1/21/2008

 “Learning the Truth: before it’s too late”

The time is long overdue - the time is now. Or is it already too late - for the people of the Bayshore to become self-informed and self-enlightened about the underlying story and the real causes for what has been happening to the Bayshore and what the future will be in the towns along the Highway 36 corridor?

First, we must learn about the opposing philosophies that are at work. On the one hand is the vision of creating a Bayshore Parkway with a new and welcoming face for Highway 36, by regional harmonization of the unique maritime, natural, and open space characteristics of our local communities, which will enhance our quality of life. On the other hand, is the lack of vision, which currently prevails, and which will turn Highway 36 into a mirror image of Highway 35 with its chaotic, traffic laden, suburban sprawl, that will diminish our quality of life.

Secondly, we must begin to recognize the iron-grip of the deeply embedded Political Parties with their self-serving agendas and understand that it is the short sighted home rule - fiefdom mentality of our elected Officials, which only serves to perpetuate the rampant lack of intelligent vision and leadership, the empty promises to preserve our natural, historic and open space resources, the illusion of tax relief by chasing ratables, the lack of transparency in local government, the lack of individual citizen involvement, the lack of political will to end the utterly failed planning and zoning practices of the past, and the unconstrained higher density over-development and urbanization which only bring more traffic congestion, flooding, noise, and environmental pollution.

Thirdly, we must inquire into the failure of our Local Officials to challenge the disparate and exclusionary - Mount Laurel-like - constitutionally questionable - County Park, Open Space, and Farmland Acquisition Fund Policies and Practices, which funnel multi-millions of dollars to select communities while effectively excluding County Parks and Farms from ever being located in the Bayshore and other smaller, built-out, less affluent towns, even though they have been paying tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars in Monmouth County Open Space Fund Taxes every year since 1987 and must do so in perpetuity.

Fourthly, we have the failure of County and Local Officials to embrace and implement the Bayshore Regional Strategic Plan. Unless and until we elect true leaders with a vision for the Bayshore Region, this Plan, which was funded by our tax dollars, will continue to sit on the shelf and collect dust. Our shortsighted elected officials and the profit driven, self-serving developers, will continue on their path to total urbanization and environmental destruction, despite the desires of the people living here.  The recent pattern of drastically rising Municipal Taxes every year will continue with no end in sight, and our quality of life in the Bayshore will certainly and permanently disappear. Highway 36 will become the worst traffic bottleneck in Monmouth County and our children and we will be the losers.

Lastly, we must get involved. Learning the truth is our responsibility. We must not wait. The Bayshore is our home and it should be our vision that shapes the future. If we leave it to the powers that be, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

John M. Curran III

President

Hazlet Area Quality of Life Alliance 

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