Volume LXXIV, Number 51
Princeton Gift Shop Pages 28-29 About 100 New Works Planned for Music Marathon . . . . . . . . . . . .5 PU Grad Students, Faculty Provide PPE to Medical Center . . . . . . . .9 Planning Board Approves Renovation Plans for Former Packet Building . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Passage Theatre Presents Online Reading of Christmas 2.0 . . . . . . . 20 PU Hoops Alum Schroeder Moving Up the Coaching Ranks at Saint Mary’s . . .33 Overcoming 1-4 Start, PDS Field Hockey Produced Winning Season . . . . . . .36
Reading Northanger Abbey on Jane Austen's Birthday . . . . . . . . . . 19 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors . .22, 23 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 27 Classified Ads . . . . . . 40 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 38 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 32 Performing Arts . . . . . 24 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 40 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
Rental Assistance and University Reopening Among Topics of Council A series of reports on various topics were the focus of Princeton Council’s virtual meeting Monday night, December 14. The governing body heard presentations on a collaborative program from Housing Initiatives of Princeton (HIP) to provide rental assistance to those faced with eviction as a result of the pandemic, reopening plans for Princeton University in the coming semester, and a new racial equity impact assessment toolkit developed by the Civil Rights Commission. Council also passed several resolutions, including one approving a new voluntary contribution agreement with Princeton University effective for the next two years. HIP has a history of providing rental assistance. A round of funding that came largely from Princeton University and community donations ran out in August, and the organization began exploring a second round. With the help of a community development block grant, a sevenmember committee — including bilingual, Spanish-speaking representatives — has come up with a plan for funding for three consecutive months. “There is an eviction moratorium, but that eventually will be lifted,” said Carol Golden, HIP chair. “The goal is for people to not be in such a deep hole at that time that they can never catch up.” Retired Judge Philip Carchman, who worked on the committee with some retired attorneys, said they developed a mediation program to try to help spread the money as widely as possible, keeping the tenants safe and making sure landlords are not without funds. “The idea was to try to develop a mediation program as a methodology for landlords and tenants to resolve the issue of outstanding rent,” he said, adding, “The objective was to reach an accord for a three-month period, allowing the landlord to be satisfied and the tenants to remain.” In the program which Carchman described as “safe and straightforward,” each mediation will involve a landlord and his or her representative; a tenant with counsel; an interpreter if necessary; a technical person to run the virtual meeting; and a mediator. A test session — in which Carchman served as mediator with a landlord, tenant, and volunteer interpreter — resulted in a successful Continued on Page 8
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Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Vaccines Arrive; New Cases Continue to Rise The first COVID-19 vaccine doses in New Jersey were administered yesterday morning, Tuesday, December 15, to frontline health care workers at University Hospital in Newark. Other hospitals and health care facilities across the state began vaccinating frontline health care workers throughout the day. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has announced that the first batch of 76,000 Pfizer vaccines will go to health care workers and to residents and workers at longterm care facilities. An additional 86,000 vaccines from Pfizer are scheduled for delivery to New Jersey next week, and the Moderna vaccine is expected to arrive around December 22. The Pfizer vaccine received approval from federal health authorities last Friday, December 11. In the second of four phases of vaccine distribution, after health care workers and long-term care facilities workers and residents, doses will go to other essential workers and first responders, followed by people over 65 and people with underlying health conditions. The last phase will be the general population. “If all goes as expected,” said Princeton Press and Media Communications Director Fred Williams, “the timeline should take us into late spring, early summer.” Distribution plans for Princeton and the
surrounding area are being coordinated with the county and other municipal officials, he added, and more details will be available when these plans are finalized. In the midst of the second wave of the pandemic, infection rates in Princeton and throughout the state continued to rise. The Princeton Health Department on Monday, December 14, reported a record 59 new cases in the previous 14 days, its highest two-week total, surpassing the previous high of 55 cases registered last
month. There were 29 new cases in the previous seven days, fewer than the highest seven-day total of 35 cases reported between November 18 and 24. “The Princeton community has seen this second wave really take off in late October through the present day,” Princeton Health Officer Jeff Grosser wrote in an email. “We all keep hearing about a ‘Thanksgiving surge,’ but in reality these cases have been on their way up at an Continued on Page 10
Princeton’s Cycling Status Rises, Most Bike-Friendly Town in the State
Princeton has been awarded a silverlevel Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) award by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB). Princeton is one of only six BFCs in New Jersey and the only one in the state to attain the silver level. Princeton Bicycle Advisory Committee (PBAC) Chair Lisa Serieyssol and Princeton Council President David Cohen pointed out several of the accomplishments that are helping to make Princeton, the most bike-friendly town in the state, a safer and better place for people to bike. “We are grateful that our recent bikefriendly initiatives such as installation
of 10 miles of bike boulevards in town; passage of a bicycle parking ordinance for private development; installation of upgraded ‘Safe Routes to School’ traffic signals; promoting and enhancing bicycle safety education in our schools; and purchasing and installing much-needed seasonal public bike parking corrals in the center of town have been recognized by the League of American Cyclists,” said Serieyssol. In announcing the award, Bill Nesper, executive director of the LAB, noted that the award is the culmination of many Continued on Page 7
HANUKKAH CELEBRATION: The Annual Menorah Lighting, hosted by The Jewish Center, was held Sunday afternoon at the Nassau Inn Patio on Palmer Square . Participants share how the pandemic has changed the way they celebrate Hanukkah in this week’s Town Talk on page 6 . (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)
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