To the Editor:

For the fourth time, the Board of Zoning Adjustment will consider a variance to allow a proposed coffee processing (roasting) facility at 300 Witherspoon.

The applicant wishes to roast and sell roasted bean coffee at multiple owned locations and wholesale to customers in the area. Current zoning prohibits food processing and/or manufacturing of any products for sale off-premise in the B1 “mixed residential/retail/office” zone and, in fact, all other sections of Princeton. more

To the Editor:

I understand why my neighbors in the Witherspoon-Jackson community are concerned about Sakrid Coffee’s proposed roasting operations at 300 Witherspoon Street, which will be discussed at the town Zoning Board meeting on Wednesday, June 28. Folks fear that local coffee roasting will negatively impact their families’ health and daily lives. more

To the Editor:

Tonight, Wednesday, June 28 at 7:30 p.m., the Zoom meeting of the Zoning Board will once again concern itself with Sakrid Coffee’s variance request to roast coffee on a retail-wholesale basis next to an elementary school in a high-density neighborhood.  more

To the Editor:

I write in recognition of a terrific effort put on by the Princeton Police Department through the inaugural Citizens Police Academy which concluded recently. I was one of 16 Princeton residents chosen for the eight-week series of two-hour classes. Kudos to Police Chief Jonathan Bucchere, who kicked off the series noting it has long been his desire to increase outreach to and collaboration with the community. The department succeeded in that goal. I extend additional recognition to Sergeant Dan Federico, who led the development and implementation of the series, and Lieutenant Matt Solovay, who hosted many of the sessions along with myriad other officers. The Academy was well-run, informative, and engaging.

Princeton is fortunate to be served by such a high-caliber staff of officers. They genuinely sought candid feedback and discussion. The sincerity of their dedication to serving the public is palpable. more

To the Editor:

A few hours ago, I went to Walgreens to purchase three standard drug store items. Despite my concerns about over-development at the Princeton Shopping Center, I hoped that the new store would be an asset to our community. To my surprise, none of the items on my shopping list were available. When I asked the shift manager where they might be located, he responded that although he was expecting more stock to arrive during the next week, many products would no longer be available. He informed me that the new store is significantly smaller than the old store (12 aisles as opposed to 28 aisles). more

To the Editor:

The library and its community partners at McCarter Theatre Center, HiTOPS, YWCA Princeton, Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton Civil Rights Commission, and Princeton Human Services welcomed more than 2,000 people to the third annual Princeton Community Pride Picnic on Saturday, June 3 where we celebrated Princeton’s LGBTQ+ community with music, art, activities, food, and much more. more

To the Editor:

Congratulations to the PHS Class of 2023! I am extremely proud of you. Graduating from Princeton High School is no small feat. PHS is marvelous, but it is also competitive, and pressure-filled. While the challenges push people to excel, they also cause stress. Thankfully, the school is filled with resources for students and many opportunities for positive experiences. The faculty, staff, and building leaders are all gifted, skilled, and hard-working individuals, who care about you. I know that they wanted nothing more than for you to finish off your PHS experience on a good note, and I hope that you finished your year positively. more

To the Editor:

Ideas regarding the redevelopment of the Tennent-Roberts-Whiteley sites, including adaptive re-use and the designation of the site as affordable housing, have come from one side — the residents and taxpayers of Princeton. The residents’ concern is that the final project complements the scale and diversity of the area. Our request is “first do no harm.”  more

To the Editor:

I started off in the USA as an undocumented/uninsured immigrant child, gained citizenship by age 19, and later became a first-generation college graduate. This path has offered me deeper thoughts on role models during one’s development. There are plenty of female role models and mentors. But generally, there is a great deficit of male role models for children with backgrounds like mine. My first real-life experience with a good male role model was my college professor and mentor, Dr. Norman Spear.  more

To the Editor:

I was disappointed by the Princeton Health Department’s failure to provide us with updates on air quality here in town during the now ebbing (I’m writing this on Friday, June 9) intrusion of smoke-laden winds from north of the border.  more

To the Editor:

Congratulations to the outstanding class of 2023 at Princeton High School. These past four years have undoubtedly been filled with challenges, as you persevered through a global pandemic, remote learning, mask mandates, and the loss of your beloved principal, Frank Chmiel. more

To the Editor:

One of the more puzzling aspects of the controversy over the decision to replace the principal of PHS has been the blasé response to the fact that a student opened a side door to admit a former student who, however briefly, roamed the halls of the school until identified, located, and escorted out. 

Despite the current spate of school shootings in a country awash with guns, the odds of such an event at any given school are very low, so low that chances are we could do away with safety drills altogether without negative consequences. Not ordering a lockdown as soon as the intrusion happened was the easy decision, the one that played the odds. The hard decision, the one that would have required real leadership, would be to order the lockdown knowing that almost certainly there would be no shots fired, and that the decision would surely be second-guessed.  more

To the Editor:

In the summer of 2022, after hearing a riveting Joint Effort lecture led by Jennifer Garcon, Princeton University’s Librarian for Modern and Contemporary Special Collections, on photography and legacy, the Rev. Gregory Smith contacted his “brother friends” Lance Liverman and Charles Phox to discuss the idea of creating a photography camp in honor of the celebrated local son and photographer, Romus Broadway. The committee grew to include Iona Harding, Jennifer Garcon, and Shirley Satterfield. Together, they forged a proposal to create a camp that would teach the fundamentals of photography combining the history of the Witherspoon-Jackson community. The camp was later endorsed by the Witherspoon-Jackson Historical and Cultural Society whose mission is to research, preserve, understand, appreciate, and celebrate the rich and proud history of African Americans in Princeton, New Jersey. more

To the Editor:

My family and I moved to Princeton in 2012. In 2019 our youngest graduated from Princeton High School. We were quite content, and happy to be living in Princeton. We figured we’d live in our house for a few more years, then maybe sell. But the recent happenings at Princeton Public Schools have us gravely concerned. Even though we are no longer inside the schools, we see and hear things from the outside that are cause for alarm.

Budgets created by the BOE that include monies for the superintendent to have her own PR firm and funds for unnecessary consultant after consultant, the increase to a $106M budget for the coming year, the politicized direction that education is taking, mismanagement of the elementary enrollment distribution which may result in redistricting, construction or more renovations, and of course, the removal of Principal Frank Chmiel from Princeton High School.  more

To the Editor:

It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore that Princeton is facing a full-blown crisis in its public school system (PPS), historically one of the top districts in the state. If its quality and reputation continue to drop and teachers/staff continue to leave, we will see declining property values and tax revenues, with fewer people and businesses wanting to come to or stay in Princeton. 

At the root of the crisis is a divisive superintendent, hired by the Board of Education (BOE) in July 2021. Unfortunately, the BOE seems to be taking the fall for their CEO’s ineffective leadership and expensive missteps. The few supporters of the superintendent and BOE who have spoken publicly have tried to minimize the voices of thousands of PPS parents and residents by calling them an insignificantly small group. In a May 24 letter, they even belittled them as “recent arrivals” — apparent anti-immigrant rhetoric we should not accept in Princeton.  more

To the Editor:

On Friday, May 26, I tried to take my wife to catch the train. There were barricades blocking the entrance to the Dinky station. I tried to enter the station parking lot but half of it was also barricaded, and the open half was packed with cars and trucks, many blocking in others. I suspect some were train customers and others Wawa customers. In the afternoon I went to pick up my wife — again the barricades and no space for the usual customers. What a mess.

The scene looked like there was an emergency safety event and the area had been cordoned off. Was it a sink hole, a bomb threat, an outbreak of Ebola? No, I discovered it was to reserve space for University alumni buses. At the times I visited, the cordoned-off area was empty, there were no buses.  more

To the Editor:

On May 24, the Town Topics published a letter from four Princeton residents where they openly ask the PPS superintendent and the Board of Education (BOE) members to “please accept our sincerest apologies on behalf of the Princeton community.”  This letter further stated that the community’s oppositions to recent PPS/BOE decisions were “the attacks, apparently led largely by non-residents and recent arrivals to Princeton.” This letter was indeed written very eloquently but was wrong, and insulting, in many ways.

First and foremost, why would taxpayers need to apologize to local elected officials and a particular public worker if they don’t agree with their decisions? By the same token, can I openly apologize, on behalf of Princeton community, to the mistreated public worker whose career and personal life were put on the line by the particular public worker, and blindly supported by the BOE?  more

To the Editor:

When they go low, we go high.

These past two months have been a blessing in disguise. Through the turmoil, I’ve met so many wonderful people and made amazing friends from all walks of life. I’ve decided to write this letter to address the feelings of those who feel offended by personal attacks, name calling, and the spread of misinformation. Unfortunately, people screaming the most about equity and inclusion are the ones that cast the sharpest stones and create exclusions far beyond what most of us have ever known. more

To the Editor:

I came to live in Princeton on July 1, 1999. I am from Ecuador.

In response to the letter published on May 24 signed by Shirley Satterfield, Miki Mendelson, Mary Robinson-Cohen, and Christopher Foreman Sr. [“Open Apology to the Superintendent, Princeton Board of Education Members,” Mailbox], I have a number of questions to ask.

Am I considered out of town because of my origin? Am I considered a new arrival or do my close to 24 years living in town meet the guidelines to be considered a member of Princeton community? more

To the Editor:

I am writing to express my solidarity with the outraged Princeton residents who, at a recent public forum, expressed their complaints about poor and even non-existent cell phone service in our town [“Residents Air Grievances at Special Work Session on Cell Phone Service,” May 24, page 1].

I just spent a solid hour on my front porch less than a half-mile from Palmer Square attempting to make an important call — only to be informed via a tiny blurb on my cellphone screen that I had “No Service.” At this point I’d say I endure this inconvenience about 20 percent of the time. Which prompts me to ask: Why should I pay for nonexistent service? Am I not entitled to a credit for — not poor service — but nonexistent service from Verizon? more

To the Editor:

On Friday, May 5, the Princeton-Blairstown Center (PBC) held its Soirée Under the Stars benefit fundraiser at Springdale Golf Club in Princeton after a three-year hiatus due to COVID. This event drew 170 people and raised more than $77,000, 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 summer enrichment experience focused on social emotional learning, literacy, and STEM as well as outdoor experiences such as canoeing, kayaking, swimming, high- and low-ropes course adventures, and roasting s’mores over campfires, completely free of charge.

During the evening, PBC presented the 2023 Frank Broderick Award to John S. Watson Jr. and NJM Insurance Group with the 2023 Reverend David H. McAlpin Jr. Community Champion Award. To conclude the program, student speaker Issac Evans from Trenton spoke about how his experiences at the Center made him the person he is today. more

To the Editor:

On May 15, there was a public hearing requested by Mr. Frank Chmiel to persuade the Board of Education (BOE) to renew his contract. The statements from Dr. Kelley and Mr. Chmiel were so different that nobody can easily conclude from it without further investigation.

Here are several observations I made during this hearing:

1. Only two Princeton High School (PHS) staff members spoke in the hearing, who are both near retirement age. It means teachers are afraid of being punished by saying anything about Mr. Chmiel (either in support or not in support). more

To the Editor:

Dr. Carol Kelley and Princeton Board of Education members, please accept our sincerest apologies on behalf of the Princeton community, particularly those of us who have remained silent or have not aggressively challenged the tone, disrespect, and harshness of the opposition to your decision to remove the former high school principal.

After release of the reasons for termination and the former Principal’s recent public comments deriding the people he managed, we are now clear that you have been the persistent target of lies, rumors, innuendos, and threats in the effort to force you to reinstate your former employee. After hearing the superintendent read a detailed 20-plus pages regarding the reasons for your decision, we understood that 11 RICE notices alone revealed that many witnesses were involved in the investigations, evaluations, and responses to the documented behavior and performance of the former employee.  more

To the Editor:

In was great to see so many attendees at the town’s recent [May 6] meeting regarding the redevelopment of five Princeton Theological Seminary properties. I appreciate the acknowledgment that this is an important gateway to town and that the neighbors have been living with this uncertainty since 2018 — longer than all but one elected official has served.

Unfortunately, the meeting ran longer than scheduled, and I was unable to stay to comment. However, there are some clarifications that I feel are important to offer.  more

To the Editor:

I want to register at least one voice in favor of Sakrid Coffee Roasters’ proposed coffee roastery at 300 Witherspoon Street in advance of the Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting on Wednesday, May 24. The main concern that opponents have voiced is the potential smell produced by the industrial coffee roasting process. This is a reasonable concern, but one that can be allayed by actually visiting a modern roastery. I’ve visited several industrial roasteries around the country and also roasted beans in my own kitchen during the pandemic. In all these cases, I have found the smell of roasting coffee totally unobjectionable, and even pleasant.  more