Herald & lantern 16 March '83

26 An Editorial Nine Months, And No Baby White, paper raachc wedding bell/; hung above the heads of Cape May County Private Industry Council i PIC ) members as they .met in the Ixxige last week Hut one item on the agenda sounded more like divorce court A proposal to train 41 persoas to work at a firm try mg to locate at the airport industrial park was dismissed as "incomplete' by PIC Director Nan Mavromates That prompted a dismayed Container Dedoratmg Co President. William R Beisegcl to charge he was "embar rassed" by the •unfair” presentation of his application Apparently because this newspaper was present, the presiding officer refosed H> permit Beisegel to question , PIC’s methods and motives , It was a wasted day for Beisegel and, since PIC meets once a month, a wasted month for a company that has been fighting agaiast con siderahle odds to locate in this county, where it hopes to « make a profit and give year round jobs to 100 people AS WITH ANY DISPCTK. both sides probably can share blame The new firm may not have given adequate information to PIC..And PIC may not have made suffi- # cicnt effort to whip this proposal into shape But the project was conceived and presented to PIC nine months ago That’s long enough to produce a baby It should have been more than long enough to perfect this proposal We hope any'animosity between Anthony Catanoso. the freeholder in charge of PIC, And Donald M Kelly, ex ecutive,director of the county's Industrial and Economic . Development (Commission, had nothing to do with this un fortunate situation Kelly's domain was switched from Catanoso to «. Freeholder (Jerald M Thornton in January specifically to reduce those'tensions Neither political nor personality differences can be permitted to create an obstacle to a much needed new industry , Contaiher Decorating and PJO need more of what any arguing couple could use communication, cooperation, arid compromise Even if it's a shotgun wedding, let those bells at the Ixxlge presage a marriage that Cape May County needs / , ()nr Rc.iders Wrilo f Folks Herebouts

Have Had Enough

Publioty Commence Ot the Rotary Club Ot Guam'

Capital Comments Gas Tax Hike Will Aid Roads By SEN. JAMES R. HURLEY New Jersey will be eligible for hupdreds of millions of dollars to repair our crumbling roads and bridges as a result of a federal gas tax increase. These funds, combined with state money, will enable New Jersey to embark on a long overdue program to upgrade our deteriorating highway network It also will provide new job opportunities for residents Some highway improvements will get underway shortly such as the 7.5 mile extension of Route 55 to Mantua Transportation Commissioner John Sheridan recently announced that the first phase of the project will go out to bid next month Future plans call for extending the road an additional 13 miles to Malaga to provide South Jersey residents with a modern north-south highway link The state must also concentrate its efforts on repairing our existing roads which are some of the most heavily traveled in the nation One-fifth of the 30,000 miles of local and county roads are in need of major rehabilitation. On the average, only 385 lane miles arc resurfaced annually when 1.500 lane miles repairs are needed The state estimates that $700 /million is needed to rehabilitate and replace bridges throughout the state Sen Hurley represents Cape May County and much of Cumberland Countv

The State We're In Infrastructure: Whopping Mess By DAVID F. MOORE Executive Director New Jersey Conservation Foundation Now that the word ‘‘infrastructure" has shouldered its way into our language, I guess I can feel free in commenting that New Jersey's infrastructure is in a whopping mess. The same has to be said about plenty of other states too. Yet the Garden State has a substantial lead when it comes to problems. I was reminded of this recently upon reading a booklet published by the Regional Plan Association, a membership organization concerned with the New Jersey. New York and Connecticut urbia surrounding New York City. Entitled ‘Transportation in New Jersey — The Road to Renewal,” the booklet enumerates some of the problem: Between 1970 and 198Q New Jersey’s population grew by 200,000, but the number of cars registered iq the state mushroomed by T.5 million. The mileage driven over state roads grew by 26 percent in the same decade, and New Jersey now has more vehicles per highway mile than any other state, and its roads carry four times as much traffic as the national average NOT SURPRISINGLY, the state Department of Transportation estimates that about 4,500 of the state's 6.000 bridges need repairs Thirty bridges were closed as unsafe in 1981, while reduced weight limits were posted on 689 others Meanwhile, in the face of this growing highway morass, the booklet reports that rail ridership diminished and a quarter of bus riders took to other modes of transportation during the 1970’s. Despite this, public transit still provides nearly a million trips per day, double the national average for workbound commuters Even since 1980, New Jersey Transit has lost 10 percent of its passengers If this keeps up, public 'ransit will be but a memory, and one out of every six families - the one without a car — will have lost its ability to travel YET THERE'S STILL that push from many sectors to build more highways Regional Plan Association projects that completing 1-287 in northern New Jersey will cost from half to a full billion dollars, with New Jersey having to cough up its 10 percent, which translates to $5 or $10 million That just might be more than the state can well afford Currently, this state allocates only about $7 million per year for all of its interstate commitments One victory has been registered on this front, the Congressional deauthorization of the missing piece of I 95 bet ween Princeton and I 287 near New Brunswick. 1 heartily endorsed that decision, and credit Gov Kean, Sen Bill Bradley, former Sen Nicholas Brady and the rest of our Congressional delegation for their stand against this unnceded project.

Beach n Ka> ( aligulas l/eusncr. Voli, and Peterson, lievener and Link Mainland pohttciahs all. Think each other stink

But Whither the Scoters? The Coots Are Holding Their Own

(.’log the Reader's Forum with Idiotic slanders Government by press release I'd prefer Ann lenders Campaign signs in every yard Campaign signs in trees Promise $ric in Cape May sky .‘‘Vote, you fools, for me'” Folks herebouts have had enough Of turgid, third grade letters Your endless katzenjammer quarrels Have bored to death your letters Take a tip from Avalon's Low-key, low-cost style Government that works not shirks Is cooler by a mile Alas, alack, these fatcat pols Won t ever shut their mouths The countryside may have to rise And send the Whole pack south Beach n Bay Caligulos Egos draped in mink tausner. Voll, and Peterson, lievener imd Link OWEN MURPHY Avalon (Ed. note Murphy regujar/y writes the Good Readinc" column for this new spaper )

Letters Weleome The Herald and Lantern welcome letters to the editor on matters of public interest. Originals, not copies, are requested. Writers should sign .name,. address and phone number.

B> JOE ZELNIK There s startling news from the New Jersey Division of Fish. Game and Wildlife Its biologists report a 24 percent increase in waterfowl over the previous 10-year average, going from 307,000 to 380,000 I don't envy anybody attempting to count waterfowl. Did you ever try to pmdown a flock of pintails 0 Gad, think of getting the gadwalls to stand still Or what about con vmcing the buffleheads to spread out 0 The biologists, who count from airplanes, admit it's tough because of choppy water, weather conditions, glare Think of the sun shining off the bald pates of the baldpatea One emorblind biologist and the whole black duck vs ruddy duck count could be off Imagine trying to differen tiale between the mute swan and the whistling swan W hat if the whistling swans were depressed and not whistling on the January day the count was taken 0 ALL THINGS considered, it 's amazing the biologists do as well as they do I do know they're accurate because I've l>een doing my own study ever since I came to Cape May County By taking a daily count of the w hite splotches on my maroon Oldsmobile. I find the identical 24 percent increase - The Canadian goose shows the biggest boom, both in number and percentage It's up 112 percent, from a 10 year average of 24.900 to 52,900 counted in the mid w inter inventory The coots are about holding their ow n. going from 400 to ••oo They are not to be confused with the old coots, who hang around the Cape May Point Firehouse, or the old codgers, at the Palermo senior center, which just happens td Ik* our newest circulation drop welcome, folks The biggest decrease 1 was shown by the Scoters There were 7,100 according to the 10 year average This year's survey reported a trace, a 99 percent decrease TO MY SURPRISE, Fish. Game and Wildlife offered no explanation Whither the Scoters 0 Why did they leave 0 Disgusted with the New Jerseya sales tax hike’’ Those whistling swans, on the other hand, are up 80 per cent, going from 200 in 1974 to nearly 2,000 this year, and driving the Salem County farmers nuts The swans are big on cranberries, for those of you who invest in futures This has been an education for me Until now, birds to me were synonymous only with the first indications of spr

mg It's great to hear the little devils chirping at dawn, a sure sign of warmer weather INCIDENTALLY, I'll be doing a column soon on what I've been told to expect with warmer weather at the shore i call it "the three M's " The first reader to guess what those three M's will be. by phone or mail, will receive a special prize The state says the mild w inter is the main reason for the overall increase in waterfowl Assumigg. as I do. that this will continue, the implications are ominous I calculate - and feel free to check my math - that lu years from now, with an annual 24 percent increase. New Jersey will be blessed with 3.431.626 waterfowl I don't know about you, but I'm going to buy a w hile car

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Joseph R. Zelnik

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