Volume LXIX, Number 12
Board of Ed Approves Budget That Would Raise Property Tax Levy . . . 12 PHS Graduate David Gray Becomes Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Ballet . . 24 Historic Run Comes to End for PU Women’s Hoops, But 31-1 Team’s Legacy Unaffected by NCAA Loss . . . . . . . . 34 Hun Boys’ Hockey Star Brown, PHS Swimmer Berloco Earn the Nod as Town Topics’ Top Winter Performers . . . . . . . . 38
Celebrating the Unique Fiction of Novelist Flannery O’Connor, Who Was Born 90 Years Ago Today . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 28 Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Classified Ads. . . . . . . 46 Home Improvement . . . 45 Music/Theater . . . . . . 24 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 10 New to Us. . . . . . . . . . 32 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 43 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 46 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Topics of the Town . . . . 7 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
Little Advance On School Food Workers Nutri-Serve Dispute While contract negotiations between the teachers’s union and the Princeton Public Schools Board of Education (BOE) have taken center stage at recent public Board meetings, those between the district’s food service workers and their employer Nutri-Serve seem to have dropped out of sight. The district’s food service workers have been hoping that their union, Local 32 BJ Service Employees International Union, will come to an agreement on a contract dispute with Nutri-Serve that began shortly after the company took over management of school food services last year. In June 2014, the BOE unanimously approved a $61,245 food service contract with Nutri-Serve Food Management, Inc. for the 2014-15 school year. Existing cafeteria staff were offered jobs with the new contractor, which replaced Chartwells School Dining Services, which had served Princeton’s schools for 15 years. Nutri-Serve was contracted for one year with the option for four additional one-year renewals. Although the BOE has repeatedly pointed out that it is not a party to the negotiations between the company it hired and its employees, a number of food service workers have appealed to the Board to intercede on their behalf at recent meetings. Many of the school cafeteria workers earn in the region of $9 an hour and have been serving food to Princeton’s school children for more than a decade. They claim that Nutri-Serve has not only taken away their health insurance and sick day benefits, it has been disrespectful to their needs. According to their union, Nutri-Serve unilaterally and unlawfully changed the terms of its contract with the employees. Union representatives last met with the company on February 23 but as yet no further meeting has yet been scheduled. “The Union sets the schedule for our meetings which have so far been held at the Princeton Public Library,” said Karen Maier, founder, owner, and president of Nutri-Serve. “The negotiations started last August and the meetings take place when the Union rep Edith Villavicencio is available; she has a lot to do and isn’t always available,” said Ms. Maier. Despite being advised by her lawyer Continued on Page 8
33 Witherspoon Street Princeton, NJ
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Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Council Authorizes Funds for Lytle Street Property
At its meeting Monday night, Princeton Council voted 4-2 to set aside $600,000 to acquire two lots at 31-33 Lytle Street, next to the Mary Moss Park, in the Witherspoon/Jackson neighborhood. Mercer County open space funding would finance part of the purchase. While the original plan was to tear down the house that sits on the property and extend the adjacent, small park to include a “spray ground” and other improvements, Council has not decided the fate of the parcel because so many members of the community have spoken out against the plan. Numerous residents of the neighborhood and other citizens, speaking at Monday’s meeting and at a separate meeting last week, have expressed a desire to see the house saved. Some urged that it be turned into units of affordable housing, while others have suggested different uses such as a type of museum of the neighborhood’s history. Princeton’s Historic Preservation Commission passed a resolution earlier this month encouraging the town to spare the house, which dates from 1870 and is said to be the oldest house on the street. Resident Kip Cherry told Council that
Habitat for Humanity is interested in rehabilitating the house, raising money from private donors and having volunteers handle the labor. The plumbing and electrical work would be done by licensed professionals. Town administrator Marc Dashield said he had spoken to the executive director of Habitat for Humanity, who had some concerns about the financing. To renovate the house, which is in disrepair, it would cost at least $200,000, he said.
The property is currently owned by developer Roman Barsky, who has had a demolition permit since October but has held off on tearing down the house to allow the governing body time to decide whether to purchase the lots. While Mr. Barsky can tear down the house at any time, and build new houses, Princeton’s municipal attorney Trishka Cecil told the Council that voting to introduce the ordinance would likely send the developer a Continued on Page 6
Planning Board Passes Proposal For 7-Eleven Store, Post Office Princeton’s Planning Board voted unanimously last week in favor of a plan to allow a 7-Eleven to move into the former West Coast Video location at 259 East Nassau Street. The convenience store would be located in the front of the building, while the Princeton branch of the U.S. Post Office would move into the rear. The Post Office would vacate its long-time location on Palmer Square. The Nassau Street property has been mostly vacant for a decade. Owned by the Bratman family, who ran a Viking
Furniture store there for several years, it was originally an auto dealership in the 1920’s and has also housed a Johanna Farms, Eckerd Drugs, Wawa convenience store, and a laundromat during the past decades. The store would occupy 4,945 square feet, while the post office would take up 3,505 square feet. 7-Eleven would not alter the footprint of the building, but plans to make small improvements, said the town’s planning director Lee Solow, at Continued on Page 9
THE BARD ABIDES: This year’s Bryn Mawr-Wellesley Book Sale featured a strong selection of Shakespeare and Shakespeariana. Finds and wish lists are discussed in this week’s Town Talk. (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)