To the Editor:

I am writing to support Jenny Crumiller’s candidacy for the new Council in the upcoming primary. Jenny has worked collaboratively behind the scenes for many years to involve more citizens in local politics. The success of consolidation, the recent years of zero tax increases in the Borough, and our highly competitive Democratic primary all bear witness to this work.

Jenny’s commitment to open government is matched by her aversion to telling her own story. Few know that she is a tech whiz and that she and Jon have a blended name. Few know that she supported herself after high school with a factory job and service work, that she funded her early college years with Pell grants, and that that she finished her degree at Rutgers (Phi Beta Kappa) while raising three children and handling a full complement of civic activities. Jenny has not forgotten what it means to live on a shoestring, and she can be counted on to bring that perspective to spending proposals that may add to the tax burden.

Jenny’s interest in preserving Princeton as an affordable community with excellent public schools and a small town atmosphere is well-known. I first met her 20 years ago at a meeting in a Moore Street living room to discuss the hospital’s plan to raze four houses on Harris Road to make way for a bigger parking garage. The Township Zoning Board had approved the plan after a brief hearing. Notice was sent only to residents living within two hundred feet. The one Harris Road homeowner who objected was not fluent in English and was no match for the hospital attorney. Everyone saw the unfairness. Everyone saw the threat to the fabric of a neighborhood at the core of our public school system. However, some argued that the cause was lost or too costly or unpopular to fight.

Not Jenny. She helped lead a grueling neighborhood struggle to change the outcome, and the outcome was eventually changed. Three houses were spared, the garage was pulled back with a modified design, and Harris Road was preserved as a residential street. The experience led Jenny to municipal politics where she has worked consistently to ensure that citizens are informed of proposals that will affect them, that the decision-making process is fair, and that development projects are vetted intelligently.

Space does not permit me to go into the particulars of all of the help Jenny has given over her years in Princeton to organizations and people who have sought advice or assistance. When Jenny serves on a Board, she is more than a name on a letterhead. She gives her all. I urge you to support her on June 5.

Virginia Kerr

Jefferson Road