Volume LXX, Number 48
www.towntopics.com
Developer Requests Amendment To Condominium Agreement For Historic Rental Property
Princeton Health Officer Jeffrey Grosser Will Be Town’s New Assistant Administrator . . . . . . . 12 Oscar Wilde’s American Lecture Tour Took Him to Freehold . . . . . . . . . 19 PU Women’s Volleyball Wins Ivies, Heads to NCAAs . . . . . . . . . . . 35 PHS Boys’ Hockey Poised for Special Season . . . 38
Molly Jones Has Been Chosen As Executive Director of Sustainable Princeton . . . . . . . . . . 15 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 29 Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Classified Ads. . . . . . . 45 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Music/Theater . . . . . . 24 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 33 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 43 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 4 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 45 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Service Directory . . . . 34 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . . 6
A request to amend a developer’s agreement for The Waxwood building on Quarry Street, in the historic WitherspoonJackson district, was the topic of a work session at a meeting of Princeton Council Monday night. Architect/developer J. Robert Hillier (a Town Topics shareholder) has asked Council to modify an amendment to the original agreement, which dictated that the rental units would be sold after a period of five years. Mr. Hillier told Council that should the units be converted, he feared tenants would not be able to afford to buy them. But one resident of the building said he objected to Mr. Hillier’s request and has been looking forward to purchasing his unit since signing his lease in 2004. “It was my understanding that in 2009 I would be granted the opportunity to purchase,” said George Cumberbatch. If the terms were changed, “It would be denying qualified residents home ownership in the Jackson-Witherspoon neighborhood.” Mr. Hillier converted the building, originally a school for black children and later a nursing home, to 34 condominium units in 2002. Three of those units were designated low-or-moderate income, while another five were for neighborhood residents who didn’t meet state income requirements for affordable housing. They were assisted by the Waxwood Foundation, which Mr. Hillier created to assist direct descendants of longtime residents or people who had lived in the neighborhood for a minimum of 10 years. The former Borough Council amended the agreement to allow the developer to rent the units for five years instead of selling them. In 2010, the governing body extended that amendment to keep the units as rentals, because of economic hardship caused by the downturn in the housing market. The units were scheduled to be converted to for-sale condominiums as of last month. Mr. Hillier told Council that the building has been successful as a rental. Some tenants have been there for 12 years while the average stay is five-and-a-half years. Tenants were notified by mail that he would be asking the town to change the original agreement to keeping the rental status. Four wrote letters in support of the proposal. Continued on Page 12
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Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Panel Discusses Worldwide Impact of Trump Presidency
Speculation about the impact of a Trump presidency on international politics continues with seven weeks to go before the president-elect actually takes office. A panel of Princeton University historians, political scientists, anthropologists, and sociologists gathered in Aaron Burr Hall Monday under the auspices of Princeton’s Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS) to discuss how the rest of the world views Mr. Trump and what might be the consequences of a Trump presidency in various parts of the world. Since Mr. Trump has never before held elected office and “all we have is what Mr. Trump has said,” according to PIIRS director and politics professor Mark Beissinger, the situation has been ripe for reactions of fear, skepticism, and wide-ranging speculation in the Princeton lecture hall and around the globe since the November 8 election. “It’s going to be a rough ride,” warned politics professor Christina Davis in striking a repeated theme of the 90 minute session attended by a standing-room-only gathering. Russia
A widely published writer on the Soviet Union and post-Soviet states, Mr. Beissinger focused his comments on Russia. “There was no country more closely
connected to the election,” he said. “Russia was directly involved in the electoral process to try to help Trump win the election. There is no country that benefitted more than Russia from the election.” Acknowledging that “we’re never going to know the truth” about Mr. Trump’s business dealings and his appointees and their ties to Russia, Mr. Beissinger warned of the impact of the Russian connection in several different spheres of global poli-
tics. He cited the possibility of closer U.S. relations with Russian president Vladimir Putin leading to “a common front with Russia in Syria,” recognition of Russian annexation of Crimea, and an undermining of the U.S. commitment to NATO. “The Trump election may come to be considered the most significant foreign policy success Russia has ever achieved,” Mr. Beissinger commented. He went on Continued on Page 14
Renovation of Schoolmaster’s House Helps Remind PFS of Its Quaker Roots During the coming year, the 1781 Schoolmaster’s House and the adjacent 19th-century barn will be renovated to serve as a welcoming “front door” to Princeton Friends School (PFS) and the historic Quaker Meeting property on Quaker Road. Erected as a residence and classroom building, the House is today one of only two surviving Quaker schoolmaster houses in New Jersey and the only one still in use by a school. “Though Princeton Friends School has been here for only three decades,” said founding school head Jane Fremon, “this Schoolmaster’s House renovation gives us the opportunity to hold up and cel-
ebrate the long history of Quaker education on this site, a legacy that dates back almost three centuries. “It’s both thrilling and humbling to know that we are carrying forward, in our time and place, a radical vision of education first set forth by William Penn. Just as Penn aimed to create a more diverse, inclusive, democratic society in Philadelphia in the late 1600s, such is our work at Princeton Friends School today.” Overseen by Historic Building Architects (HBA), in collaboration with the Trentonbased Dell-Tech construction firm, the $1.8 million project (raised in gifts and Continued on Page 16
A SHINING MOMENT: Friday’s lighting of the Christmas tree on Palmer Square Green featured the Princeton High School Choir, Bob Denson’s Blues, and a visit from Santa. (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)
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