Hinds gates form welcome visitors to the Hinds Plaza next to Princeton public library. (Click to expand)
Hinds Plaza, next to Princeton Public Library, is one of Princeton’s most successful public spaces: an area that brings people together to live, work, study and have fun. Who was Albert Hinds, who gave his name to this square? Continue reading
Chuck Marohn, the key spokesman for ‘Strong Towns’, which offers a fresh perspective on planning and land use concepts. (Click to expand)
Is the way we build towns an unsustainable Ponzi Scheme that will ultimately bankrupt us? That is the striking thesis behind ‘Strong Towns’, an advocacy group that has sprung up out of Brainerd, Minnesota and may just be the best thing to come from the Upper Midwest since Bob Dylan. Continue reading
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Princeton’s beautiful public library is a previous Studio Hillier success on Witherspoon St. (Click to expand)
As we reported in July, the Studio Hillier architecture practice is seeking feedback on a proposal to update zoning along Witherspoon St to enhance this key Princeton corridor. Many of you will not have seen any details from Mr Hillier’s presentation about the plan, so we wanted to share some grainy photos that we were able to get. We hope that this will stimulate interest in the proposal, and encourage people to give feedback to Mr Hillier and our elected representatives. Continue reading
Mistral restaurant in downtown Princeton: a surface parking lot out front, diners squeezed in around the back. (Click to expand.)
Princeton is lucky in that at least 3 really great restaurants have opened here this year: North End Bistro (by the Whole Earth Center in Jugtown), Agricola (in the former Lahiere’s space at Witherspoon and Nassau) and Mistral, on the other side of Witherspoon from the Princeton Public Library. Continue reading
Graph showing percentage of employees commuting via various transport modes. Left- for all people working in Princeton. Right- for people who both live and work in Princeton. (Click to expand)
Want to know how to get more people – far more people – walking to work in Princeton? The answer is very simple, and the good news is, it doesn’t have to cost us a cent… Continue reading
Princeton Post Office in Palmer Square (click to expand.)
Princeton Council, led by Mayor Liz Lempert has written to local Congressman Rush Holt to express concern over USPS plans to sell the historic Princeton Post Office in Palmer Square, pictured above. USPS, faced with declining revenues, is aiming to downsize to a smaller office. Continue reading
Comparing the mode of transport of work trips across the USA on average (left) versus people working in Princeton (right). (Click to expand)
Compared to other places in the USA, how walkable is Princeton? We compared data on how people get to work, taking data from all across the country, and compared it to data on how people in Princeton get to work. The results tell an interesting story… Continue reading
Hard-working people who work in Princeton deserve a fair shot at living here too. (Click to expand.)
Happy Labor Day! While many of us spend the day relaxing or sales-shopping, Labor Day originally was about celebrating organized labor. For various reasons, only about 1 in 10 American workers is now a member of a labor union. What about the rest? Are they getting a fair deal? And what could we do to help them out?
A shocking statistic about Princeton is Continue reading
Wayfaring signs in London are a massive help for walkers. Image from Legible London. (Click to expand)
This week, Walkable Princeton is running stories from our recent overseas vacation, focusing on how other towns have found solutions to favor walkability. Previous posts in this series are here and here. Our regular local content is back after Labor Day.
Sometimes it doesn’t take much to make a big difference. A friendly smile. Holding the door open for somebody. Calling your mom. All these things have a value that far exceeds their cost. When it comes to walkability, there are many things we could do to make it easier for people to get around without using a car. Pedestrian zones, protected bike lanes, fleets of hourly car-share vehicles…all these things would be great, and maybe sometime in the future we will see them in Princeton. But in terms of ‘bang for your buck’, it’s hard to beat wayfaring signs as a way of making life easier for people who are walking around. Continue reading
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