Volume LXXV, Number 19
www.towntopics.com
Parking Task Force Is Almost Ready To Present Plan
Brood X Cicadas Coming Soon to Princeton . . . . . 5 Witherspoon Street Plans Are Focus of Council Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 NJSO Presents First of Concert Film Trilogy . . . 15 Spiral and Other Wonders Of the Wasteland — A Pandemic Adventure . . 16 PHS Golf Coming Up Big in Coach Severance’s Final Season at the Helm . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Hogshire Stars as PDS Boys’ Lax Advances To State Prep B Title Game . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Longtime PHS Counselor Lenora Keel to Be Honored . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors . .20, 21 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 19 Classified Ads . . . . . . 33 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 14 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 24 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 32 Performing Arts . . . . . 17 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 6 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 33 School Matters . . . . . . 11 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
Thanks to new technology, the parking woes that plague different neighborhoods of Princeton could soon be eased. The Permit Parking Task Force has been working on coming up with a better system for residents, employees, and customers of local businesses in areas where spaces are at a premium. At a meeting of the Princeton Merchants Association last week, Councilman David Cohen gave an update on proposed changes to help with permit parking. Cohen and fellow Council members Leticia Fraga and Michelle Pirone Lambros are on the task force, along with local residents and business owners. The Council members plan to hold a work session on the issue at the next Council meeting on May 24. A gathering with residents of the town’s Western Section is being planned for sometime next week. The task force, which is preparing a draft proposal, has already met with residents and businesses in the Tree Streets and Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhoods. “We’re working to create a system that is fairly consistent town-wide,” said Cohen, “making the rules responsive to varying needs for parking at different hours of the day and days of the week. We also want to put a lot of emphasis on customer parking as well as employee parking. We’re planning to create three hours of shared parking on every street in the permit zones, except for Bank Street, for residents and visitors. We chose the three-hour duration to align with the fact that the meters are [already] for that duration.” The problem is particularly acute in the Tree Streets neighborhood, where there currently is all-day parking that fills up with employees of nearby Nassau Street businesses and University-affiliated users. “We want to free up some of those spots there, and also in the high school zones,” Cohen said. For employee parking, permits will be issued on a block-by-block basis to ensure that the employees are spread out instead of clustered in the blocks closest to the businesses. The idea is to give out permits to 50 percent of employees, to be used only on certain streets so as not to take away from customer parking. Cooperation by residents across Nassau Continued on Page 11
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Wednesday, May 12, 2021
Princeton COVID Cases Continue to Decline The Princeton Health Department reported on Monday, May 10, just two positive cases of COVID-19 in the previous seven days for a 0.28 daily average, and just five cases in the previous 14 days for a 0.35 daily average. Princeton Health Officer Jeff Grosser pointed out a decline of 45 percent in the number of positive cases from March to April this year, with a decline of 55 percent from the two-week period April 7-20 to the two-week period April 21-May 4. “Public health restrictions will continue to ease as case counts decrease,” Grosser said. “Next Wednesday, May 19, will be a big moment for businesses and restaurants as indoor capacities are lifted altogether.” Indoor masking and social distancing rules will remain, with groups required to remain six feet apart. This may prevent smaller businesses and restaurants from resuming full capacity. With more than 50 percent of New Jersey’s 6.9 million adults vaccinated, the Princeton Health Department is beginning to shift focus and resources into “pop-up” vaccine clinics, Grosser said. “These clinics are spurred by community outreach to our office, informing us of interested residents/workers/students, etc. Instead of continuing to perform clinics at one site in town, our staff take the vaccine equipment and resources to the areas in need of vaccine in order to pro-
vide convenience and break down any existing barriers to receiving the vaccine.” The health department held a walk-in vaccination clinic last Friday, May 7, at La Mexicana on Witherspoon Street. The surrounding businesses of El Chapin and Conexion Latina provided extra space, assistance, and communication. Vaccinations were provided from 5:45 a.m. to 9 a.m., as 39 individuals were vaccinated, the majority being residents of the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood.
“We also passed out vaccine education materials and talked with those who were unsure about getting vaccinated,” said Grosser. With the approval on Monday, May 10, by the FDA to open Pfizer vaccines to the 12-15 age range, the health department is in active conversations with Princeton Nassau Pediatrics and Princeton University on the best way to deliver vaccinations to this age group in Princeton. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Continued on Page 8
HomeFront Collects More Than a Million Diapers to Help Local Babies, Parents in Need The ambitious original goal for the HomeFront Diaper Challenge was 250,000 diapers and wipes to be collected between March and Mother’s Day this year. But after an overwhelming response from the community, including diaper drives by schools, churches, and neighborhood groups, HomeFront increased the goal to 500,000 about four weeks ago. “We’re here to open the door,” said HomeFront COO Sarah Steward, standing in front of the warehouse doors at the Monday, May 10, Diaper Challenge World Record Event at the HomeFront Family Campus in Ewing. The doors opened to reveal more than one million diapers and
wipes piled high. “It’s an incredibly generous community,” Steward added, “ so thank you all for that, and thanks to the partnerships to make sure all moms have access to diapers and wipes.” Tammy Murphy, New Jersey first lady and keynote speaker for the celebration, expressed her gratitude to HomeFront “as a key partner in our mission to support New Jersey mothers and babies,” and pointed out that HomeFront has already distributed more than 630,000 diapers and wipes to families in central New Jersey since 2018. “This has served as a lifeline to moms struggling to make ends meet, and Continued on Page 12
“HELLO WORLD”: The Arts Council of Princeton recently unveiled its latest community mural on the corner of Witherspoon and Spring streets . Inspired by the new life brought about by springtime, the work is the fourth in the Arts Council’s public art series including “Stronger Together,” “Vote,” and “Local Love .” (Photo by Weronika A. Plohn)
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