Your Turn

Kirk A. Bonamici
Guest Column

Fair association seeks to set the record straight

This letter is in response to your June 28 article "Fireworks Not in Works for East Brunswick This Year," where, in part, East Brunswick town officials place blame for the lack of a July Fourth fireworks show on the Middlesex County Fair Association for failing to let the town use the association's property for both parking and an emergency egress.

In the interest of full disclosure, I serve as the director of public relations for the Middlesex County Fair Association, a private nonprofit entity. My role, historically, has been to promote the Middlesex County Fair and the positive contributions the association makes by fulfilling its mandate of putting on a county fair that brings together the agricultural, industrial and residential elements of our community in a spirit of fun and learning.

It pains me to read an article such as this one, which vilifies the Middlesex County Fair Association. Statements reported in the article were inflammatory and inaccurate. It fails to report in a fair and balanced way because at no time did staff writer Vincent Todaro attempt to contact any representative of the fair association to comment on or rebut the statements of East Brunswick Mayoral Assistant Jacqueline Eaker. Further, we also hold accountable the editorial staff of Greater Media Newspapers for these inaccuracies for failing to ensure that the facts of this article were checked prior to their inclusion in the paper.

It is not enough, though, for me to merely express my displeasure with both the East Brunswick Township Council and this newspaper. The people of Middlesex County and East Brunswick in particular deserve to know our side of the story. Therefore, I wish to provide some history that has led us to this point.

As longtime readers of this paper may be aware, the Middlesex County Fair Association sold 9.3 acres of its land to the township of East Brunswick a few years ago in connection with the town's acquisition of the property that is known as Heavenly Farms. East Brunswick council members Dave Stahl and Cathy Diem were instrumental in closing the deal for a compromised amount between the association's independent third-party appraisal of the value of the land and the township-obtained appraisal. At the conclusion of these negotiations, the town ended up with the land it desired to connect its newly acquired property at Heavenly Farms with Dideriksen Park, which lies behind the fairgrounds and was landlocked by our property.

Representatives of the town told the association when this deal was consummated that they would no longer need our property for their July Fourth fireworks show, and further, that our reduced rate for property taxes would not be continued. In the town's view, it was subsidizing a portion of our property taxes in exchange for the use of the property for both July 4 and for soccer fields. In an attempt to maintain our property taxes at their current level, the association applied for and was granted farmland assessment as long as we actively cultivated a crop on our property. The decision was made to grow hay, as the time between planting and harvesting led perfectly into the annual Middlesex County Fair in the first week of August.

On Jan. 24, 2007, the association received a letter from Michael J. Reissner, manager of the Division of Recreation and Community Services for the township of East Brunswick, requesting "the use of the Middlesex County Fairgrounds - the fenced-in area and parking lot - for the July 4 fireworks celebration." He states in his letter, "The staff at recreation considers the fairgrounds property to be an ideal location to hold this event given the ample parking and the large area within the fence for the public to enjoy food vendors, a live concert and children's activities in a safe and festive environment." We, at the association, completely agree with this assessment of the value of our property to the community. It is fascinating that just two years prior we were told that we were of no use to the township whatsoever now that it had Heavenly Farms.

The association, on Feb. 19, 2007, responded to Mr. Reissner informing him that the it would not be possible for the township to use the Middlesex County Fairgrounds parking area for the 2007 July Fourth celebration. Our letter stated, "The parking area will not be available at that time, since it must be farmed for our Farmland Assessment and the crop will not be harvested until later in July. The fenced-in area could be available for your use if you can arrange for the people to park in Heavenly Farms and enter through Dideriksen Park. Should you need the grounds anytime after the hay is harvested, we would be more than happy to accommodate you."

In Mr. Todaro's article, no mention is made of these events. What he does report is the following statements from Mayoral Assistant Jacqueline Eaker.

+ Since the township purchased part of the fairgrounds, the association has not allowed the use [of the land for parking and emergency egress].

+ With the volume of traffic that would be going in and out, the fire marshal felt another road would be needed [for emergency egress].

+ Mayor William Neary worked "until the last minute" trying to meet with the involved parties to find a solution but could not.

The following is in rebuttal of these reported statements.

+ As the township forced the association to farm the property in order to maintain its current level of property taxes, there is no parking space available on the Middlesex County Fairgrounds to provide to the town for the July Fourth fireworks show.

+ As to the matter of providing use of our roadways for emergency egress, Middlesex County Fair Association President Alan Habiak spoke with the East Brunswick fire marshal and provided his verbal assent that the town could use our roadways for emergency egress from Heavenly Farms to the Cranbury-South River Road access point on the fairgrounds. There was no attempt to negotiate a fee for this; it was provided willingly in our effort to support the community.

+ Mayor William Neary never contacted the association either by letter or verbally or through any other third-party means to discuss this matter with association representatives.

To the residents of East Brunswick, we state that if you want to blame the Middlesex County Fair Association for the lack of a fireworks show this year, at least do so with full knowledge of the relevant facts. To Greater Media Newspapers, next time you wish to cast the association in a bad light, please contact us first to get our side of the story.

Kirk A. Bonamici is director of public relations for the Middlesex County Fair Association