Some random thoughts on Saturday's Gov. meeting

A friend and I attended Gov. Corzine's Mercer County meeting on Saturday. I'm sure you read all about it by now, but if not, here are some random thoughts of mine:

• The Gov made his case pretty well. I wish he'd explained a little more about other alternatives that he rejected and why- that might have helped.
• A number of people had well thought out questions about the impact of the plan. Thank you for that.
• A big concern in Mercer county was the fear that a toll hike will push more traffic onto local roads like 295, Route 1, and 130. These are very valid points and I hope they will be addressed with stricter truck regulation on smaller roads.
• Bill Baroni was there. Rush Holt was there. The mayor of East Windsor was there. But only 12th district State Senator Jennifer Beck and Assemblycritters Cassagrande and Declan O'Scanlan got up to use the mike to ask antagonistic questions. Don't they have a different forum to talk to the Governor- say, in their respective assemblies in Trenton? Instead, they came down to Hightstown to wrest the microphone from taxpayers- for whom this forum was their best chance- just for political gain. Typical.
• The mayor of Hightstown took the mike too, only to point out that Hightstown High School isn't East Windsor Regional High School. I would call this a similar waste of time to the politicians above, but what he illustrated is the arrogance that keeps Hightstown and East Windsor from discussing any merging of services or, dare I say it, government. I'm sure everyone saw that pretty clearly.
• Note to the guy who kept spouting off about first ammendment rights, the one who got the police officer's badge number, the one who kept mouthing off when others tried to speak, the one who didn't bother to listen, just to shout: You're right, we have a first ammendment right to free speech. So here's my free speech: you behaved like a stupid jerk.
• It's a shame that some people didn't come with open minds. There may be better plans than this one, 's true, but you owe it to yourself to hear fully what's currently on the table.

So, go to your county's meeting if it hasn't been held yet. It was interesting, to say the least.