Volume LXXV, Number 49
www.towntopics.com
Permit Parking Task Force Revising Recommendations In Response to Feedback
Art on Hulfish Gallery Opens . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 PU Breaks Ground for Lake Campus . . . . . . . 8 Traffic, Sales Up for Local Holiday Season . . . . . 12 On the Rooftop with The Beatles in Peter Jackson's Get Back . . . . . . . . . 17 PU Orchestra Journeys to Alice’s Wonderland . . 18 PHS Soccer Star Lis, Hun QB Lainez Are Town Topics Leading Fall Performers . .30 Boasting Young Talent, PDS Girls’ Hockey Primed For Big Winter . . . . . 33
Tosan Evbuomwan Helps PU Men’s Hoops Top Drexel in OT . . . . . . . 28 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors . . . . 43 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 25 Classified Ads . . . . . . 38 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 16 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 26 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 36 Performing Arts . . . . . 19 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 6 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 38 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
Having encountered strong resistance from some corners of the community to its initial ideas for solving the town’s parking issues, the Princeton Permit Parking Task Force (PPTF) has been working to revise its recommendations. The task force intends to present the revamped proposals to the governing body “in the coming year,” according to a press release. Electronic license plate readers, labeled an invasion of privacy by some residents, are not part of the new proposal. Houses with no driveways in the Tree Street and Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhoods would be eligible for one free permit for on-street parking. A second permit could be purchased for $240 a year by these residents, or those with driveways accommodating a single car. Bank Street, where there has been three-hour free parking, would allow resident permit parking only. Bank Street residents without driveways would get one free permit per household. “The concept of community outreach and participatory government is to hear and process the feedback from the community, while striving to strike a balance between all parties’ goals and desires,” said Councilperson Michelle Pirone Lambros, in the release. “We are working with the PPTF and with community leaders in all neighborhoods and throughout the business district, to listen and work toward solutions that consider all parties’ interests.” Additional Councilmembers on the task force are Councilmember David Cohen and Council President Leticia Fraga. Residents of different neighborhoods, the police, and local merchants are among others serving on the committee. Formed three years ago, the task force recently ran into opposition from residents, primarily from the Western Section, who feared their streets would be clogged with cars parked by daytime employees of downtown businesses. As a result, a work session scheduled for a Council meeting last month was postponed. The new recommendations do not mention parking in the Western Section. “When the PPTF was initiated by mayor and Council back in 2019, it had as its primary goal to give residents the ability to park on their streets in neighborhoods Continued on Page 10
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Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Princeton COVID Case Numbers Level Off The Princeton Health Department reported on Monday a total of 24 new COVID-19 cases in the previous seven days and 59 in the previous 14 days, with 82 percent of Princeton residents age 12 and over fully vaccinated. Princeton Public Schools recorded a total of eight new cases, including five students and three staff members, for the week ending December 3. Princeton University has announced its campus risk status as “moderate to high” with 71 new cases reported between November 27 and December 3 for a 0.34 percent positivity rate. Meanwhile the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) on Monday announced increases in new cases and hospitalizations and a rise in the transmission rate to 1.26, with any rate over 1 indicating an expansion of the pandemic. “The local numbers are not dropping off, but not really increasing,” said Princeton Deputy Administrator for Health and Community Services Jeff Grosser. Noting rising rates throughout the region, he pointed out that many of the new infections in Princeton and elsewhere are occurring in unvaccinated individuals as well as many breakthroughs, mainly among those vaccinated more than six months
ago who have not gotten booster shots. “The booster is definitely necessary,” he said, and added that, among those who have been vaccinated, reported cases are almost always mild. Grosser pointed out that the numbers of new cases are about even across the spectrum of ages, but that the highest totals come from the 18- to 29-year-old population, which, at 68 percent, make up the group least fully vaccinated. Grosser applauded the 5- to 11-year-olds (and their
parents), citing a 54 percent vaccination rate as of November 30. Grosser added that Princeton 12- to 17-year-olds have a 98 percent vaccination rate. He urged parents to continue to bring their children for the pediatric vaccine and to “make sure you’re getting the boosters for yourselves at the same time. That’s almost as important as the original vaccine.” Concerning the Omicron variant that was first detected in South Africa and has recently spread around the globe with the Continued on Page 14
Plans for Princeton Cannabis Dispensaries Face Resistance, Move Ahead Cautiously
The Princeton Cannabis Task Force (CTF) is moving ahead in preparing to recommend an ordinance to Princeton Council to allow up to three retail cannabis dispensaries in town, despite concerns and objections expressed by a number of residents. The 23-member task force is scheduled to meet on December 16, when it will review its preliminary recommendations, which were presented and faced significant public resistance at a special Princeton Council meeting on November 30. The CTF will be considering recent community input and discussing whether
to amend or revise its recommendations before submitting them for further study to the municipality’s legal team, the Princeton Police Department, and zoning and planning boards, before presenting an ordinance proposal to Princeton Council in January or February. Among the issues likely to be considered at the December 16 meeting are the question of the number of dispensaries allowed in town, with the suggestion that starting with just one might be wise; and the question of the required distance permitted between schools and cannabis Continued on Page 15
CELEBRATING HANUKKAH: The Annual Menorah Lighting, hosted by The Jewish Center, was held on Sunday afternoon at the Nassau Inn patio on Palmer Square. Participants share what they got for Hanukkah this year in this week’s Town Talk on page 6. (Photo by Weronika A. Plohn)
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