good evening everyone thanks for showing up here tonight it is February 26 2024 and this is a meeting of the mayor and Council of Princeton New Jersey so we have recording in progress ah recording is in progress thank you so we have a number of things to cover tonight so we're going to get going could we start with the uh meeting statement please adequate notice of this meeting was provided in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings act including the time date and location of the meeting in addition the agenda and all related materials were posted electronically and made available to the public on Princeton's meeting portal in advance of the meeting thank you very much and Eve's going to do the land acknowledgement for us tonight good evening We Gather today on the land of the Len Lenape as members of the Princeton Community we aspire to show appreciation respect and concern for for All Peoples and our environment we honor the Lenape and other indigenous caretakers of these lands and Waters the elders who lived here before the indigenous today and the generations to come thank you we have roll call please miss peon lambrose is Accused Miss Neer gang here Mr Cohen here miss sax here M Fraga here Mr nulan here mayor Freda here you have Coral thank you all right if you'd like to rise and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you first item on the agenda tonight we have an award presentation Daughters of the American Revolution the DAR their distinguished citizens medal is being awarded to to Keith Wadsworth so please come forward and I will mention that Keith is also a uh one of our paid firefighters here in town and his family has a long history in Princeton also uh let's let's get you guys a microphone thank you Jim hello okay uh good evening your honor and members of the Town Council my name is Claudia Wilson Anderson it is an honor and a privilege to be before you this evening to present the Daughters of the American Revolution Distinguished Citizen Award to Keith C Wadsworth a Princeton career firefighter this medal is awarded to individuals who have given outstanding service in their communities and their country this award recognizes Keith's extraordinary actions in many critical rescue and life-saving activities in the words of Aristotle we are what we repeatedly do Excellence then is not an act but a habit Keith your work is at that level of Excellence thank you Helen ranking Vice Regent of the Princeton chapter will now present the award on behalf of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution I'm honored to present to you Keith wodsworth the D distinguished citizens award thank you like one with all four of you and then one St that's great thank you very [Music] much okay congratulations again to Keith thank you to the Daughters of the American Revolution next up we are pleased to have Chris e gr president of Princeton University on hand and we are all going to move to the table down here Chris is going to join us and let's see what happens e I think I just want to make sure you have it so people on Zoom I see okay so anyway thank you all Chris the floor is yours please thank you I let me just start uh with a with several thank yous actually first of all thank you for uh having me again as as your guest here uh we we've been doing these meetings now for over a decade and uh I have to say I very much appreciate the partnership that has developed as a result of that between the the university in the town and it's a pleasure to be able to uh come here and once again speak to your questions and share a few thoughts uh the second round of thank yous uh a little more specifically that I want to do is is to Mia sax and Eve Neer gang and and Michelle Peron lambrose your your team that worked uh together with uh vice president Hillary Parker assistant vice president Kristen apple good around the uh voluntary contribution agreement that was uh just concluded pursuant to which the uh University will contribute $50 million to the uh town over a 5-year uh period we appreciate the spirit IR of uh of that we appreciate the ability to uh identify areas of uh shared interest and uh concern and I think um those discussions and the ability to reach agreement around them just reaffirm for me all of the shared objectives uh that we have as a university a town and and and a shared community so thank you for for that I think it's really important to all of us going forward thank you I I I thought I would just take a a moment to uh mention to you some of the themes that I've been talking about uh recently um they were the subject of my uh annual letter to the university community and I I want to mention them uh once again because I think the town is such an important partner to us uh in all of this and and one of the reasons that I feel so strongly about what the University is doing here is that we do it in in the midst of this extraordinary town with with shared objectives and uh commitments but in that letter rather than speaking as uh I have in some past occasions just to the ongoing projects on our campus I tried to address some of the themes that are uh topical today in the United States about uh higher education about excellence inclusivity and uh Free Speech uh it has been a tumultuous and demanding year uh for higher education and for uh colleges and universities um uh I I uh and you know there's a there's a lot that goes into that uh tum a lot of different kind of Challenge and a um uh but I but I have been deeply concerned to see that in this in this fraught period it's not the first time our country has gone through a fraught period or that that has manifested in in the way people think about uh educational institutions but in this fraud period um uh people are using some of the tensions that uh we see in society today uh to to attack commitments to diversity equity and inclusion to uh attack the inclusivity that is so important to our our campus and to our town and our shared uh community and a lot of those attacks are put in ways that try to drive a wedge between commitments to Excellence and to Quality and commitments to inclusivity and to diversity and so my principal theme which I've been talking about I'm going to continue to talk about uh is was um our commitment at Princeton University to to Excellence is tied up fundamentally with our commitment to uh diversity and inclusion uh we we pursue the two together we believe that diversity and inclusivity are essential to to Excellence because in order to be genuinely excellent in order to uh produce teaching and research of the quality that we care about you have to be not only attracting Talent from every sector of society you have to be supporting that uh talent and enabling it to to flourish on the campus and uh I wrote about this not only in my uh annual letter to the to the community but then in a shorter piece for the Atlantic that got this out there a bit more more broadly and I in the Atlantic I talked about some of our recent um uh wood Wilson Award winners at the university the the award that we give to our most distinguished uh undergraduate alumni uh every year and of course I hope uh you might have had some opportunity to participate that in the course of this weekend it's a much more quiet celebration than reunions and so I think it may it may go by unnoticed for much of the um uh Community but uh but but it's a heartwarming um uh kind of uh honoring of the core elements of our uh Mission including the service that our alumni uh provide and the undergraduate and graduate teaching that we we did so we honored this year uh F Lee a new jerseyan from parsipany who who came to Princeton University on a uh full scholarship um and uh went home on weekends to uh work at the uh her parents dry cleaning business because that's the only way the family could make ends meet even with the the the full scholarship and and graduated Magnum LA and has gone on to become one of the most distinguished computer scientists in the country somebody working on artificial intelligence and how to make sure that it serves Humanity rather than then threatens humanity and and she exemplifies the kind of diversity that matters so much to us and I I reflected back and I thought wow you know Melody Hobson who was raised by um a single mother on the south side of Chicago dealt with with issues about uh eviction and and having her utilities uh cut off and then went on to become the CEO of aerial uh Capital management or uh Anthony Romero who grew up in a housing project in the in the Bronx and then became the director of the American civil liberties Union or uh Mark Millie who who a hockey player growing up in a blueco collar family in uh Massachusetts who goes on to become of course the uh chair of the joints Chiefs of Staff they they exemplify why diversity matters uh so much why I take so much pride in the barriers that uh Princeton University has taken down and one of the things that I have appreciated about our conversations over o over time and one of the things I appreciate about the town is knowing that we are arm and arm and having those uh commitments as our students now uh feel themselves more and more every year and I'm grateful to all of you for this for for welcoming them for for embracing them with open arms they feel more and more a part of this community and this town they want to cross uh Nassau Street they want to be part of the life that uh happens here and I know as we go forward with with that we're doing it in partnership with a town that shares these commitments uh to to inclusivity to diversity and to how they matter uh to our Civic life here and to our country so I appreciate your partnership in that uh in a time when some of these goals are contested it feels very good and very important to me to be able to continue to advocate for them in a Community like this one that cares so deeply so uh thank you for that and I'm I'm I'm happy to take your questions thank you Chris count David so I'm gonna bring up a theme that we've talked about before but with both maybe some new um perspectives on it and also with some concrete suggestions about how to proceed um I was at a meeting uh last week actually where we were talking about missing middle housing and um how to provide that for people who work in Princeton and one of the people in in the meeting pointed outrightly well even if you build that housing there's no way that the town can make sure that people who work in Princeton can live in the housing you know under the state rules around affordable housing we can't really have a preference for people who work in Princeton and my response was oh but if the university were to build some housing for their staff right who I consider the missing middle uh portion of the University's po U Community right people who work in your dining Halls people who are your who take care of the grounds and the buildings and and even the administrative staff um many of them can't afford uh to live here I think that it would in in the spirit of inclusivity it would be a great thing if the university could uh create housing for them in the spirit of sustainability to reduce people's commutes and the carbon emissions that go with that um and the university does have the ability to sort of say well we're building this housing for our employees and so so you could actually address that criticism that that I was hearing in this meeting that I was in so a couple of new reasons I hope uh above the ones we've given you in the past of why we'd love to see the university T take this on and then in terms of next steps I mean I think that the university can't force employees to live in Princeton right in University provided housing I would be super interested if the University did a little bit of a study with with your staff and sort of said if we were able to provide housing for you how many of you would want to live move to Princeton you know it wouldn't be a single family home with a backyard you may be able to afford that in youing but you know it's not going to be that if you're in Princeton it's going to be a two or three-bedroom apartment um and just sort of have a real um conversation with your community about what the demand is for that and then armed with that information um maybe consider more seriously the idea of taking it on as a part of your of your mission y so thank you for David for that question and for continuing our conversation on this uh uh topic I I appreciate your the freshness of your suggestions uh around that let let me say a couple of things some of which will Echo things we've said before but I I but I do want to take your your suggestion under uh consideration I you know I first of all I do think it's very important when you when you speak to both uh socioeconomic diversity and sustainability these are two areas that I think were important as we as we put together um this uh contribution agreement that I think both the town and the university can be uh proud of and it was important to us and we were grateful to be able to um uh support um uh the socioeconomic diversity of the town and also Al to uh contribute to the the efforts around sustainability in a variety of different ways including with regard to the transit the second thing I would say is is as I've mentioned before I think as as we think about uh uh these kinds of uh benefits or things that we can do for our population we have to think of them in terms of the overall compensation framework that we provide to our our faculty and and staff there there are trade-offs within that uh framework and and those tradeoffs operate differently for different parts of the the population there are with with regard to our um uh faculty in particular having that housing and this has also been true for our graduate students having that our and some of our post stocs having that that housing uh in close proximity to the university and the the scholarly community that they are part of Around the Clock is very important to what it is that that we do for some of our uh other parts of our population the trade-off there between wages or other uh benefits may cut differently and those are things that we we have to take into uh account we also have to take into account that some kinds of benefits if we were to create them might be very um I I don't know um unevenly spread over that uh population we would be able to accommodate some and not others within a particular population having said that I you know I think for us to continue to think about this as we as we have future development uh plans and and as you say as we as we inventory what it is that our staff population is interested in I think that's a useful suggestion and I will take that back to our team and and you know there there may be opportunities that we're able to identify as as again as we try to identify what works best for our community so thank you for that suggestion great thank you just e do you want to go next only if I can succeed and moving the microphone uh thank you Mark uh president ice gber lovely to be here with you uh I think you probably know I'm not running for reelection so this is my my last opportunity and I've been toying all day with what it is I'm I'm going to ask you and I guess first I want to Echo um what you started with although I didn't know you were going to start with that that I think the process of um the conversations we've had uh with Hillary Parker and with uh uh Kristen Applegate over the last year have been really phenomenal exercise in terms of thinking about where our values align and how we can build on that um and I think it is really uh a paradigm shift in uh in terms of the relations between the university and the town and I also just want to say congrat congratulations on having survived the Epic disruption of the free speech that that took down two of your uh colleagues and uh I think this is nothing to do with my point but anyway I was very pleased to see that uh you did not join the the fry of those who were unceremoniously ousted so congratulations on on nimbly uh navigating that um so I guess what I want to ask you about is how you in particular in the university in general seiz the town gown relationship going forward in in particular as I think we started off when we were uh talking with with Hillary and Kristen um by saying you know we share this space we if our roads flood you're you suffer if um socioeconomic diversity in the town declines the students find that less comfortable less familiar so just want to think about as we as we move forward as you know over the next few years or looking even beyond our our next agreement like how do we navigate this this boat that we're in together and I'd appreciate some of your thoughts about that I know that's not a a specific question but just no I very much appreciate it even I I very much appreciate app your uh your contributions to these conversations over the years I'm confident you're going to have plenty of opportunities to ask me more questions right you're an Alum and so I'm I'm out there we'll we'll do it in in other other context with a different set of uh rules but I look forward to those conversations as as well I'm thrilled about the foundation that that you and your colleagues uh have helped to uh establish that enables the university and the town to move forward uh to together I just see so many different ways um uh from storm water management to as you say to to uh trans it to the questions about housing that David uh was Raising to the diversity of our our community the um and and just the the livability of this uh town and our our shared interest in a a common set of Civic goals that that make it desirable for the University and the town to contribute uh continue to collaborate with one another so I so I see um uh continuing opportunities there and I think that will depend on uh continuing these conversations both this way as I come to to talk with the the council but importantly as needs arise uh between the the the council and in both directions with the with with with um the vice president and assistant vice president and other members of uh my team who were talking today we had we had a cabinet meeting at the University earlier today and they were talking about how appr appreciative they were of this relationship that's been forged so again please let me convey their thanks I you know I would say I'll mention one thing which which at least from my standpoint I think this is a shared area of um agreement but as I look toward the the future I I I I start by thinking look this is such a wonderful place I think for our students they they love that for many of our faculty and staff who just enjoy being a part of this and all the activities that uh that take place here in this uh town and that attract people to it and create a vibrancy in in Princeton um I I I think we uh in this area and in uh the town of Princeton may be able to do better at at trying to keep some of these young people here that is this is a a conversation I've had on several occasions with Governor uh Murphy we've just talked about this AI hub for example that uh we launched uh and that we want to be uh Dynamic and energizing for the town as well as the the university and all the evidence is that that early career Talent is essential to uh creating uh that kind of uh dynamism and uh you know I think I think this is a wonderful town in many different ways it's it's a wonderful town certainly my wife and I moved here uh shortly after we became parents and and as a place for people with kids with a with a fantastic uh school system this is a um a very special place to live it it it can often feel a little more difficult I think actually for the people who just graduate from our University so I think from my standpoint working together to to keep more of those um early career um uh graduates and and uh younger people in Princeton to make this a flourishing uh a place where they can flourish as well is another one of the things that I would add to our list of of places where we can collaborate I think in the mutual interest and uh just make what is a great place to to live even stronger let's go I'm sorry I'm sorry I just want to ACC Echo everything thank you to Hillary and Kristen for an amazing year and a half of discussions and partnership and I truly believe that we're stronger together both of us um and when the university in the town aren't working together optimally we both lose out um as do our our residents um so I was thinking tonight about the various things that I've talked about and requested um since since uh being in office and meeting with you and I think I asked about sustainability um I asked about Transit I asked about planning and thank you to Kristen for her participation in our year and a half long master plan process um and I think everything that I've asked um the university has stepped up and and I have been really happy with with what you all have um provided so I'm going to circle back to the same thing that I mentioned and and asked about last year and that is our our local public education system um which I feel is of critical importance right now um we are working on the housing situation which goes to inclusivity and economic diversity um but unfortunately because of the way the the state has um created two separate constitutional obligations town have towns have an obligation to provide their fair share of Housing and local public schools have a constitutional obligation to provide a free and appropriate education for everyone who walks through their door but the state has not connected the dots financially between these two constitutional obligations and so it has fallen to us as local officials to try to connect the dots and meet the needs and and um it's difficult and challenging and um right now I'm very concerned about um maintaining the tradition of Excellence for all in Princeton Public Schools um and I know that our that University faculty um as do all of our Ren residents benefit from our local school system so I just wanted to give you the opportunity to talk about the role of public education in large at large in society in New Jersey and also just once again um renew my request for us to work together in in making sure that public education in Princeton is prioritized so well I I I would just say I'm really grateful to you for oops I'm really grateful to you for for being a consistent advocate for uh public education uh you know it is uh it is something that that uh feels personal and special to me I I am the product of a public high school system in in in Oregon that I credit with having opened up the Horizons in my my own life one of the reasons that uh Lori and I were happy to move to Princeton was the strength of the public schools uh here and as I probably mentioned last year our our son is an alumnus of the uh Princeton Public School uh system and uh me I agree entirely with you that uh uh it's really important once again that that uh school system be really strong and and excellent and it'd be excellent for the wide diversity of students who are uh present here in uh Princeton and attending those uh schools I'm keenly aware that it is a a complicated time uh for for any school system that that's that's that's true here in Princeton uh as well um this is is an area of uh shared interest for us I mean we we recognize as a university that that uh we are uh dependent on the the schools who uh bring to us these extraordinary students and you know I mentioned f f Le's story which is especially Vivid in my mind but there's a New Jersey Public High School uh graduate we were honoring other New Jersey Public High School uh graduates as our most outstanding uh um undergraduates right now in the in the Princeton uh program uh I had a trustee one time asked me why why is it that you have so many students from New Jersey and I said it's because New Jersey produces fantastic students and I feel that very strongly and and obviously we've always taken Pride here in in Princeton of the in the quality of the school system that we we have so I I all I can say is this this is a music to my ears that that that this remains a priority for you I think it's really important that we work together with you and the the school district uh to establish the kinds of relationships that we have with the the council and figure out how to continue to provide the support that we uh that we're doing now in ways that really make a difference uh uh to our schools and help them to cope with with what are very significant challenges at a complicated time so thank you for the question thank you president ice grber I truly uh I've said it before I appreciate the opportunity we have uh each year to have this conversation about our shared interests and objectives and uh last year you probably don't recall but let me just remind you uh I mentioned that I wanted to plant a seed about something that Council um you know something that our residents have asked for for as far as long as I can remember and that would be uh the uh Express need for a community center no we don't uh we don't know we know the the what uh we don't may not really yet identify the how but what I want to expand on today talk to you about is the why what I see at least from my perspective the why um and this is um I would say uh one of the issues that I think uh is very uh critical Nationwide it's it's uh uh I would say it's a crisis Nationwide but also it hits us at at the local level and that's the issue of our mental wellbe that I think especially during the pandemic we saw the rise in the and the need for uh for counseling uh I know even in our police reports we see the increased numbers of our police responding to disturb individuals um calls uh and I I know in part uh during the pandemic I I think it's clear definitely isolation uh was part of it uh but also uh you know social media I think also plays a role in that and uh and the access to uh mental uh Health Care Mental mental healthare so at the local level we we already did uh start working on expans ing access uh to counseling and and therapy uh by partnering with a Catholic charity so that's that's something that uh that we are hoping uh will make a difference uh and as far as social media there's something we can do at uh at the local level uh as as far as uh any policies that we could implement but definitely we could per perhaps do more education and um about how that impacts that may negatively impact um not just our youth but also adults too I I think it impacts uh and the reason why I said that why I wanted to tie it with the community center is something that um that our residents have been asking for for a place to come together uh for uh for residents to come together for a place for our children uh to uh to basically have an outlet that they may not have an opport access to otherwise and so um I I think that's one of the areas that perhaps we could focus on to is how we can address the issue for for our students and adults to on isolation to create spaces and so that's I wanted to tie that in with the community center again I don't know the how but I know that when we we do uh identify perhaps a public private partnership or however make we may be able to make it happen but hopefully uh the university uh would could be a partner in that thank you there we go thank you for that question and and uh both for your concerns around well-being and your specific suggestion around the uh Community Center let me let me say a couple of things things about uh both obviously well-being is a matter of uh profound concern for the University as well as the town I mean this is another general area that we we share and I'm I'm glad that the town and the the council are uh focusing uh on this obviously um as you say the the numbers are uh concerning uh maybe a bit more acute during the pandemic but unfortunately uh chronically and and that's especially so in some of the younger age groups including the high school aged and the college aged uh uh students but by no mean exclusively uh to them and um it's hard to pin down the causes uh around this um because this is a priority for me and the university right now I've been having conversations uh with a number of people who are experts in the area including the Surgeon General of the United States who has made loneliness one of his of signature concerns and a former director of the National Institutes for mental health who has been professionally concerned with this I it seems to me that nobody actually has a fully satisfactory explanation for uh the level of concern that we are uh seeing but everybody agrees that there are elements including those that you mentioned that seem to be playing a role in this uh the second thing I would say around this is it it's important obviously to to Foster their connections for a lot of different reasons and and I think when it comes to connections and being concerned about loneliness when when need not uh trace it to uh concerns about mental Wellness or or necessarily promise on the other side which may set too high a bar that addressing those things would make a difference to all of this again it's hard to tell what the what the many determinance are of the issues that we're facing around Wellness right now in our society but certainly it's better it's one of the things that makes the town an extraordinary place to live and allows people to to more fully flourish if there can be those kinds of Connections in the town that that happen when people actually come together third thing I would say is at least for me and I I I think this has been another important theme in our collaborations together is there are a lot of ways in this town that people have spaces to to come together and those can you know vary from dedicated uh facilities uh like the community park pool that's uh uh just over there right I'm hope I'm pointing in the right direction right yeah the uh over there to the to the kinds of things like porchfest that will continue to be um uh co-sponsoring with you to the other kinds of events that happen around that just bring people together and it's it's wonderful in a time when when many towns kind of have become empty shells that you can walk out in our uh I don't know High Street if you will on na Nassau Street and and both on the town side and on the University side feel this tremendous Buzz of activity where people are just uh coming together uh with one another so I think there are lots of different kinds of spaces that can do this U obviously we look forward to having continued conversations with you about what it might mean to create a a dedicated kind of community center and to to determine whether or not that is a place where we could U uh collaborate but the uh you know I think um as as others on the council uh were saying and as I said um earlier I I I think one of the great advantages we have right now in a theme that runs through this agreement that we put together is we want to look for ways um to uh to partner around Community projects that are really open to the entire community and matter to to all and to work with you to determine which are the highest priorities um within that that kind of uh group so I appreciate the suggestion and uh appreciate your concern for for the issue uh Dr E gber first first let me say thank you uh for being at the top showing leadership and setting the tone for collaboration and positive change um that I think means everything to the town of Princeton that we have come full circle and we have a great relationship so I want to thank you I'd also like to acknowledge Kristen Hillary uh Melissa and also Duncan uh for all of their Community engagement um what I would like to do today sir is build upon my request last year when we had a sidebar and I asked you to uh work with Princeton Housing Authority um which houses the most underserved population here in Princeton the people that have the least uh who need the most and to use it as a petri dish uh to build uh equity and to build community there and I want to acknowledge that you have followed through and done just that and that's why I wanted to say thanks to the team here and it's a two-way street and I also want to thank the people at the PHA the leadership at the Princeton housing authority and the outstanding board uh for being part of that collaboration and to beginning and in starting the process Now Eve said she's not running this year and that's true but but I am and I'm trying to make a splash um because the board is new it is rejuvenated it is uh very capable has great capacity uh has developed a not for profit has a little money in the bank um they are poised to redevelop some of the property that they already own and being born and raised here and my mom lived on Clay Street and also her grandmother lived on Clay Street uh my vision and I think it's a great one and I think it would be transformative and I think it would put Princeton Princeton University and public housing on the map if we were to have a vision to redo Clay Street to build from within it is centrally located here in Princeton and in collaboration with the university if we could take the 50 family units there and I don't know what the number could be could be 300 but whatever it would be it must be done well and it must be mixed income based uh it must be well thought out of it it it must be groundbreaking uh and why couldn't it be with the resources and the intellect and the intelligence across Nassau Street so that's my vision and I don't know if it's a today Vision a tomorrow Vision or a next year's Vision but what a great vision it is and it is something that if the Princeton Housing Authority the municipality and the university could do together it would not just be transformative for the children that live in public housing it would be transformative to what could be a model for what could be and Princeton University is the innovators in so many ways I would ask you to take a leap of faith with us and make this happen Lon thank you for the the question and the invitation I do want to uh start just by by uh thanking you for the for the question you asked last year as well and thanking my team including Melissa Muro as well as Hillary Parker and Kristen appleget for for for helping us to um respond to that for for becoming more engaged with the Princeton uh housing authority and and for starting some of these balls rolling and figuring out how we at the University can collaborate with you there uh you know with regard to the specific proposal that you uh make the the two things I would say is I don't know enough about this to be be able to give you a comment specifically about uh that proposal I I I think um uh we we want to continue to engage with you in discussion as we did in response to your uh request last year and and I think we want to continue to think about all of this as part of a a process where we work together with with this Council to to identify what the highest priorities are for University involvement as we identify these these shared um uh projects and shared uh OB objectives so um I'm sure I will learn more in conjunction with my team about uh what it is that you're you're describing or envisioning and as we uh plan for the future figure out how best uh we take that into account I think one of the advantages of of these open channels of communication right now is that um you know wherever we come out on these kinds of questions we have a way of talking about them and figuring out what the best way is to proceed and and and if there are ways larger or smaller where uh we can end up being in partnership with one another thank you so much you know I I just reflected on when I was here and to to hear you talk about the uh the need for diversity and excellence in institutions that same need is in towns that are going to be great so that's why the ask is there but thank you I appreciate that and I I agree with that couple quick comments um first of all thanks to you thanks to everyone that was involved with the voluntary agreement we appreciate I think the way the agreement worked out I think it's beneficial to the university it's beneficial to us obviously um and I would also like to thank the university for the support that you have shown to many other groups in the community outside of this agreement um I mean I really think that shows the integrity and the how the university is tied into the community and not just saying well we're only going to do what we negotiate with the town but you reach out to a lot of other groups in the in the town and support them and uh you should be uh commended for that and that should be recognized uh going forward I hope that we continue to plan together and work together as much as possible what we do what you do it all affects pretty much the same people every day the people that live and work here so we should be doing as much as we can together um I was glad to hear your comments about the student population the more that they cross Nassau Street for a couple reasons a is to support our businesses obviously that's that's key but I think the other thing is there's life experiences that they can have by crossing the street there's so many nonprofits and other things in town there's so many activities they could be involved in that helps to round out their education and I think that should be a focus of the university to point out to the student body there's more than just the campus although the campus is pretty nice but there's a lot there's a lot off campus um anyway I appreciate everything that the University has been doing for the community and I I really hope that we continue to have these sort of discussions and I know we can discuss with anybody it's really a phone call away just to say hey can we talk about whatever and uh thank you for that Mark I think I would just say thank you and amen to that to to what it is that that you said I are uh I very much want our students to uh feel themselves as as members of this this community that extends well beyond the University campus and and into the town and to uh send that message to them and I think they feel that way I think they they they affirmatively desire that we don't need to tell them that we we provide them with some help I mean there are things like uh Community Action for example where we we partner with organizations in this town and Beyond it and our students uh want to be engaged in uh service but uh uh as as uh members of this Council we were saying earlier it really matters to to people to feel that they are living in a town that shares the the the defining commitments to to diversity to uh to Service uh to uh Civic life uh that mattered to the university and they do feel that way so um they you know we tell them they should be Crossing uh Nassau Street but at this point it's almost more a matter of just kind of facilitating the flow rather than uh getting it uh started uh and I think that is very much a tribute to uh not only the um you know the great quality of our Community our our community here in the Princeton town but to the leadership of this Council and and to you as uh mayor Mark I I just think people feel right now um on our campus that they are very welcome in town they um they don't think about Nassau Street as a uh divider and uh the the kinds of improvements that that have been made to uh create what I'm excited about is this Corridor on Witherspoon Street for example that I take advantage of on a daily basis but it the students are are uh crossing over and excited about that so I think uh um the more we can do to keep that happening and as you say to make sure that they're they're heading over um not just to take advantage of of some of the restaurants on the other side but to um really be a part of life of the Civic Community we're happy to to do that and continue to send that message thank you any other questions or comments well thank you very much let me just say thank you it's a pleasure thank you you yeah thank you okay okay uh back to the rest of our agenda we have a proclamation for women in construction week which is March 3rd through 9th 2024 and it's a short one although David you're the architect you're the architect you should this is you construction architecture Allied Fields whereas the National Association of women in construction holds a yearly week of educational and professional development events to support women in the construction industry and educate young women who may be interested in a construction industry job and whereas the week is called Wick week or women in construction week and whereas nawic is a National Organization with the Princeton chapter founded in 2021 and where as women in construction week celebrates and promotes the role of women in the construction industry and whereas nawic held the first Wick week in 1998 and it has grown and expanded each year since many of our local chapters hold Wick Week events which can include making presentations to high school classes job site tours lunches and virtual events and whereas this year's theme keys to the Future celebrates the strength and knowledge of women and the vital role they play in shaping the future of the construction industry now therefore I Mark Freda yes Mark Freda mayor of the municipality of Princeton and the Council of Princeton County of Mercer state of New Jersey hereby proclaim the week of March 3rd through March 9th 2024 as women in construction week there we go thank you and I I will just comment um I was at the uh job site for one of our uh incoming inclusionary housing projects on the corner of Harrison and tur Hune uh a couple of weeks ago amazing number of women uh working the job site yeah really really really cool okay let's hit announcements and reports because we have a presentation coming up that we need to get to council announcements reports anything anything Eve um I just want to follow up on something that I spoke about with all of you uh a few weeks ago um about the uh making Princeton a book sanctuary and the library has now drafted a resolution for uh the library uh to pass and that has come to me and I will be amending it and sharing it with you it will also go to our other partners the Princeton Public Schools Princeton Charter School and we have uh done Outreach to the University Library as well so hopefully they'll uh participate and uh National Library week is I think the first or second week of April we have a meeting on April 8th so uh that's when I hope to uh put the resolution uh on the agenda for us to pass and there'll be more information and events I think at different institutions uh throughout the town of of our our partners in this effort um that week so it's something reading the news the attempt to to ban books and restrict what our our students can read what people can read is uh continuing in different places throughout the country and I think it's important that we we take a stand for for knowledge and the and the sanctity of of knowledge um I just wanted to touch briefly on uh I'm going to keep parping on this one on the anchor program and uh the senior freeze program so uh the the university um which generously has committed uh $10 million over five years to recipients of uh the anchor program here uh homeowners here in Princeton uh I'm told that those first checks have not only only gone out but uh been received so uh Kristen and the rest of the University my thanks to you for moving on that uh so quickly um that is one reason that everybody who qualifies for this program uh should apply is that extra gift money uh so generously given by the university uh for those who don't know and we'll try to make sure this reaches the community also uh the senior free program which had a a limit a household income limit of a little under 100,000 has now been raised to over 150,000 so if you're over 65 and uh your household income is under 150,000 what's actually more I think it's 163 but we'll have that uh specific data then you are entitled to freeze your taxes uh which is a great benefit for people who are struggling to pay uh pay taxes and would like to stay in the community so I hope throughout the year uh we'll be reminding people of that and my personal goal is that everyone who qualifies uh should be uh filling in an application and we will have support for that through uh the center for modern aging through our human uh Services uh department and other organizations that we hope to uh pull in as well thank you Eve other Maia yes thank you U I'm not sure if uh Chief biker was already planning to include this in his report but I wanted to mention the citizens Police Academy the police department is currently accepting applications for this uh 8-week program and the reason I wanted to uh to mention it uh is because it I I wanted to highly highly recommend to those who are interested in how the uh police department how our officers uh basically what their day-to-day experiences are uh and uh it it really truly having gone through it myself it's a I can say it's a really uh topnotch program uh it's a wonderful experience and I would even go as far as saying it's exciting uh we may not get deputized uh and I don't yeah we didn't get to keep a gun but we got to learn the how to use one um not that but not everyone might be interested in that but it it really was a good to know experience and it's open to all Princeton residents I know that the program begins in April 18th toate week program aief perhaps you can uh remind me when uh the application deadline is uh I know it was announced in our Municipal newsletter and the link to the application was there I assume it's also on the police department's web page okay but I know it's in the municipal newsletter that's it thank you Lon thank you mayor yes just a quick announcement I am very pleased to announce that Princeton integrated Behavioral Health is now open and fully operational on the lower level of the Princeton health department at one Monument Drive Princeton residents can access mental health and substance abuse treatment without an appointment 5 days a week shout out to Leticia frager who just mentioned the importance of mental health screenings the behavioral health clinic is open week days from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Wednesday evenings until 8:00 p.m. no insurance is necessary services are provided by Catholic Charities Das dases of Trenton and are open to all Princeton residents 12 and older as a certified community behavioral health clinic Catholic Charities follows an integrated health approach and they offer Mental Health Services substance abuse treatment and referrals virtual exam rooms for those needing access to Primary Care and other Specialty Services group and individual counseling and since Catholic Health Charities Catholic Charities is a social service organization they will also provide access to their Community Services team including Rapid rehousing assessments on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1: to 5:00 p.m. and emergency food bags and blankets every day the clinic is open again walk-ins are welcome insurance is not necessary planning for an open house is in the works and I will share more information when we have it also you can follow Catholic Charities di dasis of Trenton on Facebook and Instagram for updates about the Princeton integrated Behavioral Health Center thank you mayor thank you Le Mia yeah I just wanted to announce that sustainable Princeton will be hosting its first sustainable home Expo on Saturday March 9th from 10:00 a.m. to 4: p.m. at the Suzanne Patterson center next to Monument Hall the sustainable home Expo will showcase sustainable Home Improvement contractors solar professionals and landscapers for residents in Princeton along with the Expo floor there will be educational sessions for residents to learn more about certain topics like community and rooftop Solar Energy Efficiency sustainable landscaping and even an an induction cooktop demonstration this free event will allow homeowners and renters to learn about sustainable upgrades they can make to their homes to save energy resources and money for more information go to sustainable Princeton's website at sustainable princeton. org so thank you all right any council's all good no other announcements or reports okay sure Deana sure thank you mayor um I just wanted to note last week was National Engineers week and at the conclusion of NA national Engineers week the Mercer County Professional Engineers Society holds an annual award ceremony for project of the Year scholarship recipients um and other Professionals in the engineering space in Mercer County and so Princeton was awarded at the uh Awards dinner on Saturday night uh project of the Year award for phase one improvements to Witherspoon street we have a plaque that goes along with it uh we'll pass that around as as well as the um the brochure from that but we thank Council for your continued commitment to reimagining our rights of way your commitment to complete streets and opening up our roadways to more than just vehicle usage and and the Witherspoon Street phase one project is really a a great example of you know how you can reimagine um to just a better space for everybody involved so thank you thanks Tiana and Jim did a great job as the uh MC that evening running the event quite all right okay um should we go to the uh police report good evening mayor and Council uh I want to thank letia for highlighting our Citizen Academy uh and for the kind words and and continued support uh tonight I have the January report for you uh which was highlighted by our continued uh Community engagement uh the Command Staff um and our safe neighborhood Bureau attended a Princeton Community Village uh monthly community meeting uh and met with their management team to discuss some of the uh resources that we have um and to have an open dialogue uh about the events that are taken place there and how how we can contribute in addition to that uh we continued our uh efforts in the schools um we did a program with the high school where we taught a forensic uh science class to the students that that was a big success and uh we uh also continue our efforts at the middle school um by visiting their classes and uh and and and teaching uh about about the Perils of uh underage drinking uh drug use Etc um I also wanted to mention that uh this would be the uh the first report of the year um these uh the sample size will be small uh and as I've mentioned in previous meetings um we have a risk assessment committee that meets throughout the year uh to examine the data at different points in the year uh to make sure that there are no patterns or Trends uh or or anything um uh that that can um grow exponentially and and and have negative outcomes uh so we will continue to do that if there are any questions uh that you might have along the way please reach out and and that's my report thank you Chief any questions for the chief uh thank you Chief um I have a uh a request you're you're probably going to laugh about this one do you think that we could continue for one more year to still get the 2019 data I still feel like we're in this weird kind of normal not normal stage and and having that 2019 data is a baseline for what was normal but of course I won't be here to request it next year but I think really this year through the end of this year would be good and then we will have 2023 2024 to provide that new Baseline of what are new normal is so that that's the request and then actually the other comment is also kind of request SL inquiry um and this does not come from me but from uh someone in the community who is concerned about the bike riding habits of of people in town especially uh younger folks and so uh I just don't know what the answer to this is but I promised I would ask um do uh does the safe neighborhood Bureau do any kind of of bike education uh rules of the road kind of thing and if they do that's great and if they don't is that something they might uh consider adding um to their portfolio certainly so uh yes of course we can uh add the 2019 data and we'll I'll work on that immediately um with with the people in the department to make sure that that's uh added to the to the reports moving forward uh with regard to the second part of your uh question or comment um yes we we do uh each year we hold the uh Wheels Rodeo which is a uh spectacular event where where we can engage with the community and um and teach uh you know proper um you know safety and and and rules and and the laws of uh uh bicyclist uh as they relate to Motor Vehicle Laws etc etc um we are in the the schools uh I'd like to be in the schools more and I think I communicated uh you know recently with the mayor um to say as much that uh uh we will be reaching out to the to the different schools to provide um educational opportunities in their classrooms uh to the extent that we can so I agree with you I think it's important um and support it completely thank you I just want to comment in my experience the young people are better than the adults uh I don't know how to address that problem but um just saying okay Mia and speaking of the police and the schools I just wanted to thank the chief and all the police who helped out with the potential situation threat that was going on at the high school um last week and they managed to before school even started diffuse it figure out what the situation is and provide tremendous reassurance for teachers and staff and parents and students and I know that the principal was very grateful for the way in which the police were able to um uh diffuse the situation um and give everyone that level of comfort so they could go about their day in a way that was totally unobtrusive and um we're just so grateful so thank you thank you so much I I'll certainly relay the message to the uh to the women and the men they'll they'll really appreciate those words thank you okay any other questions for the chief terrific Chief thank you very much hotel I think has a small request for us yeah Mr Mayor members of council The Graduate Hotel team has requested to be allowed to maintain their work Zone on Chamber Street until the hotel is open in May Chamber Street would remain in its oneway configuration until then and uh Pablo deid of graduate Hotel is here to explain why along with his rest of his team oh why is my screen on mayor city council thanks for having us today tonight uh Jim pretty much summed it up um we're at a point right now that um because of certain delays that we experienced um especially on the front end of the 20 Nassau building due to structural issues um we were actually supposed to be open this month and um obviously we're we're not there yet and so we're here requesting um basically a 2 and 1/2 month extension uh to get us through um we have obviously need to fill out an entire Hotel anything from irons and ironing boards and toiletries all the way to desks and beds and food and everything to get what is now an empty building and actually create the hotel um we have looked at numerous numerous options to try try and avoid this um we know that it's been an inconvenience to many of the residents people who live work and play um in the downtown area so I just do want to acknowledge that um but I think based on everything that we've seen based on everything that um our project executive and our superintendent has seen this is the quickest most efficient way to get us off the street and the hotel open and even taking that aside um really maintaining the expectation management of the residents of Princeton um because the the other option would be to basically call up Jim if it's every day every week and saying hey we're going to need the road closed on such and such a day and then saying whoops never mind it's got to be said in Thursday it's got to be Friday I think this maintains sort of this temporary status quo um that I hope um is actually less of an inconvenience um compared to the other option and of course um David Chipman and Ryan Ward um they can get into all of the really nitty-gritty details if anyone has questions um but I do respectfully ask that um you grant us the the extension thank you so just a a little bit of background um I think the ant the anticipated reopening of chamber was the end of January we have spent the month of February staff and administration going back and forth with representatives of The Graduate Hotel debating how strong the case is or isn't to uh keep Chamber Street as is for almost four months longer than we had anticipated um and it was decided to in all fairness to The Graduate hotel and their project to have them come in front of the entire governing body and make the request and not just have a much smaller group make the decision I I will say I have some reservations about the request but let's have a discussion and see where we end up as a group David I'm sorry okay David and then we'll work our way down one question I do have is whether you think we're done with the complete closures I know that that's something that has been frustrating for residents where they at least have come to expect being able to go Northbound on Chambers and discovering on an unpredictable basis that they're in the left turn lane and suddenly they can't make that turn and so if you can comment as to whether we're done with at least that uh type of closure hi uh so at this stage of the project just for just when as you guys come up just for the record just state your name so we have it for the minutes sorry sure Ryan Ward uh project manager for the hotel project uh so at this stage of the project I don't know if many of you probably seen at this stage you know the facade has been pretty much wrapped up we're trying to demobilize all the exterior equipment however to your uh question there will be would say less than a handful of full day closures I know we've already requested next week There's equipment we need to get up onto the roofs uh so we have a sustainable green roof that needs to be loaded up on the roof the only way to do that would be a full day crane use we also have a backup generator that needs to go up there and then a little bit more structural steel to Pablo's Point uh the ex extensive structural remediation of the historical Nassau building is what put us in the situation we're in so we have I'd say about another day and a half uh you know a full day closure to finish up that remedial work to make sure that building is stable for not just our use but for you know the public and the tenants uh in the lobby as well so uh maybe one maybe two next week depending on uh the schedule that Jim provides us and then maybe two or three more and that would be it but we'll as we've been doing you know we'll let Jim know at least a week in advance more if possible so hopefully that helps then Jim do we have a way to push that information out to the community when when we know what the closure is going to be we do uh we send out nixel alerts when Chamber Street is going to be closed uh uh I will say and and Ryan is aware of this that every every once in a while one of his trades will go Rogue yes and close the road without notification to us or even to him um and uh he's uh been very diligent at going out and making sure they open the road right away um every once in a while a box truck will come in and decide that they need to make a delivery and in order to do that it's easier they'll just put the road close sign up and that's when we get the unpredictable um and I've experienced it myself thanks M so say there are some things I feel really strongly about which my colleagues can attest to probably more things than not this was one I was totally could go either way and I knew the mayor felt very strongly in One Direction and you all felt very strongly in another so I suggested to the mayor that he and you all hash it out and see if you could convince one another and I know you had a number of meetings and you you you kept your original positions you didn't convince one another um so I I will say my thinking originally was something along the lines of and I I expressed to mark that since the community has adjusted to the closures for this long it might be more disruptive to now have unpredictable uh closures um so that people go back to assuming that they can get through and then all of a sudden they get the nixel alert that they can't I thought that might generate more uh frustration and anger I will say that I did ask my dentist who's right there across from the hotel last week and he he and his staff I did a little focus group of of this of the dentist and the the staff and they did agree with that assessment that they that everybody has learned to adjust to the current pattern um uh and it it would be a source of more frustration to all of a sudden have that level of unpredictability um that said um I know Mark feels really strongly that you know you've had your time and the community deserves the the right to you know now have access and that you don't need so many days so I I just I'm going to give Mark a another chance to say why he still feels so strongly I would like to hear why you know know um and I also want to so I'm sorry you just said how much longer you you're asking for if everything goes well which I think we anticipate at this point we would be open I believe sometime around the 16th of May so you're asking for two and a half more months yes if everything goes well and I think think we're at that point I think because I know we're not going to be able to get another bite at the Apple and quite frankly which is anary to what I think anyone sitting you know in front of me cares about from a business perspective like we it has to be open on by the 16th of May so I mean we everyone's got their marching orders and this is sort of a uh no questions asked it's got to get done because of all the delays that we've we've had to encounter Mark did you want to no I'm happy with everybody ask their questions I don't want to try to sway people too much one way or the other thank you so I want to uh start by saying just how excited and I'm looking forward to the opening of of the hotel I I think it's going to be a really very uh welcome addition uh to Princeton that uh many of us are looking forward to um and that's some things that have already been mentioned one as far as adjusting uh I'm I'm one of the individuals who actually that is my route going and coming back on Chamber Street had been uh but no uh anticipating knowing that it was going to be one way uh for a while I I have adjusted and I and I can adjust when I know that it's going to be closed um what I'm concerned have been concerned about and I've expressed it uh before is that the times when uh I it's not anticipated that it's going to be closed uh because we uh I know we on Council we usually get a notification that uh that we uh that it's going to be closed for such day or from such and such time and and I'm fine with that you know I can still adjust if I know it's going to be close but what I is concerning to me is uh and that would actually go as far as saying it's a dangerous situation is when it's not uh anticipated and not expected uh and I've I've been there I've been there almost uh on a daily five days a week I would say where uh and during those five days a week very often where I've gotten on that left turn haven't been the only one there's even been cars that are already on Chamber Street and have to start backing up because um we thought it was open and then being told by someone that we need to back up uh I think that's a dangerous situation and not only dangerous uh I think it's also inconsiderate when that happens inconsiderate to the to the residents that are trying to get through but uh I would add to that that if I know it's going to be closed and if it's done properly and safely such as either putting cones or a sign saying Lane is Clos then uh then we already know we need to keep going but it's really dangerous and I've come very close to to getting into a fender bender when when that happens from Cars expecting to turn and last minute finding out that we can't so that that needs to be addressed you know and I know I understand uh we've been told that maybe a rogue uh worker that uh that doesn't go doesn't follow follow procedure but I I think that you know if an accident were to happen that can be an excuse so it really truly needs to be addressed that's my main concern and you know as far as a time um that it needs to be closed personally I'm okay with that you know our community has gotten used to it but I would just like to add that you know just just as you can't anticipate if there's going to be an issue that's going to cause delay I would hope too that uh perhaps everything goes well according to plan or even better and if you can um reopen sooner let's try for that if if we can open sooner I promise you we will we will open sooner um but to to address your point because I do acknowledge that it is a public safety issue and and despite it not being our day-to-day project Executives giving that order um that's something that does need to be tightened up and it's absolutely zero tolerance because it can it can be dangerous and and I fully acknowledge that and um I'll make sure to work with our development team to to avoid that at all costs thank you yeah thanks for coming today first let me say you know I really appreciate you guys putting a world class hotel in Princeton um is needed and I can't wait like my colleague until it opens I think the request is reasonable you you you know I I don't want it to open in October if we have to go through a little bit more pain which quite frankly the town's been in with regard to construction for the past two and a half years we got 65 70 more days finish it and let's open it up I it it may be a little frustrating but you know the most important thing is to get it open and I would sign up for 70 more days of pain grinning and bearing it thanks yeah just a follow-up question um because it sounds like you have a lot of deliveries that need to happen you know between now and uh being complete but to make a decision about the benefit the cost benefit right of reopening uh unpredictably would be Do you have a of how many days actually that it would need to be closed again one way right to make those kinds of deliveries between now and the end of the project in other words are we talking about half the days are we talking about two handfuls are we talking about three4 of the days um each of those scenarios would be sort of a different answer to the question yeah I think Ryan if you can day to day but just to make sure that I'm understanding the question um if it's a one-way closure kind of keeping the status quo what it is right now then how long that would take as opposed to the because AIG I already heard the answer to how many two day full closures you need full how many oneway closures you need yeah all so I guess oneway closures in the sense that if it was open to two lanes would we need to take it back for one lane is that okay um similar uh I guess at this stage of the project similar as Pao saying uh we're in a finished stage of the job so we have almost daily deliveries of carpet rolls wallpaper uh those are kind of our biggest deliveries they come you know they come on pallets that's not something like paint buckets or uh you know other small tools or small light boxes that you light fixtures that we can fit in back guys trucks these come in larger box trucks at this stage of the game and I mean I think you've all seen we are limited with our job site storage we do have a little Auto court on the back side of the project as well as our basement uh which we are storing materials in now but really material shows up and it goes right into the guest room so to answer your question if it is open to two lanes we would probably have near daily if not multiple times a day single lanane closure where we would have to direct traffic you know say not unexpectedly but unfortunately the range were given for many deliveries is 7 to 11: or noon to 3: and when the truck shows up the truck shows up that is kind of where that uncertainty that Pablo's been saying that the community would have to suffer through where yes you know we said 7 to 11: in the morning but the guy got stuck in Staten Island coming down here because he was making a delivery in the morning now it's 1:00 no one knew was in the afternoon but he showed up and we have to unload them so to answer your question a lot let me just jump in because I think this is this is the Crux of the disagreement and there's a couple points here one is we have offered why can't you use the sidewalk and what was the parking Lane to place these box truck deliveries and we have stressed use box trucks and not tractor trailers because the original debate was well we have big tractor trailers coming in and they're going unload and where can we put them and we're like why would you even think of using tractor trailers because that's not even something you see in New York City they use box trucks so it's it's really it's a question of means and methods and are is it the proper means and methods and if you're saying well we're bringing in huge trucks and so we got to close the street yeah but is that the right way to do it and can you do it another way I mean we have large box trucks deliver in town every day all over town town and they Park in a and for the most part they do double Park but a lot of them do Park in parking spaces or loading zones and somehow it magically happens in the streets don't get closed um so that just it just makes me question is this thought out enough and then when we say yes have people adjusted to it I guess you could say people have adjusted to it but what is the impact on a whole bunch of other businesses in town what is the impact on the whole commuting experience in and out of town and to what extent have we damaged other businesses by the traffic patterns that are now in place with this road closure so that's all part of it and you know we can all we all make our own decisions one way or the other but I'm just and I'm not trying to have the debate or the argument so much as to just make sure everybody's fully informed as to what I think are all the details that everybody should be aware of as you come to whatever conclusion you come to no appreciate that I mean that's sort of why I asked the question y sure if sorry if I could just real quick just uh to speak to the mayor's Point uh regarding using a there was a former parking Lane on Chamber Street which was removed when we moved it to one lane uh Chamber Street as right now from Curb to curb is 28 ft per gym and discussions with the town a standard traffic lane is 11 ft with a 1ft gap in between that would you know 1111 one that's 23 that leaves us 5 ft from Curb from the face of our curb to where our fencing protection would be those orange barricades are about 18 in we we I can't even fit a motorcycle to be honest between the curb and the ododo once it's set up so we would love to to shrink our fence it would be easier for us it be easier for everyone if to get traffic two lanes it's just unfortunately with the logistics of that street and getting accepting a delivery you know even a car if we were to open up the two lanes it just wouldn't be feasible unfortunately and and the Assumption there is that the barricades as they exist would still need to remain and the question is would they as opposed to drawing a stripe down the street and saying here's the two traffic lanes and here's an area that's for trucks making deliveries anyway sorry huh okay we have a fundamental uh disagreement I do not have the expertise uh you know aside from Mark maybe maybe David does I mean I I appreciate hearing from our our Engineers but I guess what I can say although I share my colleagues excitement about the project I feel this is the second time that you've come to us with a choice that is not really a choice one was was after first saying that Chamber Street could be maintained two ways and then coming to us and saying oops somebody made a mistake we can't keep it two ways it has to be one way and now after a commitment to wrapping things up and returning um the street to two-way service you're now coming back to us and saying we actually we can't do that or or we can't do that without frequent closures of the street so you know I'm frustrated on behalf of the people who who this is impacting and I guess I have no idea if this is appropriate or practical or allowed but what can you do to compensate people for if we were to Grant this request what do you offering in return to the people that are being inconvenienced that's that's a complicated question council person I don't know uh how I could even possibly begin to to answer that um on the Fly um I'm not sure what you might have in mind if it's if it's cash if it's you know something else I don't I'm not I'm not quite sure what you're envisioning there um I think it's been an inconvenience know that I don't think anyone on our team um can hide from that I don't think um we would ever deny that um I know that from from my perspective uh Princeton the municipality Deana Jim Derek every every single employee every single uh person that works in the municipality has gone above and beyond to to help this project out um given that it's in the downtown core given the complexities uh behind the project um a very rigorous entitlement uh process that we we underwent for almost uh two years um but I I don't I mean quite frankly I don't know how to answer that on the fly without giving giving the opportunity to at least think about something like that yeah I mean I'd love for you to think about some kind of contribution that your corporation could make it might not directly reach the people who are inconvenience but some you know should we uh go ahead and and Grant this request i' you know like you to stand up and say hey we're we're we're sorry we know we had a negative impact we've made promises that we haven't lived up to here's a you know support for more affordable housing or for a nonprofit in town or something like that we partnered with the porch uh concerts series we've been ever since they approached us we've we've given donations to them um we have done everything humanly possible to keep our um commercial tenants open um at our cost um you know I I won't get into any of those details but that's something that we've taken very very seriously to ensure that they remain open during construction these are Mom and Pop shops these are not you know major corporations these are people's livelihoods um but that's something that um I can certainly take back and and give it some Earnest thought and and consideration to see what kind of Partnerships you know we can we can potentially come up with okay uh thank you Jim and Deana sorry to put you on the spot uh again I I don't have the expertise personally to uh to make these decisions so I'm going to lean on on you to uh you know I don't I don't know do we have a choice well we do have a choice and and the choice is to um convert it back to 2A insist that they use the narrow space that is available to them for um for deliveries um but I did witness a delivery um and at 22 Chambers Street recently with cars parked on the other side of the street and it is a bit of a nightmare um so I would be concerned about not having sufficient width for two lanes of traffic to pass each other when you have a truck parked on the side of the road with men or women unloading it and loading things back up so from a safety standpoint I I I think both Di and I agree that leaving the work Zone in place until they're ready to open the hotel is the safest way to to get this accomplished thank you David yeah I I do also want to point out that the parking spaces are on the wrong side of the street um so essentially to use the approach that Mark was talking about we would have to get rid of the few parking spaces that have continued to be available right those metered spaces that are front of the the physical therapy place um in order to have two clear Lanes of traffic and then have this sort of loading zone in front of the you just jog the same as you do now I think jogging two lanes of traffic is harder than jogging one lane of traffic I I also think that that where the deliveries need to take place you know right now uh the loading zone well I guess it I I have some concern that you would be pushing the deliveries further up Chamber Street toward Nassau and then you'd have a fairly long run to get back to the entrance or wherever you're going to take the the stuff in so it feels to me especially given what Jim was saying that logistically it might be difficult I I like I like the creative thinking Mark but I think it'd be difficult to make that work um so after hearing the discussion I'm kind of leaning towards allowing the the road to remain closed um as the lesser of of two evils yeah which is fine and I just want to make it clear I've got nothing against a graduate hotel and I'm looking forward to this project myself but I know I know mayor I I prefer an informed discussion as opposed to and I think the discussion we're having now is very different than the discussion we were having a month ago to be honest but anyway working our way down so um Socratic dialogue is good I'm glad we could have this um uh to the point about delays I would challenge anyone listening or here to uh come up with one home in Improvement project or renovation that actually got done on time um there are some of us who have long overdue Home Improvement projects for which we have not even started because we know that it will be delayed for a long period of time um so I don't know why we would think that the graduate Hotel given the scope of that project would be an exception to what we all experience um and so I I you know to your point Eve and I I know some of the neighbors and they have um worked some some more than others but they they have worked out um I I appreciate the time and effort you've put into negotiating all sorts of accommodations with the the immediate neighbors who were most impacted um in terms of the uh compensation to benefit uh to businesses who have been impacted while they may have had experienced some short-term hardship the overall benefit all those businesses in terms of the person the the people who will now be um using uh shopping dining walking around and and and providing foot traffic as a as a benefit to all those businesses I think will will in a very short time make up for whatever economic uh adverse impact they they experience in the short term um and I I know that I have heard from both Jim and Deana quite regularly um I think initially they they were leaning more towards um the Mark's principled stance um which I also respect um but I think as Jim pointed out I my sense from them is that they support this uh extension um and more than anything for all of us um as I said if we go back to sporadic closures that means a huge amount of work for staff putting out the nixel request fielding all of the uh IR rate uh incoming um complaints from residents and it's all from for all of us whenever there's a road closure I can tell you my phone lights up my email light lights up it's a lot of extra time for all of us explaining why it was and and and you know sort of dealing with that uh so I feel like back to my original point which is where I started is that you know people I think we can stick it out for a few more months and just reminding everyone that a hotel in a town is is is brings in a tremendous amount of tax revenue that is much more than anything else we could could possibly bring in so we we do all benefit all of us um uh and um but I'm just wondering would there be any chance of May 1st while we're haggling this out that that is definitely a question for for these two gentlemen but that might be a an overpromise and under deliver situation um you're hard pressed to make the date you asked for I I mean I think for for us is that's the May 16th is is really our our date um as realistic as humanly possible while being conservative so so we might need to make you sign in Blood on the dotted line right here while you're here if if that's what if that's what it takes and and they're angry with me because I denied them the closures they asked for last week which pushed them to next week so okay we we are I think as you all know we're working with PNG at the same time we've got closures going on in in a lot of different locations we try to coordinate this um the uh Palmer Square management is on their requests when they send out an email of request as Kristen for Princeton University because of 22 Chamber Street um they they would like to uh they they wanted to close this week but we have John Street alley closed for psng work I told psng they can't close they can't have John Street alley closed next Monday because I'm authorizing them to close it on Monday Ryan asked for Tuesday I said you can't have Tuesday because I already got psng to to uh suspend on Monday um I and and just so everybody's aware tomorrow is going to be a little bit of a nightmare because Princeton University is closing Route 206 southbound at I mean do did I say princ univers sorry sorry Kristen NJ D I was looking at her so I said it NJ do is closing Route 206 southbound at the intersection of bar and Stockton so um everybody be prepared for traffic nightmare tomorrow okay well no one should ever be mad at Jim he's just the messenger so Don't Kill the Messenger get out your scooters all right any other or stay home questions actually uh yes I just wanted to um say that you know as from my own personal perspective and experience uh that I said the time the additional time it's fine with me I I just want to see it get done I just want to see it get done and also for the closures when it needs to be closed completely just please follow um proper procedures when and to make us aware when it is going to need to be closed occasionally um and I don't know it was mentioned about how it has negatively impacted some businesses no I personally have not heard of there seen any documented evidence that the how it has negatively um impacted businesses I know it's been an inconvenience uh but like my colleague here I wanted to make the same point I I truly I'm confident that it's going to be uh a very uh positive for the businesses when the hotel does open so so I'm I'm in favor I think we're good I know where we're aheed here yeah Mark I just you know I I find it interesting I just wanted to say you know we heard that uh the overruns are due to Structural Engineering problems and the building is very very old so that doesn't surprise me at all not that we have a uh you know any dimes in this but you know how many times have we been sitting on this day and we look at resolutions where we have situations where we've being asked for change orders and more money what they're asking for is more time so I think we should give them more time and be glad that it didn't cost us any more money question from the audience I shouldn't speak but I'm I'm feel compelled to speak uh Kristen Applegate Princeton University um so I spend pretty much all day every day at that intersection my office is at for Mercer so I've watched the entire construction I too I'm delighted that the hotel is Coming to Town um I'm looking forward to having a hotel Hotel um across the street I'm really looking forward to the construction being done I drive through that intersection I walk through that intersection and I I guess I'm speaking as a resident I live at 53 Governor's Lane um I too have had the same situations walking and in my car where I have felt like I was at risk of being run over um and I did just want to say because I do spend a lot of time in that area the businesses have been impacted they're not here tonight and I'm sort of I'm I'm thinking there's some of them that are listening um I do want to say it has impacted the businesses what what I'm concerned about hearing a date between now and may is those dumpsters have been sitting on the corner for I don't know how long now and it's okay when it's cold and they don't smell that bad but I'm really thinking about my friends at sacred and at jam and creps who have patrons who come and dine when that stuff starts to smell um and I'd really like to ask that there be some consideration of how that could be swapped or managed if if this is going to happen and I can understand why they're saying they need this but um and there's also a ton of contractor parking I watch the guys and I'll say guys feeding the meters in front of my office for extension of Mercer Street so it's impacting the bit I'm speaking I think on behalf of my neighbors who are business owners that um if in this next few months when they really need to make some money to find a way to make some adjustments to help those businesses yeah I I would to Eve's point about a contribution or compensation I think was the word you used I think some of the compensation is I thought the workers were all supposed to be parking somewhere off site and not in our parking spaces and you guys can easily take care of that I mean you can so if you want to control it control it when the Chamber Street needs to be closed put the barricades on the Nassau Street side of the crosswalk and not behind the crosswalk so people aren't getting run over almost run over and so cars aren't trying to make the left turn block the left turn lane from nasol Street just do the stuff you should be doing and you know we should have had this discussion months ago as soon as you guys hit these roadblocks with the structural problems in the front building you should have been saying yeah this schedule that just ain't going to happened but anyway I think there's a consensus I'm sorry I just want to uh thank you Kristen for your comments and I just want to say I have had ations with some of the businesses and they have really they have survived but it has not been uh pretty have you done Outreach to any of them about this very very much so okay very well documented Constant Contact about this specific request to to maintain the street one way for another 10 weeks no not not specifically to this request but just generally can you make sure that you do that and you know I guess see whatever you can do to alleviate their concerns I mean certainly the uh the parking would be a a big thing but it just you know I know as my colleagues have said in the long run it'll be great and I know I sound grumpy and we're really happy to have you here but um you know it it has been difficult and and I know the businesses have you know in particular have suffered but I'll I'll make a pitch again for something you know whatever that that your corporation can do to show you know you you appreciate the community and the community's forbearance and not saying that would win everybody over but you know some of the mutual grumpiness might might go away so thank you of course so to just make this formal and have it on the record May 16th is the date so it means May 17th the road is open so does someone someone here want to make a motion that there is an agreement with The Graduate hotel that Chamber Street will revert back to what it was as of 7 a.m. May 17th it's it's been moved is there a second thank you moved and seconded any questions on the motion all in favor please say I I I there you go and just really if you can address Kristen's point about the dumpsters that's really important and the parking those are things you know and good we're showing good faith to you we'd like you to on the Outreach if you could move on those right away that ABS I didn't know about the dumpster issue but that's something that I will make sure that our development team knows about and we find a solution as soon as humanly possible absolutely great thank you thank you all for being here tonight appreciate it okay moving on next item is public comments for items not on the agenda so if it's an item on the agenda agenda now is not the time to talk about it but if it's not on the agenda this is the time anybody in the room no one in the room I see a hand just went up on Zoom Adam could we bring uh so the rules are you state your name and your address and you have three minutes to speak and Nate yes thank you very much thank you to the mayor council for the opportunity to speak here so my name is Nate Ferraro I on Olden Lane um I'm speaking tonight to express my concern that the Nassau Swim Club is facing the real possibility of permanently closing as many of us in the recent town topics article the swim Swim Club has been facing Financial challenges leading Princeton University to terminate Nassau's lease in my view this would be a real loss to the community Nassau Swim Club is the kind of place that makes Princeton great place to live and a great place for families as passes there seem seem to be fewer and fewer places like Nassau I've been a member of nasau swim club for one year nasau has made a huge impact on my family last summer my older daughter who couldn't swim two years ago took lessons and joined the swim team at Nassau and de developed a real passion for swimming she was at Nassau for hours a day most of the week participated in their Aquatics camp and had her sixth birthday there The Swim Club served as a place for us to come together with friends and neighbors and to make social actions that we otherwise have not had the opportunity to make now was our community center we were looking forward to Summers like this for years to come there are dozens of stories like my own from residences in a neighboring towns that's why the swim club board is still hard at work trying to get the pool back on sound financial footing and they're still preparing for the summer in case an agreement can be reached with the university our understanding is the University does not have plans to use the land which gives us hope that the pool could still be saved this is something we care about deeply and we haven't given up yet I don't have a specific request tonight I simply wanted to raise awareness of this issue among the residents and the council I would refer anyone who wants to help or learn more to the nasau Swim Club website I hope that we all together can find a solution to save this important Community Asset thank you for your time thank you Nate are there is there anyone else that has a comment all right see no other public comments we'll close that part of the meeting and next up is approval of our meeting minutes from December 11th 2023 if someone would move that thank you Eve is there a second thank you David any sorry sorry I just want to say I wasn't present at the meeting so I will be abstaining okay thank you any questions or comments on the minutes from December 11th all right those in favor please say I I I I those those those opposed those abstaining all right one exstension thank you okay we have public hearing on four ordinances first up is ordinance 20245 an ordinance by the municipality of Princeton concerning noise from gas power generators and amending chapter 21 of the code of the burrow of Princeton New Jersey 1974 and uh yeah obviously the public hearing is tonight but could someone Eve you're moving that thank you is there a second thank you David okay let's start with Council questions comments on this one I think it's Mark can I I just want to just reiterate what has been uh said already in in writing is that this has nothing to do with gas leaf blowers it is simply about generators that uh are used on a non-emergency basis when they are near uh restaurants or other outdoor dining facilities and the danger they prevent uh present because of the the fumes and the noise and the pollution just yeah thank you that's an important clarification okay no other Council questions or comments any public comment or question in the room or on Zoom all right seeing none we'll close the public hearing and ask for a roll call vote Miss Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss sax yes Miss froga yes Mr nulan yes Carri thank you ordinance 202 24- 06 an ordinance by the municipality of Princeton pursuant to njsa 42-3 accepting the donation of vacant real prop property located on River Road and designated as block 1 154 lot 3 Q 0013 Princeton tax map is there a motion on this I'm sorry Leon and Mia with the second questions or comments David yeah I had uh asked a question I can't remember in what setting before but whether this land would be um helpful in um meeting our requirements for the um no diversion diversion and somebody was going to look into it uh and I was asked following up to see if that had been looked into and whether it was possible it was being looked into I don't know if we've got an answer yet do you we'll be meeting with our attorney uh next week regarding the diversion and we'll have a be able bble to provide an answer after that great it doesn't affect my vote on accepting it I'm just I really like to know okay good question other questions or comments from the council members all right seeing none any public questions or comments either in the room or on Zoom it's so funny every time I say that there's only two members of the public so sorry I don't mean to I keep staring at you guys hey how you doing three Lee is a member of the public the Press watch her but thank you it's nice to have the Press here either in person or online okay uh nobody from the public wants to make a comment we'll close that part we'll close the public hearing and can we have a roll call vote Miss Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss sax yes Miss froga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you ordinance 202 24-7 an ordinance by the municipality of Princeton County erser state of New Jersey pursuant to njsa 42-13 B4 authorizing the vacation of an abandon sanitary sewer easement on block 27.4 Lot 19 Princeton tax map 43 Spring Street and is there a motion on that thank you Mia is there a second thank you Eve it's been moved and seconded questions or comments by councel all right see see none any public comment either in the room or on Zoom all right see none we'll close the public hearing and ask for a roll call vote Miss neang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss sax yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you ordinance 20 24-8 an ordinance by the municipality of Princeton regarding the Princeton fire department and amending chapter 8 of the code of the township of Princeton New Jersey 1968 is the is there a motion on this thank you letia is there a second Thank You Leon Council questions or comments all right any public questions or comments in the room or on Zoom there's a hand up okay Adam can we bring in Maria good evening uh mayor I'm actually uh uh requesting to speak um on an item not on the agenda I am sorry I missed um uh this part that particular time frame um I stepped out for a couple of minutes I'm uh can I be allowed to speak or Maria let me just since we're in the middle of voting on this let me just finish or in the middle of doing this hearing let me just finish this public hearing on this and we'll come back to you sure sorry okay any other I'm sorry any other public comment or questions on this item all right see none roll call vote please miss Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss Sachs yes Miss froga yes Mr nulan yes Carri thank you very much okay uh a little bit out of order but I I tend to ER on letting the public have their say on things uh Adam can we bring Maria back for her up to 3 minutes for items not on the agenda thank you mayor I'll be quick um I have had um a um email conversation with councilwoman negard on this issue uh the the question of why renters have not been included as beneficiaries of the tax relief plan with the university um can you um I understand has something to do with the vetting um of beneficiaries through the anchor program but the anchor program does include renters already um so it it would appear to me that no vetting would be necessary can can someone clarify this issue I will take a shot at that and someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it's really tied to the information the state of New Jersey is willing to provide to Princeton University and my understanding was that the renter information was not available as is that accurate that's the last I had heard I don't know if anybody knows different if not we can find out the I can we'll find out if that and make sure that's the correct answer and if not we will one way or the other Maria we'll let you know for sure the reason why I'm asking is it would appear to me to be the Equitable thing to do considering that uh rents in Princeton have gone up 46% over the last two years whereas property taxes uh at least in my case uh have only gone up 8% typically uh renters tend to be lower income households and so if we're pro if the intent here is to be Equitable in providing tax relief I would think it would be important to include renters as well as homeowners right and Maria I don't think we in any way disagree with you but this is not a process we control and it is a process controlled by the state of New Jersey it's not information that we have it is information that the state has and the state is not making any of the information that they're providing to the university for the homeowner part of this to the town so we we have no control or access to the information I I'll just say that this is probably a conversation Maria that you can continue to have with the university um directly um this is their voluntary contribution but in the context of the conversations that we had um renters were absolutely a top priority um and and as you can see from from the money that is being given to them it relates to documentation and lack of documentation um and um you know uh I think there are some delicate topics here and we um people whose wellbeing could be jeopardized and and so I would encourage you to take this up directly with the University any particular Department um I I would start with Kristen appleget I would start with the community representative but it is their voluntary contribution and I think the town made clear our commitment to renters and and we're we we are really pleased with what we are able to make available um and I think we have to leave it at that thank you thanks marel okay let's go to ordinance introductions and just reminder that when we introduce an ordinance we don't discuss it because we announce when the public hearing is and that's when it's going to be discussed ordinance 20 2024 09 an ordinance by the municipality of Princeton repealing existing chapter 29 sidewalk cafes of the code of the burough of Princeton New Jersey 1974 and replacing it with a new chapter 29 entitled outdoor dining the public hearing will be March 14th 2024 is there a motion on that thank you Mia Leighton has the second it's a roll call vote Miss Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss saxs yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you ordinance 2024 d10 an ordinance by the municipality of the municipality of Princeton uh pertaining to Hotel Moto hotel motel jeez man planetary retail consumption licenses and amending the code of the tail ship of Princeton New Jersey 1968 public hearing March 14th 2024 is there a motion thank you Leticia Eve's got the second roll call vote M Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss Zach yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you very much let's see what I'm going to say next resolutions 2467 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing release of a performance guarantee in the amount of $1,132 to the Princeton thanet Road urban renewal LLC for proposed multifam residential development block 5502 Lot 4 Zone Ira 10101 thanet road is there a motion on that resolution thank you David is there a second thank you Mia questions or comments all right seeing none all all in favor please say I I 2468 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing the mayor and Municipal administrator to execute an agreement with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Program number 110- z-54 Princeton open space funding and AG green to providing a matching share of $ 7,325 500 Green Acres funding if required thank you Eve is there a second Leon's got the second questions comments thank you David yeah I just um wanted to ask if if somebody can um reassure I know that this is significantly less I mean the award here is $700,000 that 7 million plus number is cumulatively everything that we've received from Green Acres over the course of history so the $700,000 is significantly less than what we had requested I think it was about 2 .2 million and I'm curious as to you know are is this going to impact any of our efforts at open space acquisition that we falling short I can answer that a little bit and maybe uh Dean or Jim can uh can jump in so all of our uh Partners will also be asking for Green Acres funding for this upcoming property acquisition so um you know the Watershed Institute Ridge View Conservancy friends of princeon Open Spaces will also have Green Acres money and I think and this is where it gets a little hazy that we may have a money left from a previous round that we can put to so I think my understanding is we are asking for and we are getting the maximum we are allowed to get it may just not all be AC acquired this year we may have some reserves from pre Green Acres money from previous years that we and the other Consortium Partners will be putting in but we will be maxing out in terms of asking for the money at least as much as we can if if that it was your is that what you were asking or did I misunder not exactly but I mean it's helpful what I was asking was it sounded like we met out our request as a municipality and we received a lot less than what we had asked for in this round and from the reading that I did don't think that's the case that we we have gotten I don't think we've gotten the money yet this is a a request is that correct am I yeah I know sometimes at Green Acres there is a lag time you don't necessarily get it all in one year there's only a certain amount of money I think they put aside for these types of kind of refunds for purchases uh I know uh our open space manager has been working with Green Acres specifically on this there's been some documentation back and forth that's how this got here in the first place but I'll I'll look into it further and get back to you on that thanks thank you other questions or comments okay all in favor please say I hi hi 2469 a resolution authorizing the execution submission of an application for the 2024 Recreation Improvement Grant which makes available $100,000 to the Princeton Recreation Department thank you Laticia is there a second Eve's got the second questions or comments all right seeing none all in favor please say I I I next up is the consent agenda and if no one wants anything pulled out of that someone can move the consent agenda as a block the thes moving at all can you just give me a moment I just I want to look back through it okay I'm good okay you're good cool okay so Leticia is moving it as a block is there someone seconding that Thank You Leon all in favor please say I I I David I move to a journ there a second second Thank You Leon all in favor say I I we are done thank you all very much