Volume LXXVI, Number 11
Specialty Menus Pages 19-21 Invasive Species Comic Book by Hopewell Student Wins Award . . 5 Priestley Named New PU Graduate School Dean . .9 Pear Trees on Witherspoon To Be Replaced . . . . . .11 Princeton Pro Musica Presents Musical Tribute To Anne Frank . . . . . 16 Bill Irwin to Bring On Beckett to McCarter . . 17 Goalie Peters Stars as PU Men’s Lacrosse Defeats Rutgers . . . . . . . . . . . 28 PHS Wrestler Mele Became 1st Freshman in Program History to Make States .30
Remembering Procol Harum’s Gary Brooker in This Week’s Record Review . . . . . . . 15 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 24 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 35 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 12 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 25 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 34 Performing Arts . . . . . 17 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 35 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Graduate Hotel Developers Want Part of Chambers Street to Be One-Way At a meeting of Princeton Council Monday evening, members of the governing body were not pleased to find out that the developers of the Graduate Hotel at 20 Nassau Street had requested a change in plans to keep Chambers Street open to two-way traffic during the two-year construction project. As explained by the developers’ attorney Christopher DeGrezia and construction manager David Chipman, the proposed change comes after a closer look at how wide the road needs to be to allow for barriers and scaffolding. The travel lane could be only 15 feet wide, which they said is not enough for two-way traffic. They asked Council to permit oneway traffic for the portion of Chambers Street that is closest to Nassau Street, while the remainder in front of 16, 22, and 32 Chambers, plus the parking garage, would remain two-way. Councilmember Eve Niedergang called the request disturbing. “So the assurances we’ve given the business community have gone down the toilet,” she said. “You’re saying you made a mistake and now you’re asking us to go back on the commitment we have made.” Councilmember Mia Sacks commented that this is not a good start to the construction process. Councilmember Michelle Pirone Lambros said, “We thought there was already a promise that this would remain two-way. I don’t see how two-way was ever on the table.” The hotel representatives said their priorities are safety for the public and construction workers, and admitted a mistake had been made. In recent meetings with public safety officials, concerns were raised about the two-way traffic, DeGrezia said, and the developers were asked to take a closer look. “We have come up with what we think is the safest approach,” he said. “We want to be safe and create as little disturbance to downtown as possible.” Some members of the business community offered their opposition to the one-way configuration. Lori Rabon, vice president of Palmer Square Management and general manager of The Nassau Inn, said the idea “would amount to total traffic gridlock in the central business district,” adding she has always been in favor of the hotel. “Unfortunately, we Continued on Page 9
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Two Years, 2,372 Cases, Many Lessons Learned The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Princeton was reported two years ago, on Friday, March 13, 2020. Two days later the Princeton Health Department recorded the second, third, and fourth cases. By Monday, March 14, 2022, as the Omicron variant spike continued to decline, the two-year total had reached 2,372. Princeton Deputy Administrator for Health and Community Services Jeff Grosser recalled the battle that he, the Princeton Health Department, and the community have been waging against COVID-19 over the past two years. He reflected on successes, decisions made that helped to mitigate the impact of the pandemic; turning points; areas where Princeton and other communities could have done better; and lessons learned, especially those that might help in confronting the next new virus. Grosser’s memories of the first weeks of the pandemic were especially vivid. “It seemed at the time that more information was coming in than could be digested in a 24-hour period,” he said. “We often compared it to final exam cramming every day for those first six months. The first couple of months of the pandemic, on my drive into work, it felt apocalyptic. Oddly enough it became normal after a while.”
In March 2020 municipal buildings were closed to the public, and public meetings went remote. “This transition should not be overlooked,” said Grosser. “The moving of nearly all municipal operations to an electronic format was, and still is, a remarkable feat.” In the early days of the pandemic, then-Mayor Liz Lempert and then-Police Chief Nick Sutter created a COVID-19 Emergency Task Force. The Princeton Board of Health, with its breadth of
medical and governmental public health expertise, sat in on those meetings, which were held seven days each week from March to June 2020 before being scaled back to five days a week until November 2020. Along with Dr. Meredith Hodach Avalos, Dr. George DiFerdinando, and other Board of Health members, who were constantly researching and keeping watch on the quickly evolving pandemic, the health department worked through local Continued on Page 8
Social Justice Center Finds New Home, Celebrates Reopening on March 19
The Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice (BRSSJ), which moved out of its Wiggins Street home at the start of the pandemic and has carried on virtually since then, is ready to open its new headquarters in the heart of Princeton at 12 Stockton Street and to celebrate with a “Coming Out Party and Open House” on Saturday, March 19 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. In its invitation, the BRCSJ promises a “wonderful celebration” with “inspirational community leaders, supa’glam guest stars,” and refreshments, as they continue their work to advance “gender, identity,
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feminist, queer, electoral, environmental, birth, and all racial and social justice issues,” and welcome their guests to this safe space, educational bridge, and community activist center. “We’re looking to gather people, to have them understand that we’re back in town, and we’re here for them both on an individual basis and a community basis,” said BRCSJ Chief Activist Robt Seda-Schreiber. “We’re going to fly our flag, our rainbow colors, our transgender colors, our Black power colors, so that people know that there’s a space for them Continued on Page 10
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GOING WILD: Members of the Princeton University women’s basketball team leap to their feet at Jadwin Gym last Sunday night after they learned that they will be facing Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Princeton, now 24-4, is seeded 11th in the Bridgeport Region and will face the sixth-seeded Wildcats (19-11) in a first round contest on March 19 in Bloomington, See12pm-5pm page 26 for more details on the Friday, SaturdayInd. & Sunday team’s postseason run. Enjoy Open Air, Outdoor Seating in Historic Apple Orchard (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski) Wine by the glass, Wine Flights & Refreshing Wine Slushies Light fare available
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