Volume LXXVII, Number 50
A Christmas Carol Returns to McCarter Theatre . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Profiles in Education: Kristina Hayda Of PHS . . . . . . . . . 9 Famed Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo to Appear with PSO . . . . 18 Breaking into Starting Lineup for PU Women’s Hoops, Hill Making an Impact in the Paint . . 26 Coming off State Championship Season, PHS Girls’ Swim Team Aiming for Encore . . . 30
www.towntopics.com
Tech Workers at PPS Seeking to Unionize With OPEIU Local 32
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Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Council Votes to Eliminate Free Parking on Witherspoon Princeton Council approved an ordinance Monday night amending the parking regulations on Witherspoon Street between Nassau Street and Paul Robeson Place/Wiggins Street, eliminating the free 30-minute parking in what is known as the service lane in front of Small World Coffee, Jules Pizza, and adjacent businesses. The ordinance designates the service lane as Loading Zone Only between 6 and 10 a.m. on weekdays and Saturdays. Use by non-commercial vehicles during those days and hours is prohibited. Parking is allowed in the service lane from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. on weekdays and Saturdays, and from 6 a.m. Sundays to 2 a.m. Mondays. Parking will be metered for up to 90 minutes from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and from 1 to 8 p.m. on Sundays. The rest of Witherspoon Street north of Spring to Paul Robeson Place/Wiggins Street will be metered for up to 90 minutes from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 1 to 8 p.m. on Sundays. Payment kiosks will be installed “in appropriate locations adjacent to the service lane between Nassau Street and Spring Street, to accommodate the new metered parking regulation,” Assistant Municipal Engineer Jim Purcell wrote in a memo to
Council members that is available on the municipal website. “Appropriate signs will also be erected.” The existing 30-minute parking will remain along Spring Street and South Tulane Street, as well as in Palmer Square. Free parking for 30 minutes will continue in the Spring Street Garage. The ordinance is designed to fix a problem that dates from the recent reconfiguration of Witherspoon Street into one-way going north, with parking
eliminated on the east side of the street. The plan that was put into place allowed free, three-minute, non-commercial parking in the service lane during loading times, so people could run into Small World Coffee and adjacent eating establishments to pick up their orders. The lane was otherwise left open for deliveries until 10 a.m, when they became available for free, 30-minute parking. Since those rules were enacted, “use of the service lane by non-commercial
Citing concerns over staffing levels, budgetary constraints, and lack of support from administration, Princeton Public Schools’ (PPS) technology workers on Monday, December 11, unanimously submitted a petition to the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) to unionize with OPEIU Local 32. The PPS group of 10 employees, known as the Princeton Public Schools Continued on Page 8 Technology Association (PPSTA), had requested voluntary recognition on October 23, 2023, but in November the PPS Board of Education (BOE) refused to grant voluntary recognition of their union. The 28th Conference of the Parties climate change at the convention and to the United Nations Framework Con- little likelihood of a deal that includes the “One of the major reasons for this filing vention on Climate Change (COP28) in desired “phase-out of fossil fuels,” the has been the repeated calls for adding Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was sched- Princeton contingent of 16 nonetheless more technology staff that have gone uled to wrap up on Tuesday, December found much of educational value in the unanswered by district administration,” 12, after two weeks. Negotiations con- “dizzying experience” and “wild whirlwind” a December 11 OPEIU press release tinued into the late night hours, howev- of events, as Ned Downie, a second-year stated. “Since the pandemic, when the er, and COP28 was preparing to go into Ph.D. .student in the science, technology, district was asked to go one-to-one with overtime on Wednesday, December 13 and environmental policy program at the devices for students, the technology in order to produce a draft text of a final Princeton School of Public and Internadepartment has been imploring admindeal among nearly 200 countries present. tional Affairs (SPIA), described it. istration to add more support to the staff4.5’) has ing levels. With only one technician for In attendance at the(under proceedings “Lots and lots of events, with lots of Princeton High School, serving around been a delegation of Princeton Univer- interesting people,” wrote Downie, who 1,550 students and close to 300 staff sity graduate students, researchers, and attended in-depth discussions on steel members; and Princeton Middle School faculty. decarbonization and subnational climate with one technician for around 830 stuWith much pessimism about the pros- cooperation, in an email. “It’s really quite dents and close to 175 staff members, pects for significant progress in fighting dramatic, pretty insane. Everybody is the technology department is unable to Continued on Page 15 meet the needs and expectations of the district administration. The community needs to know that PPS students and staff deserve better.” In a response to the PPSTA’s action later the same day, the BOE issued a statement noting the experience and authority of PERC and apparently endorsing the collaboration between the PPSTA and PERC. “As the Board had previously advised the PPSTA several weeks ago, we believe that PERC — an independent third party with the experience and authority to determine the composition of negotiations units, conduct representation elections, and certify exclusive representatives — should make those determinations,” the BOE statement read. “That is particularly important when there are questions 415 Nassau Park Blvd. 1378 Route 206 about the makeup of the union, since the Employer-Employee-Relations Act Princeton, NJ 08540 Skillman, NJ 08558 generally prohibits supervisors and non(near Sam’s Club) (behind Wells Fargo Bank) supervisors from being represented in You Can and Eat Sushi All You Can Eat Sushi HANUKKAH: HostedAll CELEBRATING by Palmer Square The Jewish Center Princeton, the Annual Menorah Lighting, the same collective negotiations unit.” held Tuesday on the patio of the Nassau Inn, featured music and other festivities.
Princeton University Reports from COP28; Delegates Participate in Climate Summit
All You Can Eat Sushi
Lunch $23.95 • Dinner $28.95• Kids Dinner $15.95 Celebrating Taylor Swift’s Birthday and Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale . . . . . . 17 12 Days of Christmas . . 21 Art . . . . . . . . . . . .22, 23 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 24 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 36 Holiday Magic. . . . . . . 20 Luxury Living . . . . . . 2, 3 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 16 New to Us . . . . . . . . . . 25 Performing Arts . . .18, 19 Police Blotter . . . . . . . 15 Real Estate. . . . . . . . . 36 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
Tel: (609) 520-8883
masa8restaurant.com Lunch $23.95 • Dinner $28.95• Kids Dinner $15.95 Continued on Page 10
(under 4.5’)
Tel: (609) 683-2222 morisushinj.com
Lunch $23.95 • Dinner $28.95• Kids Dinner $15.95 (under 4.5’)
Tel: (609) 520-8883
Tel: (609) 683-2222
Tel: (609) 520-8883
Tel: (609) 683-2222
415 Nassau Park Blvd. Princeton, NJ 08540 (near Sam’s Club)
1378 Route 206 Skillman, NJ 08558 (behind Wells Fargo Bank)
415 Nassau Park Blvd. Princeton, NJ 08540 (near Sam’s Club)
1378 Route 206 Skillman, NJ 08558 (behind Wells Fargo Bank)
masa8restaurant.com
All You Can Eat Sushi
Lunch $23.95 • Dinner $28.95• Kidsmasa8restaurant.com Dinner $15.95 morisushinj.com (under 4.5’)
morisushinj.com
(Photo by Weronika A. Plohn)