April 15 Letters to the Editor
The battle against lead in New Jersey's drinking water has come to Hamilton. Two elementary schools, Morgan Elementary and Greenwood Elementary, were found to have higher than acceptable levels of lead in their drinking water. While the Governor continues to deny the issue, children across the state are drinking contaminates. Lead is toxic to our children and can cause brain damage, learning disabilities, and other serious health issues. Thousands of children are diagnosed with lead poisoning in our state each year; over 3,000 in 2015 alone. We're using our schoolchildren as canaries in coal mines.
In order to prevent children from being exposed to lead we need to be testing for it. We need to know where it's coming from and if old pipes are contributing to the problem. Many cities in New Jersey, even Hamilton, have old pipes. Some of this infrastructure goes back to the Victorian Age. We need to set up a long-term funding source so that we can continue to test and monitor drinking water for lead and upgrade our infrastructure.
How many children need to be put at risk before the Governor will admit there is a problem with lead in our drinking water? Whether it's in Newark or in Hamilton, all children deserve clean safe water to drink in their homes and in their schools. Schools are the Governor's responsibility and he is not doing anything to protect the children New Jersey. We should be protecting our most treasured and precious resource: our children.
Jamie Zaccaria
Hamilton
National Architecture Week is being celebrated April 10 - 16. The week is designed to increase the public's attention of architecture's role as a force for positive change in our communities. This article, one of a series of "My Favorite Places" pieces, shares an architect's unique perspective on a local place, focusing on both the location's design and the broader impact that the design has on the lives of those it touches.
I call it the hidden garden.
Nestled in the center of the Princeton University campus, there is a garden behind one of the university's oldest buildings, Prospect House. Currently, this building functions as a private dining club for the university's faculty and staff, but it previously housed past university presidents. When Woodrow Wilson presided over the school, his wife fenced in the garden and laid out the flower garden we see today, which is actually shaped like the university's seal. A combination of tulip trees, an American beech and annual plants and flowers make up the design.
The garden is 'hidden' in the sense that the Prospect House obscures its view from the rest of the campus. The garden is set at grade with the basement level of Prospect House while the building is set on a bunker. A later renovation of the basement provides a full glass front stepping out to the garden. Sitting in the casual dining room at basement level gives off the feeling of an outdoor experience while sitting inside.
To the other side, the garden is surrounded by tall, manicured evergreens planted in a half circle to create a visual barrier from the rest of the campus to the east. During Wilson's time at Prospect House, "students began to take shortcuts across the lawns and garden," which made this measure necessary.
Now that it's a place that can be enjoyed by the public, I visit the garden rather frequently, especially in the summer. With its history and seclusion, I find it to be an ideal retreat, as the space provides fragrant flowers, the soft sounds of the central fountain, leisurely walking paths and calming views within the garden and the house.
Both the house and gardens are excellent pieces of landscape design, architecture and planning, which can, once again, be enjoyed by all.
Megan Pritts
Princeton
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