Volume LXXVI, Number 30
Trenton Climate Corps Fights Climate Change . .5 Whalen, Barnes-Johnson Take Key PPS Leadership Roles . . . . 7 “Tell Us What You Want” Survey Open Through August 8 . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Cooling It With Books And Films During the Big Heat . . . . . . . . . . 11 Princeton Summer Theater Presents Detroit ’67 . . .12 PU Summer Chamber Concerts Closes Season With Zodiac Trio . . . . . . 13 Former PU Men’s Lax Standout Sowers Starring In Premier Lacrosse League . . . . . . . . . . . 20 PDS Alum Auslander Produces Record-Breaking Season for Christopher Newport Men’s Lax . . . 23
PHS Alum Amon Emerges as Ace for TCNJ Baseball . . . . 22 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Beat the Heat . . . . . . . 16 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 19 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 28 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 25 Performing Arts . . . . . 14 Police . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 28 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
Challengers Take On Three Incumbents In School Board Race Three incumbents and two new candidates will be competing for three positions on the Princeton Public Schools (PPS) Board of Education (BOE) in the upcoming November 8 election. At the 4 p.m. Monday, July 25 deadline, new candidates Lishian “Lisa” Wu and Margarita Rafalovsky, along with incumbents Debbie Bronfeld, Susan Kanter, and Dafna Kendal, had filed with the Mercer County Clerk to run for threeyear terms on the Princeton BOE. Bronfeld and Kendal, who is currently BOE president, will be running for their third terms, and Kanter will be seeking her second term in office. Wu and Rafalovsky have not yet responded to email and phone requests for commentary on their campaigns. The three incumbents provided statements and background information for an article in the July 13 Town Topics, and all the candidates will be discussed more fully and provided a forum for their opinions in a fall issue of Town Topics. Though a new candidate for BOE, Wu is a familiar figure on the local political scene. She ran for Princeton Council in 2018 on the Republican ticket, losing out to Democrats Dwaine Williamson and Eve Niedergang. In 2019 she ran for Mercer County Executive and lost to incumbent Democrat Brian Hughes. A resident of Elm Court on Elm Road, Wu was born in Taiwan and came to the United States to study at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1974. She raised three children as a single mother. Her professional background is in accounting and her concerns as a candidate for the School Board are likely to be similar to those of her previous campaigns: spending and taxes, transparency, and openness to public input. Rafalovsky, a Library Place resident with extensive experience in the financial service industry, came into the public sphere earlier this year as co-founder and board trustee of Princeton Citizens Alliance. A nonprofit that provides input on local issues and acts to address the concerns of the community, Princeton Citizens Alliance took a strong stand against allowing cannabis dispensaries in town. In a February 2 Town Topics letter to the editor, Rafalovsky wrote that she Continued on Page 9
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Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Momos Seek to Raze and Rebuild on Witherspoon At an upcoming meeting of Princeton’s Planning Board, the future of a corner of Witherspoon Street and Paul Robeson Place will be considered. The property, at 70-74 Witherspoon, was the subject of a “courtesy review” held by the town’s Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) on July 18. The owners, restauranteurs Raoul and Carlo Momo (CRX Associates), plan to tear down two 19th century buildings at the site, home for the past few decades to Terra Momo Bread Company and A Taste of Cuba cigar parlor. They propose to replace them with a three-story, mixed use project containing a restaurant/wine bar, bakery, and gourmet market on the first floor, and apartments on the two upper levels. The architect is Leslie Dowling, wife of Carlo Momo. The corner has a distinctive history, but is not officially designated historic. From 1931 to 1976, it was home to a beauty salon run by Virginia Mills, whose husband was the first Black postman in Princeton. Toto’s Market, which closed in 1987 after 75 years, was also located there. Before offering their own comments, members of the HPC heard from the Momos’ attorney Tom Letizia, and Carlo Momo. Letizia asserted that the buildings are going to be demolished no matter what, and there was no legal basis for
the review because the buildings are not mentioned in the town’s master plan. “However, we are here in good faith, and hoping that with some discussion, perhaps we can incorporate something into the plan that will commemorate the history [of the site],” he said. “I think there are ways we can show evidence of that history, and tell the public who will be customers of this new restaurant — and even the apartment tenants above — about the history that occurred on this property.”
Carlo Momo said that since CRX Associates bought the buildings nearly 25 years ago, neighboring Princeton Public Library and the Arts Council of Princeton were reconstructed, the Residences at Palmer Square was built, and the site housing the restaurants Elements and Mistral underwent a substantial reconstruction. The presence of dumpsters, closings of Witherspoon Street, and other factors related to these projects caused Continued on Page 9
Council to Return to In Person, But Zoom Remains an Option Starting on Monday, September 12, Princeton Council will be back to the prepandemic practice of meeting in person. The governing body adopted a resolution at its Monday, July 25 meeting, making it official. While attending via Zoom will still be an option, Council made it clear that because internet connections sometimes fail, the only way to guarantee participation in a meeting is to show up at Witherspoon Hall. A bit later in the meeting, as if on cue, the connection went down for a few minutes. Meetings will be noticed for gathering in person, but the technology to meet
virtually will be available. Should there be a rise in COVID-19 cases, the meetings would switch back to being held virtually. “It has been part of the process of thinking that through,” said Mayor Mark Freda. “We had a trial run-through, and everything looked and sounded good. So we hope to be able to accommodate those who wish to be in person, or those who want to watch from home.” Council voted unanimously in favor of an ordinance appropriating $388,000 to pay for replacement of the cooling tower and circulator motors at Princeton Public Library. The specific wording appropriates Continued on Page 9
DANCING UNDER THE STARS: The hot weather didn’t deter dancers on Friday evening at a free outdoor dance at Hinds Plaza sponsored by the Princeton Public Library in collaboration with the Central Jersey Dance Society. (Photo by Weronika A. Plohn)