Park Savers make their voices heard in New Brunswick

By jamie dougher
Staff Writer

STEVEN M. BARON Nancy Prohaska, Monroe, speaks to the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders last week.

Monroe officials weren’t alone last week when they headed to New Brunswick to tell county officials of their proposal to build a high school in Thompson Park.

Representatives of Park Savers, a group organized to oppose the construction of a high school in an area of Thompson Park, also gathered last Thursday — both before and during the meeting of the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders — to voice their opposition to the proposal by Monroe’s Township Council and Board of Education.

Group members said they did not know beforehand that Monroe officials would be making a presentation at the meeting to inform the freeholders of their proposal to build the school.

Freeholders Director David B. Crabiel said the presentation took place at the request of Monroe Mayor Richard Pucci. Members of Park Savers said they were not aware there would be a presentation, and that they came only to make their cause known to the freeholders. Otherwise, group members said, they would have come prepared with their own facts to support their position.

"It was unfair to us," said Nancy Prohaska, a member of Park Savers. "We were only going there to voice some concerns."

Prohaska said she believes township officials did not expect any pressure from the public and rushed to put a presentation together for the meeting.

"They are feeling the heat, or else they wouldn’t have been there," she said.

Board of Education President Joe Homoki, who spoke along with council President Irwin Nalitt and Township Engineer Ernie Feist, said it was simply an informational presentation to the freeholders and stressed that township officials do not view the Park Savers as adversaries.

"We don’t have to report to them," he said. "We will work with them and address their concerns."

Monroe officials are seeking county approval of a land swap in order to secure 35 acres of land in Thompson Park to build a new high school that will meet the township’s rapidly growing student enrollment. Monroe officials are considering giving the county 77 acres near Thompson Park.

Members of Park Savers gathered outside the Middlesex County Administration Building before the meeting to demonstrate their dissent.

"You can’t just take a park that was designated 40 years ago," said Frances Cutrone, a Monroe resident who lives across the street from the Thompson Park property on Perrineville Road.

"I’m not against paying the extra taxes," she said, referring to the fact that a new high school would cost more money if Monroe has to buy land from a developer and build all new facilities for the new high school. "I’m not against education for the children. What I’m against is destroying a beautiful park that’s been there for many years."

Jeanna Dressel, a fifth-grader at Brookside Elementary, held a sign that read, "It’s taking candy from a baby."

"They’re making a plan to take the park from the people of the county without asking us what we thought first," said Jennifer Dressel, Jeanna’s mother.

Feist, the township engineer, said Monroe has received letters of support from the Monroe Township Mother’s Club and the Monroe Township Soccer Club. Constructing the school would result in the loss of about 15 existing soccer fields in the park, but those would be relocated to a recently acquired site known as the Bank of China property, near Prospect Plains Road.

Park Savers members have raised the question of who will shoulder the tax burden of the cost of reconstructing soccer fields, but Freeholder Director David B. Crabiel said that will not be discussed until after the township referendum on the high school, scheduled for Dec. 9.

Park Savers members also put forth their opinions during the public portion of the freeholders’ meeting.

"I’m 100 percent for a new high school," said Monroe resident Audrey Cornish, who is running for the Township Council in November as a Republican. "My objection is that Thompson Park is a free-flowing park. I don’t see that we should be building on Green Acres property. This is more than just a soccer field."

Members of Park Savers argue that if New York City can find ways to build schools without removing chunks of Central Park, Monroe can find space within the township to build the school without disturbing Thompson Park. Prohaska said the group, which maintains a Web site at www.parksavers.org, will continue to be a visible force of opposition in the months before the December referendum vote.

"We’re going to continue to get the word out throughout the county," she said. "We’re not giving up, that’s for sure. We’re in this right till the end."