Published in the Asbury Park Press 7/26/99
Little Silver - Lisa Del Bianco of Englishtown
submitted to the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders a petition
with 300 names opposing the initiation of a passenger rail operation on
the railroad tracks passing through her hometown. Rather than a sympathetic
ear, her complaint was met with a rousing defense of the need for rail
service to displace automobiles. Del Bianco brought her petition to the
freeholders' meeting in Little Silver Thursday night. Freeholder Director
Harry Larrison Jr. and his colleagues on the board listened as she presented
her case against a proposal to establish passenger rail service from Lakewood,
through western Monmouth County, to the Northeast Corridor in South Brunswick.
"We fell in Englishtown that trains will be damaging to our children, the
health of everyone involved, the value of our homes, and so forth," she
said. "This train would not be of help at all to anyone. There are a lot
of people opposing it in our town." Larrison replied there was no certainty
the rail line would ever become a reality and told her the board was well
aware of a lot of controversy about the proposal in Middlesex County. "What
is your opinion?" Del Bianco persisted. "My opinion," Larrison replied,
"is this: I think it is a necessity. We cannot in this county continue
to let motor cars (proliferate) with all the people moving into this county.
We can't build highways. We have to have mass transportation. It's one
of those economic factors. It would be like two or three trains in the
morning, two or three trains in the evening. Something has to be done to
alleviate the problem. Unfortunately they come by you. "I think people
are frightened," he added. Larrison said the freeholders, who have endorsed
the extension of passenger rail service through western Monmouth County
to Lakewood, and the state have an obligation to provide adequate transportation
to serve the rapidly growing area. But Larrison added: "I would say to
you it's going to be a long time before that ever becomes a reality, if
it ever does."