Volume LXXVI, Number 25
New Littlebrook Murals Bring Color and Joy . . . 5 Amateur Radio Field Day Is Open to Public . . . . . 8 Final Weekend of “Jazz in June” Marks Lockwood’s Retirement . . . . . . . . 11 Princeton Festival Presents Yours Sincerely, Stephen Sondheim . . 14 Comic Opera Albert Herring at Princeton Festival . . . . . . . . . . . 15 PHS Junior Standout Jonathan Gu Wins NJ State Boys Singles Title . . . . .26 After Successful Tenure as Stuart AD, Leith Heading to Bullis School . . . . . 28
Celebrating 100 Years of Judy Garland (19221969) . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 22 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 31 Healthy Living. . . . . 17-19 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 12 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 23 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 30 Performing Arts . . . . . 16 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 8 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 31 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Summer Guide . . . . . . 2-3 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
COVID Rates Are Down; Vaccines Approved For Very Young Children The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday, June 18 recommended COVID-19 vaccines for children from 6 months to 5 years old. As of Tuesday, June 21, New Jersey parents can make vaccination appointments for their young children through covid19. nj.gov, the state’s COVID-19 website. “This is welcome news for parents concerned with ensuring their children have the strongest protection against COVID-19,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli noted in a statement issued Saturday. New Jersey has ordered 61,000 doses and is distributing them to medical sites around the state, according to Murphy. The vaccines use the same technology as vaccines for adults, but they are given at different dose sizes and number of shots. Children under 5 who receive the Pfizer vaccine will be given three doses at one-tenth the strength of adult doses. Children under 6 who receive the Moderna vaccine will receive two doses at one-quarter the strength of an adult dose. The Pfizer vaccine was previously approved for children ages 5 to 11, but fewer than 30 percent in that age group have received the recommended two shots. In CDC nationwide surveys conducted in May, only about one-third of parents said they would vaccinate their young children. According to the most recent available Princeton Health Department statistics, 88 percent of all local residents age 5 and over are vaccinated, 90 percent of those 18 and over. In response to a New York Times poll in April, fewer than one-fifth of parents of children under 5 said they were eager to get their children vaccinated right away. Parents gave many different reasons for hesitancy, though most health experts agree on the safety of the vaccine and recommend that all children be vaccinated. New Jersey COVID-19 case numbers have been declining in recent weeks, as have transmission rates and hospitalizations. The rate of transmission in New Jersey on Tuesday, June 21, was 0.8. Numbers below 1 indicate that the outbreak is declining, with each new case leading to less than one additional new case. Continued on Page 10
75¢ at newsstands
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Opposition Grows to U.S. 1 Warehouse Project A project that would bring nine warehouses of 5.5 million square feet to a 650-acre parcel bordering U.S. Route 1, Clarksville Road, and Quakerbridge Road in West Windsor, the former home of American Cyanamid, has many residents registering strong opposition. A discussion of the development by the West Windsor Township Planning Board, followed by a vote, is scheduled for its in-person meeting on June 29. The issue was last considered by the Planning Board on June 1. Traffic congestion and environmental issues are among the concerns of those urging that the development be scrapped. West Windsor Township Mayor Hemant Marathe said the former, in particular, will be addressed at the meeting. “I have talked to a lot of people in town, and I understand their concerns,” he said. “Traffic is the main concern. We fully understand that, and the Planning Board is going to impose conditions so that not as many trucks can be on Clarksville Road.” The Planning Board gave preliminary approval to a plan by the developer, Atlantic Realty, in December 2020. Since then, residents have charged that ongoing discussions of the issue have not been open to the public.
“Everything was by Zoom, but the Planning Board of West Windsor did not provide a Zoom link to the public,” said township resident Tirza Wahrman, who ran against Marathe last November. “My perspective is that a decision was made that a Zoom link was not required for the Planning Board, which is in stark contrast to how other township entities run. The whole thing was done under cover of night.” Marathe said the process has been
transparent. “We are 100 percent in person: Live, taped, and put on YouTube,” he said. Opposition to the project is not limited to West Windsor residents. The New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club and the public advocacy group MoveOn have posted their concerns on social media. “This project brings with it potential for severe congestion on Route 1 and area roads, increased air pollution, and other problems,” Continued on Page 11
Thousands Parade Through Princeton, Celebrating Pride In Person for 2022
Back in person for the first time since Princeton’s first Pride Parade in 2019, Pride 2022 again drew a crowd of thousands of spirited marchers and supporters on Saturday, June 18, all celebrating the message of love, diversity, and inclusion. From babies to 90-year-olds, the diverse throng “marched, sashayed, and rolled,” according to event lead organizer Robt Seda-Schreiber, up Witherspoon Street from the Municipal Building, then down Paul Robeson Place to the YMCA for an afterparty that included entertainment and remarks from several speakers.
“To get the community together again after three years apart — it was beautiful, meaningful, significant, and inspirational — as meaningful as it was fabulous,” said Seda-Schreiber, chief activist of the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice (BRCSJ), which sponsored the event. Seda-Schreiber noted similarities between the 2019 and 2022 events, but emphasized the importance of bringing so many people together after having been kept apart for so long. “Especially for our queer community, for all marginalized folks, not to be able to gather is a really Continued on Page 10
PRINCETON PRIDE PARADE 2022: Thousands of marchers and supporters were in downtown Princeton on Saturday morning for the first in-person Pride Parade since 2019. An afterparty followed at the YMCA field on Paul Robeson Place. Participants share what brought them to the event is this week’s Town Talk on page 6. (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)