Volume LXXIX, Number 14
Design Awards Exhibition Marks NJ Architecture Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Walk the Walk with Princeton Future . . . . . 9 Kim Seeks Release of Elizabeth Tsurkov, PU Scholar Abducted In Iraq . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Kafka at the Morgan — A Homebound Celebration . . . . . . . . 14 Mitsuko Uchida and Mahler Chamber Orchestra Mesmerize Audience . . . . . . . . . 15 Junior Wright Thriving in Move to Starting Rotation As PU Softball Takes Over 1st Place in Ivy Standings . . . . . . 24 With Young Players Poised to Seize Opportunity, Hun Baseball Gets Off to a Promising 2-0 Start . . 29
Colleagues Offer Tributes to Dorothea von Moltke . . .7 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . 20, 21 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 22 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 33 Mark Your Calendar . . 18,19 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 23 Performing Arts . . . . .16, 17 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 33 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Thriving and Growing, Food Scraps Program Cuts Greenhouse Gases Princeton’s Food Scraps Drop-Off Program is growing fast, with dozens of new participants, three new drop-off sites added last month, and increasing opportunities for residents to do their part to reduce their carbon footprint. Assistant Municipal Engineer James Purcell reported to Princeton Council last week that new collection bins were installed on March 5 at Riverside Drive adjacent to Riverside Elementary School, at Magnolia Lane adjacent to Littlebrook Elementary School, and on General Johnson Road adjacent to the sanitary sewer pump station and Johnson Park Elementary School. As of Friday March 28, Purcell stated, an additional 36 people had signed up for the program, which now serves 321 Princeton residents at the three new sites along with the original locations at the Municipal Building on Witherspoon Street and at Monument Hall on Monument Drive. “We have received very positive feedback about the new collection bins and look forward to greater participation and expansion of the program to the full buildout of 12 sites in the coming months,” said Purcell. He noted that one of the locations for future bins will be convenient to the tree streets, whose residents now are using the bin at the Municipal Building. The program is currently diverting more than two tons of food waste from the landfill per month, delivering it instead to Trenton Renewables, where it is converted into biogas for energy production and a soil amendment for farming. Purcell pointed out that in addition to avoiding the methane gas that is 20 times more damaging than carbon dioxide and is created when food scraps decompose in a landfill, the municipality saves about $70 per ton in costs. The program is partially funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Greenhouse gas reduction is the main reason we’re doing this,” said Purcell, who pointed out that Princeton is the only town in Mercer County with a food scraps drop-off program, but there are other programs in other parts of the state. Sustainable Princeton Program Manager Jenny Ludmer, who works with the municipality on this program, discussed Continued on Page 10
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Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Town Finalizes Westminster Campus Acquisition The Municipality of Princeton announced Tuesday that it has officially acquired the 23-acre former campus of Westminster Choir College (WCC) from Rider University. “While the property has been the subject of lawsuits regarding its legal ownership, the Municipality’s acquisition through condemnation is absolute, and eliminates any and all claims, restrictions, or encroachments by any other party over the property,” reads a press release from the town. Attorney Bruce Afran, who has been representing the Westminster Foundation, a group of WCC alumni, faculty, and donors in a lawsuit against Rider for attempting to sell the Princeton property, said they will be reviewing their legal options. “We are disappointed that the town took this step before the case is resolved by the courts,” he said in an email. “Nevertheless, the towns’ attorney in the eminent domain case has said that the town would be willing to speak with the Foundation about the potential for joint use of the property after the town completes the acquisition. So there is hope for some continued use of the property for choral and music training going forward.”
According to the release, efforts are underway to allow the Westminster Conservatory of Music, the community music school that has continued to operate at the site since the Choir College was relocated to Rider’s Lawrence Township campus in 2020, to remain. As well, the licenses of the three nonprofits currently operating in buildings at the site — Music Together, Princeton Pro Musica, and the Greater Princeton Youth Orchestra — have been transferred to Princeton.
“We are thrilled to announce that the Municipality has been successful in securing this property for the residents of Princeton,” said Council President Mia Sacks, in the release. “The acquisition process has been a smooth one, and now the hard work begins: to reimagine this historic site to meet urgent public facility needs, while honoring the cultural significance of its past and leaving a legacy for future generations. We look forward to engaging the community over the next Continued on Page 8
University Art Museum Will Reopen With Public Open House on Halloween
It’s official. The Princeton University Art Museum will open its newly redesigned, reconstructed, and enlarged building with a free, 24-hour open house on October 31. Closed just before the COVID-19 pandemic for the construction project, which doubles space for the exhibition, conservation, study, and interpretation of the museum’s collections, the threestory building was designed by Adjaye Associates in cooperation with Cooper Robertson. It includes social gathering spaces, a restaurant, outdoor terraces, and areas for performances and events
that can accommodate between 200 and 2,000 people, according to the museum’s website. All of this is welcome news to James Steward, the museum’s director. “After five years without a proper museum and without our collections, I could not be more excited to be on the cusp of inviting all of our communities to discover this remarkable building and how it will allow the collections to sing,” he wrote in an email on Monday. Construction on the new museum, which shares space with the University’s Continued on Page 11
SPRING IN BLOOM: People took advantage of the warmer weather with a visit to Marquand Park on Saturday. Residents and visitors share what they are looking forward to this spring in this week’s Town Talk on Page 6. (Photo by Thomas Hedges)
Ecosystems at Risk: Threatened and Endangered in New Jersey Join us on April 26 from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to celebrate Earth Day and view the new exhibition. statemuseum.nj.gov
205 West State Street Trenton, NJ 08608