Volume LXXII, Number 2
Senior Living On Pages 10-11 PU Grad Students Gain Teaching Experience at MCCC. . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Lisa Jones Shop, Others Leaving Princeton . . . . 8 New Princeton Council Members Sworn In. . . . 9 Musings on Muldoon, The Crown, and Sir Ringo. . 13 Freshman Frankel Coming Up Big for PU Women’s Hockey. . . . 23 Senior Star Petruolo Spearheading Defense for PDS Boys’ Hockey. . . 27
Jerome Desrosiers and PU Men’s Hoops Fall at Penn in Ivy Opener. . . 24 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors. . 18, 19 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Classified Ads. . . . . . . . 32 Mailbox. . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Music/Theater . . . . . . . 17 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . 30 Police. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Religion. . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Service Directory . . . . . 30 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Topics of the Town . . . . . 5 Town Talk. . . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
Princeton Schools Look To October Referendum; Info Sessions This Week
As Princeton Public Schools prepare building plans to submit to the State Department of Education (DOE) in April, leading up to an October 2 facilities referendum vote, Superintendent Steve Cochrane is urging families, staff, and community members to attend one of two information sessions to be held at John Witherspoon Middle School (JWMS) Wednesday, January 10 at 7 p.m. and Thursday, January 11 at 9:30 a.m. Cochrane emphasized that the referendum is driven by the critical need for space, “the transformational opportunity for us to create spaces that accommodate 21st century learning,” and the need for a responsible investment in the children and the community that is cognizant of the tax impact. The discussions “will explore why we need to expand our facilities, what that expansion might include, how the expansion would be designed and funded, and when the vote by the community would take place,” Cochrane wrote. Next month additional town meetings will take place, where consultant Heidi Hayes Jacobs, author and leading international authority on 21st century learning will speak, and people will hear directly from the architects and share with them some of their thoughts and visions. The architects will return in March to show more concrete design ideas before the district presents its preliminary plans to the Department of Education. “We are beginning the process of sharing information about the need, the opportunity to transform learning, and about the financial impact,” Cochrane said. “We welcome feedback from all stake holders. We know we’re building for rapidly rising enrollment. That crunch will continue to increase. We’re also building within the budget.” Princeton High School (PHS) is already 200 over capacity; JWMS is 100 over capacity; the elementary schools are full; and most recent demographic projections predict further growth at all levels. JWMS, with a capacity of 626, for example, has a current population of 727 students, with 850 projected for 2020, and 967 by 2022. The district’s planning is still at the idea stages, but proposed expansions would probably include a significant addition and internal renovations at PHS; a Continued on Page 12
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Wednesday, January 10, 2018
Griggs Farm Fire Survivors Still Need Housing Since the December 27 fire at the Griggs Farm complex that took one life and displaced 35 residents, the local community has rallied to donate funds, food, clothing, and household items. An anonymous couple offered to make a matching gift of $36,000. Now, the call is out for housing options. “We really need places for these folks to stay in the short term, and we need the community’s help to identify places where people can keep their kids in the school district and maintain their closeness to the community,” said Ed Truscelli, executive director of PCH Development Corporation, an affiliate of Princeton Community Housing (PCH). “We’re building a list of opportunities to match people up. If anyone has room in their house, or if an organization has housing to set aside for a period of time, that’s what we need.” PCH, the nonprofit that owns and manages Griggs Farm, was scheduled to meet with residents at Monument Hall on Tuesday night (January 9). “People want to know what’s next, and we are going to try and answer that as best we can,” said Truscelli. “Folks are very emotional, and rightfully so. This is a very shocking thing to happen.”
The cause of the two-alarm blaze at the complex on Billie Ellis Lane is still under investigation. “We have not heard anything from the property owners or insurance companies yet, so I imagine they are still doing their assessment on what they’re going to need to do,” said Robert Gregory, Princeton’s director of emergency management. Built in 1989, the complex has smoke alarms but does not have sprinklers, which were not required at the time of
construction. The fire is believed to have broken out in the apartment of Larisa Bartone, 73, who was found dead in her thirdfloor apartment. Because of the fatality, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office is involved in the investigation. There are 24 apartments in the building that burned. Those whose homes have been made uninhabitable were first put up at the Nassau Inn. Those without a place to go are currently being housed Continued on Page 12
LALDEF Calls for Clean DREAM Act, As Time Is Running Out for DACA The Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund (LALDEF) continues to call for a clean DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) from Congress, a bill that is not attached to increased funding for border security and expanded detention facilities, as President Donald Trump and other Republican lawmakers continue to argue for a border wall and more money for immigration enforcement. Meanwhile thousands of young undocumented immigrants, known as DREAMers, are running out of time, with the
Trump administration having set a March 5 termination to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. “Congress has had over three months since the September 5 announcement to take action to protect our DREAMers,” said LALDEF Executive Director Adriana Abizadeh. “They have continued to string along the hopes of 800,000 youths. We need to pressure our representatives to hold off the vote if the budget presented does not have a line for DREAMers. To date over 13,000 individuals have lost Continued on Page 4
A KIND OF HUSH: With students still on winter recess, all was quiet on the Princeton University campus after last Thursday’s snowstorm. People discuss how the town handled snow removal in this week’s Town Talk on page 6.
(Photo by Erica M. Cardenas)
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