I am completely against changing the names of street signs in East Brunswick because of who their names may represent.
Street signs should be there to mark a location and provide direction, not to express a town’s social ideology. If Mr. Richard Walling decided to go through every street sign in East Brunswick and look far enough back in history, I am sure he could find others that may have names that could be related to something objectionable to someone. The street sign Van Wickle provides a point of reference, that is all. If not for the article in the Sentinel, I would never have known who or what Van Wickle represented. And I am sure there are other Van Wickles in New Jersey who were not evil people.
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Property taxes are already too high in East Brunswick, so we certainly don’t need to spend more money on unnecessary things, like changing signs. Especially since 99 percent of people living in East Brunswick probably had no clue who Van Wickle was until someone brought it to their attention. This would also cause inconvenience for homeowners who live on those streets as they would now have to change their driver’s license, their passports and other legal documents that contain their address. Meanwhile, this money could be better spent on improving roads, instead of just changing their names.
People need to stop going back to the past to find grievances and start living in the present and spending money on things that will actually provide something useful to residents.
Laura Anderson
East Brunswick
