To the Editor:

I believe, along with many of our longtime residents, that decisions made over the next five years in Princeton, will set the foundation for life here in the next 50 years. This was the impetus for my decision to run for Princeton Council, and my focus as a councilperson will be proactive planning for Princeton. Successful planning requires maximum public participation; conversely, an inability to achieve public consensus about the future of a community is a fundamental reason why planning fails. The central challenge we face is how, in collaboration with our key institutional stakeholders, we can retain the cultural and economic diversity that has long defined our community. more

To the Editor:

Princeton Community TV has put the Public into Public broadcasting for 20 years. It needs renewed public understanding and reasonable municipal support to continue operating. The April 24 PCTV page one story [“Contract Negotiations at an Impasse Between Town and Local TV Station”] left much unexplained.

PCTV has developed a robust, vibrant Public Access Channel on Comcast 30 and FIOS 45. It airs 24/7, produces an estimated annual 600 hours of original programming, at least 8,000 hours of curated programs, 2,400 hours of volunteer time and talent, a board, and small paid staff. Programs may be posted on national internet sites for non-cable viewers. It pays the town $18,000 in rent for its basement offices in the Old Borough Hall, which are open to the public 9-9 most weekdays. PCTV welcomes diverse volunteers regardless of their financial means. Together they learn new digital media and broadcast skills, and access studio time to create television shows. They watch their shows air in Princeton and Central New Jersey and potentially the world. How exciting! How empowering! How beneficial to viewers! How proud the municipality should be! The municipality has limited PCTV’s Municipal Channel Comcast 29 and FIOS 44 operations to broadcast and troubleshoot municipal meetings. more

To the Editor:

The Witherspoon-Jackson Neighborhood Association (WJNA) will hold a Candidates Forum with the four registered candidates for Princeton Council this Saturday, May 4, at 9:30 a.m. at the First Baptist Church on John Street. All candidates have confirmed their participation.

WJNA has held several forums prior to local elections. The organization holds events that focus on issues specific to the needs of the neighborhood’s residents; however, the topics, questions, and answers always span the interests of the entire community. As always, WJNA welcomes broad participation and attendance for this Saturday’s forum prior to the Primary Election on Tuesday, June 4.

The WJNA forum will offer an opportunity for candidates to address issues, identify their priorities, stake their positions, and propose solutions. more

To the Editor:

I strongly support Michelle Pirone Lambros for Princeton Council, and know you will too, when you learn more about the skills, experience, and vision she will bring to the position. Our Council needs members with proven finance and leadership skills to make enlightened decisions for our town. Michelle’s background in public/private partnerships and finance, and her experience developing multiple businesses, mean she’s a creative doer with the know-how to innovate new solutions to old problems.

Michelle’s international experience in building public/private partnerships is exactly the professional background we want on Council. While living overseas, she developed the concept for a national festival in Kuwait that brought the government, private enterprise, hundreds of vendors, and diverse communities together to showcase cultural heritage. She managed the six-figure budget on time and at cost. more

To the Editor:

According to the IPCC special report, the planet will reach 1.5 °C global warming by 2030. To stay below this level, we must increase our use of renewable energy sources, balance land-use and create green jobs.

You may have heard that “green is the new black.” At the state and national level, Democratic leaders are calling for a Green New Deal: a transformative program of investments in clean-energy infrastructure and jobs. Our elected officials at the municipal level must also do their part.

We must find ways to address climate change, protect water quality, reduce waste, expand access to sustainable transit options, and build resiliency to climate-related impacts for the vulnerable among us — all in a way that is equitable and economically sound. more

To the Editor:

The Arts Council of Princeton staff and its board of trustees thank everyone who helped make the 49th Communiversity ArtsFest such a great success. As a nonprofit that relies on community support, we are so grateful for the collaboration that enabled us to produce another incredibly inspiring event.

The students of Princeton University, Mayor Liz Lempert, and our municipality’s incredible police, fire, and facilities departments worked tirelessly to ensure that the day ran smoothly.  We couldn’t do it without their continued support.

We extend a huge thanks to event coordinator Ann Marciano, who did a superb job handling all the moving parts and addressed issues both big and small with a smile and unending grace. We also thank Arts Council staff and volunteers, whose time and energy helped to pull off Central Jersey’s largest and longest-running cultural event. more

To the Editor:

Small-business owners are the backbone of Mercer County’s economy. In fact, Mercer County is home to more than 15,000 small-business firms, according to the County Office of Economic Development. Last summer, the Board of Chosen Freeholders passed Ordinance No. 2018-5 establishing a Set-Aside Program for qualified Mercer County minority-, women-, veteran-owned businesses or small businesses.  The ordinance makes it easier for qualified businesses to contract with the County. In recognition of National Small Business Week, May 5-11, 2019, I want to ensure that businesses that may be eligible to participate take full advantage of Mercer County’s Set-Aside Program.

The Set-Aside Program reserves 10 percent of the dollar value of all the County’s goods, which total more than $70 million in professional services and construction contracts each year. The program allocates 30 percent for qualified minority-owned businesses; 30 percent for qualified women-owned businesses; 30 percent for qualifed veteran-owned businesses; and 10 percent for small businesses, with an estimated $7 million worth of contracts made available to eligible businesses as part of the program. more

To the Editor:

I have a good deal of sympathy for our merchants’ concerns re: parking and agree with much of what they propose. However, to suggest that giving over some sections of our roads to bike lanes, “would not change the nature of the bike ride into town” has no merit at all and could only be asserted by those with very little experience on a bicycle. As an avid bicyclist, I talk biking a lot and have found that people who once happily biked around town no longer do so. The reason? “It’s not safe on our streets.”

I can surely assert that in the brief period last year when bike lanes were temporarily opened on Hamilton, it made the world of difference to one’s ride. One felt, and indeed was, safe. Indeed, in the past year, I have experienced many close shaves with drivers barging their way into my tiny space on the road. And it is getting worse. Bicyclists seem to be regarded as a nuisance rather than fellow drivers.

For everybody’s sake, bike riding and walking should be encouraged. It is cheap and healthy, has no carbon footprint and can be counted as one less 3000lb vehicle on our already busy streets. If you live within a ten minute drive of town, as I do, you can be at your mid-town destination in less time on a bike. And you can arrive right at your destination without wasting fuel driving about looking for parking

We need bike lanes and we need a commitment to opening more. We need more people feeling confident that they can ride their bikes safely into town.

Robert Hebditch
Hickory Court

To the Editor:

We are in the midst of an environmental and wildlife crisis. Earth’s conditions are rapidly changing and extinctions are occurring at expedited rates, with many animals being overtaken by human activity. Since we have caused much of this decimation, it is our responsibility to fix it. Although it seems overwhelming, there are steps we as a community can take to help ensure a future for our local wildlife. So what can you do?

On an individual scale, you can help through responsible pet ownership. Domestic cats kill billions of wild birds, mammals, and reptiles every year, driving many to extinction. If you have pet cats, please keep them inside. Watch your dogs when they’re outside to prevent them from catching wildlife. When getting a new pet, consider if you will be able to care for them at their adult size and for their entire life. If not, choose a different pet. If you can no longer care for your pet, don’t release it. Releasing pets can cause environmental catastrophe, as they can establish invasive wild populations that take over and harm local ecosystems. An example of this destruction is in Florida, where Burmese pythons are taking over the Everglades. Instead, find a place that will take your pet, such as a shelter. more

To the Editor:

The Princeton Council and Engineering Department, while they are concerned about safety on Nassau Street, seem totally oblivious to safety, traffic congestion, and pure ugliness for the Mt. Lucas Road, Terhune, Laurel and Valley Roads neighborhood, in their poorly chosen site for the town refueling station — in a residential, already traffic-challenged, safety-concerned area. They ignored the town’s own Site Plan Review Advisory Board’s (SPRAB) recommendation to place it elsewhere.

The town’s objections to other sites were lame. I went with a neighbor to look at both the Witherspoon Fire Station and Valley Road School site and the John Street Public Works parking lot. Both have the space to install the re-fueling facility, allowing trucks and buses to drive in and exit head-first. SPRAB saw the potential for those sites, and possibly one at the Harrison Street Fire Station. more

To the Editor:

It is clear: Princeton is at a crossroad. Together we either succeed or fail in preserving what makes Princeton one of the most desirable municipalities in the United States.

I have known Mia Sacks since she was a young girl growing up in Princeton. I have watched her mature into an amazing woman — intelligent, committed to making life better for others, collaborative — always working hard behind the scene helping others achieve great things.  She understands the importance of the Master Plan and its long-reaching effects on the future of Princeton. Her hands-on approach in working toward consensus building using her incredible skills to organize and synthesize a complexity of issues proves she is more than competent to take a place at the dais.

I enthusiastically support her candidacy and strongly believe it is time for Mia to come to the forefront and be recognized as the leader she is, working for the betterment of Princeton as a member of council at this critical time in our history. Her actions speak far better than any words in proving her integrity, commitment, and sense of community. Please join me in voting for Mia Sacks on June 4^th.

Kate Warren
Jefferson Road

To the Editor:

Today’s Town Topics headline is “Council Considers Some Parking Revisions” (pg. one, April 17).

Great.

Here’s one for consideration — Take out the whole new system and go back to what we had.

We moved back to Princeton 30 or so years ago. We love it. We love all the stores and all the merchants in them.
I personally have been one of the biggest advocates of shopping locally and helping out our hard working friends here. But now I can’t go into town because the parking system is just dysfunctional. Thank God for the Spring Street and Hulfish garages. more

To the Editor:

As former Board of Education members, we can attest that experience matters when it comes to serving this community as an elected official and making hard decisions. Of the Democratic candidates running for Council, only incumbent Councilman Tim Quinn has a track record of successful, responsive leadership in a publicly accountable fiduciary role. Having served with Tim, we know him as a principled, diligent, consensus-driven leader. Given the competing priorities and collective aspirations of our community and the challenges we face, our town needs Tim Quinn on Council.

Tim takes a thoughtful, deliberately collaborative approach to decision-making. He actively seeks stakeholders with varied perspectives, and embraces, rather than avoids, difficult, honest discussions. Tim’s approach is rooted in his deep commitment to transparency, and his understanding that representative leadership begins and ends with intentional listening to those perspectives. As president of the school board during the search for a new superintendent, Tim was adamant that the community be involved to the greatest extent possible. He listened to over a dozen small stakeholder group discussions over several weeks, to ensure that the board’s search criteria and objectives were informed by and responsive to broad community input. more

To the Editor:

One of the reasons I have found living in Princeton to be different from living elsewhere is the variety and depth of contacts I have found possible here. Conversation is lively and intelligent, and people seek earnestly for answers to real problems, both personal and national.

But I think the most remarkable person I have met is Michelle Pirone Lambros. As a member of her campaign’s kitchen cabinet, I’ve seen how she receives the suggestions of a lively group of committed volunteers, all typical of the personalities I’ve encountered in 10 years here. She says little. She listens, she rejects ideas that might offend and explores ideas that make good sense. She takes notes, asks questions. She assigns to herself the task of getting answers, and to reaching out for help from further knowledgeable contacts. When offered help, she has specific assignments and responds freely. “Can you find this out?” “Can you research that?” more

To the Editor:

We have had the honor of working with Tim Quinn. First as School Board members and later as members of the municipality’s Civil Right Commission, we’ve witnessed the commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion that is a foundational aspect of his long record of public service to Princeton. This is why we think it’s crucial that Tim be re-elected to Princeton Council

As president of the Board of Education and the chair of the Board’s Student Achievement Committee, Tim led the effort to ensure that all programs and initiatives presented to the Board were inclusive, equitable, and representative of diverse student communities. more

To the Editor:

It is with great honor that I write to support Mia Sacks in her campaign for Princeton Council. For many years Mia has been passionately involved in what she calls “building community.” She has an exceptional ability to envision and keep the big picture in mind while patiently focusing on the myriad and mundane daily tasks that bring results. Working to bring about change in public institutions is a labor-intensive task that requires infinite patience and fortitude. Mia has demonstrated these qualities to an almost superhuman extent in her work on behalf of our community in many areas.

One particularly salient example is the way in which Mia introduced and built the Sustainable Jersey for Schools (SJ for Schools) program within Princeton Public Schools. The program is the schools’ arm of the municipal certification program overseen by Sustainable Princeton. It provides tools, training, and financial incentives to support and reward schools for sustainability and wellness actions. In 2014, as co-chairs of the Princeton Green Schools Coalition, Mia and I were asked to participate in one of the statewide task forces that met for over a year to establish the SJ for Schools program. Subsequently, Mia wrote start up grants and spent countless hours meeting with students, parents, teachers, administrators, facilities personnel, board members, and the superintendent, in order to successfully launch and nurture the program within PPS. Three years later, all six schools now have individual Green Teams and Wellness Committees that meet regularly to coordinate action with a District Sustainability Team. All the schools have achieved Bronze certification, with some aiming for Silver in 2019. more

To the Editor:

I am writing to encourage Democratic voters to vote for Michelle Pirone Lambros in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, June 4, 2019.

I have been impressed with Michelle’s positive energy and the fresh ideas that she will bring to the Princeton Council. Michelle is focused on helping small businesses and creating more foot traffic in our community. I am concerned about the empty storefronts in the Princeton Shopping Center, downtown, and the Witherspoon-Jackson area. I am concerned for the small business owners who are in Princeton, and wonder how much business they are getting. These empty store fronts did not just happen overnight, and I have not read or seen any major plans from the Council on how they plan to help.   more

To the Editor:

In 1776 women and blacks could vote in New Jersey if they were worth 50 pounds. It was only our second constitution of 1844 that restricted suffrage to white males. In the same clause it denied voting rights to persons convicted of a crime.

These facts come from a white paper of the NJ Institute for Social Justice, which seeks to extricate voting from criminal justice.

It dismays me that New Jersey leads the nation in racial disparity of incarceration rates and the result that 5.28 percent of the black voting age population is denied the vote, more than twice the percentage of New York and Pennsylvania. Do we want our communities to be shaped by elected officials unaccountable to those in their districts on parole or probation? Extending the right to vote can facilitate re-entry. I invite readers to learn more about this issue and to support reforms.

Terry Lyons
Deer Path

To the Editor:

Protected open space is a priceless resource to nourish and restore the human spirit.

Not long ago I lived in a subdivision that could be described as a builder’s bombing run — miles of cookie cutter houses on postage-stamp lots. I was a misplaced Thoreau who yearned for “pasture enough for my imagination.”

Little did I realize when my address changed to the Great Road in Princeton, I would be the beneficiary of D&R Greenway’s stellar efforts to serve the public interest by preserving Coventry Farm, the 160-acre jewel of Princeton. more

To the Editor:

The Council needs a new voice!! I support Michelle Pirone Lambros for Princeton Council because she sees Princeton’s potential for 21st century greatness. She has real plans for strategic partnerships between the municipality, the University, and the local economy. Princeton should be a crucible for innovation, and our town must work hand-in-hand with the other sectors to make change happen. She’s the only candidate who understands the importance of a strong local economy to offset property tax increases.

The recent parking meter fiasco hurt local businesses, actually decreasing revenue more than 10 percent on average during the critical retail Christmas season. It also created the opposite of the intended result — to help the local economy; now residents are resistant to patronize businesses they were otherwise supporting. The fact that the Council spent $150,000 on two parking consultants, and this mess was the resulting plan, should concern taxpayers. more

To the Editor:

Our PMA survey results (posted on our website) and public feedback shows the new parking plan has not been well received by residents, customers, visitors, or employees, and has had a chillingly negative impact on the businesses in town through the holiday season and the first several months of 2019. Our town Council and professionals, on the advice of consultants, believe that there is not a shortage of parking spaces and may be pleased to hear that parking is freeing up, but the fact is, fewer people are coming to our downtown to shop. Our shopkeepers are struggling to keep their businesses open and commercial properties, which account for 20-plus percent of our town’s tax base, are experiencing the highest vacancy rates in decades.

In collectively reviewing the current parking plan, we want to propose a set of improvements that would honor the intent of the new plan, as articulated by Mayor Lempert, to serve first and foremost as a tool for economic development of Princeton’s vital downtown. more

To the Editor:

I was quite disappointed when the organics recycling program was suspended due to a variety of errors, most of which it seems could be corrected. Going further, it may be that changing the way we charge for trash collection might make it much easier to expand the program and solve the problem.  

In thinking about this issue, we should acknowledge that our current methods for disposing of trash/garbage are unsustainable. We not only generate far too much waste, we pretend to make it disappear by dumping everything in a large pile (landfill) for future generations to deal with.  The easiest first step for a better system would be to separate organic recyclable materials from the trash. Organics make up about 40 percent of the waste stream and can be processed into compost for use on farms and gardens.    more