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Vol. LXV, No. 3
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Wednesday, January 19, 2011
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Vol. LXV, No. 3
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Wednesday, January 19, 2011
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Heidi Fichtenbaum
Chair, Sustainable Princeton Residential Working Group
Andrea Malcom
Eve Coulson
Tom Weiss
Members, Sustainable Princeton Residential Working Group
Chrystal Schivell
Monroe Lane
To the Editor:
We are writing to express our support for keeping the Princeton Dinky Station in its current location. Moving the station further from town as proposed in the Princeton University Arts District Plan diminishes the vitality of a public transportation asset and discourages walking from Princeton’s neighborhoods to this link. Moving the station disregards Princeton’s Sustainable Community Plan, endorsed by both the Borough Council and Township Committee, which includes the goal of improved transportation. It is critical that the station at a minimum remain in its current location and ideally be moved closer to the center of town to best serve both the University and the community.
Good design of the built environment can protect the integrity of the natural environment while enhancing cultural, historical and human assets and resources. By keeping the station closer to town, more residents will be encouraged to adopt sustainable behaviors by walking to the station in lieu of traveling by car thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions while curbing climate change.
Public transportation is an important asset for the economic and cultural sustainablity of our town. A variety of community development projects including Spring Street, Palmer Square North, the Merwick, and Hospital sites, as well as a recent boom in University construction, reinforces the desirability of centrally located public transportation. Walking to town to access public transportation that connects with the Northeast corridor is a highly desirable advantage for living, working, studying and attending cultural opportunities in Princeton and the region.
We must embrace a new vision for transportation in Princeton that supports the vitality of our town and the health of our planet by emphasizing walking, bicycling, and public transportation. The Dinky Station is a vital link and should be as close to the center of town as possible.
Heidi Fichtenbaum
Chair, Sustainable Princeton
Residential Working Group
Andrea Malcom
Eve Coulson
Tom Weiss
Members, Sustainable Princeton
Residential Working Group
To the Editor:
On Tuesday, January 25, Borough Council will consider the bond ordinance to fund the Community Park Pool. Because the Recreation Department is a joint agency, Council’s decision will affect Township residents, whose representatives have already approved the ordinance. Therefore, I urge pool-users from both municipalities to attend the meeting.
Having listened to the input of fellow pool-users and watched the current plan evolve over the past two years, I commend the Recreation Department for its responsiveness to Princeton’s many voices. While I didn’t get every single thing I wanted, I appreciate that the plan is an intelligent compromise, designed to ensure that the pool complex will last another 40 years.
We must act now. The complex is already over 40 years old, and the risk of a major breakdown in the main pool increases with each season. Imagine the impact on the swim team, day campers, and over-heated public! It is imperative that the bond ordinance be approved, not only to prevent the loss of a swimming season but also to implement as soon as possible the family-friendly changes proposed. The needs of little kids for whom the current wading pool is too shallow and the main pool too deep will finally be addressed. A zero-entry transitional pool attached to the main pool will let little kids build confidence as they inch ever deeper into the water on their own while parents will be able to keep an eye on children of varying ages and abilities. The new, zero-entry wading pool will be code-compliant and boast a special filtration system. Family changing rooms will make it possible to keep children out of the changing room of adults of the opposite sex. And with the proposed addition to the diving well, teens will be able to play water polo — maybe water basketball — and slide into the water. These changes will not affect lap swimmers and dippers. Readers will still have their shade trees, sunbathers their grass.
If Borough Council approves the bond ordinance, we can get on with the bid alternates that will help resolve the issues that have held up progress on the pool. Please make your voices heard either by emailing the members of Borough Council or at the meeting. CP Pool needs your support.
Chrystal Schivell
Monroe Lane