Volume LXIX, Number 45
More Than 600 Students From Over 80 Universities Arriving on Campus for Giant Hackathon . . . . . 9 Dogs and Cats Rule on the Pets &Their People Radio Show . . . . . . . . 13 Princeton Symphony Orchestra Concert Features Superstar Joyce Yang . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 No . 25 PU Women’s Hoops Has Unfinished Business . . . . . . . . . . 29 Gaining Confidence, Morris Going From Midfield Into PHS Hall of Fame . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
On Patti Smith’s M-Train Yesterday’s Poets Are Today’s Detectives . . . 16 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 14 Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Clubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Classified Ads . . . . . . . 41 Music/Theater . . . . . . 20 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 11 New to Us . . . . . . . . . . 28 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 39 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 4 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 41 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Burden of Proof In Tax Exemption Falls to University A New Jersey Tax Court judge last week rejected a claim made by Princeton University that the burden of proof in a case regarding its tax-exempt status should be with the four residents challenging the exemption. Judge Vito Bianco ruled that the burden of proof for granting a tax exemption rests on the organization seeking the exemption, and would only be the responsibility of the residents if they were taking issue with the assessments for properties owned by the University. Challenging the University’s tax exemptions is a different issue, meaning the same burden of proof would not apply. “Normally, plaintiffs have the burden of proof,” said attorney Bruce Afran, who is representing the four residents. “The judge is saying that in this instance the reverse applies. The party that owns the land has to prove they’re entitled to the exemption. That’s always been the law. The University tried to shift that burden.” The four residents have filed two lawsuits. The first challenges the tax-exempt status of University-owned properties in the 2011 tax year, and the second in the 2014 tax year. The suits contend that the University should pay property taxes on its buildings that are tax exempt, because those buildings have various commercial uses including ticketing, food retail establishments, and patents earned from research. The school argues that it should remain exempt because the money it earns goes toward its academic mission. The University makes a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) to the municipality, and does pay taxes on houses and stores it owns in Princeton. But the tax-exemption on the remainder of its properties translates into higher taxes for Princeton residents, Mr. Afran said. Judge Bianco’s decision last Thursday was the fifth in a series of procedural setbacks for the University in these cases. Earlier this year, Judge Bianco rejected the University’s request to have the case challenging the 2014 tax exemption dismissed. A statement from the University issued last week reads, “The University was seeking clarification regarding the burden of proof, recognizing that it is usually the Continued on Page 8
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Grass Roots Campaign Puts Zwicker Ahead
On the night of the general election November 3, Democratic State Assembly candidate Andrew Zwicker made a speech in which he conceded to incumbent Republican Donna Simon in the 16th District race. But a week makes a difference. At press time Tuesday, Mr. Zwicker’s lead over Ms. Simon had risen to 78 votes after the provisional ballots in Mercer County were counted. While the election has yet to be certified and Ms. Simon has neither conceded nor challenged the results, Mr. Zwicker, a physicist at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, appears to be the winner in the race. The Republican party has until next Wednesday to file for a recount. Win or lose, Mr. Zwicker is elated with the response he received and the manner in which his supporters helped run his campaign. “When a margin of victory is this small, that cliche that every vote matters is so incredibly true,” he said. “We knocked on thousands and thousands of doors and made thousands of phone calls. We got the message out about evidencebased decision making, and it resonates with people.” Mr. Zwicker, who lives in South Brunswick, was ahead of Ms. Simon on election night by only 29 votes. Thinking they had lost to incumbent Republicans Jack
Ciattarelli and Ms. Simon, he and his running mate, Maureen Vella of Hillsborough, conceded. But Mr. Zwicker picked up additional votes in the four counties that make up the 16th District: Mercer, Somerset, Hunterdon, and part of Middlesex. Princeton used to be in the 15th District, which has been traditionally Democrat, while Hunterdon and Somerset are Republican strongholds. “People are asking me how this could possibly happen,” Mr. Zwicker said. “With all the big money and special interest
groups, people are frustrated and feeling their voices are not being heard. This election was a grass roots effort. We didn’t have special interest money. We built up a grass roots organization.” The fact that New Jersey set a record for the lowest voter turnout ever is not the fault of the voters, Mr. Zwicker said. “People are really upset with the way campaigns have been run. So I am beyond humbled by the fact that mine represented something bigger to many people. This Continued on Page 12
Diverse Experience and Priorities Characterize School Election Winners An educator, a businessman (and boy scout leader), and a lawyer with extensive experience in regulatory and compliance law and finance won election to threeyear-terms on the Princeton School Board last week. Optimism, deep experience, and commitment to excellence for the district and its students characterize the three elected leaders, but their particular areas of expertise and their priorities reveal both contrasts and similarities. Elected to office on November 3 were Elizabeth (Betsy) Kalber Baglio, former
public school teacher and educational consultant, who won 2428 votes; incumbent Patrick Sullivan, private investor, former corporate lawyer and investment banker, who gained 2306 votes; and Dafna Kendal, a lawyer, who received 2032 votes. Robert Dodge, a research scientist working in a bio-pharmaceutical company, fell short in his bid, with 1780 votes. Each candidate has two children enrolled in the district. Ms. Baglio, 40, currently an active parent volunteer at Community Park as a member of the PTO, the Global Studies Continued on Page 12
“DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN”: Bruce Springsteen’s album was suggested by this night view of the Princeton University rowing team’s boathouse, its lights shining on the surface of Lake Carnegie . It’s also worth noting that it was from the “Darkness” recording session that Patti Smith, the subject of this week’s book review, got a tape of Bruce’s “Because the Night” and made the song her own . The photo was taken from the Washington Road bridge . (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)
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