Point’s New Commissioner Brings A Clear Picture

CAPE MAY POINT — John Henderson, the borough’s new commissioner, ran unopposed Nov. 2 to fill a vacancy on Borough Commission created when Joe Nietubicz left office before the end of his term as a commissioner.
Henderson has been coming to the borough since has was a very young child when his family stayed at his uncle and aunt’s home on Stites Avenue. At the age of 10, his parents built a home on Alexander Avenue, he told the Herald.
Henderson said has been a full time resident in the Point for seven years, moving here from Princeton.He is an electrical engineer and holds a Bachelors Degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters Degree in engineering from Princeton. Henderson has worked in consumer electronics throughout his career, he said, first for RCA Laboratories, then for a laboratory he helped set up for Hitachi America.
He continues to be a consultant for the Consumer Electronics Association.
“I’ve been involved since the effort started creating the digital television standard for the U.S.,” he said.
Henderson is chairman of Technical Standards Group of Advance Television Systems Committee. His term ends at the end of this year, one of the reasons he has accepted the post as a borough commissioner, he said.
For the past 20 years, his work has been related to advanced and digital television, said Henderson. Prior to that his work centered on television receivers and video discs, he said. He described the RCA Laboratory as a “wonderful place to work.”
Henderson said he was asked by several borough residents to consider running to fill the unexpired commissioner seat term.
“The job is worth doing,” he said.
While the borough’s population is small, he said residents are involved in their community. He said one of the charms of the Point is the fact it is a “green” community, somewhat unusual for a seashore town.
“There’s lot of pages in the code book devoted to making sure it stays that way and I hope we can make them stick,” said Henderson.
In his childhood days, 20 years may have been a good life span for a house in the Point on some streets before it was subject to the erosion of the sea, he said. Now, carefully engineered and well-maintained dunes and jetties have made a huge difference, said Henderson.
“In those days, if you had a water view, it was not the time to raise the price of your house, it was time to call the house mover,” he said.
Henderson has served on the borough’s Planning Board.
He and his wife, Nancy, sail yachts. They finished first in the 2009 Cape to Cape Challenge race from Lewes, Del. to Cape May. They are members of the Corinthian Yacht Club in Cape May.
Henderson also builds small wooden boats. He is an accomplished organist and plays at summer services at Beadle Presbyterian Church in the borough.
Henderson studied organ at Westminster Choir College in Princeton.
Both John and Nancy like to take long bicycle rides, often as long as 30 to 50 miles. They average 5,000 miles per year.
This is his first elected office. Henderson said he sees it as a “volunteer job.”
“People like living here. That’s a testament to the people that have been running the place,” he said.