Town center a win-win for M'town taxpayers

Aletter published Oct. 24 from Greg Vasil, president of Concerned Citizens of Middletown, went into excessive detail about the proposed Town Center in Middletown, comparing it to the Monmouth Mall.

The comparison is irrelevant. The Monmouth Mall in Eatontown has elevators, escalators and stairs moving customers up to three levels of retail stores.

A town center has retail stores on the first floor, and businesses and offices and residential units on the second and third floors.

Greg Vasil and his misguided opponents are more like 1960s NIMBY protestors — Not in My Backyard!

That will never change in this free enterprise system known as the American Way.

That is one of the reasons the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court ruled in favor of the town square project. The site of the town square was zoned for a town square in 1993 in its official state-approved master plan.

Two Middletown mayors — Joan Smith and Rosemary Peters — voted to create a town center in 1993. They then flip-flopped and rejected the 1993 master plan in 1998, thus setting the stage for a long, drawn-out lawsuit. Elected officials voted for it and then against, which is highly irresponsible. They changed their minds because Peter Carton, Middletown Republican chairman, wanted to kill the project over a personal vendetta with the developer.

Middletown taxpayers are paying for this expensive lawsuit. What a waste of time, energy and precious resources!

The appellate judges ruled on the basis of facts and ruled the town was wrong.

Middletown is now losing at least $4 million a year in taxes, which could stabilize the tax rate.

Right now, with the court's backing, the town center is a winwin bonus for all property owners of Middletown.
Philip J. Scaduto
Vice President
Administration & Marketing
Food Circus Supermarkets Inc.
Middletown