Letter to the Editor: Thank You For Voting Against BAC in Referendum

To the Editor:

Stop The BAC and its supporters owe a huge debt of gratitude to the residents of Berkeley Heights, including the Mayor and Town Council. For many of us, this election was intensely personal, as our neighborhood was literally under attack. For many others not directly impacted, this election was about common sense and the Golden Rule.

From the beginning of this campaign until Election Day, we focused on the one thing that we believed mattered: our town. We think these results, both the number of voters and the dramatic results, confirmed that our town believed that as well. Plus, we learned that our town believed in us, and that made Election Night truly special.

We set out on this campaign as a group of residents in Berkeley Heights and the Emerson Lane neighborhood, and we remained that way the whole time as we grew and grew. From all walks of life, we had hundreds of supporters pitching in, in so many ways. All of us were volunteers, some giving time, some giving hard-earned money, some giving both. Some were directly involved in our volunteer operations; many, we learned, had set out on their own to seek “No” votes.

We do not begrudge, and we never have begrudged, what Berkeley Aquatic has given to Berkeley Heights over the last few decades. What we objected to was the proposed location, the potential negative impacts on our town and the manner in which Berkeley Aquatic approached us and our town.

Tonight, we celebrated, we laughed, we cried tears of joy for our victory and we cried tears of pain for our struggles over these last three years of dealing with this proposed project. In this election, we learned that our neighbors in town were truly our neighbors. And that this town truly was our town.

In honor of our town, we look to Thornton Wilder for his words of wisdom in “Our Town”: “We all know that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even the stars . . . everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with
human beings. All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you’d be surprised how people are always losing hold of it. There’s something way down deep that’s eternal about every human being.”

We thank you all so, so very much. We are so honored and privileged to call you Our Town.

Stop The BAC Committee