Dear Princeton Walkability Advocates: Please Consider Applying For Municipal Committee Positions Now!

Princeton area residents at Communiversity 2012, via Princeton Arts Council

Now is the time to apply for municipal committee positions if you want to help make Princeton more walkable.

Do you want to see a more walkable Princeton? Do you think our streets are too dangerous for walkers and cyclists? Are you concerned about affordable housing? Have you ever considered what Princeton could do to stop Climate Change? If so, the town is offering an opportunity right now to do something about it…

At this time of year, the Princeton municipal government puts out a call for people to join the many committees and municipal bodies that collectively advise and make recommendations on municipal policies. You can link directly to the form where you can volunteer by clicking here. Or you can also find the form at the Princeton municipal website, www.princetonnj.gov, just look for the link for “Application for Board, Commissions, and Tasks Force”.

Joining a municipal committee is not for everybody. It is time-consuming, and let’s be honest, committee meetings are often pretty painful. But these municipal committees are the place where car-centric policies are made. Our municipal committees are loaded with people who are happy with the status quo- policies that create more and more traffic, and push new development onto green field sites at the urban periphery. It would be great to get some enthusiastic people onto our committees who recognize that we need to do things better to deal with the pressures of the 21st century including traffic gridlock and climate change.

It is easier to write the occasional anger letter, and if that’s all you have time for, please continue to do that. But by serving, we have the opportunity to really understand the challenges to making walkability happen, and also get a better platform to push things forward. You might think that joining a committee won’t change anything, but the reason we have a car-dependent society now is because people in the past joined committees and pushed through pro-car decisions.

Definitely at least consider it, and if you need some advice on what the many different committees do, drop us a line at walkableprinceton@gmail.com and we’ll try to give you some good advice. Here is a full list- you can select up to three when applying: