Volume LXX, Number 28
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Mayor Joins County In Request for Exemption To Roadwork Stoppage
Witherspoon-Jackson Community Is Planning Safe Streets Program . . 7 After Judge’s Ruling, Battlefield Society Stepping Up Its Efforts to Halt IAS Construction . . . . . 8 Local Legend Celestin Leaving PU Women’s Soccer, Heading to Boston for Coaching Job at Northeastern . . . . . 20 Former Hun Standout Blake Helps Fords Make History . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Revisiting Acclaimed Journalist Michael Herr’s Vietnam in “The Week from Hell” . . . . . . . . . 11 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 17 Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Classified Ads . . . . . . . 28 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Music/Theater . . . . . . 15 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 26 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 4 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 28 Service Directory . . . . 27 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Governor Chris Christie’s order to halt $3.5 billion of “nonessential” road and rail projects across New Jersey went into effect at midnight last Friday. Concerned about delays to a key bridge replacement project on Carter Road, Mayor Liz Lempert is supporting Mercer County in its efforts to get the state to make an exemption and let work on that bridge continue. The Carter Road project is key because it is scheduled to become a detour route when work on two bridges along Route 206 undergo repairs later this year. Those repairs cannot begin until the Carter Road project is completed. “It is a ridiculous situation that the state finds itself in, and it is shocking that the governor has allowed it to get to this point,” Ms. Lempert said Tuesday. “This is far beyond potholes. This is a bridge that is essential for people to get to school, to work, to town, to get home. It’s going to be disruptive enough to do the work that needs to be done over several months. To add time to the construction project is unacceptable.” Mr. Christie’s plan was implemented as the result of a stalemate with Senate lawmakers over which taxes should be cut in exchange for raising the gas tax to fund road work. The Route 206 project will involve the Department of Transportation replacing one bridge and fixing the bridge over the Stony Brook. That bridge is the oldest in New Jersey. The completion date for the Carter Road bridge was originally scheduled to be August 29. Work on the Route 206 bridges is supposed to begin immediately thereafter and last until December 8. Princeton Council voted recently to approve extended working hours for DOT crews, allowing them to work until 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday in order to expedite the project. “Part of the issue now is that if the work isn’t done by December, then it is possible the road would need to remain closed until work could be completed in the spring,” Ms. Lempert said. “Weather could also affect the schedule. Even a delay of one week can have serious implications.” The work stoppage could continue indefinitely until there is money put into the state’s Transportation Trust Fund. “The Senate has scheduled a session for August 1, but it is unclear how long it’s
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Libations
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Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Avalon Princeton Plans to Open Next Month
Avalon Princeton, on the former site of Princeton Hospital on Witherspoon Street, is looking forward to welcoming its first residents next month, with construction to complete the 280-unit rental community scheduled through next spring. The new development will include studio apartments starting at $2258 per month, one-bedroom apartments at $2735, twobedroom apartments from $3135, as well as three-bedroom apartments and twoand three-bedroom townhouses. (There are additional fees for application, amenities, security, parking, pet rent, and storage.) “I’m very pleased but not surprised that Avalon Princeton has generated so much interest from the local community and the community at large,” said Ron Ladell, senior vice president of AvalonBay Communities. Apartments will not be available for viewing until next month, and construction workers were the only presence in and around the Avalon Princeton leasing office on Witherspoon Street at mid-day Monday, but Mr. Ladell was enthusiastic about pre-leasing activity
over the past few months. “Pre-leasing continues to go very well and we look forward to the first residents moving in prior to the end of the summer,” he added. He could not provide numbers of pre-leasing applicants. The current plan calls for 23 studio, 100 one-bedroom, 129 two-bedroom, 28 three-bedroom apartments, as well as 12 two- and three-bedroom townhouses on Franklin Street. Fifty-six of the apartments are designated for affordable housing. Avalon Princeton reports that apartment features will include spacious floor
plans, gourmet kitchens with GE stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and tile backsplashes, hard surface plank flooring in living and dining areas, spacious walk-in closets, front-load washers and dryers, energy-efficient windows, and 9-foot ceilings. Private balconies and patios and lofts and dens will be available for select apartments. Townhouses will feature attached garages. Additional upgrades to apartments and townhouses are also available. Upon completion by next spring, the Continued on Page 12
Princeton Future Plans for Public Art In Alley Between Nassau Street Stores First, in 2004, there was Writers Block, an empty lot on Palmer Square transformed into a garden honoring the contributions of notable Princeton University professors. Two years later, there was Quark Park, a sculpture garden on Paul Robeson Place that referred to the research of Princeton scientists. If fundraising goes according to plan, the third collaboration of architect Kevin
Wilkes and landscape artist Peter Soderman will be in place by Labor Day. Design at Dohm Alley, or DaDa, aims to transform the alley between Starbucks and the Landau store on Nassau Street into a kind of multi-media art gallery with rotating programs and exhibits on display through spring, summer, and fall. “You’ll never see anything like this,” said Continued on Page 10
MOVING IN?: Construction continues along Witherspoon Street,on the former Princeton hospital site, as Avalon Princeton prepares to welcome its first residents next month . The rental community, offering studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments and townhouses, has generated “lots of interest” and will be completed over the next 8-9 months . (Photo by Donald Gilpin)
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