To the Editor:

My parents moved to Princeton in 1992 when I was three years old, shortly after McCaffrey’s Supermarket opened its doors in the Princeton Shopping Center. Shopping at McCaffrey’s quickly became an almost everyday ritual for us, for everything from Jersey Fresh produce to delicious baked goods. When I return home to visit my folks and I shop at McCaffrey’s, I often recognize many of the same faces from my youth who have made successful careers for themselves at our neighborhood market. The store is a welcoming place and always has everything I need, including the best donuts I have ever tasted. The employees are always helpful and knowledgeable. I cannot tell you how many times while I am shopping at the chain grocery store near my home in Washington, D.C., that I think to myself, “Gee, I wish I was at McCaffrey’s right now.”

How lucky the Princeton community is to have such a wonderful grocery store! Many towns could only dream of having a supermarket like McCaffrey’s. And yet, I happened upon Diane Landis’s letter in this paper last week [Mailbox, March 2] scolding the store for not adhering to certain standards of plastic bag distribution. As someone who holds a Bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and lives in a city that charges 5 cents per plastic bag at all retail outlets, I am fully aware of the environmental consequences of improper plastic bag use and disposal, as well as the many benefits of well-crafted regulations to curb plastic bag consumption. I am also fully capable of telling a cashier, “Thank you, but I won’t be needing a bag today.”

It is my opinion that Mercer County, or preferably the state of New Jersey, should be the jurisdiction to set regulations on plastic bag use. Only then can there be fairness amongst stores in the region in competition for our grocery dollars, as well as a comprehensive plan to utilize fees realized from plastic bag use in a way that benefits the environment of the greater Mercer County region, or even the entire state.

Those that insist that the town of Princeton pass its own (flawed) municipal plastic bag legislation fail to see the bigger picture and, consequently, single out the only substantial grocery store in town. McCaffrey’s has done so much over the years to promote reusable grocery bags, as well as provide a convenient location to recycle plastic grocery bags — from any store — well before this “ABC” campaign got started. Their support of the Princeton community in many other ways is so generous and far-reaching that I could not possibly put it into words. I only hope that rational, forward-thinking heads can prevail in this effort to make the Princeton community (really, all of New Jersey) a cleaner, greener, friendlier, and healthier place.

James Steven Beslity

Washington, D.C.

Editor’s Note: Mr. Beslity was a Princeton resident for 17 years and a graduate of the Princeton Public Schools.