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Vol. LXII, No. 8
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Wednesday, February 20, 2008
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Vol. LXII, No. 8
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Wednesday, February 20, 2008
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 (Photo by E.J. Greenblat)
BLACK HISTORY ON DISPLAY AT JOHN WITHERSPOON: Stretching out in front of the Black History Month display they helped arrange, John Witherspooon 8th graders (from left) Dianca Walkes and Bryell Iman Wheeler flank math workshop teacher Robbie Winogora, who had the idea of creating the showcase. Among the items on view was a letter from Coretta Scott King.
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With the average property tax bill in the Princetons increasing by roughly 50 percent between 2000 and 2005, residents could be facing another significant increase — this time not by way local, county, or school district levies, but slightly more formidable: property revaluation.
Although all the numbers were not yet in, the Princeton Regional School Board is examining a proposed annual budget that could levy a near $2 million tax burden on Princeton residents, representing a 3.6 percent tax increase. The board held a budget workshop last Wednesday to examine figures already in hand, and while anticipated health benefit costs were not included in the review, board members maintained that the proposed budget represents the kind of belt tightening required to avoid a repeat of the voting down of the 2007 schools budget.
Princeton Borough Council last week agreed to introduce a measure that would, if passed, allow for a three-year, incremental salary increase for some of the Borough’s top officials.
This is the first in a series on the need for volunteers in the Princeton Fire Department.
With the rain pouring down outside, it’s not what one would consider a “high risk” day for fires, but here’s Rob Toole, all by himself, tending to one of the company engines, at Princeton Hook & Ladder’s Harrison Street station as he takes some time out from his day job to volunteer at the company to which he’s given more than 20 years of “free time.”
Monolithic skyscrapers growing out of the sandy dunes in Dubai might seem a world apart from building senior housing in the rocky terrain of the Princeton Ridge, but when looking at development growth from a global perspective, it’s all a matter of perspective, said architect J. Robert Hillier Monday at Princeton’s All Saints Church.
While he abhors excessive environmental activism and worries about the credibility of extreme “Greenpeace tactics,” David Breithaupt, the former corporate vice president at Church & Dwight, suggests that there are environmental solutions to be found in municipal government.
But it takes time, and, most importantly, Mr. Breithaupt said, it takes balance.
It looks like the magic number for the Princeton University men’s lacrosse team this spring is going to be 10.
Perhaps fueled by the emotions from Senior Night, the Princeton University women’s hockey team came out flying last Saturday night against visiting Dartmouth.
Elizabeth Cava and her teammates on the Princeton High girls’ swimming team didn’t know what to expect as they faced undefeated Point Pleasant Beach last Friday in the Public B Central Jersey sectional semifinals.
With Academy Awards night looming, I’m thinking there should be an Oscar for Best Overlooked Picture of the Past. You could call it the Garbo Award, for Greta Garbo, one of several legendary stars who never received an Oscar. The most deserving such film I know of is not only one of the best American movies ever made, it remains the most beautiful and accomplished motion picture to come out of the Depression era. Sadly, this will be a DVD Review in name only, since Frank Borzage’s Man’s Castle has never been released on video or DVD and is rarely seen on television. I taped my copy off Cinemax 15 years ago. Technicians and archivists working on a restoration have extra incentive to put it on DVD this year, in time for the film’s 75th anniversary.
Every year about this time, Princeton Pro Musica presents a concert honoring the life and goals of Martin Luther King, Jr., often in collaboration with another ensemble. This year, the “Concert of Peace and Reconciliation” featured both Pro Musica (in slightly reduced forces) and the New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus, performing in the relatively new Trego-Biancosino Auditorium in the Princeton Regional Schools Performing Arts Center. This was the first concert Pro Musica has performed in the hall, and although it was unclear if the chorus is looking for a new concert home for some of their concerts, it was apparent that some things about the Auditorium worked in the ensemble’s favor and others not.