Resident says county
caved in on land swap
Michael Szewczyk
Guest Column

The Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders recently faced the critical responsibility of determining the fate of Thompson Park, Monroe. The freeholders voted on Monroe’s proposal to swap, or perhaps swipe, 35 acres to build a high school in exchange for 77 acres of inferior, undesired and un-wanted land.

For at least 40 years Thompson Park has been a county park, a people’s park, a county taxpayer’s park. What behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing have Monroe school and township officials conducted or engaged in that led them to believe that 35 acres of a county-funded park is easy prey or just simply up for grabs?

The members of the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders are expected to represent the interests, needs and rights of all residents, both present and future, throughout the entire county. During its history, Thompson Park has remained free and accessible to anyone who wishes to enjoy and share its open space within its limited boundaries.

County residents must ask why, in a township such as Monroe, where an abundance of rural and farmland properties exist, a county park (located in a county with one of the lowest percentages of open space) must dissect, dismantle and relinquish an irreplaceable, sizable and priceless parcel of land.

Why must the county bear the burden of a school district that has failed to consciously anticipate residential growth, and, consequently, adequately address its students’ needs and services over the last 10 years?

As a public school teacher, I sympathize with Monroe’s need for an additional school building to alleviate overcrowded conditions as well as to expand its academic capabilities. However, why must county residents participate in footing the bill while contractors and builders of new residences mushrooming within and about Monroe escape legal and financial concern, culpability and criticism? Instead, the wallets of developers fatten increasingly without regard to having county recreational property paved over in brick and asphalt, while at the same time the dilemma of building a new high school is shouldered at the expense of county taxpayers.

The solution and financial obligation of a new high school should rest primarily in the hands and pockets of the Monroe Township school district. Why must county residents rescue a district that has backed itself into a desperate corner and a self-centered situation?

I believe the protection and maintenance of Thompson Park means a great deal to many residents in a county where open space is at a cherished premium since much of it is either endangered or extinct. Is the short-term goal of saving money for Monroe more important than sacrificing county land that is already preserved under the state Green Acres programs?

Since the freeholders caved in and catered to the whines, the arguments and the seductiveness of special-interest groups, particularly those directly involved with Monroe’s political machine, then Middlesex County voters have cause and reason to lose faith in elected officials.

How can we trust and respect politicians who fail to protect the land of the people, but rather join in the manipulation of county park land as if it were indeed a political football?

Once we lose the 35 acres that are predominantly playing fields, we lose them forever. There is no turning back once a wrong decision has been reached. And once we open the door and say that county properties, particularly a county park in this case, are available for needy, nearsighted consumption, then no park, whether local, county or state, will be considered sacred or spared in the future.

Michael Szewczyk is a resident of South River