To the Editor:

We, the residents of the former Princeton Borough and Princeton Township, voted in good faith for the consolidation of the two municipalities with the hope for more efficient, but not reduced, services. In the process, the government of the newly consolidated Princeton assured the residents of keeping the already steep taxes unchanged. That may hold for the moment, but the altered schedule for garden waste collection is clearly insufficient in providing services for a town with lots covered by lush vegetation and oversized trees. These properties require regular care and waste disposal.

Now we are asked to either donate our time and services to transport the waste in our personal vehicles to the Princeton Pike Ecological Facility or to hire a professional company. This proposal implies that our time is not valued, our cars are suitable for transporting soaked paper bags with rotting, smelly garden waste (yes, it rains a lot these days!), or that every resident can write off the extra expense without thinking. This reduced service is as unacceptable now as it was in the past in the Borough before it turned back to the original routine, thereby encouraging the residents to resume gardening as they had been for years. In those days, on average, we in the Borough paid higher taxes and got better service than the residents in the Township. We still pay the same taxes, but the picture has changed, recalling the story of the baker who sold his bread for the same price without ever raising it, but eventually made the loaves smaller and smaller, until the customers had to buy two instead of one. Do we now pay the property taxes as well as foot various cartage bills from registered landscapers to maintain our properties with civic pride? I beg all residents who share my concern on this issue to bring it to the City Hall’s attention, the sooner the better as change doesn’t happen on its own accord.

Eva Siroka

Cedar Lane