Route 47 Properties a Disaster Area

To The Editor:
For the past several years many properties along Route 47 in Rio Grande have deteriorated to the point of looking like a disaster area.
For example, the abandoned Rio Grande Building Materials site looks like an urban area of Camden, Newark or Trenton. The Fort Apache Recreation site, adjacent to Menz Restaurant, is an abandoned field of weeds and dust. What an embarrassment to those of us who live in Rio Grande. Visitors ride by these properties between the railroad tracks and Railroad Avenue. We need to do the following:
• Garden Mart needs to be brought up to code, it’s a disgrace.
• Seashore Lines deteriorating blue railroad car removed now.
• Rio Grande Building Material needs to be bulldozed, and clean up the piles of debris.
• Elementary School bulldozed.
• Vacant lot next to school, keep grass cut.
The property at Railroad and Route 47 owned by Atlantic City Electric has been cleaned up and the trees were trimmed. I thank Ronnie Town for a quick clean up after we called her. The intervention has eliminated a dangerous visual traffic situation.
I suggest that Middle Township Committee have an occasional town meeting at the Rio Grande Fire Hall to meet and discuss our issues. Ask anyone in Rio Grande. If these deplorable conditions existed in Court House, they would have been cleaned up. We ask that our leaders step up and address these conditions.
MIKE VOLL
Rio Grande
(ED. NOTE: Voll is former Middle Township mayor)