Questioning expenditure does not harm residents

Why is it that when you ask a politician a question about who will pay for a project, an answer is never given to the question? Instead, your motives are questioned, and you’re accused of distorting the truth and of harming the citizens.

Last week, our assemblyman, John S. Wisniewski, took time out of his busy schedule to write a letter to the editor (“Park-And-Ride Is in Best Interests of Sayreville,” Suburban, Sept. 16) to dodge the question of who in Sayreville will pay for a park-and-ride lot, and he lectured me on my criticism of the park-and-ride.

The assemblyman brings up several points that I would like to review and comment on concerning this project. He states the following:

• “It is easy to say, ‘No.’” It was not easy for the assemblyman, who will cost Sayreville taxpayers $400,000, plus maintenance costs, for this park-and-ride.

• “It is easy to say, ‘Let someone else pay.’” That someone else will be the Sayreville taxpayers, who are going to pay more than $400,000, plus untold maintenance costs, and not the bus company that will profit from increased ridership.

• “Anyone who is against that deal does not have the best interests of the people of Sayreville in mind.” Since when does questioning an expenditure of $400,000-plus make you against the residents of Sayreville?

• “It reduces traffic.” Not in Sayreville. Approximately 400 cars will have to go to a corner of town, through the Raritan and Main streets intersection, which is already congested at rush hour.

In conclusion, I thank the assemblyman for the time he spent preparing his lecture, but I believe the residents of Sayreville would be better off if he used his position on the Assembly Transportation Committee to fix our most important transportation problem — the intersection of Ernston Road and Bordentown Avenue. This intersection costs time and money every day for the residents of Sayreville.

Jeffrey Pawlowski

Parlin section of Sayreville