Volume LXIX, Number 31 Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders Needed No Help Writing Her Memoir Reckless . . . . . . . . . . 15 Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s 35th Anniversary Season Celebrates the Creativity of Women . . . . . . . . 20 Vinyl Frenzy: Bordentown Factory Struggles to Keep Up With Booming Demand . . . . . . . . . . 21 Producing Explosive Display on Both Sides of the Ball, Tiger Football Routs Lehigh, Girds for Ivy Opener. . . . . . . . . 28 Sparked by Senior Snyder’s Scoring, Leadership, PHS Boys’ Soccer Gets Off to Sizzling 6-0-1 Start . . . 31
Honoring Larry Ivan, Princeton’s Man for All Seasons . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Area Exhibits . . . . . . . 19 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 16 Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Classified Ads. . . . . . . 38 Music/Theater . . . . . . 20 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 37 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 38 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Topics of the Town . . . . 7 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Post Office Easements Are Among the Topics At Council Meeting Princeton Council voted Monday evening to introduce an ordinance approving the conveying of easements for land adjacent to the post office on Palmer Square. The action was among the topics taken up during the meeting of the governing body in Witherspoon Hall. The approval, which will be given a public hearing and final vote at the Council’s next meeting October 12, allows the United States Post Office to go through with sale of the property. LCOR Ventures of California is the company contracted to buy the building, to be possibly turned into a retail establishment or restaurant. Originally, the post office offered to pay $10,000 for the easements, but the figure was upped to $85,000 following discussions with representatives of Council. Councilwoman Heather Howard credited her colleague Jenny Crumiller with doing the work to create the favorable outcome. Ms. Crumiller was particularly critical in recent meetings about “giving away” the easements for $10,000 and the move of the post office, which will relocate to 259 Nassau Street in November as part of a system-wide downsizing. “We’ve made lemons out of lemonade,” Ms. Howard said. “Now we’re putting the property on our tax rolls.” An attorney for Pepper Hamilton, who represents Palmer Square Management, questioned whether the town had followed proper procedure with the transaction, saying the parcel is part of the Green Acres program. But officials said they were not aware that it is listed on the recreation and open space inventory. Since they were voting to continue an existing easement rather than create a new one, they did not need to look into county or state regulations.
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Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Test Results Give Green Light to AvalonBay
Work on the apartment complex being built by AvalonBay Communities could resume as early as next week, according to information provided at a meeting of Princeton Council Monday evening. The Witherspoon Street construction site, formerly home to University Medical Center at Princeton, has been quiet since the presence of harmful chemicals was detected earlier this month. It was originally shut down in August after a worker was injured in a fall from an elevator shaft. The town’s municipal engineer Bob Kiser told the governing body that stockpiled materials at the site will be removed within two weeks and it should take trucks 26 business days to complete. Activities will be monitored daily by the town. AvalonBay has provided a full version of a site investigation report filed by EcolSciences, Inc. about the presence of PCBs and PAHs, to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The presence of PAHs was found. But though PCBs were detected to exceed State standards during preliminary testing, EcolSciences did not find the same results at secondary testing. The town’s Health Officer Jeffrey Grosser explained that this is not unusual. Both sets of results on the PCBs were extremely close in numerical value to the State standard of 0.2 milligrams per kilo-
gram, and any minor discrepancy would put the result above or below the level. In addition, “Each location essentially tells us a different story,” he said on Tuesday. “Rarely are two samples exactly the same, even if taken from the same location due to the precise degree these samples are taken. Most of these samples were taken down to the part per million or even part per billion range, which allows for some variation. What’s important to remember here is that there were exceedances of the State standards for soil remediation and as a result, remedial action is required.” The plan provided to the town by AvalonBay involves capping the [PAH]
contaminants and obtaining a remedial action permit from the DEP, which requires continual monitoring and semiannual inspection of the capping. Once construction resumes, AvalonBay will conduct appropriate air monitoring and dust control measures. Last week, Princeton administrator Marc Dashield said in a press release that municipal staff and the Whitman environmental consulting firm have reviewed the investigation report and remedial action plan and found them acceptable. Mr. Kiser said the entire report will be posted on the town’s website. “AvalonBay is fully following the DEP requirements,” Continued on Page 12
Police Continue to Investigate Bomb Threats at Riverside, PHS The Princeton Police Department continues to investigate bomb threats that occurred at Riverside School last Thursday and Princeton High School last Friday. Riverside was placed on “shelterin-place” watch and PHS was evacuated for approximately two and one-half hours, on successive days last week, as K-9 explosive-sniffing dogs and their handlers searched the schools. Similar to several unfounded threats
received by area schools last year, both threats, communicated by recorded messages phoned in to the main offices of the respective schools, were fraudulent. No bombs were found, and students went back to classes later in the day. The Princeton Police Department, according to Sergeant Jonathan Bocchere, is working with many different agencies, including the FBI, the Department Continued on Page 12
Welcoming America
Council voted to introduce resolutions enabling Princeton to join the national Welcoming America network, which fosters opportunity for immigrants, and to support the expansion of access to driver’s licenses to undocumented New Jersey residents. Joining Welcoming America will allow Princeton to access the best practices of other communities throughout the country, officials said. New Jersey’s Senate and Assembly have yet to vote on legislation that has Continued on Page 6
33 Witherspoon Street Princeton, NJ
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SEMINARY SATURDAY: The Quad at the Princeton Theological Seminary was the setting for Saturday’s Community Festival of families, food trucks, games, and live bluegrass music. Some participants offer their thoughts about the Pope’s visit in this week’s Town Talk. (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)