Mayor, Wenson Maier to Speak on Transit Villages

On Monday, Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs and Public Works & Urban Development Director Jennifer Wenson Maier are scheduled to speak at a meeting of the Raritan Valley Rail Coalition. The meeting is 8:15 a.m. in the Westfield Municipal Council Chambers, 425 Broad St.

The topic is transit villages and Plainfield's desire to build them around city rail stations.

For your edification, Plaintalker presents what they said last year at the mayor's 100-day presentation. Click on April 2006 on the right side of the blog and scroll down to read the article. (For some reason, Blogger won't let me make a direct link.)

The late Phyllis Mason was very much interested in transit issues. Here is an article she wrote for the Friends of Sleepy Hollow. Though undated, it is probably 10 years old but still relevant.

And here is one more from about 10 years ago. As you can see, these issues take decades to resolve. The currrent City Council recently pledged to work for a one-seat ride to Manhattan.

Meanwhile, the city has included transit-oriented language in its master plan revisions and has taken steps to increase permitted density around the main train station. It may even have the necessary project in hand to bolster its chances of getting official transit village designation.

Plaintalker expects to be on hand to hear the presentation Monday and will share with those of you who must be somewhere else at that hour.

And after the meeting, it's off to Starbucks and Trader Joe's and maybe the Gap and Papyrus for a little spending before taking mass transit back to the Queen City.

--Bernice Paglia