To the Editor:

On behalf of the boards of trustees, staff, and residents of Princeton Community Housing (PCH), we wish to express our gratitude to those who helped to make our September 27 fundraising event, “Community Roots, Opportunity Blossoms,” at Morven Museum & Garden a wonderful success. We had grand time, thanks to the efforts of our volunteers and staff, and our generous donors throughout the community. Together, we raised more than $119,000 to support PCH’s mission and what we call the “PCH Difference,” our commitment to providing not only homes but supportive services that result in stronger, healthier outcomes for our residents and communities.

Just as a well-tended garden nurtures seeds and helps them take root, a richly diverse and inclusive community creates opportunities for growth and success in life, benefiting everyone. Affordable homes ensure that our town is a place where people from all backgrounds can put down roots, contribute to its vibrancy, enhance its “ecosystem,” and grow and blossom by accessing and adding to our abundant resources. more

To the Editor:

Transparency and effective communication are the cornerstones of a successful school board and a strong school district. Princeton’s Board of Education will thrive under the leadership of BOE candidates Chris Santarpio and Erica Snyder, superlative communicators and hands-on participants in the work of cultivating Princeton’s robust public education system.

Whether catching up with parents on the playground, leading school fundraising events, or chatting over tater tots and beers at the Ivy Inn, there is no more gifted communicator than Chris Santarpio, owner of a second-generation family business and co-president of Community Park School’s PTO. He is as friendly as he is even-keeled, equally up for a serious conversation about matters of town importance as he is to shoot the breeze with his neighbors, making real connections with our entire district. He seeks — and achieves — broad buy-in from our diverse Community Park community, as he is a natural unifier and collaborative leader. He is genuinely interested in what everyone thinks, takes feedback warmly, working humbly to ensure that the next school picnic or STEAM day is even better than the last one. Want a leader who knows what it takes to run a successful ice cream social and is just as adept analyzing a budget? Chris is that candidate, and the BOE needs his vision, his practical know-how, and his rare ability to build consensus. more

To the Editor:

Six candidates are vying for three open positions in the upcoming Princeton School Board election. I am writing to endorse BOE Candidate Shenwei Zhao for the position. Like many of us who are personally invested in the school district as taxpayers and parents of children attending publicly funded schools, Mr. Zhao has demonstrated a strong commitment to promoting common sense, transparency, and care within the district. I wholeheartedly support his candidacy as a resident with children attending Princeton Public Schools (PPS).

Having engaged in numerous discussions with Mr. Zhao before and after his candidacy announcement, I have gained insight into his genuine and consistent concerns for the welfare of our schools and community. He is deeply passionate about improving the quality of all Princeton schools and ensuring that the district provides the best educational opportunities to all families. more

To the Editor:

As a local business owner and parent in Princeton, I’m writing to express my strong support for Ari Meisel’s candidacy for the Princeton Board of Education. Over the past three years, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know Ari through our daughters’ school, Littlebrook. Our friendship grew from mutual respect and shared values, and I’ve seen firsthand the positive impact of Ari’s leadership.

Ari is not only a dedicated father, but also an expert in productivity and efficiency. His guidance has been instrumental in improving operations at my business, L Brooke Homes, where he helped implement strategies that significantly boosted both efficiency and profitability. Simply put, Ari’s ability to solve complex problems is exactly what our school district needs. more

To the Editor:

On Friday, September 20, Princeton-Blairstown Center (PBC) held its ninth annual Links to Youth Golf Outing at the Fox Hollow Golf Club in Branchburg. The event raised $81,000, which will support PBC’s award-winning Summer Bridge Program. Each year, Summer Bridge offers hundreds of students from Trenton and Newark a high-quality outdoor enrichment experience focused on social-emotional learning, literacy skills, and STEM, completely free of charge.

At the dinner celebration following the outing, student speaker Ashley Diaz Seguay shared her experiences at PBC with the audience.  As a member of the Leader-in-Training Program, Ashley spent six weeks over the summer learning and growing at PBC’s Blairstown Campus, where she developed college- and career-readiness skills.  Ashley is a high school senior from Newark, and her experience at PBC helped her develop independence, leadership, responsibility, cooperation, and grit.   more

To The Editor:

We have lived at our current address, located on a prominent corner in town, for over 51 years.

Last week, we purchased a lawn sign in support of the presidential candidacy of Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, and placed it on our property. Yesterday, we discovered that the sign had been stolen, although a sign in support of Andy Kim for U.S. senator remained untouched.

We understand that similar signs around Princeton have been stolen from private property.

We can only say that we are saddened and angered by this juvenile behavior. Shame on you, whoever is responsible. You are guilty of trespass, petty theft, and worst of all, bad manners and dishonoring our American value of free speech.

Alice and Joe Small
Hawthorne Avenue

To the Editor:

I am writing today to express my unwavering support for my friend Erica Snyder, who passionately advocates for an improved educational experience for all children in our district. Her vision encompasses a robust curriculum and a commitment to inclusivity and safety in our schools.

I have one child who recently graduated from PHS, another a senior this year, and a third attending JP. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Erica since our youngest children were together at Cherry Hill Nursery School, where she now serves as the director. more

To the Editor:

It was distressing to learn that the NJ Division of Civil Rights (NJ DCR) has recently issued violation notices to housing providers across the state, including a Princeton apartment complex. However, it is reassuring to know that the NJ DCR is enforcing the Fair Chance in Housing Act (FCHA), which prevents landlords from using criminal background checks to unfairly exclude applicants.

According to the NJ DCR, the application form for the Princeton apartment complex stated that an applicant “will be denied” if they have “any felony criminal convictions” or “misdemeanor criminal convictions.” This would clearly discourage anyone with a criminal record — no matter how minor or how long ago — from applying. While the violation in Princeton has been corrected, it serves as a wake-up call for our community, which has witnessed the harm unfair tenant screening practices have caused to our most underserved neighbors for decades. more

To the Editor:

Thank you, Town Topics, for generously providing space for our letters of concern about our community. Several weeks ago, you published letters by Steve Hiltner of Friends of Herrontown Woods and Wendy Mager of Friends of Princeton Open Space about the blight that was beginning in our beech forests. Over a thousand trees will be affected in Herrontown Woods around the home of Oswald Veblen, the father of the Princeton open space movement. My favorite poet, Robert Frost, who thought of the beech tree as “a witness tree” would be sad. How often we see initials carved on the bark of beeches as I memorialized in my poem “God and Buggs.”

When I noticed those two letters, I recalled that among the paintings that I had collected was a rather large one of a beech forest by an accomplished artist who had studied under Daniel Garber. The painting gets at what the essence of a beech forest is about, what it feels like and means to many of us. I decided to donate it to the restoration of Veblen House. I felt that just seeing it would draw attention to the cause.  more