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Hearon Gears Up For Committee Seat; Talks with Administrators and Residents

Matthew Hersh

Bill Hearon has been studying municipal issues, attending Township Committee and Regional Planning Board meetings, and speaking with community groups throughout Princeton.

Does it sound like someone running for office? Close, but Mr. Hearon has already been elected to the Township Committee, and at the beginning of the year, he will assume the seat being vacated by Leonard Godfrey.

For now, Mr. Hearon is simply familiarizing himself with the issues in Princeton, and he is preparing to dive into the most challenging task involved as a member of the Committee ‹listening.

Listening, Mr. Hearon said, is how he plans to involve himself in the matters of the Township. "You can say one thing when you're on the outside, but when you get in, you say 'wow, things are a bit different'," he quipped. "You look at things from different perspectives and take different actions," he added.

"I want to be more effective in terms of what is best for the community," Mr. Hearon said. The issues on hand for a Committee that will include Mr. Hearon as a member will inevitably overlap those that have faced the Township for years. Issues like deer hunting, cable, traffic and transportation, and most recently, the possibility of a branch library.

However, he said residents have made the learning task a bit easier by approaching him with concerns.

"People have been coming forward and asking me to meet with them," he said.

He cited the library as one of the concerns he has dealt with recently. Last week, East Windsor residents Ira and Pamela Kaye signed a lease to open a bookstore at the current branch location of the Princeton Shopping Center, but Mr. Hearon, along with many residents, would like to see a branch public library occupy space in the Township.

"I met with [library Director] Leslie Burger and have been gathering statistics dealing with school population," he said. Increased school population in the area has been one of the major arguments for a branch library. Proponents of a branch location have said another facility needs to be put in place to accommodate the growing number of students.

Mr. Hearon said that he has been looking at other communities throughout the state, comparing similar library situations and solutions that could possibly be applied to Princeton.

The Committeeman-elect also said that he has met with Township Administrator Jim Pascale to get a better idea of the responsibilities of the administration.

"[Mr. Pascale] gave me an overview of his perspective on everything, and he introduced me to department heads," Mr. Hearon said.

But it is not all new terrain, he said. He has worked in the past with several department heads because of his role in organizations such as Community Without Walls, a senior-citizens' group that promotes and facilitates mobility throughout the community.

The ideal goal of alleviating troubled traffic patterns and finding more comprehensive systems of public transit throughout the community is also a point of concentration for Mr. Hearon.

"We've been looking at transportation issues and I have been privileged to be exposed to some really creative ideas on this subject regarding the region as a whole," he said. He cited the new line of Princeton University's P-Rides shuttle as an example of community transportation. He said that while the P-Rides program in particular could not be added to serve a wider community, it can serve as a model for comprehensive community transit. Mr. Hearon stressed the fact that the Princeton area needs to clean up its internal traffic issues because of the Township's location within the state.

"We right now serve as a conduit for many roadways going through us to get from one part of the state to another, whether it's from Trenton to Newark, Montgomery to West Windsor, or to Carnegie Center or back," he said. He mentioned the state Department of Transportation's intervention in truck traffic patterns on Route 206. Some drivers were passing through Princeton via Harrison Street.

While he has ideas on several Township issues, Mr. Hearon said he understands the amount of on-the-job training involved in his future post. "I don't have a particular agenda, and I'm doing that by design," he said. "I want to work with people and look at how they can be engaged in a constructive matter."