To the Editor:

As residents of the Princeton Housing Authority (PHA), we are frustrated with lack of action on our behalf. The PHA and town discovered the need to update their Cooperation Agreement 19 months ago and though Council put this on its 2024 Goals list, Council took no steps toward this in 2024. The PHA needs to resolve a number of issues with the town in order to make decisions that affect us.

We understand that, after a 2023 situation in which PHA management did not receive notification before the town reintroduced parking permit enforcement following the pandemic pause, the PHA reached out to their Council liaison, Councilman Newlin, and asked for a meeting to discuss the parking ordinance with the town. At that June 1, 2023 meeting we’re told the discussion of the issues and difficulty with the ordinance made it clear a “quicker” solution was needed and Councilwoman Pirone Lambros suggested it would be more expedient to address the situation through the PHA’s Cooperation Agreement with the town. more

To the Editor:

As a proud member of the Princeton community who has spent the last 25 years working in the field of education, I am writing in strong support of the upcoming school referendum. This is a pivotal opportunity to invest in our schools and ensure that every Princeton Public Schools student has access to the facilities and resources they need to thrive.

Our schools have long been a cornerstone of Princeton’s excellence, but growing enrollment and aging infrastructure require thoughtful action. This referendum addresses those needs with plans for expanded classrooms, upgraded science labs, enhanced arts spaces, and modernized facilities across our elementary, middle, and high schools. These improvements will ensure students have spaces that support innovation, creativity, and collaboration.

Investing in our schools is an investment in our town’s future. I encourage my fellow residents to join me in supporting this referendum and ensuring that Princeton remains a leader in public education.

Daniel Scibienski
Linden Lane

To the Editor:

The cycle seems to be: Great schools make Princeton attractive. Princeton being attractive makes it unaffordable. Princeton being unaffordable mandates more housing. More housing produces more students. More students require more funding. More funding makes great schools.

However, the cycle can easily be broken: More housing means more traffic. More traffic means gridlocked streets. Gridlocked streets make Princeton unattractive. Perhaps Princeton’s schools can be funded using congestion pricing.

Michael Diesso
Harrison Street

To the Editor:

It seems that none of the letters urging us so enthusiastically to vote in favor of all three questions of the referendum makes any equally enthusiastic mention of the extra (projected) $532 annual per-household increase in everybody’s municipal taxes, should all three questions be approved.

Maybe this increase should not be borne by people who have been living in Princeton for 24 years or more? The ones who have put two generations of children — both their own and those of their fellow Princetonians — through the 12 years of public schooling? Those who, through the years, have already carried the price for the repeated (and unfailingly deemed urgent) costly improvements and repairs to school facilities and programs? Those very improvements and repairs that every time turn out to have been insufficient? more

To the Editor:

We are writing in support of the PPS referendum and to encourage our neighbors to vote on January 28 (or earlier by mail).

As parents of children who have gone through the Princeton Public Schools starting in kindergarten at Community Park Elementary School, onto Princeton Middle School, and through to graduation from Princeton High School, we are quite aware of the condition of the buildings and of the increasing student population at all schools. These factors put pressure on our facilities, our teachers, and our students.

Upgrading the HVAC system at PHS will mean installing more efficient equipment to heat and cool the building while providing a more stable and consistent environment for learning. Expanding the elementary schools and Princeton Middle School will provide more spaces for learning core curriculum, special needs, and the arts with the small class sizes that make PPS such a desirable and successful educational environment. more

To the Editor:

Over the past several weeks, scores of our fellow Princeton community members have written letters in support of the upcoming school referendum. We, too, are writing to express our support for the district’s plans. We take pride in our excellent public schools, and are grateful for the education that our children received, thanks to the investments of prior generations of taxpayers.

To remain excellent, our schools need ongoing attention, investment, and renewal. Right now, the high school needs a new HVAC system and several schools (Community Park, Princeton Middle School, and Littlebrook) need more space. We applaud the district for putting together a plan that addresses these needs while leveraging $19.9M in state support.

We plan to vote “yes” to all three questions, and urge our fellow residents to vote “yes” as well.

Heather Howard
Aiken Avenue
Liz Lempert
Meadowbrook Drive

To the Editor:

I am writing in support of the PPS referendum. The Board of Education has outlined specific plans for needed renovations to our public schools’ buildings. The only mechanism available to the Princeton Public Schools to perform needed facilities improvements is the one they are employing — a referendum that funds the improvements via a bond that stretches the costs across many future years, so that the cost in any one year is not too great.

Our public schools are doing an amazing job of educating a large — and growing! — number of kids.  It’s important that we keep the facilities in decent shape so that the schools can continue to do well in their educational mission. more

To the Editor:

Adding to a successful year (“Growing Town Balances Optimism, Concerns at 2024 Year End,” January 1, page 1), the nonprofit Princeton Einstein Museum of Science (PEMS) enlivened Dohm Alley on Nassau Street for over five months with a free exhibit, “Einstein’s Attraction to Magnetism.”  Over 20,000 people from across the country and around the world enjoyed the show, funded by the Richard Lounsbery Foundation and with special thanks to Stanley Dohm and Princeton Future.

PEMS closed out the year with a $50,000 gift from the William Watt Family and will be back next in 2025 with a new exhibit, “Einstein’s Brain: Mind of a Genius.”

Elizabeth Romanaux
PEMS Founder and Chair
Sycamore Place

To the Editor:

Regarding the upcoming referendum vote for Princeton Public Schools, I offer the following for consideration by the taxpayers as they weigh the pros and cons of supporting what I believe to be a well-conceived plan by the district. During my own recent service as a School Board member, I wrangled with this planning. As a parent, I know our middle and high schools to be unpleasantly crowded and Littlebrook School has no room for storage or growth. Redistricting is coming for our elementary schools no matter what, and the referendum will enable that redistricting to be thoughtful while supporting walking and biking to school.

I begin with the premise that small class sizes are in the best interests of our students and teachers. New housing units continue to be built in town. Growth is here and coming.  more

To the Editor:

Like many of our neighbors, one of the reasons we moved into the Municipality of Princeton was due to the excellent public schools. Our three boys (two of whom will graduate from Princeton High School this June) have benefited tremendously from their time at Littlebrook, Princeton Middle School, and Princeton High School. So that future students can likewise enjoy the advantages of a top-notch public school education, we urge our Princeton neighbors to support the January 28 public schools referendum.

Our schools are already at or near capacity — this before the increase expected in the coming years due to the 1,000+ additional housing units coming online in the next five years. In order to continue to provide the same level of public school excellence so many of our children have enjoyed, particularly related to class size, it is imperative that we plan ahead and provide more space in our schools and fund necessary renovations. Unfortunately, we cannot pay for the necessary expansions/renovations out of existing operating funds, due to the state-imposed 2 percent cap on the amount school taxes can grow year-to-year and because doing so would prevent us from receiving state aid to subsidize the cost of improvements (and, if all three of the questions described below pass, our community will receive an estimated total of $19.9M in state aid). more

To the Editor:

Rejoice! After years of asking, Mercer County is now accepting #5 plastics in our curbside recycling bins. So in 2025, we can recycle all #1, #2, and #5 plastics —including yogurt and condiment containers, amber-colored prescription bottles, take-out containers, beverage caps, and jar lids.

The county says that 91 percent of what we put in the yellow bins gets recycled, so long as it is clean and empty with no plastic bags. Per a recent waste study, of the 26,998 tons of recyclable material collected throughout Mercer County in 2022, 24,568 tons was in fact recycled into new raw materials.

The addition of #5 plastics will not only boost our community’s recycling gains, but also reduce the amount of garbage that goes into our trash bins and landfills, decreasing costs and increasing reuse all around. In a world where it’s not easy to avoid plastics, this is welcome news.

James Bash
Harrison Street

To the Editor:

The 2024 Year in Review [“Growing Town Balances Optimism, Concerns at 2024 Year End,” January 1, page 1] reminds us of what an exceptional place Princeton is to live in. We cannot let the moment pass without recognizing the outstanding year our performing arts organizations had as they brought national and world class talent to our area.

With a distinctive reputation for innovation and individuality, American Repertory Ballet (ARB) is recognized as one of the state’s premier performing arts organizations. Presenting classical repertory alongside new and existing contemporary work, ARB entertained the thousands who attended to start their holiday season with The Nutcracker, and pushed the boundaries with Artist in Residence Ethan Stiefel’s Princeton premiere of VARIANTS.  more

To the Editor:

Among our four families, we currently have nine kids (and one teacher!) in the first-rate Princeton public school system. Three of our children were lucky enough to be involved in the very first year of Community Park’s tremendous dual language program. We’ve got kids in the high school, the middle school, and the elementary school. Some of us grew up in this town and went to school here ourselves. We have all watched our children enter the Princeton school system during kindergarten and thrive in our schools in the many years since. We have seen the town change, the community change, and the schools change over the years. We are writing to ask for your support for the incredibly important upcoming school referendum.

At every point in our time as members of the Princeton community, we have seen significant pushback in any sizeable investment in our schools, even as we are all well-aware that a desirable school system draws professional families to the community and preserves our skyrocketing property values. We are nickel-and-diming our investment in our community’s children. Why? We are here for these schools — and the wonderful community that exists here. For those of us who don’t have children in the system, or whose children have aged out — this is still our community. These are our kids — yours, your neighbors’, your friends’, your family’s. We love this town— in no small part because we love our schools.  more

To the Editor:

Several days ago, a friend sent me an article from The Times of London in which the writer, John Darlington, bemoans the fact that we appear to be living in what he characterizes as the “Garb Age.” Instead of preserving the character of so many buildings that make towns and cities interesting and unique, we use the excuse that adaptively reusing them is too difficult and expensive.

Darlington cites the fact that the demolishing of old buildings in many cases throws away “an enormous amount of embedded carbon and spent energy,” only “to be replaced by a structure that requires still more.” In the U.K. “the building and construction sector is responsible for 40 to 50,000,000 tons of carbon emissions annually” — more than aviation and shipping combined. more

To the Editor:

As residents of Princeton since 1998, we feel very fortunate to live here. Our town’s many public and nonprofit institutions (library, pool, parks and playing fields, schools, universities, Arts Council, McCarter…) make Princeton uniquely vibrant, and enhance the quality of life for all. Directly and indirectly, we all benefit every day from the investments made in the past to build and maintain them.

For the life of our town, our public schools are the most essential of all these institutions. And what distinguishes Princeton Public Schools from similar districts — small class sizes; neighborhood elementary schools that foster strong bonds among families and children; excellent arts, music, STEM, language, and enrichment programs K-12 — can only occur in school buildings that have sufficient classroom capacity, space that is programmed for all of these curricular activities, and most importantly, up-to-date, efficient HVAC infrastructure necessary for safe, healthy learning environments.  more

To the Editor:

Like many of you, we moved to Princeton two decades ago in large part because of the community’s support of its public schools. Our daughter graduated from Princeton High School in 2020; we feel incredibly grateful that she has been privileged to receive an excellent education that helped her become a well-prepared, caring citizen with a strong support network among her classmates, teachers, and community.

We as a family see the January 28 School Referendum as an opportunity to express our gratitude to Princeton and to pay it forward by making sure that today’s and tomorrow’s young families have the same opportunities that our daughter has been given. more

To the Editor:

On January 28, Princeton residents will vote on a three-question referendum to enable the Princeton Public Schools to accommodate sharply rising enrollment. I’m writing to urge my fellow Princetonians to vote yes on all three questions. Over the past few months, I’ve paid close attention to the district’s referendum planning process, and I am deeply impressed by the care and wisdom with which the planners have worked to meet the district’s urgent needs while maximizing state aid and minimizing cost. 

The primary problem the referendum aims to solve is capacity: Princeton is growing, and the schools must keep up. Over the next five years, over a thousand new housing units will come online, and more are likely. This means that we’ll be welcoming hundreds more students into our schools, most of which are already at or over capacity. If we don’t expand our facilities, class size will go up, elementary school attendance zones will be redrawn (with attendant busing costs), and programming will suffer. Expensive stopgap measures like renting trailers to serve as makeshift classrooms will only go so far, likely making another referendum necessary in another few years.  more

To the Editor:

I write in support of the PPS Facilities Bond Referendum and to encourage Princeton voters to approve of the three Referendum questions on the ballot on January 28.

As a longtime resident of Princeton whose children thrived in our schools (grades K-12) quite a few years ago, I feel strongly that Princeton voters today should support the proposed building improvements outlined in the referendum so that the students of today and tomorrow will have the same opportunity to thrive in school as my own kids did.

The proposed improvements are necessary to avoid current and future overcrowding, maintain small class sizes, continue some very important services and programs, create space to serve students better, and allow more students to attend their neighborhood school. From the district’s website and other materials, it is plain to see that much thought and attention has been put into the three referendum questions that address the various needs facing our schools today. more

To the Editor:

Princeton needs more affordable housing, and I am proud to live in a community that has taken its obligations under the state Mount Laurel Doctrine seriously and encouraged the development of new housing, including much needed affordable units. But with Princeton growing, we need a corresponding expansion in the physical capacity of our schools to house the academic classrooms, music venues, social spaces, and athletic facilities that make our district such a great place to learn. 

Princeton residents know that making a house into a home requires upkeep and investment — that’s why there are so many contractor trucks around town renovating heating and cooling systems, adding additional rooms, and making much needed repairs to aging buildings. Most of these homeowners borrowed money to make these needed repairs, and many take advantage of government programs that defray the cost of renovations. That’s just what Princeton Public Schools is doing with its Facilities Bond Referendum, borrowing a reasonable amount of money that will be invested in the physical plant of our schools, and taking advantage of state funding allocated for this type of building program.

I am supporting the Facilities Bond Referendum so that future generations of students can take advantage of Princeton’s excellent academics and award-winning music programs, and so that more students can walk to neighborhood schools. I hope you will too.

Aaron Shkuda
Moore Street

To the Editor:

As a longtime Princeton resident, I am grateful that the public school system provided excellent education opportunities for our three children and continues to be forward thinking in meeting our students’ needs. The referendum presented to us carefully addresses physical plant, learning needs, and cost efficiency; I fully support passing the full measure.

While our children are now in their 30s, my husband and I feel strongly that all of us in our community have a responsibility to support our schools, just as those before us supported the last very successful building expansion and maintenance. We appreciate the approach to expand rather than build new, and to make use of state funds to reduce costs. But above all we support maintaining small class size and spaces comfortable for learning. more

To the Editor:

On behalf of the Sourland Conservancy’s staff, board, and members, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the residents, volunteers, businesses, and community partners who have dedicated their time and energy to restoring the Sourland forest. This week, we achieved an incredible milestone: planting 10,000 native trees and protecting them from deer browse this year alone. Together, we have planted over 50,000 trees and shrubs since 2020, a vital step toward healing our forest.

Our work couldn’t be more urgent. The New Jersey Forest Service estimates that our 90-square-mile region has lost more than one million trees in recent years to the emerald ash borer, an invasive insect. That’s nearly 20 percent of our forest devastated by a single threat. And the challenges don’t end there: overdevelopment, invasive plants, an overpopulation of white-tailed deer, and various pathogens all compound the damage. These threats impair the forest’s ability to filter our air and water, mitigate flooding, and provide food and shelter for wildlife — including the 57 threatened and endangered species that depend on the Sourlands for survival. more

To the Editor:

All anyone has to do is drive by historic Maybury Hill on Snowden Lane in Princeton to see the deer herd chomping away daily. They are now eating boxwood, azaleas, rose buds, acuba, and many other bushes and plants they supposedly hate. The organic sprays used to deter the growing deer population is essentially  pouring money into the ground.

Today we are spending more dollars on netting and a gardener to install. The dog barking and yelling at them is fruitless. Soon our lovely garden and grounds worked on for the last 25 years will be a desert. The deer live in the our woods and are now in the yard 2 pm.-7 a.m. They have learned that our three-acre property is most desirable since they can use the sidewalk to return home to the woods ( our property as well) and not cross in front of traffic.  more

To the Editor:

It is astonishing that taxpayers are being asked to support the shortfall (estimated at $48 million by the Princeton Coalition for Responsible Development) that will eventually result from the proposed tax break being granted to Herring Properties for a gift in lieu of taxes for the “development” of the plot that belonged to Princeton Theological Seminary. This seems egregious,  especially since we are also being asked to approve a $89.1 million bond referendum in January to help Princeton’s schools.  Furthermore, this comes at a time when another group of schoolchildren, perhaps as many as 100 or more (a conservative estimate of incoming children is 150) is arriving — whom we are in effect subventing.

The reasons given in support of offering this break do not carry weight, especially the claim that the gateway into town will be enhanced.  How does the placement of a large development near the entrance to the borough adjacent to historic buildings and a historic district represent enhancement? Or the massive increase in traffic that will result, especially when people go to work?  As it is I can hardly cross Mercer Street to walk my dog during rush hours. I question the assumption that people will walk rather than drive to get the necessary items that they need to live, when the nearest shopping center is over a mile away. more

To the Editor:

I attended the school district’s presentation on the PPS Facilities Bond Referendum on December 9 (recording available on the PPS website) and was very impressed with the thoughtfulness of the district plan. I am writing to urge Princeton voters to approve all three Referendum questions on January 28.

Princeton will be welcoming many new students in the next few years. There are over 1,000 units of housing in the pipeline, with more to come. Meanwhile some of our school buildings are already over-capacity and outdated in design. And certain critical infrastructure, such as the HVAC system at PHS, is overdue for replacement. more