To the Editor:
I write as someone who has a deep love for Princeton and for Westminster Choir College (WCC). My parents built our family home in 1960 in Princeton. I have seven family members including myself who graduated from Princeton Seminary and two from Princeton University. I am an emerita professor and administrator for over 20 years at Princeton Seminary and lived in faculty housing in town.
My ties to WCC run deep as my father was a personal friend and colleague of the founder John Finley Williamson of WCC. Its history, of course, is intertwined with Princeton Seminary. My former husband was a beloved professor there for over 20 years and many pastors have graduates of WCC in their church choirs. I have attended numerous WCC concerts through the years and have always appreciated the deep contribution that they made to the life of Princeton.
The WCC property has been purchased by the Municipality of Princeton using eminent domain. We now have a wonderful opportunity to support the creative use of this 23-acre property in the heart of Princeton. This is a unique open space which can be creatively protected.
My proposal for consideration of the use of the WCC campus is to create a park-like setting where community life can be enhanced as a meeting place for the people of the greater Princeton area as well as visitors to our community. This property could contain beautiful fountains, gardens, and walking paths with benches to sit and rest — a place of beauty and calm.
For those of us who have lived and worked in New York City and experienced the wonder of Central Park we know how important this has been for the vibrance of New York City. A place of beauty and open space is sorely needed in Princeton. This land could be a meeting place for all people as they come and go for a time of meditation, relaxation, walking, and conversation. It could enhance our sense of community as friends and strangers from different backgrounds and cultures cross paths here.
In addition, this place could include a community center for the enjoyment of the arts and music; it could be housed in current buildings or a few new single-story buildings. For example, the chapel could be used for concerts, theater etc., which would be a tribute to the legacy of the WCC. The other buildings could display art of local residents and house music and art classes.
We have a unique opportunity to use these 20-plus acres to beautify our town. More than just a place for people to live but a vibrant center for all people, a center for community and culture. If others resonate with this vision for WCC campus, please raise your voices to our town Council as they deliberate over the best use of this property.