Volume LXXVIII, Number 39
Princeton Green House Tour This Saturday . . . . 5 Town Launches Energy Efficiency Outreach Campaign . . . . . . . . . . 9 Evening of 18th Century Music, Dance Reimagines Princeton Performance . . . . . . 12 Living In William Faulkner’s The Sound and The Fury — A Birthday Celebration . . . . . . . . 18 Kelsey Theatre Presents Groundhog Day . . . . 23 PU Football Falls to Lehigh In Opener, Looking to Get On Winning Track as it Hosts Howard . . . . . . 29 PHS Girls’ Soccer Goalie Zaldarriaga Notches 100th Career Save as Tigers Tie Hun 0-0 . . . 32
Grace Schulze Stars as PU Field Hockey Edges Rutgers . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . 26, 27 Best of Princeton . . . . . 3 Books . . . . . . . . . . 16, 17 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 28 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 38 Education and Recreation . . . . . . . . . 19 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . 14, 15 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 37 Performing Arts . . . 24, 25 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 38 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 37 School Open House . . 20-22 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
PPS Welcomes New Food Service Supplier, Food Systems Coordinator Princeton Public Schools (PPS) is starting the 2024-25 school year with a new food systems literacy coordinator, Shannon Barlow, and a new food service supplier, Pomptonian, that offers unlimited servings of fruits and vegetables to accompany each meal. Those changes at PPS signal a whole new perspective on the significance of food, its role in school, and its role in the lives of the school community, according to PPS Science Supervisor Joy BarnesJohnson. “These paired developments will, over time, fundamentally change the way that all of us at the district — students, parents, faculty, staff, and administration — understand and use food for curriculum, health, wellness, community, and for the good of natural systems that are prerequisites to all life,” said Barnes-Johnson, as quoted in a press release from Princeton School Gardens Cooperative, Inc. (PSGC), which is collaborating with PPS to use campus resources to illustrate and amplify curriculum. Barnes-Johnson continued, “Food has myriad roles in our lives, and it connects to nearly every academic subject. We are developing this program so that we can connect and strengthen our own district across all six campuses and then share everything we’ve learned with other districts to connect and strengthen them.” As the new coordinator Barlow, who is a public health specialist, will be using food, water, and land systems on PPS campuses and drawing on the Teaching Kitchens and the diversity of the students to help illustrate and amplify curriculum. She is engaging faculty, staff, administration, and facilities in working to restore ecological systems on campus and nurturing the well-being of the student body. Barlow’s priorities, according to the press release, include, coordinating school foods with curriculum, seasons, student demographics, and making full use of the District’s Edible Gardens at all of the six campuses; strengthening the district’s Garden State on Your Plate farm-to-table program, which celebrates a produce item every month in all the school cafeterias and makes sure the item is served twice a week as part of the National School Lunch Program and represents world cuisines and cultures. Additionally, her priorities include Continued on Page 8
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Wednesday, September 25, 2024
Council Passes Ordinance to Acquire Westminster Campus An ordinance that could determine the future of the 23-acre property formerly occupied by Westminster Choir College was the subject of several comments during a public hearing at the meeting of Princeton Council on Monday evening, September 23. The ordinance, which was introduced on September 9, authorizes the acquisition of the site “by negotiation, purchase, condemnation, or eminent domain.” At the close of the public hearing, Council voted unanimously in favor of the measure. Council President Mia Sacks, who led the meeting since Mayor Mark Freda is on vacation, called it “a historic evening for all of us.” To those who expressed concerns that the Westminster Conservatory of Music and the Westminster Community Orchestra would not be a part of the future plans for the site, Sacks said that the municipality is aware of their history and importance to the cultural life of the community. The Conservatory and Orchestra are among the cultural organizations that operate on the Walnut Lane campus. Westminster Choir College was located there from 1935 until it was moved to the campus of Rider University in Lawrence Township in 2017 following
Rider’s failed attempt to sell it to a Chinese company (Rider merged with the Choir College in 1991). Previous to comments from the public, the town’s development attorney Steven Mlenak gave a brief summary of the situation. He referred to the two lawsuits surrounding the property — neither of which involve the municipality — as “the white elephant in the room,” and said the town has the right to proceed with the proposed sale.
“Regardless of any of the claims, the municipality’s right to acquire that property, either through private sale or condemnation, is not impeded at all by any of the claims made in the ongoing litigation,” he said. “The municipality is free to acquire that property, and the ownership is free to convey that property.” Antonio Meroli, a member of the Westminster Community Orchestra, said he assumed that the ordinance provides for preserving the use of music facilities at Continued on Page 10
Election Race Approaches Final Month; BOE Candidates Square Off October 1
With races for U.S. president and vice president, U.S. Senate, U.S House of Representatives, Board of Mercer County Commissioners, Princeton mayor and Council, and Princeton Board of Education (BOE) all on the line, the 2024 campaign season is approaching its final month. Vote-by-mail ballots are already available, early voting starts on October 26, and November 5 is Election Day. On Tuesday, October 1, beginning at 6:30 p.m., the six Princeton BOE candidates will face each other in a Candidates’
Forum Webinar hosted by the Princeton Parent-Teacher Organization Council (PTOC). In Princeton the race for three seats on the School Board, with one incumbent and five new candidates running, is drawing the most attention and generating the most lawn signs, while Mark Freda in the race for another term as mayor and incumbent Leighton Newlin and new candidate Brian McDonald in the race for two seats on Princeton Council are unopposed. Continued on Page 7
MASTER CARVER: Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) fall Artist-in-Residence Nathan Jackson, right, a nationally renowned Alaskan Tlingit artist, works with his wife, Dorica, on the ACP’s new totem pole at a public carving demonstration on Friday. The project, “Monumental Sculptures: Understanding the Totem Poles of the Northwest Coast,” honors and celebrates the Tlingit peoples of that region. Made from western red cedar, the 8-foot-high work will permanently reside in the ACP front lobby when completed. (Photo by Jeffrey E. Tryon)