Arcosanti Dining Hall, from http://www.arcosanti.org
The architect, planner and wind-bell manufacturer, Paolo Soleri, died last week at the age of 93. The New York Times, who call him ‘the architect of counterculture’ has this report of his life. You can find another great obituary (with many pictures of his work) at azcentral.com here. Continue reading
Good stuff is footsteps away in walkable downtown Princeton, but what about the rest of town?
If you live in central Princeton, you will know that there’s a whole lot of good stuff nearby. Stores, bars, restaurants and parks- you have the option to do many of life’s fun and mundane tasks without even getting into a car. But what about the rest of Princeton, including the more far-flung corners of the former township? How can we judge walkability there? Continue reading
Struggling Plainsboro Plaza
Since the closure of the Superfresh supermarket earlier this year, the Plainsboro Plaza Shopping Center is looking increasingly shabby. With acres of empty parking lots, vacant stores and a generally sad atmosphere, it bears all the symptoms of a dead mall. Continue reading
We LOVE this image from urb.en. This gets at one of our key beliefs: that urban planning has for the last 50 years incentivized and promoted car-dependent living, to the extent that many of us require a car to accomplish any of our daily needs. We believe that enabling people to live a walkable lifestyle, where stores, workplaces and retail are mixed close together, will relieve us of a requirement to constantly drive everywhere. Walkable planning has been a major theme in planning for over 10 years, but in Princeton it seems Continue reading
Are we all friends again?
AvalonBay and Princeton have entered into a settlement that will suspend AvalonBay’s litigation that had threatened to see the two sides square off in Mercer County Court at the end of April. The court case related to the Princeton Planning Board’s decision to reject AvalonBay’s redevelopment plan for the former Princeton University Medical Center site on Witherspoon Street. We are relieved that a costly court battle has been avoided, but we can’t help wondering: what made AvalonBay decide to give up on the court fight at such a late stage? Continue reading
Route 1 near Princeton
Princeton Council is seeking public input into plans from NJDOT to expand Route 1 south of Princeton. You can now have your say directly by going to this site, where you can enter your address and leave feedback.
At this point there are several plans under discussion, so it’s worth considering them together: Continue reading
Final construction work on the ‘Residences at Palmer Square’.
In an earlier post, we noted that Princeton’s famous Palmer Square was still a work in progress, with construction continuing to the present day. We decided to take a look at the ‘Residences at Palmer Square‘, a complex of new condos and townhomes that is approaching completion around Palmer Square.
The Residences have several advantages, and a couple of disadvantages. On the positive side, we can say that Continue reading
This is a story that brings together two amazing organizations. We’d like to congratulate New Jersey Future for winning a major award from affordable housing group, The Central Jersey Housing Resource Center! New Jersey Future is one of our favorite organizations because they promote affordable, sustainable development by advocating for Smart Growth in New Jersey. We strongly believe that Smart Growth development is the key to enabling Princeton to meet the challenges of the future without destroying our environment.
New Jersey Future won its award for ‘Outstanding Leadership in Housing Issues and Land Use Policies’. If you aren’t familiar with either NJ Future or the Central Jersey Housing Resource Center, we encourage you to check them out. Both these groups are doing fantastic work to make our state a better, fairer place to live.
Old Hospital: Why not get the maximum possible tax revenue benefit from redevelopment?
Princeton is getting a tax cut! Hooray!!! Consolidation IS working. But despite the municipal savings that came from consolidation, Princeton taxpayers are still facing a hike in their tax bills in the medium-term. How can this be? One problem is that Continue reading
The Dinky (image: Adam E. Moreira)
We discussed last Friday how the historic Princeton Dinky station is to become a new Terra Momo restaurant. We just learned some news relating to Princeton University’s plan to move the station.
According to The Times of Trenton, Princeton Council heard on Monday night from Princeton University Vice-Chancellor, Bob Durkee, who said that the ‘Dinky’ Station will be 750 feet from its new, final location during construction of the new ‘Arts and Transit’ project. Continue reading
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