Volume LXXIX, Number 7
Princeton University Community Connections Pages 22-23 Learning French at PHS Involves Some Turns on the Dance Floor . . . . . 5 PU Donates Technology Equipment to Enhance Education in NJ Prisons 7 McCarter Theatre Presents Award-Winning Vocal Ensemble . . . . . 18 Sparked by a Career Day From Star Guard Chea, PU Women’s Hoops Defeats Penn 74-60 . . . 28 Senior Guo Stars in Home Finale for PHS Boys’ Swim Team As it Wins Sectional Quarter Before Falling at Summit in Semi . . . . . 31
Photographed by Matthew Brady in 1860, Abraham Lincoln Is the Subject of This Week’s Birthday Book Review . . . . . . . 17 Art . . . . . . . . . . . .21, 24 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 25 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 36 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 14 New to Us . . . . . . . . . . 26 Obituaries . . . . . . .34, 35 Performing Arts . . .19, 20 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 8 Meet The Top Real Estate Agents . . . . . 36-44 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6 Valentine's Day . . . . . . 13
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Share My Meals Forms New Partnership With Public Schools Share My Meals (SMM), the Princetonbased nonprofit dedicated to fighting food insecurity and reducing food waste, has formed a new partnership with Princeton Public Schools (PPS). The collaboration allows for surplus prepared meals from the district’s schools to be safely recovered and redistributed to families and residents in Princeton on a weekly basis. The first deliveries were made on January 10. This is SMM’s second collaboration with a K-12 public school district, and its second with Pomptonian Food Service, the PPS’ food service provider. It follows a successful initiative with the Morris School District. “Partnerships like this highlight the importance of community-driven solutions,” said Meg Lembo, director of outreach of Share My Meals, in a release. “We’re thrilled to partner with Princeton Public Schools and Pomptonian Food Service to create meaningful change right here in Princeton.” According to SMM, approximately 10 percent of Mercer County residents face food insecurity. “At the same time, in cafeteria settings where food is prepared at high volume, there is often some unavoidable food surplus that goes to waste due to various constraints,” reads the release. “By redistributing surplus meals, Share My Meals and its partners address both issues simultaneously.” This program also reduces the environmental impact of food waste. SMM hopes to expand this model to additional school districts in New Jersey and beyond. SMM was founded in January 2020. When the pandemic hit two months later, the nonprofit switched from its original premise of recovering meals from corporations to buying meals at cost from local restaurants and delivering them to families and seniors who needed them. Assisting the effort was the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), which last summer awarded SMM $125,000 to establish a statewide Meal Recovery Coalition. The partnership with the schools also reduces the environmental impact of food waste. SMM hopes to expand this model to additional school districts in New Jersey and beyond. Continued on Page 12
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Town to Hire Planning Firm for Westminster Campus At its meeting on Monday night, February 10, Princeton Council took another step toward figuring out the future of the former campus of Westminster Choir College. Council approved a resolution authorizing the hiring of the Newark consulting firm Topology “for professional planning services related to the Westminster Choir College property, including the adaptive reuse of historic buildings on the property,” according to a memo to Council members from Princeton Planning Director Justin Lesko. The professional service agreement is for work in four phases, the first of which is expected to take place for up to 15 months and not exceed $115,000. The town announced its intention to acquire the 25-plus-acre site bordered by Walnut Lane, Hamilton Avenue, Franklin Avenue, and Linden Lane from Rider University, for approximately $50 million last
year. Rider, which merged with Westminster in 1992, attempted to sell the campus in 2019. When that effort was unsuccessful, Rider relocated the faculty and students from Westminster to its Lawrence Township campus. The Princeton campus has been mostly unoccupied since then. The process of condemning the property under eminent domain is underway. According to Council President Mia Sacks, the town is working collaboratively with Rider University and Princeton Theological Seminary, both of which had been involved in litigation over the campus, and neither contest the municipality’s legal right to acquire the property. “This large, geographically significant site, located in the heart of the community, adjacent to Princeton High School and Princeton Middle School, is uniquely positioned to meet various public and community needs that we hope would honor the cultural and historical significance of
the property,” Sacks said in a statement she released on Tuesday. Topology’s plan for the work includes developing “an informed project vision, including four small group stakeholder meetings and a virtual public outreach exercise,” according to Lesko’s memo to Council. “Acquisition of the property will ensure that the residents of Princeton will be in the driver’s seat to determine the future of this critical property,” Sacks said. “Our town has many pressing educational, recreational, cultural, and municipal facilities needs. The opportunity to acquire this key site for public use was not one that we could, in good conscience, walk away from. We know that current residents and future generations will benefit from our willingness to act boldly to protect the public’s interest.” Council approved several other resolutions at the meeting, including one to Continued on Page 8
Democratic Candidates For Governor to Debate In Princeton on Feb. 16
TREE TAPPING: Sandy Ogg, right, a volunteer at Howell Living History Farm in Hopewell Township, led a demonstration at the Maple Sugaring event held Saturday at the farm. Attendees share what they learned in this week’s Town Talk on page 6. (Photo by Sarah Teo)
With primary day less than four months away and a slew of candidates from both parties vying to be the next governor of New Jersey, the Princeton Community Democratic Organization (PCDO) is hosting a Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Forum at 7 p.m. on Sunday, February 16 at the Suzanne Patterson Center, 45 Stockton Street. Mayors Ras Baraka of Newark and Steve Fulop of Jersey City, former Montclair Mayor now New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) Head Sean Spiller, and former State Senate President Steve Sweeney will take the debate stage on Sunday to promote their views in the race to succeed Gov. Phil Murphy, who is completing his second four-year term, the limit for New Jersey governors. U.S. Representatives Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer, who are also in the race, will not be present, but State Senator John McKeon will be standing in for Sherrill. Mia Sacks, Princeton Council president, will moderate the proceedings, which will also be livestreamed to the PCDO Facebook page. “There are a lot of strong and well known candidates on both sides in this race, certainly on the Democratic side,” said PCDO President Jeffrey Oakman. Continued on Page 10
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