Corrections or additions?
Published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on April 12, 2000. All rights reserved.
Between the Lines
A Survival Guide item beginning on page 11 of this issue
previews the upcoming seminar sponsored by the Sandra Starr Foundation
on Saturday, April 15, on the subject of building urban-suburban alliances.
The keynote speaker at the 1:30 p.m. session is a Princeton-trained
architect who is a founder of the “New Urbanism” and the author
of a forthcoming book titled “Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl
and the Decline of the American Dream.”
The conference begins at 9:30 that morning with a host of Princeton
leaders discussing these issues as they relate to Mercer County. And
among those participants is U.S. 1’s own Richard K. Rein.
Now we don’t want to second-guess our boss, but we do wonder if he
knows what he is in for. The subject is suburban sprawl. The keynote
speaker espouses a new “urbanism” — not “suburbanism.”
And if our Survival Guide article is correct, the speaker believes
that downtown Princeton is a worthy example of this kind of pedestrian-friendly,
mixed use community — that’s downtown Princeton, not the Princeton-Route
1 corridor.
Can it be, we wonder, that our boss is throwing himself to the wolves?
No, we will not second guess him, but we will urge him to stand tall
for the kind of new and improved suburban development covered in Barbara
Fox’s cover story beginning on page 17 of this issue. While some anti-growth
forces are still gnashing their teeth over the Merrill Lynch development
in Hopewell Township, Fox’s story shows that the development will
place 6,000 workers on 150 acres — about five times as many workers
and half as much acreage compared to the Educational Testing Service
campus on Rosedale Road, just to pick one of many examples.
That Merrill Lynch development may not be “new urbanism” but
it is certainly a step forward compared to much of the suburban development
that has preceded it.
A SENSE OF COMMUNITY, of course, can well up in the most sterile suburban
wasteland. A decade ago U.S. 1 toiled in an old farmhouse a few feet
from Route 1 itself. The building literally shook as trucks ground
to a stop in front of the Plainsboro Road intersection. But people
managed to find their way to our door to do some old-fashioned kinds
of business.
U.S. 1’s Barbara Fox received this letter just a few days ago:
“Remember me? Eleven years ago I came from France hopingto find a job and live in this country. I came to your office to pickup your special edition about business in the Princeton area. Youwere there and gave me some advice. A few weeks after, you took mefor lunch and gave me my first lesson in networking.””I never forgot how kind you have been to me. I am having a party,`The Dream Came True: American at Last,’ to celebrate my new citizenship.It would mean a lot if you joined me.”All of us send congratulations to our French friend and all othernew citizens. In the intervening years, two of our staff members havealso obtained their citizenship. Vive la France, vive la USA, and— perhaps — vive les suburbs!Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
