FirstService Residential Drops the Ball

We're having a lot of rain this spring. What may be good for plants and reservoirs is not necessarily good if you're dealing with drainage issues around your home. Despite repeated requests over many months to FirstService Residential, our management company is not offering any solutions to a serious and persistent water problem. When it rains, water collects at the foundation of our home and in the adjacent planting bed. Two foundation plantings, one a large well-established rhododendron, have already been removed due to root rot. Another, the last remaining foundation planting, is showing signs that it will also need to be removed. After many requests, a FirstService Residential property manager came to see it with a manager from our landscape contractor BrightView. Since then we've heard nothing. Water problems around a home should be taken seriously. Maintenance fees for the last few months have included dues, association insurance fees and an assessment, which totaled $960 a month. How much money is enough to expect service from FirstService Residential?

Doris Day

Doris Day

1922 – 2019

Spring Walk in the Mapleton Preserve

Join Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands for a Spring Celebration Walk in the Mapleton Preserve on Saturday, May 11, 2019. The walk through the former Princeton Nurseries Kingston site will be led by Rick Henkel (photo above), who was the Sales Manager for Princeton Nurseries for 32 years. Rick has an extraordinary knowledge of trees and knows the Kingston site and its trees extremely well. The walk begins at 2 pm. Meet at the Main Office for the D&R Canal State Park at 145 Mapleton Road in Kingston for this leisurely two-hour afternoon walk. The event is free and open to the public.

Photo of Rick Henkel by Jonathan Michalik

Kingston Fire Co Donates Truck to Puerto Rico

On Friday, April 19, 2019, Agostino Racanati of the Kingston Volunteer Company (KVFC) and South Brunswick Fire District #3 handed over the title for their superbly maintained 1988 Spartan 3D Engine to Chief Eulando Piñero of the Metro Emergency Response Team of Bayamon City, Puerto Rico. Bayamon is Puerto Rico's second-largest municipality and is part of the metropolitan area centered on San Juan.

Following a blessing by Rev. Sharyl Dixon of the Kingston Presbyterian Church, KVFC Chief George Luck, Jr., gave a brief talk about what led to this event. Last year Fire Chief Piñero contacted the Bridgewater Board of Fire Commissioners District #4 for help in the wake of Hurricane Maria. The plea for equipment and supplies was quickly answered by central New Jersey's local fire departments. The truck, which had served the Monmouth Junction Fire Department for 28 years, was being replaced. Instead it will be fully stocked with supplies and equipment donated by other local fire departments and shipped to Puerto Rico.

Chief Piñero expressed gratitude for the many firefighters who participated in this project. One of the key partners, Captain Borke of the New Brunswick Fire Department, said the brotherhood/sisterhood of firefighters, "is so strong that it almost brings tears to my eyes." Officer Fedor Salvador of the North Brunswick Police Department also praised the network that came together to provide support for their colleagues in Puerto Rico.