New committeemen in Manalapan Township should focus on littering problem in town

This is an open invitation to the two newest members of my Manalapan Township Committee, Joseph Locricchio and Andrew Lucas.

Despite what many in our community perceive to be negative campaigning, you won your seats on the Township Committee fair and square. Your signs, one of which remains littered on the grounds of Holiday Lake Park, promised to restore “honesty, integrity and responsibility” to our local government.

How about doing something that really makes an impact on the quality of life in Manalapan?

You can start by doing something about the litter strewn about the streets in our “great place to live.” I take daily walks along Pine Book Road to get some exercise, and each day I’m amazed, and disgusted, at what I find. I could very easily fill a plastic supermarket bag with the garbage I see every morning. It would not be necessary to bring one of the bags from home be-cause inevitably I’m going to find at least one on my daily route.

Where else could this garbage come from except from people’s cars as they pass by? I can’t for the life of me imagine the interiors of my neighbors’ luxury sedans and gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles, except for them to be spotless.

You don’t know what I’m talking about? Check out the Wawa parking lot on Union Hill Road. It’s littered with discarded coffee cups, lids, straws, cigarette packs, you name it, 365 days per year. Last week, I saw a woman toss a lit cigarette onto the asphalt as she was entering the store, when there was one of those cigarette disposal things right at the door.

Where did we get such disgusting habits? Are my neighbors’ homes littered with garbage? My home (and my minivan, for that matter) is littered with all kinds of kids’ junk — toys, candy wrappers, drawings, Wendy’s happy meal toys and more. However, the litter generated by my family is kept within the confines of our home. Hopefully, it makes it to the garbage cans at our curb.

Think about how easy that is — at the end of the day, we can take the litter from our cars and put it in garbage cans, which are emptied by Marpal employees twice a week. It doesn’t get more convenient than that. So why, why would people who pay high real estate taxes to send their kids to the best schools in the state not bother to teach their children how to dispose of trash (let alone properly take care of it themselves)?

It’s no longer fashionable to conserve energy. It’s no longer “cool” to preserve this planet’s limited resources for future generations. But since when is it fashionable to throw trash into the street?

Mr. Locricchio and Mr. Lucas, if you want to impress this constituent, instead of talking about topics of which you know nothing (such as municipal accounting practices), do something to make a difference. Educate your fellow citizens to respect their community.

Mark Eiger

Manalapan