Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-11-08
SETTLE THIS QUESTION THE COMING YEAR

government for the next year, the next thing will be the adoption
i nf a policy that will make Perth Amboy a bigger and better place
10 live in. While there are several big projects under way such as
grade crossing elimination, construction of the state highway
bridge, the opening of Fayette street, and the development OF the
former Maurer tract in the northwestern section of the city, one Of
the most important problems that must be solved within the next
wear is. what is to be done along the south shore front facing the
Raritan river?
The solution of this problem does not necessarily mean that the
plan that is finally adopted has to be carried out at once at great
expense; but it does mean that the people will know the nature
Of the development and will be able to guide themselves according
ly. It will mean the city can go ahead intelligenty and build per-
manently for the future.
There are two ways to develop the south shore. One is to make
it park and recreation ground for the people; the other is to make
it a great marine terminal with docks and warehouses to accom-
modate shipping and encourage commerce. Once the decision is
made between these two projects there can be no turning back. 1t
is necessary, therefore, that when the decision is made it is made
right.
But Perth Amboy cannot wait much longer for this decision
to be made. TIL. land which the city owns along the south shore is
too valuable, and the people need it too much to have it lie idle
any longer. This land when properly developed can be made the
greatest asset that the city has. The least the aldermen can do is
to determine what the city is to do with it.
An alderman is no more able to decide which Of Che two
2 mscai Tor development is better than any other individual in the
city. After all, these city officials are business men of the city like
all the rest, and merely because they happen to be elected aldermen
does not qualify them as experts in municipal development. Next
year probably another set of business men will be elected whose
opinions will be just as good as those of the present aldermen,
and they might differ absolutely from the present members.
There is not a man in Perth Amboy qualified to decide off
hand this momentuous question upon which so much of the future
of the city depends. AsJ Spencer Smith, president of the State
Board of Commerce and Navigation, told us when he was here re,
Gently, port planning is a science in itself and any city is unwise
to take any steps toward developing a waterfront without first
securing expert advice. Perth Amboy's waterfront is too valuable
to be developed in a h~aphazard manner.
The Board of Aldermen, then, should include in their program
for the coming year the determination, once for all, of what is to
be done with the land the city owns along the river front. They
should see that the City Plan Commission is provided with sufdct
emit funds to secure competent men to make a study of the situa-
ton and the needs of the city, and give the city the benefit OF
their expert opinion. Once this information is in the hands of the
aldermen they can proceed inteligently. With a plan finally
adopted, whether it be for parks and Fairgrounds, or docks and
wharves, the city will be in a position to go ahead with the de-
velopment just as soon as the money is available.
THE PEOPLE RULE
With the smoke Of the recent political battle cleared away,
the returns from Tuesdays election once more prove that the
rank and file of the people are able to decide for themselves what
kind Of a government they will have and who they will have to
run it for them.
Here in Middlesex county the return of the three assembly
men who served the county with so much credit last year are re-
elected. These are three high class men and they well deserve
the confidence of the people. One is a Democrat and the other
two are Republicans, but that makes little difference. They are
all good men and can be counted on to work in the interest of the
county and the state all the time. They are above any crookedness
that so often pervades legislative halls.
In Mercer county where the great issue was the enforcement
Of the ''bue laws the people also spoke in no mistaken terms.
Nobody wants to commercialize Sunday and make it the same as
every other day in the week, but neither do the people want to be
deprived Of their harmless pleasures. Mercer county decided
n overwhelmingly in favor of the liberal Sunday.
1t is about time that this subject was taken up by the law
makers at Trenton and definitely settled. Even the most ardent
church-coer would not want the "blue laws strictly enforced. If
they were trains and trolley cars could not run. People could not
even take a walk on Sunday except to go to church. These things
are foolish and as long as such laws remain on the statute books
fhev make every effort to have Sunday decently observed ridicu-
Inns A genuine revision of the Sunday observance laws is badly
needed.
And SO it was all over the state, the people speaking their
own minds through the ballot box. Even the appeal OF the COVER
nor made no difference. The people listened to him respectfully,
mn thew voted in their own way regardless of outside influence.
Itis.a healthful sign IN our democracy. The people do rule