief. he's YOUR client.

Anonymous said...

to the poster who said "he's YOUR client":

This forum is for intelligent discussions about issues people take seriously. If you want to foam at the mouth and express your paranoid obsessions, we're not interested. That's what your hate site is for, so the five of you can get drunk every night and express your absurdities to each other where the real world of adults who are not insane don't have to be bothered.

Anonymous said...

To the last commenter who said "This forum is for intelligent discussions about issues people take seriously" -

Amen to that. That IS what KB's HATE website is for.

Anonymous said...

Some good news. As we speak, the worst governor in the history of New Jersey is being evicted from Trenton!

Welcome Chris Christie!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

the worst governor in the history of New Jersey is a tie between the two jims--florio and macgreevey.

Anonymous said...

I agree Florio was horrible. McGreevey was just a liar about who he was who disgraced the state of New Jersey.

I think Corzine was worse than McGreevey because he promised to make the state better using his Wall Street smarts, streamline government and promised to lower property taxes. He was a failure on all counts, and made life worse here.