Resident has a different view of Marlboro Grande project

I am responding to the Your Turn guest column from Allan Solomon ("Mayor Doesn't Always Know Best," News Transcript, Aug. 23). I assume that Mr. Solomon is a resident of Prides Crossing, as I am and have been for 23 years.

Before I continue, I would like to point out something that Mr. Solomon conveniently left out of his letter.

On March 16, 2006, the Freehold Borough offices of Steven and Bernard Meiterman were raided by agents of the FBI and the Internal Revenue Ser-vice.

Steven was the contract purchaser of the property that was, at first, to be known as Brown-stone and then was changed to Marlboro Grande, and his brother, Bernard, was the attorney for the application.

I should think, right there is reason for Mr. Solomon to question the advisability of letting the Meitermans build anything in his backyard, let alone a 90-unit apartment complex.

I, like so many people, wish to live my life with a minimum of fuss.

I did go to one of the meetings concerning the Brownstone development and was amazed how the Meitermans were able to manipulate the audience into believing that if they were not allowed to build on this property there would be all kinds of terrible businesses coming into that area; things that the property was zoned for in the first place.

I asked a few questions of the Meitermans which, I hasten to say, they were either unable or unwilling to answer. For my trouble, I was scorned by the Meitermans and most of the audience, which I suppose were my fellow Prides Crossing residents.

Speaking for "fellow residents of Prides Crossing," Mr. Solomon states that "we fought long and hard in a public forum..." and that "(Mayor) Kleinberg's team has decided to make Marlboro Grande and Steven Meiterman their political pawns." The Meitermans, of all people, made political pawns by the mayor? These folks who are under the scrutiny of the FBI and IRS?

Anyway, I like Prides Cros-sing and have lived here a long time. It is a rather private little enclave, from which it is difficult to exit onto Route 9.

I can't help but wonder what it will be like when 90 apartment units also need to use Clayton Road to get onto Route 9. God forbid that there was ever an emergency.

Jacquelin Duffy

Marlboro