Letter: Does Middletown Really Need Another 7/11? New Store May Cause Hardships For Others

I wonder why so many Seven Eleven Stores are being proposed for construction every half a mile apart? What is the story behind this?

Right now a new store is proposed at Route 36/Main Street Belford, Middletown, this proposal is going to cause harm to pedestrians, cyclists, handicapped people, littering, fire hazard, noisy environment, traffic congestion, obstruction to movement of emergency vehicles and waves of violations as we have experienced in NJ.  Just recently on the 17^th of September, a Hazlet resident died of a car accident at Route 36/Thompson Ave in Middletown.

In years past, a building gutted by fire next to the proposed store (at the existing Exxon gas station) had all neighboring residents in panic, fearing that the gas station would not ignite. However we were lucky as the best efforts from our fire squad and police were successful in extinguishing the blaze.

Currently, we have three Seven Eleven stores within a short distance (this will be the fourth). By adding another, it will cause devastation to established small family businesses that have been in existence for a long time. If those businesses closed down the unemployment rate will rise and cause unnecessary hardships to these employees and the local business community.

Furthermore, those traveling to New York will be delayed in catching their ferry due to the congestion of the traffic. As a result employees will be late to their jobs with the possibility of losing their jobs or businesses.

The Middletown Planning Board has scheduled a Public Hearing for Wednesday October 3rd, 2012. By allowing another Seven Eleven store to conduct businesses in such a small area, Middletown may need to consider changing its name to Seven Eleven Middletown.

Mahendra Amin
Belford,NJ