To the Editor:

This is our town and we cannot allow some outside corporation or real estate so-called “trust” tell us what to do here. In case nobody has noticed, the central axis of civil society in Princeton is moving from the University-dominated Nassau St to the full length of Witherspoon Street.

Witherspoon Street has a lot of what any town needs for life: a town hall, a church, a school, a swimming pool, restaurants, small businesses, a neighborhood grocery store, a fine clothing shop, headquarters of a charity, an arts center, and even a graveyard. There is a bar. Oh, and I forgot the wonderful town library. This is only a partial list of what we need in our town. A vibrant mix.

The hospital site is right in the center of all this, and can be thought of as the center of our newly consolidated town.

The massive THING proposed by AvalonBay and wisely rejected by our Planning Board would deaden the vibrancy by blocking up the area where our real need is for more streets, more connections between neighborhoods, and more choice between types of rental housing.

Yes, we need rental housing, but our town deserves good design. We reject AvalonBay and what it stands for.

Sarah Hollister

Ridgeview Road