Volume LXXVII, Number 15
Splash Program Comes to PU . . . . . . . 5 Caines Retiring After 25 Years with Princeton Recreation Dept. . . . . 8 Rutgers University Strike Continues . . . . . . . . . 10 Chmiel Supporters Plan April 16 Rally . . . . . . 12 Adventures in the World Of Brahms . . . . . . . . 16 With Bandura Emerging As a Star, PU Baseball in Thick of Ivy Title Race . .27 Sparked by One-Two Punch of Ix, Lee, Stuart Lax Produces 2-2 Start . . . . . . . 33
Lexi Kobryn Leading The Way as Hun Softball Starts 5-0 . . . . . . . . . 33 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . 20-21 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 24 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 37 Luxury Living . . . . . . . 2-3 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . 13-14 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 26 Obituaries . . . . . . . 35-36 Performing Arts . . . 17-19 Police Blotter . . . . . . . 10 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 37 Save the Date . . . . . 22-23 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Council Amends Budget To Lower Increase For Princeton Taxpayers At its meeting on Monday, April 10, Princeton Council amended the 2023 budget to reduce the tax increase from what was originally introduced as $0.045 per $100 of assessed value, instead to $0.029 per $100 of assessed value. This translates to an increase for the average Princeton taxpayer of $279 for the year. The meeting also included presentations on Phase III of the Witherspoon Street Improvement Project, which extends from Leigh Avenue to Valley Road, and efforts by the Civil Rights Commission (CRC) to change the “Welcome to Princeton” signs located at gateways to the town. The budget was introduced last month at $72.47 million, a rise of about $1.27 million over the last year. The increase is due to a rise in costs for things like health care and waste management. Several members of Council thanked the town’s Chief Financial Officer Sandy Webb and her team for getting the cost down. “Some prices for equipment we’re replacing were shockingly high,” said Councilwoman Eve Niedergang. “It’s still a tax increase, which we don’t like to see, but it’s a lot less than what we started with. A lot of creativity and hard work went into that.” A public hearing on the resolution is April 24. In a report from the Princeton Police Department, Lt. Tom Lagomarsino said the police and the Princeton PBA Local 130 are partnering with local restaurants, bars, and Uber to start a new program that will offer patrons a free ride home within Princeton, should they need one. The idea is not only to promote having a designated driver, but to also help promote Princeton restaurants and bars, Lagomarsino said. Nick DiDomizio of the Civil Rights Commission (CRC) told Council that the “Welcome to Princeton” signs, which say “Settled 1683,” acknowledge when the first structure was built here by European settlers, but ignore the fact that the Lenape people lived here first. This language “is not inclusive, and implicitly ignores the history of the Indigenous people that inhabited this land prior to European settlers,” he said. The CRC recommends removing “Settled 1683” from the signs if it is the only wording on the signs acknowledging Princeton’s history. Continued on Page 12
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Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Town Presents Proposal on Open Space Diversion Monday, April 17 is the last day to submit comments about the municipality’s proposal to purchase three parcels of land along the Princeton Ridge, an “open space diversion” to compensate for the three-acre site on which the town mistakenly built Witherspoon Hall in 2002. Municipal staff members held a meeting on April 3 to present their proposal and hear from the public. While some spoke in support, others questioned why the focus was on property at the far northern edge of Princeton instead of closer to town. The acreage, as proposed, would become part of Princeton’s “Emerald Necklace,” linking green spaces to one another. According to the rules of the Green Acres program, Princeton must dedicate five acres of open space for each of the acres that were developed in error. The three acres on which the municipal complex sits were supposed to be for parks and recreation. The mistake was discovered while the town was completing its recent inventory of open space and parks. Asked by Race Street resident Patrick DeAlmeida why that happened
in the first place, Municipal Administrator Bernie Hvozdovic said he didn’t know. “No one sitting at this table was here, so I can’t answer how it happened,” he said. “It should not have happened, but it happened, so we find ourselves here.” Two of the proposed parcels are off of Cherry Valley Road; another is off of Mt. Lucas Road. According to Princeton’s Open Space Manager Cindy Taylor, they include mature forests and have been designated as a medium-high priority in
the New Jersey Conservation Blueprint. The Cherry Valley parcels are near 153 acres of land bought by the municipality in 2021. The Mt. Lucas parcel is part of a 90-acre site identified for conservation in the 2011 open space and recreation plan. Speaking in favor of the plan, Ridgeview Road resident Christopher Barr, who leads the Ridgeview Conservancy, said preserving the parcels is important because of stormwater runoff mitigation, climate resistance, biodiversity, Continued on Page 11
Three Schools Win Sustainability Grants, PPS Steps Up Efforts on Multiple Fronts
Johnson Park Elementary, Riverside Elementary, and Princeton High School (PHS) have each received a $2,000 Sustainable Jersey for Schools grant funded by the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA). “Sustainability is an integral part of our work at Princeton Public Schools (PPS),” said PPS Superintendent Carol Kelley. “Congratulations to each of these schools and their Green Teams!” The grant to Johnson Park will be supporting the school’s transition away from
disposable plates and cups for classroom parties and parent functions. “This grant will allow Johnson Park to build a supply of reusable service ware and test out a flatware retriever in the cafeteria,” said Johnson Park Principal Angela Siso Stentz. “I am incredibly proud of the Johnson Park Green Team and all of its efforts to make our school more sustainable.” Riverside will be using the funds to build a new greenhouse made from recycled plexiglass to grow microgreens. Riverside Continued on Page 9
FUN AT THE FARM: A youth plays on a tractor at Terhune Orchards’ Bunny Trail Spring Festival on Saturday. The play area was one of many attractions — including pony rides, crafts, games, a treasure hunt, food, and live music — at the annual event. Attendees share what they like best about bunnies in this week’s Town Talk on Page 6. (Photo by Weronika A. Plohn)
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