Volume LXXIII, Number 1
Preserving Rural History in Montgomery . . . . . . . . 5 Lidia Bastianich to Speak at Dorothea’s House Fundraiser . . . . 9 From Times Square to the Wild West . . . . 10 Thanet Circle Property Sold . . . . . . . . 8 PU Men’s Hoops Primed for Ivy Opener Against Penn . . . . . . . 21 Junior Star Zammit Carrying the Load for PHS Girls’ Hockey . . . 24
Poet Laureate Tracy K . Smith to Visit PDS . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors . .16, 17 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 20 Classified Ads . . . . . . 28 Dining & Entertainment. . 18 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Music/Theater . . . . . . 11 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 14 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 27 Real Eastate . . . . . . . . 28 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
PU Joins Lawsuit, Supports Intl. Students Against New Fed Policy
Princeton University has joined a lawsuit against the Secretary of Homeland Security and others over a recent change to immigration policy that could make it easier to ban international students from the country for up to ten years. The original suit, filed in October by Guilford College and four other plaintiffs, states that the new federal policy would impose harsh and retroactive immigration penalties, causing thousands of students, researchers, and professors from other countries to face lengthy bans against returning to the United States after staying here too long, in some cases inadvertently. On December 21 Princeton joined 65 other colleges and universities in submitting a friend-of-the-court brief to support the lawsuit, which targets an August 9 memorandum on F, J, and M visas issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, putting international students in jeopardy of receiving a ban from the U.S. without the opportunity to correct any error in their status. The brief states that the new rule upsets the stability of the F, J, and M visa programs and “needlessly exposes international students and exchange visitors to devastating reentry bans. This new rule will harm international students and scholars as well as the institutions which host them.” Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber has made several challenges to recent changes and proposed changes to immigration policies and rules. He has advocated for beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and those affected by Trump administration executive orders banning travel to the U.S. from certain Muslim-majority countries. In March Eisgruber wrote to top federal officials protesting changes to the J-1 exchange visa and Optional Practical Training programs, and in February he wrote to members of Congress urging them to pass legislation that would provide legal status for immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan living in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status. In their December 21 amicus brief, the colleges and universities argue, “Rules changes such as this make the United States a less welcoming place for international study and have a demonstrable Continued on Page 7
Barbara Blackwell Broker Associate 4 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ 08542
(609) 921-1050 Office (609) 915-5000 Cell bblackwell@callawayhenderson.com
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Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Bridge Projects Will Close Alexander Road The bridge over the D&R Canal on Alexander Road is scheduled to be closed starting sometime this summer while the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) replaces the span. At the same time, Mercer County will be replacing a nearby culvert and the bridge over the Stony Brook. The closure is expected to last through spring 2020. Traffic tie-ups are inevitable. “It’s going to cause traffic issues, obviously, and we’re going to be discussing in more detail what the detours are going to be,” Mayor Liz Lempert said during the December 17 meeting of Princeton Council. “The good news is that both bridges are going to be worked on at the same time, so we won’t have to shut it down again to work on each one.” On December 19, the NJDOT held a public information session at Monument Hall. Traffic was chief among the concerns of the approximately 50 people who attended. During the replacement projects, Alexander Road will be closed between Faculty Road and Canal Pointe Boulevard. The primary detour route being recommended is Faculty Road and Washington Road. According to the NJDOT, the D&R Canal bridge, which was built in 1948, is in
poor condition. It has one travel lane in each direction and no shoulders. Since it is located within the Delaware and Raritan Canal Historic District, along with the associated Camden and Amboy Railroad Branch Line and Princeton Basin historic districts, the project required a public forum to obtain public comment on issues related to the protection of historic resources under the New Jersey Register of Historic Places Act. Replacing the old bridge will be a
single-span bridge made of a concrete deck, supported by galvanized steel beams founded on reinforced concrete abutments. Both lanes will be 2 feet wider, with a 5-foot shoulder on each side. Each side will have timber sidewalks with concrete curbs. The outer edge will have a wood facade. While the roadway is under municipal jurisdiction, the D&R bridge is owned by the state, and the span over the Stony Continued on Page 7
Library to Host Glass Room Experience: Detox Your Data, Protect Your Privacy The Glass Room Experience is coming to Princeton Public Library (PPL), January 7-27, offering visitors the opportunity to explore the dark side of the digital world and learn about how their data is generated, harvested, traded, and sold every day. The interactive exhibition, created by Mozilla and Tactical Tech, is an art installation that shows the impact of technology in day-to-day life and provides a visual representation of a variety of hidden phenomena related to data and privacy. PPL is one of 25 libraries nationwide hosting the exhibition, which will be in-
stalled next week on the first floor near the welcome desk. Features of the exhibit, based on Glass Room installations presented in New York, London, Berlin, Prague, and elsewhere around the world, will demonstrate the scale of companies behind the platforms visitors use every day, provide an understanding of what data can be gleaned from selfies, and reveal what people agree to when they click “I agree” at the bottom of the seldom-read users’ agreements. Continued on Page 8
TROUBLE AHEAD: Traffic woes are inevitable when a section of Alexander Road closes this summer for state and county bridge replacement projects. But wider spans and safer conditions will be the result when the road reopens, hopefully in spring 2020. (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)
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