Dear Editor:
I am a member of the North Bergen Concerned Citizens Group and I want to thank the Hudson Reporter for running its story last month on the efforts of the group to protest the overdevelopment along Tonnelle Avenue.
I have since heard that some people in Town Hall are not taking our group seriously and I think that is a slap in the face to the residents.
We have legitimate concerns about the inexcusable continued development of commercial properties on Tonnelle Avenue. The traffic is more than an annoyance. It is detrimental to our quality of life and our health, as thousands of cars and trucks each day pour tons of pollution into the air near our homes.
There are constant car accidents on Tonnelle Avenue each day that eat up the resources of our emergency responders.
The drivers stuck in traffic routinely cut through residential areas and fly past our homes and schools where our children play.
None of these issues seem to concern the planning board or the governing body of our town. All they seem concerned about is the tax revenue that more development brings to town. But what’s the cost of that revenue on the quality of our lives?
If the town fathers think the NBCCG is just a small group of disgruntled people with a personal agenda, they are wrong. We are angry and we will be persistent in our goals. We will come to every meeting we can to voice our concerns until the town begins to respect our legitimate complaints. We want a dialogue on development and respect for neighborhoods.
Rosa Asan