Volume LXXVII, Number 17
“Striking Beauty” Exhibition Brings a Century of Tall Case Clocks to Morven . .5 Council Passes 2023 Municipal Budget . . . . . 7 Princeton Public Schools and Garden Cooperative Team Up on Food Sustainability Pilot Program . . . . . . . . . 10 Keith Reid’s Words Beyond “A Whiter Shade of Pale” . . . . . . 14 New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Continues 100th Anniversary Celebration. . 15 Star Pitcher Laudenslager Sets the Tone as PU Softball Goes 2-1 in Crucial Series With Harvard . . . . . . . . 25 Returning from Injury, Henderson Emerging As Catalyst for PHS Girls’ Lax . . . . 28
Wayne Sutcliffe Stepping Down After 26-Year Tenure Guiding PHS Boys’ Soccer . . . . . . 27 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20-21 Best of Princeton . . . . 2-3 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 22 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 33 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 13 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 23 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 32 Performing Arts . . . 16-17 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 33 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Primary in Six Weeks, Cohen and Fraga Are Unopposed for Council With the June 6 primary less than six weeks away, nominations for Princeton Council, State Senate and General Assembly for the 16th legislative district, Mercer County Executive, and Mercer County Sheriff are all uncontested. Incumbents David Cohen and Leticia Fraga have filed to run for the Democratic nomination to reclaim their positions on Princeton Council. No Republican candidates have filed to run for Council nomination. In the primary for State Senate for the 16th district, incumbent Andrew Zwicker is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination, and Michael Pappas is unopposed for the Republican nomination. Zwicker defeated Pappas in the 2021 general election for state senator. General Assembly primary candidates for two posts in the 16th district are incumbent Roy Freiman and Mitchelle Drulis for the Democrats and Ross Traphagen and Grace Zhang for the Republicans. Democratic incumbent Sadaf Jaffer has announced that she will not seek re-election to a second term. In the race for Mercer County Executive, Dan Benson for the Democratic nomination, and Lisa Marie Richford for the Republican nomination are both unopposed. Longtime incumbent Brian Hughes announced last month that he will not be running for another term. Democrat John A. “Jack” Kemler and Republican Bryan “Bucky” Boccanfuso in the primary contests for Mercer County Sheriff are also unopposed. Princeton Community Democratic Organization (PCDO) President Nick DiDomizio urged residents to turn out and vote on June 6 regardless of the lack of competition in this year’s primaries. “I see my vote as an endorsement and support for our elected officials to keep up the great work,” he wrote in an email, and he praised the accomplishments of Cohen and Fraga. Looking ahead to November’s general election, DiDomizio warned, “NJ-16 is on the top of the list to be targeted by Republicans to flip seats. In 2021, NJ-16 turned completely blue for the first time and we cannot go back. 2023’s election is forecasted be one of the lowest turnouts ever.” In response to a request for comment Continued on Page 9
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Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Chmiel and His Lawyers Consider Next Steps Lawyers for Frank Chmiel, who was removed last month as Princeton High School (PHS) principal, have confirmed that they have received from the Princeton Public Schools (PPS) superintendent the statement of reasons for Chmiel’s nonrenewal. Chmiel and his lawyers will now decide on their next step — whether to request a Donaldson hearing before the PPS Board of Education (BOE) to appeal the decision and whether that hearing would be public or private. “We are reviewing the document and determining our next steps,” Chmiel’s lawyer David Schroth wrote in an email on Monday. “Until we have fully evaluated the statement of reasons I can’t say what our next steps will be.” BOE President Dafna Kendal, by phone on Tuesday, said that she, by law, was unable to say anything about the BOE statement itself, but she noted that Chmiel and his lawyers have 10 days from receipt of the statement to request a hearing. The 10-day deadline would presumably come at the start of next week, and the district would then have 30 days to schedule a hearing, if requested.
She emphasized that the Board is fully aware of the frustration for the community, and for the Board too, caused by the fact that the Board cannot provide any more information. “We’re not allowed to talk about personnel issues,” she said. “We’re prohibited. It’s frustrating.” She added, “My feeling is that schools should bring communities together and not divide them. The Board is well aware that this a divisive time, and we’d like to help bring the community back together when we can.”
In the meantime, students, parents and the larger community are not waiting quietly for the next steps in the legal process to take place. The new interim principal, Kathie Foster, has been on the job at PHS since March 30, but protests on public media, in the press, and in person continue. More than 6,500 have signed various online petitions calling for Chmiel’s reinstatement and/or demanding PPS Superintendent Kelley’s resignation. About 100 PHS students staged a Continued on Page 8
Future of Seminary Site Is Topic of Second “Roundtable”
On Saturday, May, 6 at 10 a.m., the municipality will hold its second Community Roundtable devoted to the future development of the Tennent-Roberts-Whiteley sites at Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS). The gathering will be at Witherspoon Hall and run through 12 p.m. Municipal staff held its first Community Roundtable on the subject March 18. Residents of the neighborhood surrounding the campus were able to ask questions and offer feedback about the site, which was designated an area in need
of redevelopment (ANR) four years ago. The contract purchaser is local developer Jamie Herring. “This will be a continuation of that conversation,” Princeton’s Planning Director Justin Lesko said of the upcoming meeting. “We’ll take what we heard at the first roundtable and begin to formulate whatever sort of redevelopment plan might emerge. We can now say, okay, we heard you want stormwater management and no below-ground parking. Now, let’s dig into Continued on Page 11
GOING GREEN ON EARTH DAY: Morven Museum and Garden was among the many sites celebrating Earth Day on April 22. Sustainable Princeton, the municipality of Princeton, and the Johnson Park Elementary School Green Team helped to lead a family-friendly day of workshops and activities promoting sustainable living. (Photo by Weronika A. Plohn)