Letters to the Editor, Jan. 7

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, Jan. 7

By:
Concerned citizen speaks his mind
To the editor:
   
Which vision do you support?
   The Jim Firestone/Concerned Citizens of Princeton (CCP) letter to Mayor Reed, dated Jan. 1, challenges the planned use of the two major borough parking lots. The planned use, confirmed by Borough Council votes, replaces the present ground-level parking with an open plaza, retail stores (included the much-needed downtown food market), apartments and small shops and a five-story parking garage. I refer to the planned use as the "Heart of Princeton."
   I take strong exception to CCP’s assumption that it represents me as a "concerned citizen of Princeton." I will match my concern for Princeton to that of any other individual or group. I have been a resident of Princeton for 70 years. Almost without exception, I have voted in every election and referendum for which I was eligible.
   In his letter, Mr. Firestone states correctly that the Heart of Princeton is "the biggest project in our town since Palmer Square." I, but not he, was here when the highly contentious battle of Palmer Square was fought. Who today would do away with Palmer Square?
   Mr. Firestone questions the height of Heart of Princeton buildings. What is proposed for the heart conforms to zoning ordinances. And note that the Nassau Inn, the First National Bank building, 19 Hulfish St., and the Spring Street/Larry Benson building all stand higher against the horizon than will the buildings of the Heart of Princeton.
   What alternative is proposed by CCP? The only one appears to be a concrete slab with one layer of parking below the slab and another layer above. This would replicate on the most valuable land in the borough the ambiance and charm of the Chambers Street parking garage.
   The Borough Council has stated that the concept and details for the Heart of Princeton conforms to applicable law. Mr. Firestone threatens the mayor and council with legal action. Some lawyer should present an estimate of the cost to which borough residents would become exposed by the furtherance of such a course of action by the CCP.
   What should a truly concerned citizen do? He should register his feelings by a letter to the mayor and council.
Tom Huntington
Allison Road
Princeton
Eagles were probably stopping by for a meal
To the editor:
   
Regarding the American Bald Eagle sightings at Lake Carnegie (The Packet, Jan. 3), I receive numerous reports in my capacity of secretary of the New Jersey Audubon Society’s Bird Records Committee, and have heard the same reports mentioned in your article (and more besides).
   Given the fall time frame of the reports, it is most likely these birds (subadults as well as adults) were migrants stopping by for a meal. As the species’ population recovers nationally from DDT, migrating eagles have become a more familiar and welcome sight for people who frequent bodies of water where the birds fish. But if Professor Hollister or anyone else has information concerning a possible local nest, that information should be reported promptly (since eagles begin nesting in January) to the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, Endangered and Nongame Species Program, so the site can be protected. That agency has been vital in protecting bald eagles in New Jersey, and the eagles have increased their nests from a single one between 1970 and 1988 to 27 in 2001.
   For information on the program and New Jersey’s endangered species, and forms to use for reporting, see these Web links: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/ensphome.htm and http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/ensp/rprtform.htm.
   Also, for the record, a bald eagle was seen during the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count Dec. 15, but it was at Mercer County Park in West Windsor, not Rosedale Park.
Laurie Larson
Sycamore Lane
Montgomery
Kingston plan sets traffic priorities
To the editor:
   
Sandra Brillhart’s letter ("Make our roadways safer for pedestrians") in the Dec. 27 Packet is outstanding. Too often, our roadways are "improved" to maximize traffic volume and traffic velocity. Pedestrians are left to take their chances.
   The New Jersey Department of Transportation’s program for pedestrian and bicycle mobility planning, run by Bill Feldman, is a definite step in the right direction. With the help of our townships, the Village of Kingston recently applied for and completed a planning grant under this program. Citizen participation in the planning process was excellent. While the plan doesn’t solve all of Kingston’s traffic problems, it will improve the viability of Kingston’s small businesses and the quality of life of our residents. In dollars-and-cents terms, it will also improve our property values, and the investment value of real estate in Kingston.
   Not everyone agrees, of course; despite Gov. McGreevey’s pledge to stop subsidizing sprawl, we still have too many traffic engineers who think that their job is to create more traffic. Nonetheless, I hope that Ms. Brillhart’s thesis of putting pedestrians first is embraced by the other Transportation Management Authorities throughout the state, and throughout the DOT itself.
Steve Masticola
Church Street
Franklin
Attacks on mayor are unfounded, unfair
To the editor:
   
In the Dec. 31 issue of The Packet, you published a letter from Mr. Maertz of Rocky Hill concerning the recent hit-and-run incident on Washington Street. Like all Rocky Hill residents, Mr. Alexander’s speedy recovery is in the thoughts and prayers of our family. The safety of all of our residents is paramount in the minds of each of us who have chosen Rocky Hill as our home.
   It is always easy to point a finger and lay blame when we are pained by an incident involving a close friend. However, for Mr. Maertz to insinuate in any way that Mayor Nolan was responsible for this terrible act of cowardice is just plain wrong and unfair to Brian and his family. Mr. Maertz claims the lack of traffic-calming efforts in our town is responsible for this incident, and that is Mayor Nolan’s fault. Just three weeks earlier, your paper published an article featuring Mr. Seither, also of Rocky Hill, claiming that too much traffic calming had been done, and that, too, was Mayor Nolan’s fault.
   I have gotten to know Brian Nolan well over the last few months. He and his family are good and decent people. I can assure you from my conversations with him that no one in this community is as pained by this incident as is Mayor Nolan. He has tried desperately over the years to reach consensus on issues such as traffic calming, tax stabilization and controlled development. He has done a good job. He has done it for 12 years and was just re-elected for four more. He does it because he cares about the Rocky Hill community. With all of these personal attacks, some people seem to forget that the mayor of Rocky Hill is an unpaid position that requires a lot of personal sacrifice.
   Mr. Maertz also stated that Rocky Hill should consider its own police force. Putting aside the enormous tax burden required to do that, I personally cannot see how having an officer or two in town could have prevented this particular incident. I also can’t ever imagine that a very small local force could do a better investigation than the New Jersey State Police and all the resources that they have. I continue to believe that the State Police will find the criminal who fled the scene of this horrible accident and bring him or her to justice.
   I agree with Mr. Maertz that we need to look for additional solutions to our traffic-calming issues. Our mayor and council have made a lot of progress but there is so much more to do to protect our residents. While I am sure the council will continue to be open to new suggestions, there are still those in the community who believe too much has been done and that we should start removing what has already been accomplished. Our mayor and council need our support as they walk the fine line of balance between these two very vocal opposing views.
Ed Zimmerman
Lemore Circle
Rocky Hill
Deer culling program dangerous, inhumane
To the editor:
   
The continuing net-and-bolt killing of Princeton deer not only ignores viable and humane alternatives like immunocontraception, but clearly perpetuates wide-scale cruelty to animals. Mayor Phyllis Marchand’s contumacious misuse of the legal system to defend this program only emphasizes the need for its cessation.
   Wildlife studies show that killing large numbers of any herd prompts a growth spurt and an urgent increase in births. By contrast, the unavailability of food causes a natural reduction in live births. This is nature’s way, and the merciless trapping and killing of Princeton’s deer population cannot change this.
   Human lives are also at stake. Tony DeNicola and his White Buffalo team should be recalled before a fatality results. No child is safe as long as armed and roving hunters retain free and unfettered access to Princeton’s backyard, residential and school areas.
   For the sake of native animals and for the safety of the community, Mayor Marchand should actively work with concerned citizens and humane organizations alike to restore a peaceful and safe environment to the township.
Christine A. Dorchak
Vice President
Grey 2K USA
Protecting Greyhounds Nationwide
Somerville, Mass.
Policy hypocritical on Iraq, North Korea
To the editor:
   
The public revelations of North Korea’s renewed efforts to develop nuclear weapons exposes a glaring, fundamental contradiction in the Bush administration’s approach to Weapons of Mass Destruction.
   North Korea’s efforts to secretly develop a nuclear weapon, in violation of its 1994 treaty commitments, dates back to 1998 — the very same year UN inspectors left Iraq. Thus, Iraq’s ability to proceed unimpeded with suspected clandestine programs to develop weapons of mass destruction coincides exactly with North Korea’s.
   The CIA and other intelligence agencies estimate North Korea currently has one or two nuclear warheads, and may add six to eight more by summer 2003. These same agencies estimate Iraq is at least five years away from obtaining any nuclear weapons. Yet it is Iraq — clearly the lesser threat — that is being threatened with imminent war. War has been publicly and unequivocally ruled out as an option in dealing with North Korea.
   While I applaud President Bush for ruling out the option of war with North Korea, it is a hypocritical contradiction to not do the same with Iraq. Moreover, the president’s strategy of seeking to isolate North Korea as a way of pressuring it to back away from the nuclear option will almost certainly fail. This strategy hasn’t worked in decades of previous dealings with North Korea, and there is no reason to think it will now.
   Only a strategy of constructive engagement and negotiation will move toward a peaceful and effective solution. It worked to defuse a crisis in the same region in 1994, and it worked with our policy toward Eastern Europe over many decades. In contrast, the policy of isolation applied to North Korea, as well as to Cuba, has been a dismal failure.
   Moreover, the president appears completely oblivious to the profound contradiction in doing a full-court press, including a possible war with Iraq, to prevent the suspected development of a handful of nuclear weapons — while at the same time maintaining over 10,000 U.S. nuclear warheads. Even worse, his administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, leaked to the press last year, envisions developing and threatening to pre-emptively use nuclear weapons for at least the next 50 years.
   As long as the United States maintains such a hypocritical posture in direct contradiction of our obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, our efforts to dissuade and prevent other nations, and even terrorists, from developing nuclear weapons are doomed to failure. What moral and political clout can we have to pressure other nations to honor their treaty commitments if our president continuously conveys an attitude of "do as we say, not as we do?"
   It is time for the United States to rule out war as a means to stop nuclear proliferation, and instead to honor its treaty obligations to negotiate the global abolition of nuclear weapons under strict and effective international control and verification. Only then would we and future generations truly be free of the terror of nuclear weapons.
The Rev. Robert Moore
Executive Director
Coalition for Peace Action
Witherspoon Street
Princeton
Holiday drive is success in Plainsboro
To the editor:
   
It is almost impossible to wrap your arms around the heart that is Plainsboro’s generous spirit when it comes to programs such as the Plainsboro Township Annual Holiday Drive.
   Were it not for the collaborative efforts of our entire community, large and small, there would have been no holiday for some. A staggering 81 households requested assistance this holiday season, more than ever before. The elderly, the infirm, grandparents raising grandchildren, the developmentally disabled — all needed whatever help we could provide.
   And there were some desperate moments when we weren’t sure that we could take care of it all.
   But in marched the Cub Scouts; the members of the first Presbyterian, Queenship of Mary, Gospel Fellowship and Princeton Alliance churches; the Gentry Mothers’ Club; the employees and management of Geneva Pharmaceutical; the employees at Super Fresh; Lt. Liz Bondurant and friends; the D’Apolito, Rosiak and La Rue families; Jill Hunnold and the wonderful folks at Simonson Farms — to answer specific needs of those on our lists. Other groups stepped forward as well — P.B.A. Local No. 319 ran their Toys for Tots drive coordinated by officer Joe Shedelbower; and the postal workers at the Plainsboro Post Office ran a food collection under the very able guidance of postal worker Linda Grace. And the manpower followed — Kelly Frueler assisted ably by Arianne and 3-year-old Nathan, Anna Mikhalkina, Katy McGuigan, Suman and V.J. Allakki, and preteens Elizabeth and Anne Elise Soderland. A great deal of thanks go to the folks at Plainsboro Township Public Works who got everything over to us in time. A special thank you to Larry Bayern who gets swept up into this project each year because he is just so darned good at organizing all that comes in — to go back out again in an orderly fashion.
   Whether it was a turkey, a toy or game or a much-needed clothing article, it was all appreciated by our recipients. If you came in with much-needed foodstuffs for these households when it looked like there simply wasn’t going to be enough to go around, bless your generous hearts. And if you gave us your time, your energy and your support, thank you for all of your efforts.
   From all who received as a result of your generosity, our sincerest thanks.
   On their behalf as well as that of the Township Committee, the administration staff and my department, please accept our sincerest wishes for a peaceful, happy and healthy New Year.
Jan M. Bayern
Director
Department of Municipal Welfare
Township of Plainsboro