Protecting Landscaping Workers And Our Air Quality: You Can Help
To the Editor: The recent renewed national focus on equity as well as the multiple impacts of the coronavirus pandemic have made it especially important to focus on protecting everyone’s health, especially the health of outdoor workers in our community. During the summer months, when poor air quality already poses a health risk, the use of gas-powered lawn equipment for landscaping maintenance in general, and gas-powered leaf blowers in particular, makes the problem even worse. Lawn equipment and leaf blowers emit pollutants and fine particulates that are hazardous to human health and are often loud enough to damage the hearing of workers who are not adequately protected. Homeowners and businesses that employ landscaping services can help by asking them to limit or discontinue the use of gas-powered leaf blowers and/or convert to electric or battery-powered equipment and to provide hearing protection for all workers. Cloth face coverings also may be of some respiratory protection, and of course should be available, and worn, when workers cannot maintain physical distancing from each other while working or traveling between work sites. For a list of landscapers that use electric and batterypowered equipment and other less polluting and quieter methods, please visit www.quietprinceton.org and click on “quiet landscapers.” DR. GEORGE DIFERDINANDO JR., MD, MPH Chair, Board Of Health Clover Lane SOPHIE GLOVIER Chair, Princeton Environmental Commission Drakes Corner Road
To the Editor: Beth Behrend is the person Princeton needs to continue to lead the School Board. Her consistent, calm demeanor will help guide our school system through challenging times. We need her experience from the past couple of years: managing the hiring of an interim superintendent, navigating our entry into the world of virtual education, and holding the importance of unity in the midst of diverse pressures. As we move into the coming challenges we need continuity and collaboration. We need her philosophy that we are all in this together. Her leadership of the Board of Education has been notable for its inclusivity, its professional approach to complex issues, and its vision for the future of schools in Princeton. A unified School Board will be needed to hire the very best permanent superintendent and assistant superintendent of schools for our town. Beth brings personal experience of teaching children – I taught with her in a religious education program at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation and observed her love of children in action and her ability to engage their curiosity in learning. Beth brings administrative experience from time serving on the board of trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation. Beth brings legal experience – understanding the emerging laws regarding education and having the facility to deal with litigious issues will be essential in the coming months. Beth is All About the Kids! Her commitment to the children of our town is primary. She firmly believes public education is the keystone of our democracy. Please join me and my husband Carl in voting for Beth Behrend for School Board in the election on November 3, 2020. REV. CAROL S. HAAG Ridgeview Circle
In my view, the PPS plan to reopen schools places our most vulnerable students at risk of further learning loss and behavioral health issues and needs to be re-thought to ensure a quality academic and social-emotional learning experience for all Princeton students. The current plan shows an appalling lack of creativity, care, and concern for the long-term welfare of our children. MARGARET JOHNSON Burr Drive
Seeing Merits and Flaws in Planned Franklin/Witherspoon Housing Project
13 • TOWN TOPICS, PRINCETON, N.J., WEdNESday, auguST 5, 2020
Mailbox
Letters do not necessarily reflect the views of Town Topics Email letters to: editor@towntopics.com or mail to: Town Topics, PO Box 125, Kingston, NJ 08528
Behrend’s Consistent, Calm Demeanor Will Help Guide School System Through Challenging Times
To the Editor: As a neighbor of the planned Franklin/Witherspoon housing project, I see merits and flaws. It is a laudable goal to expand and improve affordable housing. The housing needs to be more than a stark apartment complex; it should feature green spaces throughout to give it a gracious quality. Also, it should rise no more than two stories on Franklin Avenue and three stories on Witherspoon Street, so as to fit the residential neighborhood. The neighborhood is already the most overcrowded one in Princeton, thanks to the AvalonBay housing. Now the planner wants to add, in addition to the affordable housing, in the same space, 80 luxury apartments, with the most expensive ones costing over $4,000 a month. There are enough high-priced apartments in the Avalon complex as it is! The argument is that the income from the luxury apartments will finance future affordable housing. Has anybody seen the calculations for the profits after deductions for building management, maintenance, and finance fees? I wonder how much will be really left to finance future affordable housing. With the nearby schools there is a daily traffic jam from 8 to 9 a.m., and after 3 p.m., on Franklin Avenue going from Moore to the Avalon Project, and long lines in both directions on Jefferson and Moore streets. Why does the new project need a garage? The nearby “hospital parking” garage is underused and the argument for expanding affordable housing in this neighborhood was that it should be walking distance to downtown. Finally, a note in the time of the coronavirus pandemic: Writers’ note: This letter was endorsed by both the Princ- To the Editor: The denser a neighborhood and its rental units, the greater I am deeply disappointed in the Princeton Public School the risk of spreading infections. eton Board of Health and the Princeton Environmental Board’s reopening plan for elementary schools. Limiting Commission at their July meetings. MARKUS WIENER our youngest students to two half-days of in-person instrucJefferson Road tion a week will only serve to exacerbate the learning loss Continued on Next Page our children suffered during the chaos of this spring, as Letters to the Editor Policy well as contribute to more behavioral health issues due to Town Topics welcomes letters to the Editor, preferably lack of socialization with peers. on subjects related to Princeton. Letters must have a The data on this coming out of Wuhan is sobering — valid street address (only the street name will be printed nearly one in five children in grades 2-6 there report with the writer’s name). Priority will be given to letters depression and/or anxiety following their shutdown and that are received for publication no later than Monday closure of school. I would think this data would have been noon for publication in that week’s Wednesday edition. a call to action for the PPS Board to do more, especially Letters must be no longer than 500 words and have given Princeton’s relatively low community transmission no more than four signatures. rate and clear strides in contact tracing. Sadly, it was not. All letters are subject to editing and to available I applaud the Princeton YMCA and other community space. agencies for formulating child care options for times stuAt least a month’s time must pass before another dents are not in school. As a full time working parent, letter from the same writer can be considered for pubI will avail myself of whatever options exist. However, I lication. fail to see how this ensures a quality, equitable education for all Princeton students, nor do I understand how this Letters are welcome with views about actions, is any more “safe” than having all kids in the controlled policies, ordinances, events, performances, buildings, environment of school full-time with on-site before and etc. However, we will not publish letters that include after school care. content that is, or may be perceived as, negative towards local figures, politicians, or political candidates as individuals. When necessary, letters with negative content may be shared with the person/group in question in order to allow them the courtesy of a response, with the understanding that the communications end there. Letters to the Editor may be submitted, preferably by email, to editor@towntopics.com, or by post to Town Topics, PO Box 125, Kingston, N.J. 08528. Letters submitted via mail must have a valid signature.
PPS Reopening Plan Places Young Students at Risk for Learning Loss, Behavioral Health Issues
