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Vol. LXIII, No. 41
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Wednesday, October 14, 2009
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Vol. LXIII, No. 41
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Wednesday, October 14, 2009
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CAROL L. OLIVIERI
Executive Director
Health Care Ministry of Princeton
STEPHEN HILTNER
North Harrison Street
PAM WAKEFIELD
President, Friends of the Princeton Public Library
To the Editor:
On Sunday, September 13, the Health Care Ministry of Princeton celebrated its 25th anniversary with a reception at Colonial Club. An event of such importance does not happen without much planning and hard work. This was a successful event blessed by the pleasant venue, remarkable attendance, delicious food, a spectacular fall day, and a great cause. We were happy to see a number of our clients and their families. It is not easy for them to attend an event such as this and yet they are the reason we exist so we were fortunate to have them with us.
On behalf of the board of trustees, I want to thank everyone who helped to make this day possible and the businesses that made financial contributions or in-kind donations. Our sponsors for the day were Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Annie B’s Confections, Jasna Polana, Cox’s Market, Witherspoon Bread Company, Donna Murray and Lisa Hulbert of Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors, Kimble Funeral Home, Princeton Council 636 of the Knights of Columbus, Gallagher, Briody and Butler, Jack McCarthy III and Susan Anable, Allen & Stults Co., The Bank of Princeton, McCaffrey’s Market, Jordon’s Gift Shop, Bon Appetit, LDH Printing, and Wegmans.
Thank you to those who volunteered their time and talent preparing for the event and on that day: Dale Engelbert, Judith Clarke, Jan Mazzeo, Lucille Doviak, Judy Kennerk, Cassie McClellan, Beverley Thompson, Beth Hendry, Amanda Painter, David McGrady, Carolyn Biondi, Anne Marie Koppisch, Barbara Kleinhans, Christine Hugick, and Walter Bliss. Music was provided by Katie Willey, Mary Giordmaine, Paul Ligeti and Katie Ligeti. Thank you to our staff who performed their regular jobs throughout all of the preparation and planning as well as help with this event: Mary Bliss and Mary Painter. A special thank you goes to the Colonial Club and Manager Cindy Klein, Chef Jerry Luz, Sous Chef Gilberto, Trish and Maggie.
After our celebration of 25 years of achievement, we are poised to continue serving the elderly in the Greater Princeton community and fulfilling our mission of helping them to stay in their homes as long as that is safely possible. Our programs include health and medical transportation, food shopping, friendly visiting, and caregiver support. Those who would like to learn more about these programs, make a financial contribution, or volunteer with us may e-mail us at healthcareministry@verizon.net call (609) 921-8888, or visit www.healthcareministry.org.
CAROL L. OLIVIERI
Executive Director
Health Care Ministry of Princeton
To the Editor:
From my perspective as a longtime park volunteer and taxpayer, there’s a lot to be learned from the often exasperating 7-year long design process for renovating Harrison Street Park. Though the $500,000 price tag for installation sounds like a bargain when compared to the $800,000 cost estimate, the real comparison should be with how much money has been spent on other parks. Hopewell renovated two parks with a total of $110,000 of private funds and community sweat equity. Potts Park, another Princeton Borough park that had received no investment in decades, was renovated primarily with a $60,000 County grant.
The Harrison Street Park price tag began to soar two years ago when the Borough hired a landscape design firm whose tastes proved to be expensive and often counter to neighbors’ wishes. The proposed $40,000 treehouse, for instance, was dropped from the plan not so much due to cost but because neighbors rejected the consulting firm’s odd design. The $40,000 bridge, which councilman Roger Martindell questioned, was the consultant’s idea, had only tepid neighborhood support, and originally lacked any connection to water flow in the park. The $100,000 planting plan was a risky proposition, given the current lack of Borough staff trained to maintain diverse native plantings.
A strong argument can be made that the $60,000 investment in the landscape designer was actually counterproductive. The Borough’s capable engineers, for instance, ended up taking over the drainage component of the design, when the consultant failed to deliver adequate plans. The lack of any budget target meant that neighbors were asked to attend presentations of designs that, however pretty on paper, might not survive the eventual budget axe. Neighbors had to prompt the consultants repeatedly to pay attention to basics like play equipment and drainage patterns. A lovely wildflower garden, planted by neighbors at no cost to taxpayers, was repeatedly targeted by the consultants for removal.
Through local initiative rather than design, Princeton arborist Bob Wells donated a tree survey. Martha Rinehart found free benches. Clifford Zink has led the planting of wildflower gardens. These contributions point to a much more satisfying and economical approach to park renovation — one that puts less dependence on outside designers and contractors, and instead mobilizes local resources that care about the community and the park.
The long and ultimately expensive process of renovating Harrison Street Park also demonstrates the need for a Parks Department. Currently, the Borough has none, and the Township is focused on active recreation. Princeton’s parks and nature preserves deserve a department dedicated to sustaining and enhancing their beauty and functionality — both ecological and recreational — in a coordinated manner.
STEPHEN HILTNER
North Harrison Street
To the Editor:
On behalf of the Friends of the Princeton Public Library I want to thank the public and the library staff for making our annual book sale, held this past weekend, an unqualified success. Delighted dealers, collectors, and hundreds of happy residents left the sale laden with treasures. We sold extraordinary art books and valuable academic collections. We sold exquisite leather bound volumes of poetry and prose. We sold books on how to read palms, plant rhododendrons, repair sails, and train dachshunds. We sold books on how to raise your children, choose the perfect wine, and bake the perfect soufflé. We sold hundreds of books for children. We sold dvds, cds and sheet music.
Our talented book sale committee worked hard and their work paid off. The profits, of course, all go to the library for media and programs.
Missed the sale? Come visit our outstanding ongoing sale in the library; it is stocked with new merchandise just about every day.
PAM WAKEFIELD
President, Friends of the Princeton Public Library