Volume LXX, Number 18
www.towntopics.com
Growing Teardown Trend Brings in a Consultant For Zoning, Planning Study
A Parasite Called “Ich” Is the Culprit in the Case of the Dead Fish at Lake Carnegie . . . 8 Plastic Bag Recycling Update . . . . . . . . . . 9 Masala Grill Closing . . 10 Pop Art at the Zimmerli: Before There Was Face Book There Was Andy Warhol . . . . . . . . . . 18 Photo Highlights of the Arts Council of Princeton’s Pinot to Picasso Event . . . . . . . 23 PU Baseball Wins Gehrig Division, Hosts ILCS . . 33 PHS Boys’ Tennis Finishes 2nd at MCT . . 37
William Rosen, Author of Justinian’s Flea and The Most Powerful Idea in the World, Dies at 61 . . . 42 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
At a meeting on April 25, Princeton Council voted unanimously to hire a consultant to take a hard look at residential zoning in the town. The priority of The RBA Group’s Neighborhood Character and Zoning Study will be the issue of teardowns, which are taking place in just about every area of the town. The study is in response to concerns of residents and local officials that houses falling victim to the wrecking ball are being replaced by new homes that, while conforming to zoning regulations, are out of character with their neighborhoods. “There is a need for us to do comprehensive planning,” said Mayor Liz Lempert a few days after the Council meeting. “And the timing works well with the fact that we are harmonizing our zoning ordinances [of the former Borough and Township prior to consolidation]. We see on the ground, in almost every neighborhood, the motivation for why we need to take a step back and review what the laws are on the books. We need to know whether they are in line with the vision we have for our community.” A group of Council and Planning Board members has been meeting to discuss the scope of the project. The committee chose The RBA Group, in part, because of the work they have done on a similar issue in Haddonfield. Council candidate Tim Quinn, a Planning Board member who was a member of the group, said RBA’s proposal calls for considerable community input. Continued on Page 15
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Wednesday, May 4, 2016
University Removes Wilson Dining Hall Mural
A large mural depicting the image of Woodrow Wilson was removed Saturday from the dining hall of Wilson College at Princeton University, at the behest of Wilson College Head Eduardo Cadava. In accepting the recommendation of a student committee assigned to consider the demand for removal of the mural made by the Black Justice League during its Nassau Hall sit-in last fall, Mr. Cadava reflected on the difficulties involved in considering the mixed legacy, both progressive and racist, of Wilson, who served as Princeton president and New Jersey governor, as well as U.S. president. Describing the mural — an enlarged photograph overlaid in reddish orange, which depicts Wilson throwing out the first pitch at a 1915 Washington Senators baseball game — as “not in keeping with the spirit of Wilson College’s founding wish to have Princeton be a place that is truly diverse and inclusive, and one that embraces, respects, and values all its members,” Mr. Cadava suggested that the mural be replaced with a “visual representation that embodies the college’s unique history in relation to issues of inclusion and diversity.” There are no specific plans yet for a new mural. The Wilson mural was originally installed in 2009 as part of a renovation of the dining hall. In 1957 students founded Wilson Lodge in reaction against the exclusionary policies of the Princeton eating clubs. The University opened Wilcox Hall and the New Quad dormitories in 1960 in honor of Wilson’s idea of establishing a residential college system at Princeton, and in 1968
Wilson became the first of the University’s six residential colleges. Mr. Cadava noted that Wilson College was founded by students “as part of a stance against elitism and exclusion.” A Difficult Decision
In their research and deliberations, the 12 members of the Wilson Mural Committee, all Wilson College undergraduates, attended events of the trustees’ Wilson Legacy Committee, read scholarly reports on Wilson, conducted interviews with members of Wilson College and
organized a public discussion at the College. “The decision-making process on the mural was thus student-driven from beginning to end,” the committee members wrote in a letter to the Daily Princetonian, “from the student activists who initiated this important conversation to the student committee members and the many other students whose input we sought through a public meeting earlier this month and Continued on Page 14
School Board Seeks State Review Of PARCC Graduation Requirements As New Jersey public school students completed the 2016 PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) exams last week, the Princeton Public Schools (PPS) Board of Education passed a resolution urging the New Jersey Department of Education (DOE) to “withdraw its pending graduation requirement proposals.” The PPS Board firmly opposed the state proposal to use 2015 PARCC test results as part of the graduation requirement for this year’s seniors, urging that requirements be suspended pending further consideration during this multi-year transition period. In its resolution the Board further noted that the new graduation requirements do not conform to existing state law and that school districts, parents and students were not given adequate and fair notice of the change. The new state proposal would require
graduating students to achieve a minimum passing score on PARCC, which was administered for the first time last year and resulted in a less than 50 percent passing rate statewide. DOE press secretary David Saenz stated that during the next four transition years the DOE proposal allows several alternatives to a passing score on the PARCC for graduating seniors, including, among others, an acceptable score on the SAT, the ACT, the PSAT or the option of a portfolio appeal process. The DOE proposal, which phases out all other options to the PARCC by 2021, except for the portfolio appeal, is currently in the midst of a sixty-day public comment period, after which the state Board of Education will edit and revise the proposal and push for adoption by August or September. Continued on Page 16
Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 32 Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Classified Ads . . . . . . . 44 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Music/Theater . . . . . . 28 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 42 Police Blotter . . . . . . 14 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 44 Service Directory . . . . 43
Your Mom Our Chocolate The Best for The Best
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Bring Something Warm Home for Mom Pet Adoption Event at Petsmart May 14 & 15.
RECONSIDERING WILSON’S LEGACY: A mural depicting Woodrow Wilson throwing out the first ball at a 1915 Washington Senators baseball game was removed on Saturday from Princeton University’s Wilson College dining hall, in accordance with the decision of Wilson College Head Eduardo Cadava and the recommendation of an undergraduate student committee . (Photos by Donald Gilpin)
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