Monmouth holds out on MOM — foolishly

The Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders (don’t you love the absurdly arcane name) is now doing what officials there have accused folks in Middlesex County of doing for years: Obstructing progress.

The freeholders unanimously passed the resolution affirming “support for the Monmouth Junction alternative and opposition to the Manchester to Red Bank line” on June 11. The vote came two weeks after a NJ Transit spokesman claimed the agency had won the backing of Freeholder John D’Amico and other county representatives for the Red Bank line.

D’Amico said that his support had been conditional because the rail agency had deemed “better alternatives” as too expensive to meet federal requirements.

“Better alternatives,” of course, is just a code-phrase for “not in my backyard.” Better, in this case, would mean first sending a line meant to take people north to New York west through southern Middlesex County, adding operating costs and travel time to an already too-expensive to build project.

In any case, this is just a last-ditch attempt to change NJ Transit’s mind — something that is unlikely to happen at this point, when you consider how the players have realigned themselves. Ocean County is on board with the new route and, while Monmouth is officially opposed, I’m not at all convinced that the people in Western Monmouth are all that upset about how this thing is playing out.

And then there is The Asbury Park Press, the state’s second-largest paper and the voice of Monmouth and Ocean counties. The paper had been a staunch supporter of the Middlesex alternative (which would have run through Jamesburg, Monroe and South Brunswick); it has since changed its thinking, calling the freeholder vote “a short-sighted, cutting-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face decision.”

If the freeholders refuse to come around and recognize the value the Red Bank line would have for Ocean and Monmouth counties — and the futility of holding out for an even scaled-back Monmouth Junction alternative — NJ Transit should proceed with the project anyway.

I couldn’t agree more.

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet