Volume LXXV, Number 31
www.towntopics.com
COVID Numbers Rise; New Challenges Face Princeton Community
“The Art of the Dog” Workshop Returning to Morven . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 PPS Board Approves $17 .5M Proposal For Maintenance Referendum . . . . . . . . . 10 The Spotted Lanternfly Is Back . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 PU Alumna McGarvie Reilly Inducted into N .J . Lax Hall of Fame . . . 26 Former PHS Stars Black, Levy Help LoyalTees Earn Summer Hoops 3-Peat . . . . . . 29
Celebrating Louis Armstrong’s 120th Birthday in This Week’s Book Review . . . . . . 16 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 21 Classified Ads . . . . . . 31 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 15 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 24 Performing Arts . . . . . 17 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 31 School Matters . . . . . . 14 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
As new case numbers of COVID-19 continue to rise locally, statewide, and across the country, health department officials are struggling to gain perspective on the resurgent pandemic and to devise strategies to combat its frequently changing manifestations. As of Monday, August 2, the Princeton Health Department reported an increase in new COVID-19 cases to 10 in the past seven days, 14 in the past 14 days in Princeton. On Tuesday, the state of New Jersey reported an additional 1,173 COVID-19 cases, with a seven-day average of 977 new cases, more than four times the average a month ago. “We are beginning to witness how COVID-19 will affect our lives longterm,” wrote Princeton Health Officer Jeff Grosser in an August 3 email. “Variants are likely to continue to emerge, and with each new strain new precautions, or existing precautions, may be put back into place to curb new disease transmissions.” Grosser pointed out that Princeton is dealing with problems similar to those throughout the state, with an uptick in infections and the Delta variant now accounting for about 86 percent of new infections in New Jersey. He described some of the challenges facing his department. “A major role of epidemiology is to provide a clue to changes that take place over time in the health problems we are experiencing as a community,” he wrote. “With a novel virus it’s likely that what worked last month may or may not work this month. What works in one city for disease prevention may not work in another.” Emphasizing the unpredictable nature of the Delta variant, he added, “We need to draw up another play in the playbook depending on how we expect a disease to interact with the community next.” He continued, “Our focus has been and will continue to be identifying subgroups within the population who are at high risk for disease. We need to remember that the COVID-19 vaccine’s main purpose is to reduce hospitalization and death, which it has.” The Princeton Health Department continues to monitor COVID-19 community transmission levels, the Delta variant, and vaccination coverage levels. Princeton’s Continued on Page 8
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Wednesday, August 4, 2021
No Injuries in Fire at Princeton Seminary An early morning fire on Tuesday, August 3 at Lenox House, a 19th century building that houses faculty offices at Princeton Theological Seminary, sent flames through the roof and closed surrounding streets for several hours while news helicopters whirled overhead. No one was in the building at the time, and no injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation. This was the second time in the past four days that a two-alarm fire has broken out in Princeton’s Western Section. Just after 4 a.m. on Saturday, July 31, a fire was reported in the garage of a residence on Armour Road. There were no injuries. The blaze is under investigation. Princeton Theological Seminary Security contacted the Princeton Police Department at 5:11 a.m. on Tuesday to report the Lenox House fire. The Princeton Fire Department and Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad were dispatched, and found flames shooting through the roof of the building and on the third floor. Mutual aid came from Princeton Plasma Physics Lab’s fire department, and from fire departments of Plainsboro, Princeton Junction, Rocky Hill, Kingston, Lawrenceville, Hopewell, Montgomery #1 and #2, and Monmouth Junction, as well as a recall of the career firefighter staff. The blaze was put
under control by 7:11 a.m. Carolyne Murff, who lives across the street, woke up at 5:30 a.m. to see flames shooting through the roof of Lenox House. “The police were already there. Then everything went kind of crazy,” she said. “It started in the back of the house. I took pictures from the corner of my yard.” Murff was especially impressed with the quick response to the situation from neighboring fire departments. “I was just amazed at the way people came out to
help,” she said. “To watch them all come together and do it on a volunteer basis … it is very stressful for those guys doing that.” Lenox House is one of four distinctive buildings on the corner of Stockton Street and Library Place. It is considered to be architecturally significant. According to information from the Historical Society of Princeton, it was built between 1878 and 1879 and designed by architect Richard Continued on Page 8
Vision for Witherspoon Street Corridor Highlights Joint Effort Safe Streets Event The future of the Witherspoon Street corridor and the future of the Witherspoon-Jackson community were in the spotlight as Joint Effort WitherspoonJackson Princeton Safe Streets 2021 moved into high gear on Monday, August 2 with a reception and community program. “This is a work in progress for discussion and input, not a final design,” said architect and Studio Hillier Principal J. Robert (Bob) Hillier, a Town Topics shareholder, in presenting his plan with PowerPoint, photos, and design illustrations for the restoration of the neighborhood. “There was a great community here,”
he continued. “Shirley [Satterfield] tells the story better than anyone. It was a proud community. What we’re going to do architecturally is return it to being a proud community, where everybody can afford to live and live here nicely.” In addition to Hillier’s presentation, the program, at Studio Hillier on Witherspoon Street, featured remarks by a number of local elected officials; tributes to Hillier and his wife, Studio Hillier Principal Barbara Hillier; and a mayoral proclamation of appreciation honoring Joint Effort Witherspoon-Jackson Princeton Safe Streets for its contributions to the community over Continued on Page 13
THROUGH THE ROOF: Lenox House, the brick building at Stockton Street and Library Place, was the scene of a two-alarm fire early Tuesday morning . (Photo by Carolyne Murff)