Volume LXXIII, Number 48
Home for the Holidays Pages 25-29 Turkey Bowl Marks 25 Years . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Bon Appetit Dismisses Closure Rumors . . . . . . 10 Being Human Festival Ventures Beyond Talks and Lectures . . . . . . . . 11 "Walking Without a Map, Expecting Turbulence and Surprise" . . . . . . . . 14 Princeton University Glee Club Teams Up with Ensemble Basiani . . . . . 15 Tiger Field Hockey Loses in NCAA Championship Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 PU Football Beats Penn in Finale, But Falls Short of Ivy Repeat . . . . . . . . . . 31
Mariah Keopple Helps PU Women’s Hockey to 9-2 Start . . . . . . . . . 33 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors . .22, 23 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 21 Classified Ads . . . . . . 36 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 38 Performing Arts . . . . . 16 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 7 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 40 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Attorney General’s Report Considers the Future Of Westminster Site On November 19, the Office of the Attorney General issued an opinion that Rider University may have the legal right to move Westminster Choir College, with which it merged in 1991, from Princeton to Rider’s Lawrenceville campus. Two days later, Rider President Gregory Dell’Omo sent an email to the Rider/Westminster community. “We are pleased that the attorney general agrees with our legal position as to the legality of the move, and we continue to move forward with our efforts to complete the relocation by the fall semester of 2020,” he wrote. Not so fast, say members of the Westminster Foundation, the American Association of University Professors, the Westminster Alumni Council, and the attorney representing plaintiffs in suits against Rider aimed at stopping the move. While the report does not prohibit Rider’s ability to relocate the music school, it lays out the potential consequences should Rider not continue to use the 22-acre site for the purpose dictated by the original land trust from the 1930s — serving the Presbyterian church through music. Donated by Sophia Strong Taylor, the property would be transferred to Princeton Theological Seminary should the Choir College cease to exist, according to the trust. Dell’Omo has said that proceeds from a sale of the campus would help pay for Rider’s plan to consolidate the two campuses. Attorney Bruce Afran, who represents the plaintiffs in the suits against Rider, said the attorney general never gave any approval or said that Rider has the right to move the school. “In fact, they said the opposite, that it is a subject of contract law under Rider’s 1991 merger agreement with Westminster, and that it needs to be resolved,” he said. “This means the attorney general is recognizing that the plaintiffs have a right to challenge the move.” The attorney general’s report said the office will continue to monitor the impact of the proposed move. “In fact, they said they take no position and note that it is a matter to be resolved under the contract,” Afran said. “It doesn’t help Rider in any way. In fact, it makes it hard, because it says that the 1935 trust still governs the land and the buildings, and that if Continued on Page 8
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Wednesday, November 27, 2019
W-J Development Corporation Moves Forward Originally established in 1975 with a mission ”to preserve and maintain the quality of life and the integrity of the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood,” the Witherspoon-Jackson Development Corporation (WJDC) has been an increasingly active force in the community over the past three years since its revival in 2016 after a long period of dormancy. In its annual Report to the Neighborhood on Saturday, November 23 at the First Baptist Church, WJDC President Yina Moore reviewed the organization’s accomplishments during the past three years before a gathering of about 40 in the basement community room. With the help of $1.25M granted and paid out in installments from Princeton University as part of a 2016 property tax lawsuit settlement, the WJDC has been able to fulfill its charge of “aiding and facilitating housing and related needs of economically disadvantaged residents” in the W-J district. Moore cited the WJDC’s focus on housing assistance (property taxes, mortgage and rental payments, and other expenses), neighborhood restorations (repairs, maintenance, renovations, and other improvements), and economic development (zoning, planning, mentoring, and further
business development). She went on to point out unusual challenges facing the 14-member board of directors, the 25-member advisory board, and the community, including rapidly growing land values and taxes, gentrification, under-employment and diminishing wealth, and systemic racism and redlining faced by longtime residents. Among the initiatives set in motion by the WJDC in 2019 were the launching of a visioning study for the neighborhood to participate in determining its future course; purchasing a neighborhood house in need of repairs that WJDC will sell at an affordable, discounted price
to a qualified buyer; identifying eligible Homestead Rebate recipients who qualify as longtime W-J residents for this year’s WJDC Property Tax Relief Program; identifying at-risk properties facing tax sale for intervention by WJDC; and working with neighborhood homeowners to identify and fund necessary repairs on their homes. In addition, Moore reported that the WJDC supported the establishment of a two-week Entrepreneurship Summer Camp for 11 Princeton High School students who live in or are connected to the W-J neighborhood. The camp was administered by Princeton Public Schools and Continued on Page 7
“OptOutside” on Black Friday; “Shrink Your Footprint” on Dec. 4
Local residents will have opportunities to stand up for the environment at two events in the coming week: “OptOutside,” sponsored by Friends of Princeton Open Space (FOPOS) at the Mountain Lakes House on Black Friday, November 29, from 2-4 p.m., and Sustainable Princeton’s “Shrink Your Footprint: On the Go” program offering practical suggestions to help reduce carbon emissions by exploring transportation options at the Princeton
Public Library (PPL) on December 4 at 7 p.m. “Friends of Princeton Open Space truly believes in the values that inspired REI [the Seattle-based Recreational Equipment, Inc.] to start OptOutside Friday, an initiative which encourages people to enjoy spending time in nature with their family and the community the day after Thanksgiving, rather than focusing on a Continued on Page 9
100 YEARS OF CARE: A Teddy Bear Clinic, where children could bring their favorite stuffed toy for a checkup, was just one of the many activities at a community celebration at Princeton Medical Center on Sunday to mark the 100-year anniversary of Penn Medicine Princeton Health . The original Princeton Hospital first opened on November 24, 1919 . Participants share what the hospital has meant to them or the community in this week’s Town Talk on page 6 . (Photo by Erica M. Cardenas)