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Vol. LXI, No. 52
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Wednesday, December 26, 2007
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Vol. LXI, No. 52
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Wednesday, December 26, 2007
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 (Photo of Mr. Hinds by E.J. Greenblat)
THE MAN AND THE PLAZA: The 2007 Year in Review highlights the merging of Princeton old and new that came about last spring when Borough Council named the plaza next to the Princeton Public Library after the witness to nearly a century of Princeton history, Albert E. Hinds. The long-time John Street resident died in April 2006, shortly after his 104th birthday. |
A look back at 2007 reveals a number of notable events that will impact the coming years: from the failure of the public schools budget, to the opening of the Harriet Bryan House at Elm Court; from the political rancor resulting from the Borough’s stalled downtown development project, to an an amplified dialogue over senior housing.
The state’s proposed new affordable housing growth share mandates released last week calling for a significant increase in New Jersey’s low-cost housing stock received praise from housing advocates, but could prove problematic for Princeton as the rules now exempt some of the region’s most significant developers: K through 12 schools and higher education institutions.
What is more important, uniform documentation of a lesson or the creative design of that lesson? That was the question that members of the teaching profession put to the Board of Education on Tuesday, December 18, when some 50 Princeton Regional Schools teachers attended the Board of Education’s monthly meeting to express their displeasure at what they feel is a lack of communication between teachers and the administration over new requirements to write lesson plans in a “very prescribed manner.”
On the local sports scene, the year 2007 brought some brilliant individual performances and superb seasons mixed with some heartbreaking finales.
Brian Dunlap and his teammates on the Princeton High boys’ basketball team turned a lot of heads in the season opener earlier this month at Lawrence High.
Coming off a 7-15 season, PHS started their 2007-8 campaign with a bang, bombing Lawrence 73-40.
They wear team T-shirts proclaiming their focus on defense.
Last Wednesday, the Hun School girls’ basketball team gave visiting Padua Academy (Del.) a first-hand dose of their defensive prowess.
There are lots of nice moments this time of year, but maybe the nicest is when the cats first notice the tree in the living room. This is their fifth tree, so they seem perhaps a little less bowled over than in previous years, but no less appreciative. Brother and sister tuxedo look at the Fraser fir with big googly Felix the Cat eyes and then they cock their heads toward their benefactors as if to say “All for us?” This is above and beyond the call of duty. Water in the stand, just for them. Nice packages to lie on, just for them. And how thoughtful, to hang all those glittery things on the branches, even though they know by now they aren’t supposed to use them for punching bags — except for the sister, who always has to knock off an ornament or two, in case her human slaves think she’s getting less crazed in her middle age.