June 8 Letters to the Editor
One important way we are able to maintain our community's high quality of life rests in our collective ability to maintain the cleanliness and safety of our homes, properties and neighborhoods. That is why Hamilton Township is undertaking a quality of life initiative that will keep our community looking its best, maintain our property values and keep our families safe.
Under our Neighborhood Improvement Program, Township officials from various divisions and offices will be proactively working to identify safety and quality of life related issues so that they can be corrected. The team of officials will be working together on a scheduled, neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis to help identify issues that require abatement and, when possible, provide information about possible improvement grants that can assist residents in correcting issues.
Some common issues that the program seeks to correct are housing safety issues (needed roof, window or structural issues), as well as zoning and health-related violations (vehicles parked on the grass, abandoned or unregistered vehicles, junk, rubbish and debris on properties or high grass).
By working together as a community, we will improve the already high quality of life - which benefits every Hamiltonian.
Kelly A. Yaede
Hamilton Township mayor
Hooray for Senator Shirley Turner in pursuing legislation to prohibit smoking in public open spaces (Editorial, "Smoking on the shore needs to stop" May 28, 2016).
As she has stated: "Second-hand smoke not only has serious health implications, but cigarette butts that litter parks and beaches are hazardous and unsightly." Thanks also to the N.J. Legislature's for its passage of this measure which was vetoed by Governor Christie in 2014 and who may repeat his anti-public health stance again. His alignment with the thinking of tobacco interests who would rather see such legislation bottled up by having it come before New Jersey's 565 municipalities rather than having statewide protection for all New Jersey's citizens is not in the public interest.
Several towns have seen the light on this health issue, including Princeton, which recently passed an ordinance prohibiting smoking in public open spaces, such as parks, to protect all, especially children, as well as having raised the age to 21 to legally buy cigarettes and other smoking devices.
Smoking and inhaling second hand smoke is unpleasant and is a known precursor to lung cancer and other serious breathing and cardio-vascular diseases. Who wants to go to a park, or walk on a trail or be on a beach where they involuntarily inhale the smoke exhaled by others? That can spoil the otherwise wonderful experience, aside from the health and litter issues involved.
Grace Sinden
Princeton
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