Democrat Michael Ferrante, who was elected to the Township Committee in 2018, was sworn in as Cranbury’s new Mayor on January 4.
Mayor Ferrante has a long history of public service and commitment to the Township having lent his energy to many local causes including the Boy Scouts and the Board of Education.
One project that Mayor Ferrante has worked toward for years is the creation of a freestanding library in our town.
Long before being elected to the Township Committee Mayor Ferrante spearheaded the fund-raising effort for the library project, ultimately collecting more than $2 million toward the goal. He also helped with logistics, architectural planning, and the overall organization of the project.
It seemed like the hard work was about to pay off when New Jersey voters passed The New Jersey Library Construction Bond Act, designed to help communities like Cranbury build libraries. The ballot referendum was passed back in November of 2017.
But here it is, 2021, and we still do not have our library. What happened?
Things stalled out at the state level almost as soon as the initiative passed. The government did not determine which projects would receive the funds, and none of the $125 million allocated for the effort was dispersed.
Nevertheless, Mayor Ferrante has continued to fight to see the project to fruition even as the current library has faced even more challenges.
Because of the covid-19 pandemic the Cranbury School, where the library has been housed for decades, needed more space to bring students back for face-to-face learning. The library had to move to a temporary home in the Odd Fellows Hall on Main Street.
Finally, however, we are seeing movement. The State has finally decided to go forward.
In his “New Year’s Message” to residents, posted on the Township website, the Mayor wrote, “We…found out that Cranbury was — at long last — awarded a matching grant from the NJ Library Construction Bond Act, in which $2.4 Million in matching state funds will make the donations from residents over the past 10 years go twice as far to build a free-standing library and community center.”
For much of the past year, the Township Committee has had to meet via Zoom, but progress has been made on several fronts. Ferrante’s new Deputy Mayor, Township Committee member Dr. Barbara Rogers, helped secure a grant that will support an audit for a Complete Streets project that will move Cranbury one step closer to making paths and roadways more user friendly for pedestrians and cyclists.
Mayor Ferrante says that his goals for 2021 include not only the library and safer streets initiatives, but also making further progress on the Master Plan action items, and proceeding with the lake dredging project.
The CDC congratulates Mayor Ferrante and anticipates great success for the TC in the year to come.