By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Princeton was recognized by the World Health Organization as a senior citizen-friendly community, given all the access to transportation, housing and other activities that older adults have available.
The town is the first in New Jersey to get the recognition as an "age friendly community," announced recently at a fundraiser for the Princeton Senior Resource Center. Princeton has more than 7,000 adults 55 and over living in the community.
Susan W. Hoskins, the executive director of the Resource Center, said Princeton is a place "where we want people to stay and age in place. We want to support aging in place."
The WHO had eight different criteria or categories of things that the agency saw as important for older adults as the age. Those include access to quality public and private transportation, housing options, access to parks and other recreation facilities.
Princeton does have high property taxes that could lead some older adults to have to leave the community once they reach retirement age. But Ms. Hoskins said the town has made "a really big commitment to low-income and affordable housing."
She said the WHO recognition — handed down in July — reflects what the community has done so far for older adults and a commitment to continue thinking about population in town planning.
"There is a lot of culture to be found here. There are the support services," she said. "We have made an effort, but we’re also committing ourselves."
"It’s really a testament to the work that the Princeton Senior Resource Center does and of the planning that’s been done to make this a great town to live in and to raise kids in and grow old in," said Mayor Liz Lempert. "We have a walkable community. We’ve made an investment in that. There’s parks. We have great cultural opportunities, educational opportunities."
Going forward, Ms. Hoskins said her agency would survey the older population in Princeton to find out what things "we’re doing well and what are the things we need to focus on next."
