To the Editor:

There are many groups in Princeton who espouse fine civic concerns. I imagine that if several of them approached the authorities to suggest that we shut down the center of town for half a day in order to demonstrate peacefully, the idea would be dismissed out of hand. How ironic that the threat of some white supremacists standing in the middle of Princeton on January 12, 2019 to represent their own repugnant beliefs achieved this peaceful plan and more.

Lacking the white supremacists, the quiet demonstration by hundreds of townspeople, University people, and likeminded visitors, was a success. But we did not get to everyone’s civic concerns! I would be inclined to suggest that we do this again in a few weeks (minus the white supremacists), were I not concerned for Princeton’s beleaguered downtown merchants who lost revenue, and the taxpayer expense of the dozens and dozens of fine policemen who protected us all from each other.

Tobias D. Robison
Longtime Jefferson Road Resident 

To the Editor:

While the Dinky did lose 22 percent of its ridership after the relocation of the Station, 78 percent of its original ridership has remained and is holding strong!  Before the temporary suspension to help NJT with its Federal PTC retrofit deadline, ridership losses on the Dinky had leveled off despite the apparent allure of parking permits at the Junction. Princeton is slowing initiating it’s GoPrinceton transit campaign. The Dinky is now poised for some real growth.   

While there have a been a few days during the year where NJT unforgivably has had service problems, by-and-large the Dinky has delivered passengers day-in and day-out on-time at the Junction with just a short passenger hop onto waiting trains. There are a lot of advantages that Dinky riders enjoy over those who use Junction parking, hiking through the parking lot in the wind, rain, and snow, day-in and day-out. 

There are big problems with the substitute buses. Passengers get caught in traffic like everybody else, not to mention that big pause at the Alexander Street Bridge!  Use of the buses has added tremendously to commuter time and uncertainty for Dinky riders, and contributed to area congestion. more

To the Editor:

The Princeton organic recycling program’s last pickup will be on January 30, because the accepting farm kept finding too many non-organics, especially plastic, in the mix. There was a warning sent to all subscribers last fall which was not heeded, and the farm said NO MORE.

Suggestion: If the pickup people look into a green can and see unacceptable material, they should just flip open the top and not collect the contents. (It would be nice if they could leave a sticker saying “Unacceptable” or “Refused,” but they are busy and wearing gloves.)  

Sometimes the trash is put out by people who are not the owners/managers and may not be able to communicate with them directly. However, if the recycling is not picked up, the message should get through.

Ruth E. Scott
Governors Lane

To the Editor:

On behalf of everyone at McCarter Theatre Center, we would like to thank the community for the incredible outpouring of support and generosity that we experienced during the run of our annual production of A Christmas Carol.

We were delighted to welcome over 28,000 people to see this show. Many in our audience experienced live theater for the first time, and others have made A Christmas Carol an annual holiday tradition. In addition to our regular performances, we offered five student matinees and shared Scrooge’s story with 4,800 children from area schools. more

To the Editor:

I have to assume that our elected officials were either completely bamboozled by consultants or do not have an ounce of sense. Why else would they change from a perfectly good parking payment system to the new one?

As a longtime Princeton resident, I have frequently supported restaurants and businesses in town. No longer. We are relegated to fumbling with change purses or struggling to read dark meters. Or, we are forced into a $1 minimum should we opt for a credit card. And rates have ballooned to pay for these undesired changes. On principle, I refuse to use an app with a 35 cent surcharge per (often small) transaction. I will continue to visit the library, but I presume the library lot will be ‘full’ with greater frequency, as visitors avoid on-street parking.

So, while there are already quite a number of empty Princeton storefronts, I would expect that number will grow as other Princetonians, like me, opt to take their business elsewhere due to this unnecessary change.

Kristine Olson

Lawrenceville Road

To the Editor:

Yes, the Dinky service isn’t perfect and needs improvement, and yes the new station could use some do-able improvements such as holders for paper schedules, improved handicapped accessibility, more flexible seating arrangements, and the relocation of the historic exhibit into the new Station complex so that kids can see it without going into a bar.

But let’s step back and reflect on the institutional environment that has gotten us this far. Significantly, despite the negativity surrounding the Dinky there has been and continues to be private sector interest, the best possible vote of confidence in its future. To be clear, yes, there are people willing to put their money where their mouth is: for example, I am aware of an investor group with extensive railroad experience interested in operating the Dinky service with purpose-built equipment, along with additional stops and increased frequency. But they are not interested in investing in a political quagmire, and such initiatives will continue to go nowhere as long as the basic question of NJT’s governance stands in the way. more

To the Editor:

May I offer a suggestion concerning the Alexander Road bridge replacement?

When the replacement happens might it be possible to adjust the timing of the traffic lights on Washington Road and Harrison Street (intersecting at Route 1) to accommodate the dramatic increase in traffic? Otherwise the typically crummy rush hour back up will become truly horrific.

While you are making that timing adjustment, perhaps consider also changing up the lights at the intersection of Alexander Road and Carnegie Center Drive? The lights currently are timed to stop traffic on Alexander upon demand from Carnegie Center Drive traffic, but this makes little sense. A small number of cars on Carnegie Center Drive will oblige a full light’s worth of Alexander Road traffic to stop, sometimes just as those cars are accelerating from the stop light on the Route 1 bridge. This causes a back up of large numbers of cars that can sometimes extend back to Canal Pointe Blvd intersection. more

To the Editor:

In 1989, my mother, Katharine O’Neil Bidwell and her cousin, Elsie Hillman, sat in a Westminster Choir College board meeting wringing their hands. The realities facing the tiny choir conservatory with its small classes, one-on-one instruction and challenging fundraising demographic made it clear that Westminster needed a partner or it would close.

My mother and aunt had a vested interest in keeping the college alive. Their grandmother (my great-grandmother), Katharine Houk Talbott, was Westminster’s first benefactor in Dayton, Ohio. An opera singer, she helped create the school; Westminster’s Talbott Library is named after her. The Talbott family has endowed scholarships and family members have served on the boards of Westminster and Rider University. Aunt Elsie and Uncle Henry’s legacy lives on in Hillman Hall in Westminster’s Cullen Center. Their foundation endowed a fund that supports recruiting and performance activities. The Bidwell endowment, named for my mother, supports training for opera singers. more

To the Editor,

I share the frustrations of those experiencing difficulties using the municipality’s new parking system and want to assure residents and visitors that members of municipal staff are working daily with our vendors on fixes while exploring all possible alternatives. While I can’t speak for all of Council, I expect my colleagues and I will be taking action this month. It is certainly my first priority.

As a member of Council’s Public Works Committee, I know that the overhaul of our parking system was necessary: multiple antiquated meters were breaking down daily and rates hadn’t increased in a decade. Revenue raised by meters funds maintenance of our parking infrastructure and is used for property tax relief. more