Politics & Government
Welcome to Basking Ridge: Beautification Task Force Wants Highway Exits Looking Good
Task force still seeking volunteers to on Oct. 16 help clean up highway exits into town.
First impressions count, and the view of Bernards Township for visitors and residents exiting off major highways should be a neat picture, the township's new Beautification Task Force agreed on Wednesday night, Aug. 25.
The Task Force that night announced plans to organize local volunteers to remove debris from ramps off Interstate 287 and possibly Interstate 78. The project, which would carry out one of Mayor Scott Spitzer's goals for 2010, is scheduled to take place from 9 a.m. until at least 11 a.m. on Oct. 16.
"It's a two-hour time frame, so at most it will be two exits," said Carlos Rivera, co-chair of the Task Force. He said the committee's focus will be on Interstate 287, and the exits to be cleaned up could be exits 26A or 26B, or exits 30A or 30B. "Those exits are a gateway to Bernards Township, when you walk in and see debris you get a bad perception that this is what (Bernards Township) is about," Rivera said.
About 15-30 volunteers, consisting of members of the Task Force, Bernardsville Rotary Club and other groups around town, are set to meet at the Community Service Building on Stone Harbor Rd. at 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 16, and then travel by van to the designated exits. They will be provided with vests, garbage bags, etc. by the township and commence cleaning up the off ramps.
Although the date is set and the plan is sorted out for the most part, a final meeting was scheduled for October 11 to iron out the final details of the project.
"It's a go," said Kathleen Piedici, co-chair of the Task Force. "The logistics just have to be sorted out."
She said the task force still is seeking additional volunteers for the highway cleanup. Anyone interested can email the group at beautification@bernards.org
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Depending on how smoothly the project proceeds on Oct. 16, and if the Task Force, which held its first official meeting in late July, is renewed at the end of the year, this could be the first in a long line of beautification projects in the Bernards Township area. The Task Force will disband unless it is reappointed by the Township Committee after the end of 2010, Piedici said.
"We have no idea (if there will be another clean up) because we are not a standing committee, so therefore we sort of go into the sunset on Dec. 31, 2010," Piedici said. "It's up to the Township Committee to determine whether they want to renew us as a task force and make us a standing committee."
