Volume LXXII, Number 40
Dining and Entertainment Pages 32 - 33 PHS Teacher Competes on Jeopardy . . . . . . . . 5 Slave Dwelling Project at Morven . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Book on Talking to Kids About Cancer . . . . . . . 12 “Dear Christine” Arrives at Egypt Station . . . . 23 PSO Tribute to Leonard Bernstein . . . . . . . . . . 24 Salt Paper Ketchup Premieres at Passage Theatre . . . . . . . . . . . 28 PHS Football Edges Cherry Hill East to End 21-Game Skid . . . . . . 39 Martin Starring as Stuart Field Hockey Produces 6-2 Start . . . . . . . . . . 41
John Lovett Stars as PU Football Routs Columbia in Ivy Opener . . . . . . . 36 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors . .26, 27 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 34 Classified Ads . . . . . . 44 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Music/Theater . . . . . . 25 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 35 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 43 Police Blotter . . . . . . . 14 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 43 School Matters . . . . . . . 8 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
Planners Recommend Redevelopment Zone For Seminary Properties In the second step of a process that would allow Princeton Theological Seminary to redevelop portions of its campus, the Princeton Planning Board voted unanimously Thursday, September 27 to recommend designating it as a redevelopment zone. This tool would allow the town to be more proactive in planning, in turn giving the public a greater ability to provide input and be more involved in the process, according to Jim Constantine and Chris Cosenza of the company LRK Inc., consultants on the project. Princeton Council voted last June to direct the Planning Board to study whether the campus should be designated as an area in need of redevelopment. The seminary’s Tennant-Roberts campus on Stockton Street and the Erdman Center on Library Place were studied by the consultants, who described several of the nine sites as outdated and in need of improvements, prone to flooding, and other problems. Half of the properties are within the Mercer Hill historic district. Some of them front on Stockton Street, while others front on Edgehill Street, Library Place, and Mercer Street. Princeton used the redevelopment statute in the past for the construction of Hinds Plaza. It has also been utilized when the former FMC campus on Route 1 was turned into the location of Princeton HealthCare System, as well as in locations including Princeton Junction, West Windsor, Hopewell Borough, Hopewell Township, Ewing and Hamilton Townships, and elsewhere, said Constantine. “It allows a different process than traditional rezoning,” he said. “You can have proactive public participation. You can include non-contiguous properties. You can do a very site-specific conceptual plan. That’s where it’s different from zoning. It gives great control over design. You can engage a qualified developer, which you can’t in traditional zoning. There is a great protection of community interests.” As she did at the Council meeting last June, Edgehill Street resident Elizabeth Brown expressed concern about the three Charles Steadman houses and other historic buildings in the area recommended for the redevelopment zone. She has been told by representatives of the Seminary that they intend to preserve
Ask for our
Continued on Page 4
75¢ at newsstands
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Student Needs, Economic Stress Clash
“There is a perfect storm in Princeton,” said Witherspoon-Jackson Neighborhood Association (WJNA) Co-chair Leighton Newlin in introducing Saturday’s community conversation on the Princeton Public Schools referendum. “Many people are in distress with rising taxes, and at the same time the schools are in need.” With the Princeton Board of Education (BOE) approaching a special session next Tuesday, October 9, by the end of which they intend to finalize the ballot question for a December 11 referendum vote, what that ballot question will include, and how it will be presented remain in doubt. Newlin described the clash as “the most significant issue our town has faced in years.” Also in doubt is the answer to the
question posed in the WJNA announcement of the forum: “Can we arrive at a solution or compromise that works for all?” What is not in doubt is “the challenge,” as PPS has presented it, of “balancing student needs in aging schools” with the stressed economic context in the town of Princeton. With the most recent new building, John Witherspoon Middle School, constructed in 1965 and Princeton High School more than 90 years old, there is a compelling argument for renovations. Superintendent Steve Cochrane described to the gathering of about 100 at the Witherspoon Presbyterian Church the PPS’s needs for safety and security, health and wellness, and space for learning.
He also noted the economic reality of exceptional economic diversity in Princeton, high property values, yearly reassessments, new limits on property tax deductions, already high taxes, and three more years remaining on PPS’s existing debt. Despite the economic adversity, however, Cochrane stated that with demographic projections predicting 700 to 800 more students in the next eight years, “Doing nothing is not an option.” The “current consideration” of the BOE is to narrow the scope of its original plan for a $129.6M referendum package, to focus on the most essential projects: security, HVAC upgrades, PHS renovations, and athletic basics with four new classrooms and guidance department renovations at PHS, as well as the construction of a new school at Valley Road and the purchase and basic renovation of the Thanet Road Continued on Page 8
U .S . Diplomat Calls for American Ingenuity to Foster World Peace
AGING SCHOOL: The Witherspoon-Jackson Neighborhood Association hosted a community conversation on Saturday on the Princeton Public Schools referendum, which includes proposed renovations and possible expansion at Princeton High School . Participants discuss their feelings about the referendum in this week’s Town Talk on Page 6 . (Photo by Erica M. Cardenas)
Extremit y MRI -
for arm and leg joints.
609.921.8211 | www.PrincetonRadiology.com
In a talk at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (WWS) Monday, Rick Barton, former United States ambassador and now lecturer at WWS, called for innovative thinking, relying on American ingenuity to break our “losing streak” and make progress in international relations. Promoting his new book, Peace Works: America’s Unifying Role in a Turbulent World, Barton contended, “we are a country that is advantaged in the world, and we should be able to do more than we have been able to do” in helping to build peace in the world. Drawing on more than 30 years of service in global conflict, including more than 40 crisis zones around the globe since 1994, Barton provided analysis, stories, and hard evidence to support his belief that “we have to be grounded in the local people. We have to immerse ourselves in the communities. Start with understanding the local people.” In responding to questions from graduate scholar Caitlin Quinn, Barton advocated using American ingenuity to take creative risks. “The U.S. should think like a venture capitalist, not a pension manager,” he said. He cited examples from Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and the Continued on Page 14