Lots of smoke and mirrors in Golden Triangle deal

The letters to the editor and Township Council meeting comments regarding Councilwoman Christi Calvano’s “no” vote on the Golden Triangle (Sam’s Club and the flea market) in East Brunswick have been nothing less than amusing.

The most recent hinting at an obstructionist policy and the concept that this was simply a learning experience was a sad joke to be played on us all. Most of the year is gone, money has been spent, and we have received our tax bills with no municipal end increase, if we take the money from the Toll Bros. escrow and the agreement is approved.

We have no agreement with Toll Bros. No formal decision has been made to do anything with the site except make it safer (the mayor says it’s already safe).

Escrow by definition is money to be held in trust by a third party to be turned over to the grantee only upon fulfillment of conditions. So, in essence, we intend to use money that shouldn’t be touched, from people we have no formal agreement to do anything with, and we don’t know if we’ll be doing business with them or sending them on their way.

The center of the project is the commuter parking lot, but no one knows who is paying to build that part of the plan, a plan that also doesn’t exist. If for some reason things were to fall apart (which they can’t because the votes are there), our tax bill would increase by the 22 cents it would have increased by in the first place, but the election would be over.

This is a learning experience — perhaps a lesson in flim-flam. Houdini didn’t use this amount of smoke and mirrors, and at least Jesse James had the integrity of a direct approach.

Anthony J. Riccobono

East Brunswick