Letters to the Editor, June 17

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, June 17

Celebrate important values in town
To the editor:
   
What is so rare as a stroll in June? My daily peregrinations through the streets and byways of Princeton are especially delightful at this time of year — the lush foliage, the manicured lawns with their explosions of flowers and verdant shrubbery. The university campus yields its own inimitable vistas of towering trees, broad lawns, and, of course, the extravagant beauty of the meticulously maintained Prospect Gardens. Truly, it is all a feast for the eyes and balm for the soul.
   I also notice in my wanderings the profusion of new construction under way in all parts of our community: the high school additions (millions well spent); the university’s new Gehry-designed science library and the neo-gothic Whitman College (tens of millions well spent); the downtown development continues apace, and every nook and cranny in the borough seems to be sprouting large, new private residences, not to mention the ubiquitous "teardowns" (all money well spent).
   Amidst this display of public splendor and private opulence, amongst this vast array of taxpayer-funded projects, immense endowments, princely donations and general affluence (one can almost hear the equity growing as one walks these "anything but mean streets" of Princeton), how in the world can there not be some provision for the funding of the Quark Park project, the brilliantly conceived installation that was to follow last year’s equally brilliant Writers Block installation? A poignant remnant of that creative and magical place now resides in Barbara Sigmund park on Hamilton Avenue, reminding us that beyond the sheer physical beauty and palpable affluence of our town/gown community, there are other important values to be celebrated in this town that has practically institutionalized culture, intellect and progress.
   What an almost unbearable irony it is, that on a street named for Paul Robeson and in a year that venerates Albert Einstein, there exists in close proximity the Herban Garden (arguably one of the most attractive and civilized sites in all of Princeton) and the desolate empty space that was once the Writers Block, and could have been Quark Park.
   Let us hope we have not reached the stage of Wilde’s cynic, "who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."
Bill Moran
Wiggins Street
Princeton
The race is on, and skyscraper is winning
To the editor:
   
Since I live in Princeton and work in Manhattan, I’ve been watching two construction projects with great interest. One is a 52-story skyscraper, the new New York Times building on 8th Avenue between 40th and 41st streets. The other is the resurfacing of a short stretch of Alexander Street in Princeton Borough.
   I see it as a race. So far, I think the skyscraper is winning.
   The skyscraper work began in January 2004, when the ground for the building was broken and a cavernous hole was dug. Now the steel skeleton is being put in place. As for Alexander Street? Well, during that same year and a half when the Times building went from a vacant lot to a skeleton, the road crew has been sporadically present and occasionally busy in Princeton. The actual road is in worse condition than ever but the sidewalks are slowly, ever so slowly, being remade.
   The Times building is scheduled to be completed next year. The Alexander Street project has no particular completion time — at least none appears on the borough’s Web site.
   Stay tuned. Who will finish first?
Gina Kolata
Hun Road
Princeton
Early closing raises school calendar issue
To the editor:
   
Last Friday, the superintendent announced that the Princeton Regional Schools would close at 1 p.m. for the remainder of the school year because of excessive heat. The schools do not have air-conditioning and it is too hot to function.
   I wonder if this emergency measure has caused the superintendent or the board to have second thoughts about their radical revision to next year’s school calendar. In choosing (despite significant parental protest) to create a full week of vacation in early November — prime learning time — the school district has had to extend next year’s school year even further into June 2006. Given that hot and humid weather is the norm rather than the exception at this time of year, it seems all too likely that students and teachers will be uncomfortable and unproductive for an even longer period next summer.
   Does the school district have a plan to ensure that our schools will be able to function properly until the end of the newly extended school year?
Claire Fowler
Prospect Avenue
Princeton
Arts Council celebrates students’ publication
To the editor:
   
On June 8, The Arts Council of Princeton celebrated the publication of the 17th edition of "Under Age," an annual anthology of poetry, prose and artwork by students in grades K through 12. The students whose works were chosen for publication, along with their parents and teachers, gathered for a reading and exhibition of their art. The publication party was a joyous occasion that commemorated both the creativity of the thousands of students who submit their work each year and the inspiration and encouragement provided by their parents and teachers.
   The Arts Council would like to thank all those who made "Under Age" possible: our literary editor, Debra Liese; our art editor and coordinator, Bianca Bosker; our designers, Mary Kondo and John Hubbard; Sue Roth and Princeton Public Library for providing us the room to celebrate this special occasion; Micawber Books for decorating their store window with the artwork from "Under Age" and selling copies of the publication; Verizon Foundation for its grand sponsorship; Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission; the J. Seward Johnson Sr. 1963 Charitable Trust; and all the following individual sponsors who recognize the profound importance of cultivating self-expression in the young and who support "Under Age" year after year:
   Peter and Wendy Benchley, Peter and Helena Bienstock, Freeman and Imme Dyson, Peter and Lilian Grosz, Edmund and Mary Keeley, Linda R. Levy, Wendy L. Mager, Charles and Dorothy Plohn, Ingrid and Marvin Reed, Raymond J. Stratmeyer. and Daniel and Dianne Tully.
Randi Lund
Public Relations/Events Coordinator
The Arts Council of Princeton
Paul Robeson Place
Princeton
Criticism of Curves was overly hasty
To the editor:
   
I must apologize to Susan DePonte, owner of the new Curves of Princeton, for my letter to the editor (The Packet, May 27).
   Because I feel strongly about the issue of women’s choice, I was too hasty. I didn’t think to verify the information in The New York Times letter I quoted before passing it on. And although I am still unsure about the Heavins, I hope any effects of my letter on Ms. DePonte’s enterprise will have been mitigated by the publicity it generated.
   By way of further amends, I must add that two of my sisters attend Curves in their cities and love the program. I visited one with my Massachusetts sister several years ago and it looked so good to me that I was thrilled when I heard it would be coming here.
   I suppose the only way I could approach Princeton’s Curves now would be on hands and knees. But can a jackass learn how to crawl?
Lorraine Sichel
Jefferson Road
Princeton
Plenty of spinning in Curves’ rationalization
To the editor:
   
Re: "Setting the record straight on Curves (letter to the editor, The Packet, June 10), I’m not sure what part of "laughing all the way to the bank in my private jet paid for by the gender I seek to subordinate" owners of Curves don’t quite understand. Or, since there’s an investment to protect, they simply buy into the well-orchestrated, brilliant campaign of spinning (no pun intended) Gary Heavin sells.
   The writer justifies that it’s not Curves, per se, who donates all the millions of dollars to anti-choice politicians or charities; it’s "personally" donated. How does anyone think Mr. Heavin got the money to donate in the first place?
   While it’s true that the San Francisco Chronicle retracted an article by a columnist who spoke the truth and dismissed her, the best way to sum that up is to ask: Has anyone ever heard of whistleblowers not losing their jobs?
   Make no mistake about it, Gary Heavin is anti-choice. I’ll put my research up against what the owner of the Curves in Princeton has any day. But maybe an anecdote is better:
   Several years ago, I kick-boxed at the Princeton Academy of Martial Arts. Like Curves’ members, I liked that it was all women. There was this huge room where we kick-boxed. Next to it was a much smaller room. Even though the women’s class was large, we were moved into the smaller room where kick-boxing evolved into elbow/foot/fist dodging. A men’s class, never numbering over six or so, took over the large room.
   We collectively complained to the instructor, who was part owner with her husband. Although sympathetic, she was powerless to do anything because her husband refused to switch rooms. Because we, like Curves’ members, loved our workout, we hung our heads and obediently accepted our lesser accommodations. One evening I pulled into the parking lot, saw the (few) guys in the big room versus the (uncountable) number of women in the small room — dodging and ducking just to keep from running into each other — then looked at myself in the rearview mirror. I put the car in reverse and left, never to return.
   One day I ran into the instructor, who asked why I left. When I told her, she, like Curves’ owners, responded that I was hurting her since she was part owner. I told her that while I sympathized, some people can get spit in their faces and call it rain, and some can’t.
   "The Ethicist," in a Sept. 24, 2004, column in The New York Times, perhaps worded women’s Curves’ dilemma more eloquently: "There’s much to be said for finding a workout routine that helps you grow physically stronger but doesn’t leave you feeling morally weaker."
   We women go through all kinds of mind exercises to justify our living with male permission. Gary Heavin himself said, "I have looked at the evidence of abortion and have concluded that it’s unhealthy for women, even devastating." The growing number of pharmacists who are refusing to fill women’s birth control also view it as "devastating" to women’s health.
   Perhaps when there’s no longer abortion/EMC/birth control, the whole Curves issue will be moot. Because what woman with 15-20 children can find time to even attend Curves?
Kathryn Arons
The Great Road
Princeton
Parade sponsor thanks organizers
To the editor:
   
On behalf of the Spirit of Princeton and myself, I would like to give a thank you to all the Princeton residents and their guests who came out to see the Memorial Day parade.
   If only our service men and women who are now serving overseas could have seen all the support that you showed for them protecting our country, they would have been really proud of you. Thank you.
   This year’s special thanks go to the following for making the parade a success:
   The Spirit of Princeton Committee for the long dedicated hours organizing the parade; Princeton Borough and Princeton Township police departments; Princeton Borough Public Works Department and Borough Clerk’s Office; Wawa of Princeton and John Golias, who donated all the drinks and snacks for the parade participants; the Flower Marker for the memorial wreath; Audi of Princeton; Princeton University; and all the parade participants.
   A reminder about other 2005 Spirit of Princeton events: The July 4, 2005, Fireworks will be held on June 30, at dusk, on the Clark Field, next to Princeton Stadium, and Veterans Day, Nov. 11, will be celebrated at 11 a.m. at the Battle Monument on Mercer Street.
Raymond R. Wadsworth
Chairman
Spirit of Princeton
Witherspoon Street
Princeton
Decision upholds homeowners’ rights
To the editor:
   
I would like to add a few points to your article regarding the remediation project currently under way in Parcel 1 at Princeton Landing (The Packet, June 3).
   To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time in the United States that a homeowners’ association has gone to court to force its members to leave their homes. Only under rare and extenuating circumstances should such a demand be made. Remediation such as that currently taking place in Princeton Landing does not require such a drastic measure. Similar remediation has taken place in other associations without any mention of relocation. Judge Travis L. Francis clearly understood this and denied the association’s motions.
   The homeowners’ association began its case against the residents as an action about mold remediation, but mold was found in only a few of the units. No toxic levels were ever discovered. No one in Parcel 1 has reported any illness due to mold. The court-appointed expert testified that this project is not mold remediation. Instead, it is a "deconstruct-inspect-reconstruct" project where walls are simply torn down and replaced. Based on this revelation, the association’s argument turned to cost.
   The contract signed by the association with the contractor (excerpts available at www.princetonlandingalert.com) states that residents will be in their homes during the construction. Therefore, all costs calculated for this project should have been based on that fact. Other evidence supports this position. The New York City Protocol for Mold Remediation, repeatedly referenced by the contractor, does not require that residents leave their homes during mold remediation. Finally, the by-laws and covenants of the association do not give the board the power to remove residents. They require only that the residents "give access" to the association for needed repairs — something we have always been willing to do.
   In light of the above facts, we seven residents have elected to remain in our homes. We want the work done. We have paid to have the work done — some of us in excess of $28,000. We are hopeful that our scheduled meeting with all of the board members on June 15 will lead to a resolution. Any further request by the association to the court for reconsideration or an appeal will only add more legal costs and further delay the project.
   However, we will not be coerced into leaving our homes as so many of our fellow residents have been. We have rights of ownership. These rights of ownership must be recognized as being equal to or greater than those of the association. We are not an entity — we are people.
   It is important to the 1.2 million people in New Jersey who also live in condominium associations that we do not lose this case. This would set a dangerous precedent. No homeowner residing in an association could ever feel truly safe in their home again knowing that they could be evicted without due process.
William Hart
Sayre Drive
Plainsboro
Meeting clears air on WW planning
To the editor:
   
I would very much like to thank West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh for doing away with the filtered index cards and conducting an open and interactive town hall meeting on June 4 with West Windsor residents after his recent re-election in May.
   I am sure that all of those who live on the west side of the railroad tracks — that is, those who live on Bear Brook Road, in Penns Neck, in Canal Pointe, Princeton Greens, Windsor Haven, the Windsor Woods (formerly Meadow Road) apartments, the Seminary apartments, and at the Estates at Princeton Junction, as well as those who work in Carnegie Center, along Alexander Road, on Route 1 in West Windsor, among other west side areas of town — will be pleased to learn that we may well see the creation of emergency services and a fire station on our side of the tracks, provided that some additional building is undertaken in our neighborhoods and that such developers, through payments in lieu of taxes, contribute to such emergency construction, according to Mayor Hsueh.
   The key here is that new construction will be needed to get the needed emergency services. At least now we have some clarity as to what we will need on the west side of town to get these services: additional construction so we can finance these services through developer payments in kind. Fair enough.
   Furthermore, west siders will be pleased to learn that our tax money has in part been allocated in the 2005-2006 township budget to actually do some planning on the west side, not just for new residents of the planned transit village, but for existing residents so we can reach beyond what developer applicants have in mind for our town. Up until now, only those who build get to plan our town. Who knows? With this sort of momentum in place, maybe we could get some real planning along Route 571 in Princeton Junction and get developers to pay us back for this planning, also through payments in lieu of taxes. That way, those who live here get to do the planning at no real cost to the taxpayer. And in the process, we get to make West Windsor more of a sustainable community — with emergency services to boot — not just a place to sleep and drive through, but a community having a sense of place.
Farrell Delman
Bear Brook Road
West Windsor
Great strides are made in fight against disease
To the editor:
   
A sincere thank you to the generous people of Princeton, Cranbury, West Windsor, Hamilton, Montgomery, Pennington and Ewing for the success of the April 17 Great Strides Walk to Cure Cystic Fibrosis at the Princeton Battlefield. The generosity of our community is demonstrated by the prayers, the concern and the $115,000 raised by the participants. The entire amount will be used to fund research efforts to treat and cure this fatal disease.
   The newspaper is not large enough to list everyone who contributed but we will try: the Distler family, the Braum family, the Caricato family, the McQuaid family, Dow Jones, Futures and Options for Kids, the Huber family, the Hartman family, the Vacarro family, the Wislar family, the Wishnick family, and the student jazz musicians from PHS.
   The public and private school students set the course, distributed sandwiches, cookies and T-shirts, and cleaned up the park. They organized dress-down days and managed the publicity by posting signs everywhere: Princeton High School baseball teams, St. Paul’s School, St. Ann’s School, John Witherspoon Middle School, Notre Dame High School, The Hun School, Caldwell College, Princeton Montessori School, Princeton Youth baseball teams and Princeton Cranbury Babe Ruth baseball teams.
   Whole Foods Markets donated some sandwiches, and water was donated by Wegmans Market. The course was marked in colorful signs sponsored by Louis Russo, DDS, Natalie Caricato-Photographer, the Pediatric Group, Joanne Reiffe Fishbane DMD, Kenneth Goldblatt MD, University Medical Center at Princeton, Nassau Street Seafood, Mark’s Trackside Auto Repair, Omni Environmental Corp., Cranbury Design Group, Antonia’s Restaurant, Potters Alley, the Daughters of Penelope, Bear Sterns, Princeton Eyecare, Princeton Real Estate Group, Jersey Shore Radiology, Styling Station, Sports Medicine of Princeton, the First Washington State Bank, the Princeton Group, and the Gallup Road neighborhood.
   For his bar mitzvah project, Aaron Wishnick designed and distributed "Breath of Life" wristbands for $2 each. His idea spread rapidly. He supplied them to his friends at John Witherspoon Middle School, Jill Vacarro covered Notre Dame High School, Griffin Zucosky covered The Hun School, Annie Britschge supplied St. Paul’s School, Matthew Gerard supplied Princeton High School, the Boutot family supplied the wristbands to the Hillsborough public school system, Alex Ferrara and Mackenzie Wislar covered Stuart, and John Edwards marketed them at Princeton University. These young people not only raised money for research, but they also taught their friends about cystic fibrosis and sowed the seeds for the research that may some day cure this fatal disease. The wristbands will be available through the rest of the year.
   We are hopeful that the awareness and money raised by this event nationwide will change the meaning of the initials CF from Cystic Fibrosis to Cure Found. Those of us with children with Cystic Fibrosis are deeply touched by the warmth and generosity of the community. Thank you again.
Mary, Paul, John, Meghan, Matthew and David Gerard
Talbot Lane
Princeton
Bill would strengthen ‘chain of survival’
To the editor:
   
As American Heart Association volunteers, board members, physicians and concerned New Jersey citizens, we urge support and passage of New Jersey Senate Bill S-2567. If passed, this legislation could over time save untold numbers of New Jersey lives by requiring all health clubs and fitness centers to have automated external defibrillators on site and staff properly trained to use them.
   According to a study published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, health clubs/fitness centers are among the top 10 public places with the highest occurrence of sudden cardiac arrest, which is different from a heart attack.
   In March 2002, a joint scientific statement from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association urged fitness clubs throughout the country to install defibrillators (AEDs) and train staff to use them.
   The American Heart Association has called sudden cardiac arrest a major unresolved public health issue. Sudden cardiac arrest, sometimes referred to as "sudden death," is the number-one cause of death in this country. The American Heart Association estimates that at least 250,000 people die every year from sudden cardiac arrest. Few victims survive after 10 minutes. The national survival rate from cardiac arrest is approximately 8 percent.
   The number of Americans who exercise regularly at fitness clubs has increased steadily in recent years, as has their age. It’s time for all New Jersey health clubs and fitness centers to be better prepared for cardiac and other medical emergencies. The American Heart Association is aware of at least seven documented lives that have been saved in New Jersey during the past four years at health clubs and fitness centers equipped with an AED program. However, those health clubs/fitness centers are in the minority in the Garden State. The vast majority of clubs are not prepared with defibrillator programs.
   The cost to purchase a defibrillator, once $3,500 or more, has now dropped below $1,500, making AEDs affordable for nearly everyone. A commercial treadmill might cost $4,500 to $8,000. Surely, the cost of saving a life is worth the investment of an AED. New Jersey’s public access defibrillation legislation, signed into law in 1999, provides immunity from liability to individuals and organizations that act in good faith while using an AED or implementing an AED program in an attempt to save a life.
   Surviving sudden cardiac arrest is all about time. The goal of the American Heart Association is that for anyone experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, early 9-1-1, early CPR and early defibrillation will occur in the first five minutes before brain damage begins. Citizens deserve proper safety and protection in their health clubs. We urge swift passage of Senate Bill S-2567. Help strengthen New Jersey’s "chain of survival" and improve the chance of survival from sudden cardiac arrest.
Dr. Poonam Alaigh
President
North Jersey Region Board of Directors
Dr. Perry Weinstock
President
South Jersey Region Board of Directors
American Heart Association
North Brunswick