To the Editor:

Belatedly, we recently learned that a consultant has working on a plan to “refresh” Hinds Plaza, the small square of public space created by the design and construction of the new Princeton Public Library and dedicated for the use of all Princetonians 20 years ago. The library has grown into our community’s living room, and the plaza has become its equally valued front porch.

On May 2, the town Council will unveil the consultant’s proposal for refreshing this beloved community asset. Let’s go beyond surface updates and make the most of this opportunity to increase the benefits this central common space brings to all of us. more

To the Editor:

This past Saturday, the Arts Council of Princeton proudly presented the third annual Princeton Porchfest. If the past three years have proved anything, it’s that Princeton is not only an incredibly talented community, it sure knows how to have fun!

We want to thank each of our porch hosts for welcoming us to your homes and each performer for your contributing your skills. Most importantly, we want to thank every Porchfest-goer who turned up to exemplify exactly what makes Princeton so special. Familiar faces and new friends alike turned out to support and enjoy the show.  more

To the Editor:

The English Tea given in support of the Trinity Church Choirs’ 2026 trip to England was a wonderful event on April 21. Guests enjoyed a traditional English tea of sweets and savories, followed by a beautiful choral Evensong service in the church.

The combined Trinity choirs will be singing daily services for a week at both Ely Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in 2026. We thank all of you who joined us and enjoyed this afternoon with friends and our choirs.

Pegi Stengel
Prospect Avenue

Sylvia Temmer
Hamilton Avenue
Co-chairs

To the Editor:

When I was growing up, I did not have many opportunities to swim and consequently, I never learned how to swim. When I had children, it was so important to me that they learn to swim so that they can learn to love the water and not be afraid of it. With so many reports of children drowning, one takes for granted the importance of this life-saving skill.

Nassau Swim Club made recreational swimming accessible to me and my family. When we moved to Hamilton several years ago, I was looking for a local community pool and was disappointed to learn that it had closed some years ago. Nassau Swim Club was open to all and attracted members from the wider Princeton area, many of whom, like me, work at the Institute for Advanced Study or Princeton University. Nassau provided an ideal, safe environment for my young kids to learn to swim, plus a sense of community and belonging. It saddens me to think my children and many other children like them will no longer have this opportunity. The Nassau Swim Club was perfect for our family, not only in terms of affordability, but convenience as well. I am not a resident of Princeton, so the alternatives have higher non-resident rates that are not within our budget and are also much farther away. more

To the Editor:

I moved to Princeton with my family as a child nearly 70 years ago, and though I’ve been a member of this wonderful community for so long, I don’t think I’ve been to the Nassau Swim Club more than once or twice, if that. So I have no stake whatsoever in Princeton University’s decision to terminate the lease with the club for financial reasons.

It saddens me, however, that the University has made this decision given the benefits that the club provides to members of this community, so many of whom are children and teenagers and so many of whom are also affiliated with the University itself. It’s my understanding that approximately 20 percent of club members are University students and staff, and that well over a third of the members are associated with either the University or with the Institute for Advanced Study. (While I understand the there is no formal link between the University and the Institute, the two enjoy a close, collaborative relationship.)

It is unarguably true that the swim club has fallen significantly short of fulfilling the financial requirements of its lease with PU. A significant reason for that is because the lease requires the club to reimburse the University for the approximate $20,000 per year property tax it pays to the municipality.  more

To the Editor:

As your readers know by now, Princeton University has decided to bulldoze the humble and beloved Nassau Swim club, nestled in the woods near the Institute for Advanced Study.

You have received many letters to the editor, detailing the far-reaching impact Nassau Swim Club has had on so many people throughout the world.

And yet, Princeton University won›t budge. Its reaction has been to continue with its plans to dismantle this humble summer haven. This is heartbreaking as Princeton could make such an important, humane difference by choosing to fund Nassau or, at the very least, giving its members/board another chance. more

To the Editor:

Our current garbage disposal system needs improvement because it does not provide adequate service for situations in which more than typical weekly trash needs to be collected. I recently completed a general house cleaning, and my single bin was not adequate for amount of discards I accumulated. I compost, recycle, reuse, and donate as much as possible. I donate respectfully. I do not use our local charities as disposal facilities for worn and unusable clothing and linens, broken kitchen gadgets and appliances, a well-used cat litter box, or games and puzzles with missing parts or pieces. These items are simply trash.

The solution for the problem of additional trash due to house cleaning, holiday celebrations and large extended family dinners is to add bagged garbage to the items accepted for weekly bulk waste pick-up.

It is ironic that our officials are promoting over-development of our community without providing the basic municipal service of adequate trash pick-up for current residents. However, my solution will eliminate a common, recurring problem.

Maryann Witalec Keyes
Franklin Avenue

To the Editor:

As an avid fan of the Princeton Public Library, I read the April 17 article about the 20th anniversary celebration of “the new building” with pleasure [“Celebrating a New Library for a New Era,” page 1].

It’s worth noting that the artist Faith Ringgold, who died just last week, was present at the 2004 library reopening to unveil her mosaic of the “story quilt” on the cover of her Caldecott-winning book, Tar Beach. Ringgold’s recent obituary in the New York Times notes that her work “is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture . . .  and other institutions.”  How wonderful that our library is one of those “other institutions!” Visitors to the library will surely want to go up to the library’s third-floor haven for children to admire this captivating work of art.

Last week’s Town Topics article, by the way, does a fine job of describing how the planners’ hopes for greater community engagement and the desire to create welcoming spaces informed their vision of the “new” library. That those hopes have been realized beyond expectation is a tribute to a very remarkable, hard-working staff.

Ellen Gilbert
Stuart Road East

To the Editor:

it is difficult to put in words the emotions I feel as Nassau Swim Club (NSC) is shut down by Princeton University. From age 7 to 17 (1975-85) the NSC community was my summer family. It sounds like the community support has not allowed this hallowed institution to continue. Shame on Princeton University for not supporting this place that was a summer home of so many of their staff and families over past 60+ years. There are some things that are more important than money and this is one of them.

I remember waiting anxiously for summer to start every year to see and catch up with everyone. One of my best summer friends was Marc Nystrom, who was the son of longtime coach Bruce Nystrom. They lived in Richmond, Va., and came up every summer and lived in Institute for Advanced Study housing. My older sister and I would literally ride our bikes 10 miles every day early in the morning to start the day with running laps, swim practice, then diving practice for me, maybe a hotdog and chips from Wawa, and back to the pool for games. more

To the Editor:

I grew up in Princeton in the late 1970s and 80s, but it may be more accurate to say that I grew up at Nassau Swim Club. My family joined Nassau when I was 10, and it was an enormous part of every summer of my life (first on the swim team, and later coaching and lifeguarding) for the 10 years that followed. The culture of the place, as well as its location, were a little off the beaten path — a reflection of Bruce Nystrom, the manager and face of the pool for so many years.

It was a welcoming place where I learned the importance of sportsmanship and hard work. I also learned the value of levity amid both. I looked up to my coaches, and later became one. I eyed the record board with awe, before claiming one, then watching it fall to someone I had coached. The circle of life. more

To the Editor:

I want to thank the team from Sustainable Princeton for helping to run and encouraging participation in Princeton’s Household Recycling and S.H.R.E.D.fest event on Saturday, April 13. It was my first time as a volunteer and my role was to help remove stickers and adhesives from the various pieces of Styrofoam that were donated so the recycling process would not be corrupted, then getting the Styrofoam into large plastic bags for delivery to an organization that processes them into picture frames (betterframe.org). It was harder than I thought, but was rewarding and great to see so many people participating. Here are a few simple items that I think everyone should be aware of: more

To the Editor:

How does one sum up a childhood of summer memories? Where does one form lifelong friendships well into old age? Where are life lessons experienced along with swim lessons, getting along and developing into one large family?

Why does one need DEI training when you’ve grown up at Nassau Swim Club?

Residing in Richmond, Va., as a parent of three children, I went in search of a “Nassau Swim Club” in the area for my children. Surely there was a small, family oriented pool offering swim lessons, a swim team, and the family atmosphere and camaraderie I experienced growing up at Nassau. Two years later, having joined our local club, I came to the realization that Nassau was itself its own entity.  more

To the Editor:

During National Library Week (April 7-13), we’re pleased to acknowledge the Princeton Public Library. Library Journal magazine has consistently awarded our library its highest rating, Five Stars.

This recognition is significant for three reasons: 1) our library is the only one in N.J. to receive this rating; 2) we achieved this rating six years in a row; and 3) PPL was ranked No. 1 nationally in its budget category. more

To the Editor:

I am writing to you to express my concern that Princeton University terminated the lease on Nassau Swim Club (NSC) after 50+ years. At the Princeton University annual meeting with the town Council, President Eisgruber made it abundantly clear that mental health is a topic that needs to be addressed by stating the need to “combat loneliness” and to “make deeper connections.”  more

To the Editor:

I was dismayed to read last week that Princeton University intends to shut down the Nassau Swim Club (NSC), despite not having any use for that land and despite it being against their own financial interest to do so.

I don’t have any connection with either institution, but the move makes no sense and strikes me as arbitrary and mean-spirited. more

To the Editor:

I’ve spent every summer at Nassau Swim Club since I was born and have been on the swim and dive teams for 10 years. I truly cannot begin to comprehend why anyone would want to develop this beautiful land. Nassau has provided the Princeton community with a peaceful and diverse space for more than 50 years. At Nassau, children of all ages and backgrounds come together to spend their summers together. Nassau is a place for everyone, from the baby pool for kids to lap lanes for adults.  more

To the Editor:

The Princeton Council is be complimented for the partial ban on gas leaf blowers. Princeton only permits the use of gas-powered leaf blowers from March 15 to May 15 and October 1 to December 15.

You agree that gas-powered leaf blowers — with exasperating noise, being unhealthy for workers, and a menace to the environment — are bad. What has been learned since you passed the bill in 2021? more

To the Editor:

One goal of the 2023 Princeton Master Plan is: “Balance historic preservation efforts with the public interest in smart growth, greater housing choice, sustainability, equity, and economic development.” The Historic Preservation Commission and the Planning Board now have an opportunity to do just that, balance important public interests raised by the pending application for a four-story, 21,000±square-foot addition to the 3,600±square-foot, two-story historic Hornor House in the Jugtown Historic District, at the northeast corner of Nassau and Harrison Streets. more

To the Editor:

Many thanks to Town Topics for highlighting The Watershed Institute and the organization’s dedication to preserving the environment [“Watershed Institute Celebrates a Milestone,” April 3, page 1]. The Princeton community is especially fortunate for “the shed” and many other environmental organizations in our area. Their presence, expertise, and support enables many of us to entrust the care of our environment to them. more