By Donald Gilpin

At his first press conference in two weeks, on Monday, August 23, just hours after the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced that all school personnel, public and private, from preschool through high school, must be fully vaccinated by October 18 or be subjected to weekly testing. The rule also applies to state employees and faculty and staff at state colleges and universities.

Murphy expressed hope that the FDA approval would encourage people to get vaccinated who had previously been holding off.

The Princeton Health Department reported Monday a total of 14 new COVID-19 cases in the previous seven days and 31 cases in the previous 14 days. Out of Princeton residents age 12 and over, 78 percent have been vaccinated (96 percent of residents 65 and over).

Since July 7 the health department has reported 57 cases of COVID-19 in Princeton, 39 (68.4 percent) of which have been breakthrough cases.

Princeton Health Officer Jeff Grosser, in a memo last week to the town administrator, urged that the return to in-person local government meetings, originally planned for mid-September, be delayed until further notice due to the spread of the Delta variant and rising infection rates.

In the August 23 Princeton Newsletter, the health department stated, “COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. are highly effective, including against the Delta variant, but they are not 100 percent effective and some fully vaccinated people will become infected (called a breakthrough infection) and experience illness. For such people, the vaccine still provides them strong protection against serious illness and death. Infections happen in only a small proportion of people who are fully vaccinated, even with the Delta variant. However, fully vaccinated people who become infected with the Delta variant can spread the virus to others.”

The Princeton Health Department has announced that, starting September 20, it will begin to offer booster doses to individuals who have had the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine for at least eight months. The Princeton Health Department expects to host regular booster clinics starting in September. More details will be provided soon. more

By Donald Gilpin

There have been periods during the past 18 months of the pandemic when the Princeton University campus — from the spires of the graduate college through the central campus to the edges of Harrison Street and the banks of Lake Carnegie — has seemed unusually quiet. But the University has been anything but dormant.

Moving ahead on its 2026 Campus Plan, developed and initiated over the past five years with “the most ambitious and comprehensive planning process” in its history, Princeton University has been progressing rapidly on its “transformative journey” towards its “mission-centered vision for the campus.”

Last week’s special Princeton University Weekly Bulletin noted “tremendous progress campus-wide,” with several projects completed over the last 18 months, much new construction underway on campus, and construction that will be starting in the coming months. The University declined to discuss costs of its massive array of construction projects.

Most striking so far, under the heading of “Renewal of Central Campus,” are the new residential colleges 7 and 8, slated for completion in the summer of 2022, and the new Princeton University Art Museum, scheduled to open in the fall of 2024.

The residential colleges, under construction during the past year adjacent to each other  in the southeastern portion of the central campus south of Poe Field, are built to each potentially house an additional 500 undergraduates and to advance “one of Princeton’s highest strategic priorities” — expanding the undergraduate population by about 10 percent. more

By Donald Gilpin

In August of 1781 thousands of troops under General George Washington and the allied French General Comte de Rochambeau marched through Princeton via Mount Lucas Road, Witherspoon Street, and Nassau Street, with about 5,000 soldiers camping on the grounds at Morven House on their way to help the Continental Army win its final major victory in the Revolutionary War in October at Yorktown, Virginia.

The 700-mile march will be commemorated this Saturday, August 28 along the Millstone River in Griggstown, with Canal Road in Franklin Township closed from Amwell Road to Route 518 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to encourage walking and biking on the narrow thoroughfare. (A half-mile section between Butler Road and the Griggstown Causeway will remain open to permit east-west traffic to cross the Millstone River.)

“Come ready to walk or bike on this historic and scenic roadway,” said Brad Fay, president of the Millstone Valley Preservation Coalition (MVPC), co-sponsor of the event along with Franklin Township. “It’s a rare opportunity to enjoy the scenic byway without fearing for the through traffic.”

Troops crossed the Millstone River twice, at the one-lane Griggstown Causeway bridge and again at Route 518 near Rocky Hill. The National Park Service’s Washington-Rochambeau National Historic Trail from New England to Yorktown memorializes the historic march.

In the morning of August 28, a Trenton-based group will interpret the First Rhode Island Regiment, a mixed-race American unit that marched the trail and fought at Yorktown. In the afternoon, two re-enactors will interpret the French officers Rochambeau and Major General Francois-Jean de Chastellux, who led the allied French troops. A third re-enactor will interpret George Washington on horseback, beginning at about 1 p.m. more

By Donald Gilpin

Talk of “coming out of the woods,” “flattening the curve,” and “achieving herd immunity” seems to have subsided, replaced by fears that with the Delta variant accelerating its spread, the fall might bring yet another wave of COVID-19 and that the world might be living with this pandemic for a long time.

New Jersey, with almost 60 percent of its population fully vaccinated, and Princeton with 77 percent of residents age 12 and over vaccinated, are not facing the same threatening surges in case numbers that are plaguing Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi, but the outlook for the coming months and beyond is troubling. On Monday Princeton reported 17 new cases of COVID-19 in the previous seven days, 29 new cases in the previous 14 days.

“COVID is something that we all need to understand will be part of our lives forever,  either through discovering and grappling with new variants or through memories of what has occurred throughout the past 17 months,” Princeton Health Officer Jeff Grosser wrote in an email Tuesday.

He continued, “Restrictions such as mask wearing and social distancing will likely be mobilized when needed. Communities need to swiftly adapt to changing community transmission. I believe COVID discussions will eventually become more commonplace, a bit more understood, which should lead us to a time somewhere down the road that COVID is not taking up everyone’s thoughts and efforts.  It is going to take a tremendous amount of public health resources to get to that point.”

Grosser went on to reflect on the challenges that must be faced as the country adapts to the changing demands of the ongoing pandemic. “My comment on COVID is not meant to sound pessimistic about the outlook we face, particularly in a bleak period of rising COVID-19 infections,” he said.  “It’s more of a statement of preparations for the community. We all need to stand ready to adapt to new infections, increased community transmission, and higher reinstated or newfound precautions we can take to thwart increases in severity of cases.” more

By Donald Gilpin

Princeton is often touted as a safe, secure, low-crime community, but local residents have recently fallen victim to a number of “mailbox fishing” thefts.

The Town Topics Police Blotter for the first week in August tells the tale. On August 1, a man reported that three checks he mailed had been stolen, altered, and cashed. Two days later a woman lost $6,000 after a check she had mailed was stolen and altered. The following day another woman reported a check stolen, altered, and cashed for a $4,000 loss. All three thefts were from mailboxes on Nassau Street.

On the morning of August 6, a woman reported a loss of $4,000 from a check she had mailed that had been stolen and altered, and less than three hours later a man reported that three checks he had mailed at Palmer Square East had been stolen and altered, resulting in a loss of $8,831.

Similar reports of checks mailed, stolen, altered, and cashed were received by the Princeton Police Department (PPD) in July and many more throughout the previous year.    

The perpetrators go to the mailboxes with some type of long string with sticky material on the end, according to PPD Sergeant Thomas Lagomarsino. They drop the line down and pull up random pieces of mail as quickly as possible in order to escape quickly.  The check thieves can “wash” or erase the ink with chemicals found in common household cleaning products and re-write the checks.

Investigations continue, as the PPD collaborates with the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS). Princeton Postmaster George Sabu pointed out that the United States Postal Service (USPS) is in the process of changing mailboxes to equip them with an anti-theft device. more

By Donald Gilpin

Recently recognized as the most bike-friendly town in New Jersey, Princeton will be hosting more than 350 cyclists on the weekend of August 28-29, as they ride into town for the night on a two-day, 125-mile spin from New York to Philadelphia.

Sponsored by the East Coast Greenway Alliance (ECGA), this ride, being labeled “from Cheesecake to Cheesesteak,” will support the ECGA with fundraising to help accelerate the development of the ECGA route in New York City, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. About 1,000 miles of the ECGA Maine-to-Florida route is on protected greenways, and the organization is hoping to move the entire route off-road by 2030.

The riders, from ages 15 to 78 with an average age of 50.8, come from 22 different states, with 82 from New York, 76 from Pennsylvania, and 71 from New Jersey.

“This is such a pivotal time for the climate, for building community and making links between people, and for public health in our country,” said ECGA Executive Director Dennis Markatos-Soriano in a phone call Monday from ECGA headquarters in North Carolina. “This ride is partly about helping to transform the way people move so that we’re not driving everywhere. We’re starting to bike and walk and run more, and it’s good for our public health. It’s good for the Earth and it’s good for the local economies that we connect.”

After their Saturday 9 a.m. departure from Liberty State Park, riders in this inaugural event will proceed southwest, with nearly half the route on trails and paths separated from traffic, including the Middlesex Greenway and the D&R Canal Towpath leading into Princeton. 

The riders will be arriving in Princeton throughout the afternoon on Saturday and heading to the Princeton Family YMCA on Paul Robeson Place, where a number of them will camp, with showers and locker rooms available. Others will move on to the Nassau Inn or to other area hotels. YMCA campsite space registrations were already filled by February.

“We’re gearing up to have a good time,” said Bobby Dobra, YMCA membership and healthy living director, who is coordinating this event for the YMCA. “I hope the weather holds up.”

Riders will depart from Princeton on Sunday at 9 a.m., heading for Philadelphia where the ECGA Ride will culminate with closing festivities on Sunday afternoon at Penn Treaty Park on Beach Street.

With a standard registration fee of $150 and a $600 fundraising commitment ($250 and $1,200 for premium registration), the ECGA has already raised more than $250,000 In support of continued Greenway development.

“This will help move the Greenway forward,” said Markatos-Soriano, who studied climate change and energy policy at Princeton University’s School for Public and International Affairs. “We want to upgrade the safety of the route. The D&R towpath could use some upgrades on some of the crossings, and we’ll be building out more trail so that Princetonians and others from the region can enjoy biking up to New York, biking to Philadelphia, or going all the way up to Canada or to Key West.”

Princeton Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee Chair Lisa Serieyssol pointed out that this event will encourage more people to look at Princeton’s plentiful biking opportunities, both on- and off-road. The ECGA is looking to make this event an annual event, with next year’s New York-Philadelphia ride planned for May 2022, she said.

“A regular event will bring more attention to biking in the area,” she added. “I’ve also seen more e-bikes, e-scooters, and e-skateboards, and we’ll be seeing a lot more of this in the coming year.”

Serieyssol urged the use of the local transit service in conjunction with bikes or scooters for people to get in and out of town without having to drive. She also predicted an increase in biking this fall as the school year gets underway.

Registration for riders for the ECGA August 28-29 ride is closed, but further details, including opportunities to donate and volunteer, are available at greenway.org or at princetonnj.gov. Volunteers are needed to help set up the YMCA site and to run it on Saturday, August 28 and Sunday, August 29.

By Donald Gilpin

As new case numbers of COVID-19 continue to rise locally, statewide, and across the country, health department officials are struggling to gain perspective on the resurgent pandemic and to devise strategies to combat its frequently changing manifestations.

As of Monday, August 2, the Princeton Health Department reported an increase in new COVID-19 cases to 10 in the past seven days, 14 in the past 14 days in Princeton. On Tuesday, the state of New Jersey reported an additional 1,173 COVID-19 cases, with a seven-day average of 977 new cases, more than four times the average a month ago.

“We are beginning to witness how COVID-19 will affect our lives long-term,” wrote Princeton Health Officer Jeff Grosser in an August 3 email. “Variants are likely to continue to emerge, and with each new strain new precautions, or existing precautions, may be put back into place to curb new disease transmissions.”

Grosser pointed out that Princeton is dealing with problems similar to those throughout the state, with an uptick in infections and the Delta variant now accounting for about 86 percent of new infections in New Jersey.

He described some of the challenges facing his department. “A major role of epidemiology is to provide a clue to changes that take place over time in the health problems we are experiencing as a community,” he wrote. “With a novel virus it’s likely that what worked last month may or may not work this month. What works in one city for disease prevention may not work in another.” more

By Donald Gilpin

The future of the Witherspoon Street corridor and the future of the Witherspoon-Jackson community were in the spotlight as Joint Effort Witherspoon-Jackson Princeton Safe Streets 2021 moved into high gear on Monday, August 2 with a reception and community program.

“This is a work in progress for discussion and input, not a final design,” said architect and Studio Hillier Principal J. Robert (Bob) Hillier, a Town Topics shareholder, in presenting his plan with PowerPoint, photos, and design illustrations for the restoration of the neighborhood.

“There was a great community here,” he continued. “Shirley [Satterfield] tells the story better than anyone. It was a proud community. What we’re going to do architecturally is return it to being a proud community, where everybody can afford to live and live here nicely.”

In addition to Hillier’s presentation, the program, at Studio Hillier on Witherspoon Street, featured remarks by a number of local elected officials; tributes to Hillier and his wife, Studio Hillier Principal Barbara Hillier; and a mayoral proclamation of appreciation honoring Joint Effort Witherspoon-Jackson Princeton Safe Streets for its contributions to the community over the past 48 years.

In presenting his vision, Hillier emphasized six goals, which he noted were in accord with the goals of the Witherspoon-Jackson Historical and Cultural Society: to preserve the culture and character of the neighborhood; to retain existing residences (“We’re not going to be throwing people out,” he said.); to promote diversity in the population; to provide housing at a reasonable cost (“This is an anti-gentrification project,” he said, “because we’re going to be providing housing that people can afford.”); to create a sustainable and safe environment; and to increase the sense of community. more

By Donald Gilpin

The Princeton Public Schools (PPS) Board of Education (BOE) has sent to the New Jersey Department of Education an application for a  $17.5 million referendum to repair and replace leaking roofs at all six district schools, as well as to replace aging skylights, gutters, siding, deteriorating masonry, and rooftop HVAC equipment.

“These needs are urgent,” said PPS Board Administrator Matt Bouldin. “Delays can only lead to ongoing, costly repairs and building damage and would impede the installation of solar panels.” The application was approved by the Princeton BOE by an 8-1 vote at their meeting last week.

If the proposed projects are approved by the state on schedule, Princeton residents will vote on the “health and safety referendum for urgent capital needs” at a special election on January 25, 2022.  If the referendum passes, the work will start in the summer of 2022, with projects spread out over the next several years.

The last PPS referendum, $27 million for improvements to all six schools, was passed in December 2018. The debt from prior referendums is scheduled to mature on February 1, 2022, and 2023, and the proposed future maintenance projects can be completed without increasing debt service above the current levels. more

By Donald Gilpin

Coming out of the pandemic with themes of reconnection and “a new vision for Princeton,” the Joint Effort Witherspoon-Jackson Princeton Safe Streets celebration begins this weekend with a fish fry and reunion gathering at the Elks Lodge on Saturday afternoon and a gospel festival at the First Baptist Church of Princeton at 5 p.m. on Sunday, August 1.

“The highlight of this nine-day celebration is reconnecting with people,” said Joint Effort founder and event coordinator John Bailey, “with an emphasis on cultural expression, intellectual dialogue, and conversation on the future of Princeton.”

He continued, “We will hear from people who have a message, and I hope these events will be meaningful and purposeful. Folks have been isolated for 18 months, and it’s good to come out, cautiously, and resume the historical and cultural experience.”

Bailey pointed out that masks will be available for voluntary use. “With the COVID upsurge we have to be mindful in accordance with state and CDC guidelines,” he added.

The kick-off reception and first “new vision for  Princeton” discussion will take place on Monday, August 2 at Studio Hillier on Witherspoon Street. Bob Hillier, architect, Studio Hillier principal and a Town Topics shareholder, will present a “Vision for the Witherspoon Street Corridor,” with Mayor Mark Freda, Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, Mercer County Commissioners Sam Frisby and Andrew Koontz, and Witherspoon-Jackson Historical and Cultural Society President Shirley Satterfield participating. Princeton Councilwomen Michelle Pirone Lambros and Mia Sacks and Princeton Council candidate Leighton Newlin will contribute follow-up remarks.  more