Candidates Compete for Seats on Borough Council

Candace Braun

The 2003 Borough Council election is quickly approaching, with four candidates competing for a possible two seats. Incumbents Wendy Benchley, Democrat, and Peggy Karcher, Democrat, will be running to keep their seats on the Borough, while Alan Hegedus, Republican, and Mark Alexandridis, unaffiliated, will run on the Princeton Party ticket.

Also Mayor Marvin Reed's retirement at the end of his term has spurred two candidates to run as his replacement. Two-year Borough Council member Joseph O'Neill, Democrat, and Steven Syrek, Green Party, will compete for the traditionally Democratic seat on Council. If Mr. O'Neill wins the election, it will open up a third seat on the Council, giving an additional candidate the opportunity to serve for the Borough.

James Firestone, Democrat, recently dropped out of the race as a possible candidate for Borough Council due to personal and family responsibilities.

With three Democratic incumbents running and three others that are neither running as Democrat or Republican, the Council may have a switch out of its historically Democratic governance.

Downtown Redevelopment

There are many issues on the forefront for the Borough, with the redevelopment project as the key issue where the candidates are divided. With the building of the underground garage downtown, many have questioned if the Borough is trying to become more like a city, and less like a suburb. Some candidates feel the Borough should move ahead with redevelopment, while other candidates want to undo what the Council has done, and keep Princeton's small-town ambience.

Mr. O'Neill, Ms. Karcher and Ms. Benchley, the three incumbent candidates, said they feel the new downtown garage will not bring more traffic into town, but alleviate the current back-ups drivers experience during rush hour.

"More traffic will come, whether we plan for it or not," said Ms. Karcher. "The one aspect of traffic we can control is the circulating traffic caused by drivers looking for parking spaces. The garage will alleviate this."

Ms. Benchley said that in addition to the new garage, she is investigating other solutions to traffic. "I have been working with the Borough to institute plans to park employees in [Princeton] University lots during the weekends so that citizens can have more on-street parking available."

Mr. Syrek, however, says he was against the garage from the start, and believes it will cause more problems than solutions. "At this point, I think the closing of unnecessary streets would do much to both add to our quality of life and at least discourage through-traffic."

Mr. Hegedus says he was also against the garage. "The garage was to be the solution, but has become the problem," he said. He said he believes the answer lies within creating a relationship between the Borough and Princeton University.

Mr. Alexandridis agreed. "Change the zoning standards and quell the agenda to urbanize our charming community," he said. "Development will only beget more congestion."

Overcrowding Issues

Overcrowding in rental units in the Borough has led to many problems in town, such as excess garbage on certain streets, high noise levels, and sidewalks and parking areas littered with bicycles. Each candidate has their own solution on how to alleviate this problem.

"Overcrowding is the result of a number of societal factors, many of which are too big to address on a municipal level," said Mr. Syrek. "What we can do is try to ease the burden for both landlords and renters with a more reasonable tax structure and more housing options."

Ms. Benchley, incumbent, said she believes the Relocation Assistance Act could be used to prosecute landlords. "The landlord's court and tenant relocation costs would be high enough so that there would be little profit in continuing the practice of allowing overcrowded rental units," she said.

Mr. Hegedus said that a plan of action will give the Borough better results. "Perhaps a start would be to not construct even more downtown residential townhouses at taxpayers' expense and with tax exemption to the developer," he said. "Some of our solutions are self-evident, but require the courage of conviction now absent from our Council members."

Ms. Karcher, councilwoman incumbent, said, "There should be strict enforcement of the 'quality of life' ordinances coupled with notification to the landlords that they are in violation of the law and subsequent enforcement of the law."

Mr. O'Neill said that a "human approach" needs to be taken for overcrowding. "I think the first issue that needs to be addressed is the clean up of garbage and parking. Then we need to deal with the human issue," he said.

Mr. Alexandridis declined to comment without enough objective information on the issue.

Meet the Candidates

Joseph O'Neill Dem.
Mayoral Candidate

Mayoral candidate Joseph O'Neill is a 16-year member of the Princeton Regional Planning Board. He is a retired researcher for Educational Testing Service, the Princeton-based company behind standardized achievement tests (SATs). He was also founding president of Hudson County Community College and acting university chaplain and lecturer in ethics at Georgetown University.

Mr. O'Neill defeated State Assemblyman Reed Gusciora in the Democratic primary in June, with 411 votes to Mr. Gusciora's 328 votes.

Mr. O'Neill said he intends to move forward with the current plans for the Borough. He voted for the downtown redevelopment project, and wants to see it through.

"Even though under New Jersey law the Borough of Princeton is known for having a weak mayor and a strong Council, the mayor still sets the agenda, and we have a lot of things that need to get done," he said.

Mr. O'Neill cited his primary concern as the possible moving of Princeton Medical Center out of the Borough. "The hospital is a major institute, and anything that happens to it concerns both the Township and Borough," he said.

Steven Syrek
Green Party Candidate

Steven Syrek, Borough Council candidate for mayor, is running again in this election after a defeat in his run for Council in 1999. Mr. Syrek is a 2000 graduate of Rutgers University, where he majored in English, History, and the Classics. He is currently a graduate student and teaching assistant at Rutgers, working toward a Ph.D. in English.

Running as a Green Party candidate, Mr. Syrek said he intends to retain the small-town feel of Princeton if he is elected. "I am running for mayor because I do not like the current trend of development," he said in his campaign brochure. "This is a remarkable place full of remarkable people, and I intend to do everything I can to preserve the small-town lifestyle I have grown to love."

Mr. Syrek's key platform issues are to stop overdevelopment, break the democratic monopoly in the Borough, support a small-town economy, and work towards a sustainable future in the Borough by limiting consumption and waste.

Wendy Benchley
Dem. Council Candidate

Incumbent Councilwoman Wendy Benchley, who has served one year of an unexpired term as well as a four-year term, will be running again in this year's election.

Ms. Benchley, a former member of the Princeton Regional Planning Board, said she feels her experience thus far on the Council can serve as a good background for continuing in her position. "My five years of work with citizens and Mayor and Council has given me a good grounding in the complexity of the issues facing the Borough and it has honed my skills in creating solutions," she said. "I want to continue to use my experience and skills to keep Princeton's diversity and vitality alive."

The councilwoman has developed two award-winning advocacy programs, "Home Safe Home" and "The Environmental Shoppers Campaign," a campaign against the Mercer County Incinerator.

Ms. Benchley, a Democrat, voted in favor of the downtown development project. However, she says there is no one issue at the forefront of her agenda if she is reelected. "The health of our Borough and its citizens depends upon the success of a myriad of programs in human services, public works, transportation and parking, land use planning, agreements with the University and many other areas to numerous to list."

Peggy Karcher
Dem. Council Candidate

Incumbent Councilwoman Peggy Karcher is also running for a second term on Borough Council. Ms. Karcher's family is rather involved with politics, as her husband served in the New Jersey State Assembly for 17 years, and her daughter, Ellen, is currently running for State Senate in the 12th District.

Ms. Karcher is a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, a former member of the Board of Trent House Association, and the corresponding secretary of the Princeton Community Democratic Organization. She said she would like to continue in her Council position because she enjoys serving the community. "I offer Princeton the benefit of my thoughtful, careful analysis of problems and my willingness to work with all interested parties to reach solutions," she said.

Ms. Karcher, a Democrat, says she feels that the underage drinking is on the forefront of the issues she wishes to address if she is reelected. "Underage drinking, both in the Borough and on the campus, is a serious problem that will require the concerted efforts of both the University and the Borough to control."

Alan Hegedus
Candidate for Council

Competing against the incumbent candidates is the Princeton Party, represented by Mark Alexandridis, unaffiliated party, and Alan Hegedus, Republican.

Mr. Hegedus ran unsuccessfully as a Republican candidate for Borough Council in 1991. He says, however, that he wants to institute a non-partisan government in the Borough. As chairman of the Finance Committee on the Princeton Regional School Board for three years, he said he feels the non-partisan government works well for the Board and the community.

"The Council needs financial experience in decision-making," he said. "Debt loads are unsustainable. These trends must be reversed and I can make that happen." Mr. Hegedus said the biggest issue in the Borough that needs to be resolved is the tax-exempt areas of town. He said that more help is needed from places such as Princeton University. "I will bring [Princeton University] into the financial role," he said. "My goal is to initiate a dialog and find a solution."

Mr. Hegedus said he, as well as Mr. Alexandridis, hope to bring a change to the Council as part of the Princeton Party. He referred to a petition against the downtown development project that was signed by 1,100 Borough citizens, which he said the Borough ignored. If elected, he said he will make sure the residents' vote counts. "We should rise above party partisans," he said.

Mark Alexandridis
Candidate for Council

Running with Mr. Hegedus on the Princeton Party ticket is Mark Alexandridis. The six-year Princeton resident, who says he has almost always lived in an academic community, is an investment banker in New York City. He said that along with Alan Hegedus, he feels it's time for a change in the Borough. He said that after observing several Council meetings over the last 18 months, he feels a governing change is needed.

"I became somewhat troubled by the quality and diversity of the discourse on most issues," he said. "There seems to be a uniform agenda with little or no dialogue. There are good politics, but they are not particularly conducive to good governance."

Mr. Alexandridis said that on the forefront of his issues is engaging tax-exempt institutions financially in the Borough, as well as elevating the zoning standards in town to preclude development over the last few years. "The council needs to change if it is to serve the needs of all Princetonians," he said.