To the Editor:

Do you live on a residential street in Princeton that has 2-hour or 3-hour parking or resident permit parking that is within a 15-minute walk of businesses on Nassau Street? If so, be aware — employees of Princeton businesses may soon be allowed to park all day on your street. And if you live near Princeton High School, high school students may soon be allowed to park all day on your street.

The Permit Parking Task Force is planning to present a report to Princeton Council that will propose allowing employees to park on these streets. 

I have been attending Task Force meetings. I have been impressed with the Task Force members’ hard work and good intentions. Unfortunately, in my view, the Task Force is going in the wrong direction.

A professional consulting firm that Princeton hired concluded in 2017 that there is ample parking for employees without using residential streets. There are alternative places where employees could park — for example, underutilized meter parking and private parking lots. But the Task Force has not investigated these alternative places.

I think that the Task Force should be investigating ways to increase the amount of parking available — ways to increase the pie. Instead, it is discussing ways to add employees and then divide up the existing pie.

What can you do if you have concerns about the Permit Parking Task Force’s approach?

1. You can email the Task Force. Send emails to the chair of the Task Force, Letitia Fraga, at lfraga@princetonnj.gov. Ask her to forward your email to all Task Force members.

2. You can express your concerns to Princeton Council by attending the meeting when the Task Force will present its ideas. This is tentatively planned for the evening of Monday, January 27. Save the date.

I think it is unfortunate that hard-working, well-intentioned people are pursuing such misguided plans. I hope that hearing from the public will persuade the Task Force to change direction and investigate alternatives that do not use residential streets for employee or high school student parking.

Phyllis Teitelbaum
Hawthorne Avenue