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Before mounting their streamer-clad bicycles and riding around downtown Princeton, three townspeople in the Occupy the Streets movement stood next to each other for inspection.  The organizer of the movement, a lady in a green jacket, had to check if they were standing in order, the signs on their backs featuring the words We, The 99% and Are. 
 
Are The 99% We.
 
“No, no.  Guy in the middle--move out to the end!”
 
The 99% We Are.
 
“No, one more time!”

Dr. Mark Peterson of the University of California, Berkeley pulled up a darkened yellow map of the Battle of Princeton on a projector screen at last Thursday’s meeting of the Regional Planning Board.  
 
“You wouldn’t want to use it to find yourself from Trenton to Princeton in the dark, but this primary document was drawn by an anonymous spy for General Washington,” he said. 
 

Womanspace is calling for volunteers to help organize its signature campaign, “Communities of Light”, to raise awareness of domestic violence and sexual abuse.  Patricia Hart, Executive Director of the Mercer County nonprofit, says the goal is to “join together with one voice to say domestic violence is wrong.” 

At this evening’s televised forum of candidates for Borough Council, the Republican candidates had some strong words about the status quo.  

At Tuesday evening’s mayoral debate between Democratic candidate Yina Moore and Republican candidate Jill Jachera, the two women answered questions on pressing local issues like consolidation, movement of the Dinky, Hurricane Irene, and town relationships with Princeton University.

With regards to the University’s development of the Arts and Transit Neighborhood, which would require moving the Dinky terminus, Moore stated that she did not think moving the Dinky “is the right thing to do.

A forum over consolidation, hosted last night by the Princeton Community Democratic Organization (PCDO), launched with a look at what makes this year's proposal different from previous attempts at bringing the Borough and Township together.

Downtown Princeton retailers, with minor exceptions, have come back to life, leaving behind a recession that shook a few longtime businesses to their foundations.

“I think we saw a low about a year and a half ago, “ says Marco Cucchi, owner of Thomas Sweet Ice Cream and Chocolates.  “Things since have been recovering slowly, but steadily.”

A new report on local commercial real estate activity provides a mostly upbeat assessment for the first half of 2011, with many commercial realty professionals--in submarkets as diverse as office, warehouse, and boutique space -- agreeing with the report’s conclusion:  the economy has put the worst behind. 

Princeton Borough residents are one step closer to walking down a rejuvenated Alexander Road in twenty years, after the Borough Council agreed to formally introduce for public discussion the zoning for the Arts, Education and Transit Neighborhood at a meeting on Tuesday night.  

“When Scott and Hella told me they had selected one of my poems, I felt honored,” said poet and children’s author Penny Harter as we set out to join a gathering of poets, nature lovers, and land conservationists to walk the Scott and Hella McVay Poetry Trail at the D&R Greenway last Friday (April 15).

A Task Force report unveiled last month by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie recommends making student test performance an important criterion in teacher evaluation. While that would reflect well on Princeton teachers, it runs counter to the approach adopted by Princeton Regional Schools. Princeton Charter School, on the other hand, has expressed measured support for Christie’s reforms.

The second revaluation forum in as many days had a much different tone, and indeed a different purpose, than the first.  Last night’s give-and-take, held by the Joint Revaluation Study Commission appointed by the borough and township, was more like a working group compared to Wednesday’s pep rally-like atmosphere.