Volume LXXI, Number 50
Unique Holiday Gifts On Pages 20-21 Students Collect Food to Combat Hunger . . . . . . 5 Snowstorm Keeps Holiday Shoppers Home . . . . . . 7 Tigers in the Hen House . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 A Christmas Carol at McCarter’s Matthews Theatre . . . . . . . . . . . 18 PU Men’s Track Coach Samara Heading to Hall of Fame . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Mandleur Stepping Up for Hun Boys’ Hockey . . . 31
Trixie Sabundayo to Lead PDS Upper School . . . . 9 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 24 Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Classified Ads. . . . . . . 34 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Music/Theater . . . . . . 19 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 14 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 33 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 34 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Service Directory . . . . 36 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Sustainable Princeton Plan Identifies Areas of Progress And Areas Needing Work
A lot has changed since Princeton Council adopted the Sustainable Princeton Community Plan in 2009. The former Borough and Township have consolidated. Sustainable Princeton has become an independent nonprofit organization. But the plan’s aim of addressing the town’s environmental impact, and developing a long-term strategy toward achieving a truly sustainable community, have remained the same. Sustainable Princeton will deliver a progress report on its efforts at Princeton Public Library’s Community Room tonight (Wednesday, December 13) at 7 p.m. Mayor Liz Lempert, who recently attended the summit of mayors on climate change in Chicago, is among those who will speak at the event. The public is encouraged to attend. “We want people to come to hear some of the key areas we think still require attention, and we want them to start providing feedback on the next step,” said Molly Jones, Sustainable Princeton’s executive director. “This is really a progress report to see where we started from and where we are going.” Jones stressed that since its adoption, Sustainable Princeton has been a community-wide effort. “The plan and what has transpired since it was formed have really been a collaboration,” she said. We have been there to nudge it along, but I want to acknowledge the many citizens in the community who have had a hand in it.” Once it became a nonprofit in 2012, Sustainable Princeton established six goals for which progress was to be measured, and action plans specific to government, schools, businesses and nonprofits, and residents. The organization last delivered a progress report six years ago. Since then, Princeton has been re-certified at the silver level by Sustainable Jersey, earning the third most points behind Woodbridge and Summit. Littlebrook Elementary School, Johnson Park Elementary School, and John Witherspoon Middle School have all earned bronze level certification. “We expect the other public schools will get that certification soon, too,” said Christine Symington, Sustainable Princeton’s program director. According to Symington, Princeton Continued on Page 10
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Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Three Speakers Discuss State of Our Democracy Three different speakers at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University last week warned of the precarious state of our democracy. On Monday, Charlie Sykes, MSNBC contributor, former host of WNYC’s Indivisible and author of 2017 How the Right Lost Its Mind, described how he “was excommunicated from conservative circles for not supporting Donald Trump.” He also claimed that “the damage to the culture is going to be long-lasting,” and called for “a coalition of the decent from both parties” to come together in opposition to the current status quo in Washington. On Wednesday, Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer, author of Demagogue:
The Fight to Save Democracy from Its Worst Enemies (2009), recounted the August 12 clash in Charlottesville between white nationalists and counter-protestors and cited this era as “a terrible chapter in our history.” Though ultimately coming to an optimistic conclusion, Signer quoted, “When you dance with the devil, you don’t change the devil. The devil changes you,” and observed, “that’s what has happened to a significant part of our political establishment.” And Thursday last week, in a talk focused on international issues and titled “Is There a Contradiction Between Peace Processes and Human Rights Advocacy?”, Princeton University professor and former ambassador to both Israel and
Egypt Daniel Kurtzer warned that President Trump’s recent decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel “has isolated the United States from every other country in the world. The ramifications for U.S. diplomacy are profound and long-lasting.” “At the crossroads of scholarship and governance,” the Woodrow Wilson School, according to its website, “is a major center of education and research in public and international affairs.” It offers a full calendar of lectures and other events open to the general public, including last week’s speeches, each attended by audiences of 100-200 in the University’s Robertson Hall. Conservative Voice
A leading conservative voice standing in opposition to Trump and the alt right, Continued on Page 8
Council Considers Campus Expansion Plan In Detailed “Framework” Presentation
BABY’S FIRST CHRISTMAS: Charles “Boomer” Plohn, son of Town Topics photographer Charles R. Plohn, enjoys his first meeting with Santa and Mrs. Claus at Morven Museum & Garden in Princeton. The museum’s annual Festival of Trees runs through January 7. (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)
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At its meeting Monday evening, December 11, members of Princeton Council had a chance to question Princeton University administrators about the school’s plans for expansion over the next 10 years. Originally announced last April, an updated version of the proposal, with some new details, was released last week. While generally enthusiastic about the ambitious framework for several development projects that will accommodate a larger undergraduate student body and reach beyond the current campus to University-owned property south of Lake Carnegie, the governing body posed questions about the project’s size, scope, and relationship to the town. University Architect Ron McCoy and Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee stressed repeatedly that the proposal is just that, and not a final document. Release of the plan last week marked “a milestone in the process, but not its end,” said Durkee. “The framework is intended to be revisable over time. While it presents options for developments in 10 years, we know things will change over time.” The proposal would require rezoning in some areas, including a mixed-use site that would have housing for up to 500 graduate students and postdoctoral Continued on Page 10