Volume LXXIV, Number 50
New Local Production Company is All About Collaboration . . . . . . . . .5 Permit Parking Task Force Presenting Draft Proposals . . . . . . . . . . 10 Rouse to be Nominated As Chair of Council of Economic Advisers . . . . 12 McCarter Presents Ohio State Murders in Online Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 PU Men’s Hoops Alum Aririguzoh Starting Pro Career in Danish League . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Utilizing Depth, Camaraderie, PDS Girls’ Tennis Enjoyed Undefeated Season . . . .35
Remembering John Lennon in the Second Week of December . . . 20 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors . .24, 25 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 28 Classified Ads . . . . . . 41 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 39 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 38 Performing Arts . . . . . 22 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 8 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 41 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
Council Introduces Ordinance For One-Way Traffic on Part of Witherspoon Street After considering three alternatives, the recommendations of a traffic consultant, and feedback from members of the public and business owners, Princeton Council voted at a special meeting Monday evening to introduce an ordinance to keep traffic one way, going north, on Witherspoon Street between Nassau and Spring streets. This portion of Witherspoon Street has been operating this way for the past several months in order to accommodate outdoor dining and encourage patronage of local businesses that were suffering during the pandemic. But the data that the consultants McMahon Associates considered before making a recommendation was based on pre-COVID conditions, when traffic was much heavier and flowed in both directions. Heather Balgowan of the consulting firm said the company studied three different alternatives — returning the street to two-way traffic, making it pedestrianonly, or keeping it one-way northbound. Their recommendation for the latter also includes some modifications to Wiggins and Chambers streets, and to intersections with Nassau Street. The section of Witherspoon Street in question is part of a larger project to redo the roadway between Nassau Street and Valley Road. “The municipality typically touches a road for a major reconstruction project every 25 to 30 years,” said Deanna Stockton, the town’s municipal engineer. “So this is our time to work on this. We’re looking at what we can do to preserve and enhance this main economic area of downtown Princeton. And how can we find healthy, safe, and equitable improvements to benefit the community?” From meetings and surveys of the public, the priorities that emerged included street lights, outdoor dining, the ability to close the road to vehicles at some times, and drainage, among others. “It really was identifying to us that some sort of a major shift of resource allocation was needed so it wasn’t overly skewed for motor vehicle travel and parking,” Stockton said. The pandemic provided a chance to experiment with the one-way northbound option. “We understand that traffic volume and patterns are nowhere near preCOVID conditions,” Stockton added. “But Continued on Page 8
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Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Vaccine on its Way, as Virus Rates Surge “As we struggle through these last — hopefully last — months of the pandemic, I don’t think it’s a mixed message, but it’s a complicated message,” said Princeton Board of Health (PBOH) Chair Dr. George DiFerdinando in a phone interview on Tuesday. At their meeting held Tuesday night after press time, the PBOH was preparing to vote on an advisory directed at people in the community at high risk — those 65 or older and those with significant health conditions — to help them to protect themselves in this latest surge of COVID-19. “Now is the time for people with high risk conditions to really protect themselves,” DiFerdinando said. “Based on the data we can see in the country, in New Jersey, in Mercer County, and in Princeton, there is virus circulating throughout the community. You should presume that whenever you leave your home, you have a substantial likelihood of being exposed.” DiFerdinando emphasized the difficulty and complexity of the current moment. “It could be as soon as Friday that health care workers in our area will start receiving the vaccine,” he said. “That means there’s a type of light at the end of the tunnel. But between now and the vaccination it’s going to be a really hard six weeks, especially for high-risk people.
Between now and late January it’s going to be both the time when the vaccine is about to show up, and when it looks like there’ll be the most virus ever circulating in the community.” Calling for common sense and safety, not fear, DiFerdinando emphasized that just staying in the house in complete lockdown might not be the best response. If you need to go out, “go, but be safe when you go,” he said, emphasizing that people who need to go to the doctor should cer-
tainly go to the doctor. The PBOH, he said, is boiling down the message, coming also from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), to deliver to Princetonians: Wear a mask at all times when you’re out, and even at home if there are household members who have symptoms. Social distance. Avoid non-essential travel. Avoid public places and gatherings. Stay at home if you’re sick. Limit guests in your home. Continued on Page 7
Search for New PPS Superintendent Moves Into Semi-Final Interview Stage
With a large number of candidates interested in the opportunity to lead the Princeton Public Schools (PPS), the Board of Education (BOE) has started this week on its first round of interviews, by Zoom, for a new superintendent. BOE President Beth Behrend noted that Board members were concerned that the pandemic would reduce the pool of candidates who would be able to leave their current districts at this time, but the BOE received more than 60 applications, about three times the national average for a search of this kind, according to their search consultant Kevin O’Mara, presi-
dent of School Exec Connect. “The search is going very, very well,” O’Mara said, and added that the semifinalists constitute “a very strong slate” of candidates. He emphasized that the consultants had brought forth a diverse field of candidates, as requested by the Princeton BOE. He noted the diversity of the group in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, and geography. On November 17, O’Mara presented the BOE with a slate of semi-final candidates for consideration, based on extensive screening over the previous weeks. In Continued on Page 14
SINGING ON THE SQUARE: The Harmonics Quartet entertained visitors and shoppers around Palmer Square in downtown Princeton on Sunday afternoon . Holiday music will be featured every Saturday and Sunday from noon to 2 p .m . through December 20 . (Photo by Weronika A. Plohn)
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