Volume LXXIII, Number 29
Health & Wellness Pages 26-33 Summer Stargazing Locales . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Suppers Program Faces a Sobering Future . . . . 10 Good Night Moon and the 50th Anniversary of Armstrong’s First Step . 15 PU Summer Chamber Concerts Closes Season with String Quartet . . . 16 Former PU Baseball Star Gross Pitching in Twins Organization . . . . . . . . 34 PDS Alum Franzoni Enjoys Big Debut Campaign for Xavier Baseball . . . . . . 36
Teacher Brian Ciuffreda Heads PCS Operation Smile Club . . . . . . . . . . 9 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors . .24, 25 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 21 Classified Ads . . . . . . 40 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Music/Theater . . . . . . 17 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 22 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 39 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 4 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 40 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
Toxic Algae Blooms Close Rosedale Lake To Swimming, Boating There has been no swimming, boating, or fishing on Rosedale Lake at Pennington’s Mercer Meadows Park this summer. The culprit is the discovery of a harmful algal bloom (HAB), which has also closed the Spruce Run Reservoir in Hunterdon County and Lake Hopatcong in Morris and Sussex counties. Stormwater experts blame the problem on a lack of watershed protections and stormwater management at the state level. But according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), updates to the state’s stormwater management rules, which were rolled back under the Christie administration, have been proposed and are pending adoption. “This is going to be the summer of closed swimming areas. Rosedale Lake in Mercer County has now joined the list,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, in a press release. “The failure to implement proper watershed protections and stormwater management have allowed harmful algal blooms (HAB) to get out of hand. Lake Hopatcong has been shut down since June 27. The Spruce Run Reservoir has been off limits to swimmers for more than a month. Swartswood Lake was closed for a week in June before reopening. Overdevelopment and stormwater runoff are causing nutrients to pour into our lakes allowing the algae to thrive.” Freshwater HABs are formed from bacteria carried in by nutrients primarily from septics and lawn and garden fertilizer. The algae can cause severe skin rashes. If swallowed the polluted water can cause abdominal pain, headaches, and vomiting. Pets should also be kept away from water where the algae blooms are present. According to Mike Pisauro, policy director of The Watershed Institute, the presence of the HAB is not entirely abnormal. “But we need to step up prevention and reducing the sources of this stuff,” he said. “There were eight years of rollbacks on many levels during the Christie administration. The Murphy administration is moving, but probably not as fast as many of us would like. But they are moving forward.” In part, Pisauro said, the harmful blooms are caused by nutrient-rich Continued on Page 8
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Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Demonstrators Urge “Close the Camps” Lighting candles “for liberty,” carrying signs, and chanting “close the camps,” more than 400 demonstrators gathered in Hinds Plaza Friday night to rally for immigrants’ rights and to protest policies of the Trump administration. Sponsored by several local activist groups, Princeton’s Lights for Liberty: A Vigil to End Human Detention Camps was one of more than 700 events held across the country and around the world as tensions continue to rise over conditions at border detention centers and warnings of large-scale nationwide immigration raids. “Values of our country are being trampled on again and again under this administration,” Princeton Councilwoman Leticia Fraga told the demonstrators. “We must demand that our country keep its promises. We cannot look away.” One of a range of speakers who spoke about conditions at the border, policies in Washington, and consequences locally, Fraga continued, “We are here because we are outraged because of what is taking place at our borders.” After playing a tape recording of children who have separated from their parents, Fraga urged the crowd, “Let’s march. Let’s shout. Let’s protest, so that
when the history of what we have lived through is written, it will be known that we did not agree.” The two-hour event featured more than 20 different speakers, including local officials, representatives of many different organizations, and several Dreamers and other recent immigrants. Demonstrators filled the plaza, many carrying signs and posters with such messages as “No Person is Illegal,” “#Don’t Look Away,” “Caging Children is a Crime, Not a Business
Model,” “My America Welcomes Immigrants,” “Families Belong Together,” “End the Inhumanity,” and Separating Migrant Families is Inhumane.” Representatives from Princeton Human Services, Princeton YMCA and YWCA, RISE, Solidaridad, Latin American Legal and Defense Education Fund (LALDEF), and other local organizations provided information about services, resources, and support for immigrants. Speakers urged Continued on Page 7
AvalonBay Purchases Thanet Property; Affordable Housing Options Considered
AvalonBayCommunities, Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT) that already owns 280 apartment units on Witherspoon Street, has recently signed a contract to purchase for an undisclosed amount the 15-acre Thanet property at 100 and 101 Thanet Circle off Terhune Road from the KABR Group, a real estate developer based in Ridgefield Park. Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert announced at last week’s Council meeting that the town has been in discussions with AvalonBay over “a number of options for including affordable housing as part of
any future development there.” Lempert could not disclose further details about the Thanet sale, but she did comment briefly on the the town’s ongoing work in revising its affordable housing proposal. She noted that they are close to a final plan, but “we have not yet reached a final settlement and, therefore, we are precluded from sharing details of those discussions or our proposed plan at this time.” She did mention that one addition to the plan is the former SAVE site at 900 Continued on Page 12
FAIRY FUN: A magical array of participants lined up to show off their costumes in the Fairy Fashion Show, held last Saturday at the annual Summer Fairy Festival at The Watershed Institute in Pennington . The event also featured crafts, dancing around the maypole, constructing villages, and strolling with water sprites . Festivalgoers share their favorite magical story or character in this week’s Town Talk on page 6 . (Photo by Erica M. Cardenas)