Don't burden residents with cost of skate park
A few weeks ago the Hazlet Township Committee passed a $2.7 million bond ordinance, the majority of it for an ambitious road program. However, cleverly attached to this ordinance was $238,000 for a matching grant the township received and the $238,000 match. The grant and the match are earmarked for improvements to Veterans Park. One of those improvements is a new skate park, a skate park that was to be built at no cost to the Hazlet taxpayers.

About a year ago, Mayor James DeNardo and Deputy Mayor Kevin Lavan appeared before the Hazlet Township Recreation Commission and proposed building a skate park on the site of the dilapidated basketball courts at the Hazlet Swim & Tennis Club. This park would provide a safe haven for the children of Hazlet, not just the children of Hazlet but surrounding towns as well, because it was to be built on state Green Acres property. The park would draw the children off the local streets and out of the shopping center parking lots and would provide them not only with a state-of-the-art skate park but also a safe environment to express themselves. The major selling point for the park was it would be built at no cost to Hazlet taxpayers. The mayor and the deputy mayor had elaborate plans to solicit donations and raise funds to make this "no cost" a reality. The mayor also stated they had a benefactor that would pay for the whole park if the benefactor would be allowed to choose the skate park's name.

Here we are one year later — how did they make out with fundraising and what donations have they received? There was at least one attempt at fundraising, a video of it can be found on YouTube (http://youtube.com/watch?v=9 hDZ88kYjmo). Was this attempt their best efforts at fundraising, or was it a scam so they could look you in the eyes and say they tried? So the answer to the question above is obvious — the results were miserable. Was this the plan all along? Were the people of Hazlet intentionally misled, were we going to pay for this skate park whether we wanted to or not?

Don't get me wrong — I am not against the skate park. I am in favor of all we can do to provide safe havens for the children of Hazlet. I am however questioning the timing of building this park. At the present, we are going through a recession. Gasoline prices are about $4 per gallon. The Township Committee has already cut services to the residents, and there is talk of laying off police officers and township employees. The township is looking at cuts in state aid. Is this the right time to be asking township residents to pay more in taxes so we can build a skate park?

My heart goes out to those living on a fixed income; they have to make the choice between heating/cooling their house, putting food on the table or paying for their prescription meds. Now add to that. Do they fill their car up with gas? How can the mayor, deputy mayor and those on the Township Committee who voted in favor of this bond issue in good conscience ask these people to dig deeper in their pockets to pay for a skate park? Are they out of touch with the current state of the economy?

I just get the feeling that once the skate park was proposed, it was going to be built, no matter what. I think our mayor and deputy mayor have used politics in Trenton as an example for this park. Propose it and make it sound nice, and in the end shove it down the constituents' throats, whether they like it or not. We need to let the mayor, deputy mayor and those members of the Township Committee who voted in favor of this bond issue that this kind of behavior may be tolerated in Trenton but will not be tolerated in Hazlet.
David Tinker
Hazlet