December 26, 2012

Area Exhibits 12/26/12

Art for Healing Gallery, University Medical Center of Princeton, Route 1, Plainsboro, is showing watercolors by Joel Popadics through January.

Art Times Two Gallery, Princeton Brain and Spine Care, 731 Alexander Road, presents “Energy in Mind: Picturing Consciousness,” works by Jennifer Cadoff, Debra Weier and Andrew Werth, through April. View by appointment. Call (609) 203-4622.

Arts Council of Princeton, Paul Robeson Center, 102 Witherspoon Street, has outdoor sculpture by Mike Gyampo on view through March 30 on the Michael Graves Terrace. Visit www.artscouncilofprinceton.org.

Bank of Princeton Community Art Gallery, 10 Bridge Street, Lambertville, is showing art by The Arc of Mercer and James Fanciano through January 15. A reception is January 11, 5-7 p.m.

Bernstein Gallery at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, has works by political artist Marcia Annenberg through February 14. A reception and artist talk is February 3, 3-5 p.m.

Bray Gallery, 202 North Union Street, Lambertville, shows recent paintings by Joseph Bottari and Malcolm Bray, and photography by Andrew Wilkinson through January 6. Call (609) 397-1858 for information.

D&R Greenway, 1 Preservation Place, has “Urban Landscapes” on view through February 15. Works by Louis Russomanno, Susan Marie Brundage, Jean Childs Buzgo, Wills Kinsley, Leon Rainbow, Thom Lynch, and others are included, along with art by the A-Team Artists from Trenton. Also on view is a photo documentary on dance by Edward Greenblatt. Call (609) 924-4646 before visiting.

Ellarslie, Trenton City Museum in Cadwalader Park, Parkside Avenue, Trenton, is showing “James Rhodes, Trenton Stoneware Potter, 1773-1784” and “Contemporary Art from the TMS Collection” through January 13. On view through January 6 is “Over the River: The Artists of Yardley,” a juried exhibition. From January 12-February 24, “In My View: Stephen Smith, Florence Moonan, William Hogan” is on view. The reception is January 19, 7-9 p.m., and an artists’ talk is February 10, 2 p.m. Call (609) 989-3632 or visit www.ellarslie.org.

Firestone Library at Princeton University, has in its Milberg Gallery “Woodrow Wilson’s Journey to the White House,” through December 28. “First X, Then Y, Now Z: Thematic Maps” runs through February 10 in the main exhibition gallery. “Your True Friend and Enemy: Princeton and the Civil War” shows in the Mudd Manuscript Library Cotsen Children’s Library through July 31. “Into the Woods: A Bicentennial Celebration of the Brothers Grimm” is on view through February 28.

Gallery and Academy of Robert Beck, 204 North Union Street, Lambertville, presents paintings by Alex Cohen through December 28. “Small Captivations” is the title. Call (215) 603-6573.

Gallery at Chapin, 4101 Princeton Pike, has Dan Fanaldi’s oils, “People in My Life,” January 3-13. February 4-28, “Images: Reflections of Adventure” features artists Connie and Ken McIndoe. The reception is February 6, 5-7 p.m. Call (609) 924-7206.

Gourgaud Gallery, Cranbury Town Hall, 23-A Main Street, Cranbury, hosts “Cranbury Art in the Park X” through December 30. From January 6-26, “Art to Curl Up With” is the exhibit, and the reception is January 6, 1-3 p.m. Visit www.cranbury.org.

Grounds for Sculpture, Fairgrounds Road in Hamilton, presents Ming Fay’s “Canutopia” installed in the new East Gallery through February 15. Visit www.groundsforsculpture.org.

Historical Society of Princeton, Bainbridge House, 158 Nassau Street, is showing “Einstein at Home” and “From Princeton to the White House,” which celebrates the 100th anniversary of Woodrow Wilson, through January 13. On December 28 at 11 a.m., “Happy Birthday Woodrow Wilson!” family program includes stories and activities. December 29 at 11 a.m., the family celebration is “USS Constitution,” focused on the story of “Old Ironsides.” For more information visit www.prince
tonhistory.org.

The James A. Michener Art Museum at 138 South Pine Street in Doylestown, Pa., has “Creative Hand, Discerning Heart: Story, Symbol, Self,” through December 30. “Suspended Harmonies: Fiber Art by Ted Hallman” is exhibited through March 3. “The Mind’s Eye: 50 Years of Photography by Jerry Uelsmann” is January 19-April 28. Visit www.michenerart
museum.org.

The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, 71 Hamilton Street, on the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick, has “Lynd Ward Draws Stories: Inspired by Mexico’s History, Mark Twain, and Adventures in the Woods” through June 23, 2013. Through January 6, “Art=Text=Art: Works by Contemporary Artists” will be on view, from the collection of drawing collectors Wynn and Sally Kramarsky. “In the Company of Women: Prints by Mary Cassatt” runs through March 3. “Le Mur’ at the Cabaret des Quat’z Arts is on view through February 24. Works by Russian artist Leonid Sokov are displayed January 26-July 14.

Mariboe Gallery at the Swig Arts Center of The Peddie School, Hightstown, presents “Score,” an exhibit by Shanti Grumbine, January 1-February 8. The opening reception is January 11, 6:30-8 p.m. Visit www.ped
die.org/mariboegallery.

Mercer County Community College Gallery, West Windsor campus, CM Building, presents a show of mostly recent paintings by faculty member Mel Leipzig through December 27. Visit gallery@mccc.edu or www.mccc.edu/gallery.

Morven Museum & Garden, 55 Stockton Street, presents “Portrait of Place: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints of New Jersey, 1761-1898” through January 13. Museum hours are Wednesdays-Fridays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. Group tours of 10 or more can be arranged any day by advance reservation. Visit www.morven.org.

New Jersey State Museum, 205 West State Street, Trenton, has “Size Matters: Small Works from the Fine Art Collection” through December 30. Visit www.newjerseystatemuseum.org.

Plainsboro Library Gallery, 9 Van Doren Street, Plainsboro, presents the clay monoprints of Priscilla Snow Algava through January 2. From January 5-30, oils by Vimala Arunachalam, inspired by architecture, will be on display. The reception is January 13, 2-4 p.m. Call (609) 275-2897 for more information.

Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street, is showing photography by Mary Cross (“Egyptland”) and painter Ifat Shatzky through December 31 as part of “The Fertile Crescent: Gender, Art and Society” series taking place in nine area venues. (609) 924-9529 or www.prince
tonlibrary.org.

The Princeton University Art Museum has works by Parastou Forouhar, Mona Hatoum, Sigalit Landau, Shirin Neshat and Laila Shawa on view through January 13 as part of “The Fertile Crescent” project. “Dancing into Dreams: Maya Vase Painting of the Ik’ Kingdom” is on exhibit through February 17. “City of Gold: Tomb and Temple in Ancient Cyprus” is on view through January 20. Museum hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. Call (609) 258-3788.

Robert Beck Gallery, 204 North Union Street, Lambertville, hosts the 32nd Annual Juried Art Exhibit, “Lambertville and the Surrounding Area,” by the Lambertville Historical Society, February 10-March 28. A reception is February 10, 3-6 p.m. Artists are invited to submit one original painting in all media; subject must be of Lambertville and environs. Call (609) 397-0951 for details.

Straube Center, 108 Straube Center Boulevard, Pennington, presents an exhibit of Ebu-Arts work through January 12. Australian artist Guy Whitby is among the artists. Visit www.ebu-arts.org.

West Windsor Arts Center, 952 Alexander Road, Princeton Junction, presents “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” with work by 18 artists from the local area, January 13-February 24. The opening reception is January 13 at 4 p.m. Call (609) 716-1933.

Wounded Souls Lean on Each Other in Tenderhearted Tale

LOVE IN BLOOM: Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper, right) discovers that with the right woman, in this case Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), and the right circumstances, the pair can find true love and happiness together.

Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) completely lost his temper one day when he came home early from work to find his wife Nikki (Brea Bee) naked in the shower with one of her colleagues (Ted Barba). In fact, he proceeded to beat up her lover so badly that the only way he avoided a prison sentence was by agreeing to enter a mental hospital.

That was eight months ago and now that he’s being discharged he’s eager to reconcile and reunite with Nikki. However, she’s so afraid of his temper that she sold their house and got a restraining order issued against him.

She has good reason to be concerned, since Pat has been diagnosed as bipolar, and having depression and anger management issues. Consequently, with no wife, no job, and no home to return to, the state releases Pat to the custody of his parents (Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver).

While suffering under the delusion that Nikki will come back to him soon, he is introduced to a recently widowed neighbor (Jennifer Lawrence). As luck would have it, Tiffany is afflicted with a set of neuroses that are somehow compatible with Pat’s problems.

She confides in him that she’s been very promiscuous as of late, and that she was fired for sleeping with just about everybody in her office. A platonic friendship is gradually forged between the two, with Pat chivalrously protecting Jennifer instead of exploiting her weaknesses. For her part, Tiffany agrees to secretly deliver forbidden letters to his estranged wife so long as he promises to be her dance partner in an upcoming ballroom competition.

Adapted from the Matthew Quick novel of the same name, Silver Linings Playbook is a tenderhearted tale about two terribly wounded souls who survive by leaning on each other for support. Written and directed by Academy Award nominee David O. Russell (The Fighter), this charming film has earned four well deserved Golden Globe nominations for best picture, screenplay, lead actor, and lead actress.

The protagonists Bradley Cooper and Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) exhibit an impressive acting range in emotionally demanding roles. The stellar supporting cast is at its best when providing comic relief, especially Anupam Kher as Pat’s eccentric psychiatrist, Chris Tucker as his pal, and Robert De Niro as his obsessive-compulsive father.

Director Russell deserves credit for keeping the audience captivated and in suspense with the help of a clever script and a crew of colorful characters. The movie is a romantic story about two unstable misfits who take forever to realize that they’ve found one another.

Excellent (****). Rated R for profanity, sexuality, and nudity. Running time: 122 minutes. Distributor: The Weinstein Company


Longtime Area Builder, Baxter Construction, Receives Remodeling Big 50 Builder Award

AWARD-BUILDING BUILDER: “We are very honored to have received the Remodeling Big 50 Award,” says Jim Baxter, owner of Baxter Construction in Hopewell. “I direct a lot of the credit to my team of talented craftsmen and administrators. They are just as responsible for the experience that our customers receive and the success we have realized as I am.”

Whether it’s a 200-year-old colonial needing total renovation, a two-bedroom ranch requiring major expansion, or a 1960s kitchen or bath in need of updating, Baxter Construction will create just the look the homeowner hopes to achieve.

“Our focus is on residential,” explains Jim Baxter, owner of Baxter Construction. “We especially work on older houses, including repairs, renovation, and additions. Remodeling older houses and making them look as if they aren’t remodeled — keeping the character of the house — is our specialty. People are saying, ‘Let’s renovate’, but they still want to capture the feeling of the house.”

“We also do other jobs, however, both small and large. From replacing a doorknob or fixing a porch to new construction: everything from large and small additions to complete new houses. We’ll do kitchen and bath remodels, windows, mouldings, any kind of carpentry,” he continues. “Another thing we do is to put handrails and other support features in the house, so as they get older, people can continue to live in their home. We’ll do all kinds of jobs, all sizes, and I think people appreciate this.”

Many of the renovations have been of an historic nature, and have been featured in newspaper and magazine articles.

Peace of Mind

The company has completed many award-winning projects, since Mr. Baxter founded it in 1981. In addition to the 2012 Remodeling Magazine Big 50 Award (which recognizes “owners of remodeling companies that have set exceptionally high standards for professionalism and integrity through exemplary business practices, craftsmanship, and impact in their community or the industry at large”), Baxter Construction has received several Historic Preservation Awards, the New Jersey Historic Preservation and The Princeton Historic Preservation Awards for the Woodrow Wilson House in Princeton, and the Sustainable Princeton Leadership Award for the Whole Earth Center building.

Mr. Baxter attributes the company’s success to its fine craftsmanship, attention to detail, and listening carefully to the homeowners’ wishes. “We emphasize good project management and understanding the needs of the owners. We’re a traditional builder. We do a very detailed estimate, and the goal is getting a clear definition of the scope of the work. We have a lead carpenter and project manager on the job every day, which helps to create peace of mind for the client. What we always strive to do is to reach and exceed customers’ expectations.

“Our detailed management system allows us to plan and schedule your project, track progress of the work, and most importantly, communicate all of that to you in a timely and understandable manner And once your project begins, the work will proceed daily until everything is completed.”

Staying Put

“Many times today, the clients are people who are staying put, fixing their house rather than moving,” continues Mr. Baxter. “We do a lot of remodeling of kitchens and bathrooms, and expanding family rooms. In one house, we converted a two-car garage into a family room. People want to open up spaces and in some cases, they want to turn existing dining rooms into other space.”

Baxter Construction is also experienced in commercial building, having built the Michael Graves Design Studio and the Whole Earth Center store, a LEED certified green construction project, among other jobs.

Energy-efficiency, sustainability, and environmental-friendly methods and materials are very important today, emphasizes Mr. Baxter. “People are definitely thinking green now, and this is reflected in our construction projects.”

For many years, Baxter Construction has supported community organizations through its volunteer efforts with the Historical Society of Princeton, Morven Museum and Gardens, the Hopewell Board of Education, Hopewell Borough, and the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Apprenticeship
Program

“Volunteering and being a part of the community is very important to us,” says Mr. Baxter, who is himself a carpenter. “I also hope to set up an apprenticeship program for young people to help them learn the building business.”

It is also important to Mr. Baxter that the company continues to improve. He belongs to the Remodelers Advantage, an organization helping companies to improve business practices and development. “There are 10 round table groups in the country, and 10 companies in each group. We meet twice a year to focus on improving business operation, including management, sales, and marketing, among other areas. It is very intensive and a great experience, and I am now focusing more on sales and marketing.”

Baxter Construction’s projects are found all over the Princeton area and beyond, including beach houses in Cape May. Mr. Baxter continues to enjoy the client contact, and he takes pride in the quality of work he is able to provide them.

“I enjoy the level of craftsmanship — what Baxter Construction brings to the job. To see the customer’s satisfaction at the end of the job is very rewarding. Baxter Construction is proud of the quality of the work we do, from framing through finish trimming. Our crews are composed of experienced carpenters who have been with us for many years and believe in the Baxter way of building: top grade craftsmanship, using high quality materials. Led by a master carpenter with decades of experience, each crew is extremely competent, efficient, neat, and courteous.

“I love my job. I walk away at the end of the day and am proud to look at what we have built.”

Baxter Construction can be reached to (609) 466-3655. Website: baxterconstruction.com.

Julianna’s Closet, Popular Children’s Store, Offers Choices for Newborns to Pre-teens

SPECIAL SELECTION: “We are really set apart by our communion and christening dresses. They are our specialty, and we also carry boys’ communion suits in navy and white.” Jennifer Bottoni (left) owner of Julianna’s Closet, and her mother and associate Anna Feniello, are shown by a display of Communion dresses.

Julianna’s Closet is filled with fun, fashion, and flair! Clothes for kids are its specialty, and they are colorful, bright, and definitely “today”!

Little “fashionistas” are thrilled with the selection, especially the ruffles, frills, and “bling”.

Boys are not left out, and there are are plenty of choices, from casual jeans and shirts to suits.

Opened in 2004, the shop is owned by Jennifer Bottoni, and is named for her 8-year-old daughter, Julianna. Located in the Bottoni Plaza at 1240 Route 130 in Robbinsville, it is an easy outing from Princeton.

Niche Boutique

“I knew I always wanted to open my own business,” explains Ms. Bottoni. “I loved shopping for my daughter and son, and it seemed a great idea to have a children’s shop. I actually started the business as a boutique in my basement. I was like a personal shopper. Then, my father-in-law opened this shopping center, and here I am!

“I consider this a niche boutique. With boutique shopping, you don’t carry so much of one item. You won’t see our clothes on every other child. My goal is to sell the most unique, adorable, and highest quality merchandise. We carry many different lines and are adding all the time.”

Sizes include newborns to 16 (pre-teen for girls) and newborns to 7 for boys. Ms. Bottoni describes the selection as dressy/casual for girls, including special occasion outfits that can also be worn to school.

“Our customers love all the ruffles and frills on the dresses,” she reports. “They come in regularly to see what’s new. I am always bringing in new lines, and I believe the point of life is special occasions! I love seeing the little girls’ faces light up when they try something on, and they feel like a princess. By the age of six, girls have definite opinions about what they want.”

The boutique offers a wide selection of lines, primarily from the U.S. although there are a number from overseas. Popular choices for girls are Hannah Banana and Luna Luna Copenhagen; Biscotti, Sierra Julian, and Eliane et Lena for boys and girls; and Fore for boys. And there are many others.

Silver and gold are the hot colors for girls now, and not just for the holidays, says Ms. Bottoni. Tiered ruffled skirts are big sellers, and legging sets are also in demand. Tops with varying degrees of “bling” are a popular item for many girls, and fun birthday T’s with “Birthday Princess” and “Birthday Girl” are also available.

Toasty Toes

The selection of outerwear will keep kids warm this winter, and toes will be toasty in the fun socks, shoes and boots available for boys and girls, with choices from Primigi and Naturino.

Styles are also available for the very youngest customers at Julianna’s Closet. Hand-done layettes from Peru and the U.S. will cover newborns in the sweetest, softest cotton. Adorable onesies and rompers, sleep sacks, and dresses are offered in assorted colors and designs.

Hair accessories and hats are very important for girls of all ages, and the softest plush bears and other animals are favorites for the youngest kids (and some of the older ones too)!

The communion and christening dresses, as well as flower girl dresses provide a big part of the shop’s business, notes Ms. Bottoni. “People have heard about our selection, and we have people from all over, including New York, Brooklyn, and Staten Island, even as far away as Washington State. There are not a lot of places to get these dresses, and we have a wonderful selection.”

Warm and Welcoming

Ms. Bottoni is very enthusiastic about her shop, and looks forward to providing the latest styles for her young clientele. “I take pride in my own children, and I want them to dress nicely and behave nicely. I want this for all children. The kids love to come here, and they are very comfortable when they come in. We have a TV for them to watch, and they often sit down and play.

“I very much wanted to establish a warm and welcoming atmosphere for our customers, and we offer very personalized service. Even in the hard economic times, people still want to buy things for their kids.”

Julianna’s Closet offers regular trunk shows, and in March, its fourth annual children’s fund-raising fashion show will be held. “This is an annual event, and the proceeds go to a child in the area who is ill,” explains Ms. Bottoni.

The shop is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday 10 to 7, Saturday 10 to 3, Sunday 11 to 2, and Monday by appointment. (609) 448-3887. Website: www.juliannas-closet.com.


Board of Education Votes to Move Elections From April to November

The Princeton Board of Education agreed last week to change the annual election date for school board members from the third Tuesday in April, to the November general election, beginning in 2013.

The Board voted 6 to 1 in favor of the change. Molly Chrein cast the sole dissenting vote; two members, Dorothy Bedford and Afsheen Shamsi, were absent.

While most New Jersey school districts opted to make the change when it first became an option earlier in the year, Princeton stayed with an April election date in 2012. Among the factors for the change of heart at this point were cost savings and greater voter turnout in the November election.

In response to previously expressed concerns about the elimination of the annual vote on the proposed general fund tax level if the election is held in November, the Board was careful to note that it “believes that the financial interest of its constituents is safeguarded by the state’s [2 percent] tax levy cap and the thorough review of the proposed school budget by the Executive County superintendent and the Executive County School Business Administrator.”

The annual organizational meeting of the Board will take place in the first week of January following the November general election. As a result, the Board’s next organization meeting will take place in the first week of January 2014. Members of the Board whose terms would have expired by May 2013 will continue to serve in office until the January 2014 organization meeting.


Princeton Freewheelers to Tour Former Perimeter of Borough

To mark the beginning of consolidation on January 1,2013, Dan Rappoport will lead a morning and an afternoon bike ride around the former perimeter of the Borough of Princeton, going in opposite directions. Mr. Rappoport is one of the incorporators of the Princeton Freewheelers, and a member of the Perimeter Bicycling Association of America.

The distance for the ride is 9 miles. Riders will assemble in the parking lot at 400 Witherspoon St. at 9:30 a.m., and meet the leader near the bike rack on the sidewalk. The tour will begin promptly at 9:45 a.m. The afternoon ride will start 15 minutes after the reorganization celebration is over, from the same location.

Riders should have their bikes in working order and expect any traffic conditions. There will be a few hills. Those who participate on both rides will get to pedal in what used to be two different towns along some roadbeds.

Mr. Rappoport has obtained copies of Township and Borough letterheads. Those interested in attending either bike ride and who would like copies of the letterheads should contact the organizer at (609) 924-9417 or (609) 933-6258.

In the event of snow, ice, or rain, or if the temperature is below 25 degrees, the ride will be cancelled until there is a consolidation somewhere else in New Jersey.

 

The Battlefield in Spring

This scene of re-enactors taking the roles of British and American units, practicing drill, field maneuvers, and fieldcraft on an April day, could have been a tableau from more than two centuries ago. Princeton Battlefield Park was the subject of new skirmishes this year as the Institute for Advanced Study encountered fierce opposition from the Battlefield Society over its plans to build faculty housing on the edge of the park. (Photo by Emily Reeves)

Princeton Weathers A Perfect Storm of Issues

This year Princeton weathered a major hurricane, opened a spanking new community park and pool, elected a mayor for the new municipality, coped with Route 1 left turn prohibitions, and prepared for consolidation, which officially takes effect on January 1. The University’s proposed Arts and Transit will become a reality, while the future of an AvalonBay development at the hospital’s former site on Witherspoon Street remains uncertain. University President Shirley Tilghman announced her retirement, effective this June, and the Township said good-bye to two retiring officials, Administrator Jim Pascale, and Police Chief Bob Buchanan.

Consolidation

Once voters approved the consolidation of Princeton Borough and Township last year, a Transition Task Force was put in place to guide the merger of two municipalities into one. This highly detailed project involved numerous subcommittees and the participation of citizen volunteers. The committees met with nearly every department in the Borough and Township to determine the most painless way to streamline operations before the new form of government is officially unveiled on January 1.

Both governing bodies named appointees to the Task Force. Led by Chairman Mark Freda, the group of 12 made recommendations on everything from office furniture to pension plans; from shade trees to trash collection. Some of the ideas they advised the governing bodies to approve must ultimately be confirmed by the new Princeton Council to be sworn in January 1. The Task Force held a public forum early this month to help inform citizens of what to expect once the new form of government goes into effect.

Hurricane Sandy

With extensive property damage and long-lasting power outages, it took a while for Princeton residents to dig out from Hurricane Sandy, a “super storm” that hit the East Coast in late October.

In an initiative that boded well for consolidation, Borough and Township police and other personnel joined forces to respond as a single entity to emergencies, issue alerts, and begin the daunting task of picking up the trees and limbs that lined — and often blocked — local streets. In his attempt to take care of a tree on his property, William Sword became the area’s only storm-related fatality.

Princeton Public Library and Princeton United Methodist Church were among the havens of light, warmth, and electricity during the first days after the storm. Opening doors to the front of the library, lobby, and community room at 7 a.m. on Thursday, November 1, the library had a record 8,028 visitors between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Princeton public school children will be attending three additional days of school in 2013 — February 15, April 1, and June 20 — to make up for days lost during the storm. Princeton University had about 50 trees come down on campus as a result of the super storm and Director of Communication Martin Mbugua noted that there were “dozens” of reports of “blocked roads, damaged vehicles, fences, and other property.” In its end-of-year commendations, Princeton Township cited the University for helping with emergency response teams, and, on election day, for making Jadwin Gym available as a polling place.

In the days following the storm, schools, businesses, churches, synagogues, and other organizations held drives that collected much-needed supplies for devastated coastal communities.

The Hospital Move

Amid much fanfare, the University Medical Center of Princeton relocated in May from its longtime headquarters on Witherspoon Street in Princeton Borough to a glittering new facility on Route 1 in Plainsboro. While only a few miles from the old location, the new, $522.7 million hospital is a world away in terms of technology and design. The 636,000-square-foot hospital is the centerpiece of a 171-acre site that includes a nursing home, day care center, a park, and additional facilities. Each of the 231-single-patient rooms have large windows and high-tech capabilities.

Nine years in the making, the new facility is closer to a large percentage of the people the hospital traditionally serves, executive director Barry Rabner said during the opening week. A special open house was held for the community in the days before the official move took place.

Jughandle Closings

Looking for ways to ease traffic congestion on Route 1, the New Jersey Department of Transportation announced in March a decision to implement a 12-week experiment that eliminated left turns for Route 1 northbound motorists at Washington Road and Harrison Street. Protestations from the public and local officials regarding timing — the trial would coincide with the opening of the new hospital near Harrison Street — led the DOT to postpone the program until August. While the trial eased some traffic flow on Route 1, motorists were getting stuck on ancillary roads, and parents in the area were fearful for their children’s safety as cars used their driveways to make U-turns in order to correct routes affected by the jughandle closings. When demonstrations were organized by West Windsor residents on Washington Road, NJDOT Commissioner James Simpson closed down the pilot program two weeks short of its projected finish date.

Arts and Transit

Thanks to a December 18 vote in favor of its $300 million Arts and Transit proposal by the Planning Board, Princeton University can now begin to put its ambitious plan for an arts complex into action. The approval came after many contentious meetings of the governing bodies, nearly all focused on the fact that the terminus of the Dinky, which connects Princeton Borough and Princeton Junction station, will be moved 460 feet south as part of the plan.

Few had problems with the design for the Lewis Center for the Arts, which will include new teaching, rehearsal, performance, and administrative spaces designed by architect Steven Holl in a cluster of village-like buildings. Landscaped open spaces and walking paths that are part of the plan have drawn almost unanimous approval from officials and the public. This year, the University hired architect Rick Joy to design the renovation of the two Dinky station buildings, which will be turned into a restaurant and cafe.

Borough Council passed a resolution in July opposing the plan to move the station stop. And Save the Dinky, a group of citizens opposed to the idea of moving the Dinky, has filed lawsuits related to the contract of sale from 1984, when the University bought the Dinky shuttle line, and to its historical significance. See the story in this issue for details.

AvalonBay

Not satisfied with the plan for a rental complex proposed by the developer AvalonBay Communities, area residents, including those in the neighborhood surrounding the former site of the University Medical Center at Princeton, waged a relentless campaign to convince the governing bodies that it was not right for the town. Their hard work was rewarded on December 19 when the Regional Planning Board voted to deny the application. It remains to be seen what the developer’s next step will be. See the story in this issue for details.

Election

Like the rest of the country, the majority of Princeton voters supported the reelection of President Obama. Democratic Congressman Rush Holt (D-12) won an easy victory over his Republican challenger, Eric A. Beck.

Locally, Princeton voters elected Democrat Liz Lempert over Republican challenger Dick Woodbridge as the new mayor of consolidated Princeton. The six Democrats running for the new Council, Bernie Miller, Patrick Simon, Heather Howard, Jo Butler. Lance Liverman, and Jenny Crumiller were all elected. The sole Republican challenger was Geoff Aton.

Princeton voters also endorsed an open space tax of 1.7 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

Historic District

A six-year dispute over whether to designate 51 properties in the town’s architecturally diverse western section remains undecided. Residents of the homes in an area bounded by portions of Library Place, Bayard Lane, and Hodge Road are divided over the question, and more than one meeting of Borough Council this year became confrontational as the residents aired their views. The Council was scheduled to vote on the issue on December 11, but an injunction filed by those opposed to the designation prevented them from doing so.

Those in favor say the designation will protect the neighborhood from tear-downs and the construction of new homes that don’t fit in with the existing architecture. Those opposed fear the restrictions that historic designation could impose on improvements and repairs to the exteriors of their homes. The question will be carried over to the newly consolidated Council.

Community Park Pool

After months of discussions about what should and should not be included, the new Community Park Pool opened on Memorial Day weekend and won kudos all summer long as record numbers of area residents signed on as members or came on a daily basis.

Improvements to the pool park included a 20 percent expansion of the diving well to accommodate more diving boards and a water slide, a fish-shaped kiddie pool, and a “family pool” adjacent to the lap pool.

Schools

As a result of consolidation, Princeton lost its “regional school district” identity and renamed itself “Princeton Public Schools.” Offered the chance to move the date for school elections to the general election in November, the School Board opted to keep it in April for this year; in December they opted to move the next election to April.

In this year’s April election, voters approved the 2012-13 Princeton Regional school budget that includes a tax levy of $63.4 million, elected new board members Martha Land and Patrick Sullivan, and reelected Rebecca Cox. Superintendent Judy Wilson acknowledged that “voter turnout was not as high as it usually is,” in the April election, but chalked it up to the fact that there was one uncontested race (Mr. Sullivan, in the Township), and a “non-controversial budget.”

In the November election, voters approved an additional infusion of $10.9 million for improvements to all of the schools’ infrastructures.

In the fall, St. Paul’s School learned that it had been awarded a 2012 “Blue Ribbon of Excellence” award, the highest prize the Department of Education can confer.

Libraries

While the Princeton Public Library’s legal status will change with consolidation, the Board of Trustees chose not to proceed with a proposal that would have merged the Friends of the Library with the Princeton Public Library Foundation. In response to board President Katharine McGavern’s suggestion that “a single organization would make more sense from an accounting point of view,” the rest of the board voted to support what former President Claire Jacobus described as “the human capital that exists in the Friends.” This year’s annual Book Sale and Children’s Book Festival were, as usual, shining events for the library.

At Firestone Library on the Princeton University campus, renovations began on a project that is expected to be completed in 2018. The estimated cost is “in the nine figures,” and is being underwritten by the University, “just as they would a new laboratory for scientists,” said University Librarian Karin Trainer.

IAS/Battlefield

It took several contentious public hearings for the Regional Planning Board to come to a decision allowing the Institute for Advanced Study to go forward with a plan for a faculty housing development this past March. In July, the Princeton Battlefield Society filed an appeal in Mercer County Superior Court challenging the approval. Along with some historians, they believe the site is involved in the historic counterattack at the Battle of Princeton during the Revolutionary War, and therefore should not be disturbed.

Despite the legal action, and the June announcement that The National Trust for Historic Preservation had named the Princeton Battlefield to its 2012 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, the IAS plan for eight townhouses and seven single-family homes on a seven-acre section of the campus is going forward. The development of 15 homes is expected to include a 200-foot buffer zone next to Battlefield Park that will be permanently preserved as open space.


Planning Board Approves Arts & Transit, Citizens Are Considering an Appeal

Concluding six years of discussion and dispute between Princeton University, the governing bodies, and citizens of the town, the Regional Planning Board December 18 voted to approve the University’s $300 million Arts and Transit proposal. Borough Mayor Yina Moore was the only member of the Planning Board to cast an opposing vote.

The approval allows the University to begin planning construction of the 22-acre complex in earnest. “We hope to start the early stages of the project as early as February, if not, then certainly by March,” said Bob Durkee, University vice president and secretary, late last week. “This is a multi-stage process and things need to be done in sequence, so the sooner we can get started clearing the site and working on the utilities, the sooner we can eventually get to the new buildings.”

But a group of citizens opposed to the project will likely file an objection to the Planning Board’s decision. Representing Walter Neumann, Christopher Hedges, Dorothy Koehn, Anita Garoniak, and Marco Gottardis, attorney Bruce Afran said in an email last week, “The Planning Board decision represents a failure to consider the greater needs of the community and an abandonment of any balance in our governmental dealings with the University. In contrast to the AvalonBay project, the Board virtually rubber-stamped the Arts project, raced through the application, asked virtually no questions as to this massive development and entered its resolution on three hours notice in a clear violation of state law. The approval is almost certainly illegal and subject to reversal by the courts and an appeal is being considered.”

Three lawsuits over the project are already pending in the courts. Those represented by Mr. Afran, along with other citizens, have expressed opposition to the part of the plan that requires moving the Dinky train terminus 460 feet south of its present location. Some residents at the meeting pleaded with the Planning Board to vote the proposal down, saying the relocated station will remove an important gateway to the town and make it difficult for those with disabilities to reach the new station. They also complained that the University has not listened to their comments.

But Princeton University Architect Ron McCoy said the University has taken complaints from residents into account over the past few years and studied alternatives to the plan for the Dinky move. None of those alternatives work, he claimed.

Concerns were also raised by citizens about traffic safety and environmental issues. But Planning Board member Julie Nachamkin praised the plan for its walking paths, landscaping, reduction of impervious coverage, and energy efficiency. “And it brings the community to an area of the town where no one spends any time,” she said.

Board member Peter Madison said he is looking forward to the implementation of the plan. “I have lived here for 33 years and have seen a lot of changes, and just about all have been very good,” he said “Unlike someone who sees this as the glass half empty, I see a lot of potential here.” Mr. Madison added that while the existing rail line will never be extended through the campus to Nassau Street, a new light rail line could come in with an alternative route and stops added between Carnegie Lake and Route 1. “I don’t see this as a negative thing,” he concluded. “I understand there are trade-offs.”

Brian McDonald, who heads McCarter Theatre’s Board of Directors, was enthused about the project, specifically for its plan to turn the existing Dinky station buildings across from the theater into a restaurant and cafe. “Better parking and a dining options are two of our patrons’ greatest concerns,” he said. The eateries could help bring additional revenue at a time of struggle for arts organizations.

Before casting the lone vote against the proposal, Borough Mayor and Planning Board member Yina Moore suggested approving only the arts portion of the plan. As a transportation expert who once worked for NJ Transit, Ms. Moore said there has not been enough research done on the moving of the Dinky. Board members Marvin Reed and Janet Stern cast their votes for the plan “with regret.”

Mr. Durkee said the filing of an appeal against the Planning Board will be “another example of imposing costs on the community because the community will then have to defend the process. I think it will be an easy process to defend, because the Board has worked very diligently on this project. There is little likelihood that the appeal will make any headway at all, but it will cost the community money to defend against it.”


Planning Board Rejects AvalonBay Plan For Hospital Site

After a five-hour meeting that began December 19 and ended in the wee hours of December 20, Princeton’s Regional Planning Board voted against developer AvalonBay’s plan for a rental community on the former site of the University Medical Center of Princeton. The vote was 7-3, with those who voted in favor saying they did so because they feared the legal repercussions of rejecting the plan. Residents in the audience who were against the proposed development rose to their feet to give the Board a standing ovation when the vote was finally cast.

The developer’s proposal for 280 apartments, 56 of which would be affordable housing, has drawn criticism from residents of the neighborhood about a design they repeatedly called “monolithic,” and concerns about environmental issues. The group Citizens for Sustainable Neighborhoods was represented by two lawyers during the process. The December 19 meeting of the Planning Board was the sixth devoted to the proposal.

While one member of the public expressed support for the complex because of its percentage of affordable housing units, the comments at the meeting were overwhelmingly negative. “It’s completely out of scale with the adjacent neighborhoods,” said Joseph Weiss during a power point presentation, calling the design “a fortress.”

Princeton Borough resident Helmut Schwab said he had spoken to many people in town, most of whom were against the plan. “I plead with you. Do what is good for the citizens and vote against it or recuse yourself,” he said to the Board. Julie Roth, the rabbi for Princeton University, said there have been inconsistencies in AvalonBay’s plan. “The question is whether we have a good faith partner in AvalonBay,” she said.

Zoning for the hospital site was approved several years ago. The original developer for the site, Lubert Adler, had planned to turn the existing hospital building into condominiums with retail underneath. But the company withdrew during the 2008 recession. Planning Board member Marvin Reed, who was in the negotiations from the beginning, said the Board owed it to the neighborhood residents to reject AvalonBay’s plan because of their concerns about the design for a newly constructed complex, among other issues.

Weighing in before the vote, Planning Board member Peter Madison, a lawyer, explained his decision to vote in favor of the plan. “I have a serious concern that the applicant is in a very strong legal position,” he said. “I believe if they appeal, the case will be overturned.”

Board member Bernie Miller commented, “The question isn’t really whether there could be something better on the site, but whether we want what is proposed on the site. I have heard a lot that troubles me. It leaves me with a kind of queasy feeling of having been taken advantage of with a bait and switch here.”

During the process that began more than a year ago, AvalonBay senior vice president Ron Ladell met with an ad hoc committee to try and work out problems that neighborhood residents had with the plan. But those meetings were not successful, according to Jenny Crumiller, a member of the Planning Board who served on the committee. “It was their intent to do things the AvalonBay way, not the Princeton way,” she said. “They tweaked a bit, but they did not change it much. They are refusing to stray from their brand and realize Princeton’s uniqueness. We have standards to protect our old-fashioned neighborhoods. The overriding theme was that AvalonBay is a brand, and that’s what you get.”

The proposal called for one, two, and three bedroom apartments in a building that would reach 48 feet at its highest point. Mr. Ladell said he was offended by suggestions that he was hiding something. In his closing speech to the Board before the vote, he said that planning and zoning staff agree that the project met all local zoning requirements. “If you don’t believe me, believe your staff,” he said.

Mr. Ladell left the meeting without commenting. Efforts to reach his attorney, Anne Studholme, in the days following the meeting were unsuccessful. The University Medical Center of Princeton issued a general statement: “Princeton HealthCare System has been watching the site plan process closely. We have always advocated that the process should be allowed to occur. This part of the process is now finished. AvalonBay will need to make a decision on how it intends to proceed. We have confidence that in the end, the process will result in an appropriate outcome for the community.”


December 19, 2012

How Is it Possible That Seat Belt Laws Make More Sense Than Gun Control

To the Editor:

One of my students [at the Hun School] participated in a debate last week in which she argued in favor of gun control. Although she had the stronger argument, she lost to a more experienced debater. In the wake of the events at Newtown I sent her the following message: “Given what happened at Newtown yesterday, I think your debate should be revisited. All you need to say is ‘Twenty babies in Newtown.’”

How terribly sad: how utterly unnecessary. I can’t even imagine.

There comes a time when an argument against rational good sense must run into a wall of public indignation. Vietnam was one such case: this is another. By allowing themselves to be held captive by a minority, our elected officials are working at cross-purposes with the public good. There is a difference between firearms for sport and machines developed for no better purpose than to kill human beings. There is a reason for background checks and extended waiting periods. That is, firearms kill 10,000 Americans every year.

It is estimated that in any given year, seat belt laws save the same number of lives that firearms take. The states and federal government justify curbing our personal right to be stupid because doing so benefits the greater public. How can the same people who pass seat belt laws continue to ignore the systemic violence, which they effectively endorse by not passing laws: laws, which restrict gun ownership as well as the kinds of guns available to the public? By continuing to elect these people, we are no less guilty.

Look into the eyes of the mothers who lost their children yesterday and explain to them how seat belt laws make more sense than gun control.

The time for debate is over.

Tim Pitts

Ettle Farm

Friendly Advice for Dr. Carl Hoyler: Wear a Properly-Fitting Bicycle Helmet

To the Editor:

I was happy to read that Dr. Carl Hoyler rides a brightly-painted bicycle around Princeton (“After 44 Years and Many Memories, An Old-Fashioned Doctor Calls It Quits,” Town Topics, Dec. 12). However, I was dismayed to learn that he thinks wearing a helmet is dangerous. Dr. Hoyler is mistaken. In case of a fall, a bicycle helmet, rather than his head, would absorb some of the force of the blow.

Wearing a bicycle helmet is like wearing a seatbelt or having an airbag in a car: they all protect you in case of an accident. Dr. Hoyler worries about his peripheral vision. However, the Mayo Clinic says, “If the bicycle helmet straps block your vision — even a little bit — choose another helmet.”

“What’s the first lesson in bike safety?” asks Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Transportation. “Always wear a properly-fitting bicycle helmet.”

Also, please remember to use lights so that you can be seen. Helmets are only part of the safety equation.

Sandra Shapiro

Advisor, West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance

Wycombe Way, Princeton Junction

Standards that Socially Responsible Developers Follow Are Called “Cost Generative” by AvalonBay

To the Editor:

Incredibly, the plan for the former Princeton Hospital site proposed for development by the AvalonBay corporation that will be put before the Planning Board once again on Wednesday December 19 has no alternative energy and very limited sustainability features. The company has flatly refused to use solar energy to lessen its carbon footprint. This plan is disturbing also because of the issue of social justice in the higher cost of fuel to residents, including those in “affordable” units. This is tantamount to giving the blessing of affordable housing with one hand but placing the burden of increasingly higher energy costs on tenants, especially those less able to pay.

The building would be the largest residential development in Princeton. It is unconscionable to build a 280 unit apartment building for about 500 people and not have alternative energy, thus relying totally on fossil fuels, especially when AvalonBay has used such sustainable features in its corporate headquarters in Arlington, Va., the company’s website states:

“At AvalonBay Communities, Inc. green living is more than a philosophy, it’s our commitment …. At the core of green living is our understanding that a sustainable approach to living benefits all — our residents, our associates, and the communities where we are located.”

In spite of those nice p.r. words, it is difficult to consider AvalonBay a good corporate citizen given its current site plan. Alternative energy is an “Inherently Beneficial Use” which should not be put in the category of “cost generative,” a legal term AvalonBay throws around with abandon. Actually, in the long term, alternative energy will save money as well as improve the environment, but AvalonBay has short term interests.

Apparently Princeton is not an isolated case. An April 11, 2012 memo from the Office of the New York City Comptroller to AvalonBay’s shareholders on sustainability urges them to vote in favor of “A request that the board of directors of AvalonBay prepare and make available to shareholders by September, 2012 a sustainability report addressing greenhouse gas emissions, water conservation, waste minimization, energy efficiency, and other environmental and social impacts … in operations and maintenance as well a design.”

Almost all of the things that socially responsible developers do these days are called “cost generative” by AvalonBay because this proposed development will have some affordable housing. Are we to conclude that people living in affordable housing should be subjected to more pollution and its renters pay more for energy use because they have lower incomes? The fact that the state allows this lesser standard does not mean that AvalonBay must follow it instead of choosing to be a good corporate citizen.

If the Planning Board should vote to approve this problematic site, with many other serious issues, I hope it will consider making a condition of approval the inclusion of solar panels “to the maximum extent possible” because of its “inherently beneficial use,” which also carries some legal weight.

Grace Sinden

Ridgeview Circle

Owners of Moore Street Home Lost to Fire Have Special Neighbors, Firemen to Thank

To the Editor:

The day after Thanksgiving our home on Moore Street was badly damaged in a freak fire that started in the back yard and spread to the house. In a short period of time, while we were shopping, our entire life changed. Thankfully, no one was injured in the fire, and even our two cats escaped major harm.

Though the shock and pain of the loss of our home continues, our lives would be so much worse at the moment if it wasn’t for the incredible actions of the Princeton Volunteer Fire Department and for the amazing care of our friends and neighbors in Princeton, and especially on Moore and Jefferson Streets.

From the very first night, when we were left with only the clothes on our backs, people rallied around, providing everything from food, toiletries, and clothing to kind words of support. We are incredibly grateful and want to recognize and give thanks for the kindness of everyone who helped.

From the Nathan family who let us store some of the few possessions rescued from the fire in their garage, to the Stange family who gave us tickets for A Christmas Carol, there are many people to thank — so many, in fact, that we fear that this letter will not capture all of them. We do, however, want to try and publicly thank a few of them.

Jon and Jenny Crumiller and Darlyn Crum deserve special thanks for letting us stay in their beautiful house for almost two weeks until we found rented accommodation. It is impossible to overstate what their kindness meant to our family.

Community organizer Anita Garoniak, who started the search for temporary accommodation, clothing and so much more, continues to find other ways to support us. Ken and Diana Griebell created an online list to coordinate our search for necessities. Mona and Rob Sgobbo restocked our pantry and washed our smoke damaged clothing. Julie Harrison and Cecil Marshall helped us find a place to live. Liz Sikes found our scared cats and the Esterman-McKeegan and Dutaud families took them in. Miki Mendelsohn, the Marshall-Otto, Villa-Sgobbo, Esterman-McKeegan and Thompson families provided help, support and delicious food to comfort us over and over again. There are many, many names and this list continues to grow daily.

Others who have come to our side in our time of need include:

Susan Jeffries, Virginia Kerr, Jackie Shire, Dan Preston and Maggie Rose, Natasha Haase, Laura and Lindon Estes, Barbara Heck and Rob Nelson, Tom and Amy Onder, Maureen Kearney, Susan Ashmore, Danuta Buzdygan, Merilyn Rovira and Carlos Rodrigues, Advah Zinder, Lieve Monnens-Cash, Susan Osborn, Shawn O’Hara, Tony LaPlaca, and the Impink family.

We now have temporary accommodation on Moore Street from which we hope to oversee the rebuilding of our home as quickly as possible. Despite the trauma of the last few weeks we feel very lucky to live in Princeton and have such wonderful neighbors.

Thank you,

Susanna, Marc, Alex and Isabel Monseau

Moore Street

Reviewing the Economic Consequences Of the PHCS Contract with AvalonBay

To the Editor:

The economic consequences of Princeton HealthCare’s contract with AvalonBay include a huge fiscal impact on Princeton municipal government and the taxpayers. The loss of expected tax revenues will increasingly be felt. This deadweight exceeds AvalonBay’s crippling refusal to permit local retail shops along Witherspoon Street and its misguided insistence on building an obsolete structure without solar paneling (and thus passing on, without regard for social justice, higher utility costs to its renters, including those in the 20 percent affordable units).

Why will this happen? Barry Rabner of Princeton HealthCare recklessly chose to sign a contract with the one
corporate developer who was almost guaranteed not to build according to the Master Plan and Borough Code, which prohibit any “private gated community.” AvalonBay, nationwide, builds only “Private Communities,” according to corporate policy. The company has thus run into powerful opposition from Princeton community members who scorn the fortress-effect and deplore the loss of publicly usable open space even while supporting rental housing and 20 percent affordable housing.

The consequence of Mr. Rabner’s deeply misguided choice is that AvalonBay’s application is likely to end up in court, further delaying (for how long, no one can guess) a settling of the contingency contract — at which time the developer will begin paying property taxes. No one can know, today, who will appeal.

That’s only part of the story. As Town Topics readers know from earlier letters to the editor, AvalonBay retains the Property Tax Assistance (PTA) company to represent them in gaining property tax reductions from municipalities. A PTA brochure lists AvalonBay as its chief client and boasts that “Since 1992, we have reduced their tax liability by nearly 30 percent” for AvalonBay properties in California and Washington (document available from Daniel A. Harris). AvalonBay’s projected taxes for the old Princeton Borough were estimated at between $3.7 million and $4 million dollars. Deduct 25 percent (conservatively). You get $3 million dollars in much-needed revenue — from a company that intends to haggle.

Of course the hospital never paid taxes as a non-profit organization. Its taxes since June 2012, if any, are unknown. Though Princeton has survived, any new taxes will be a plus, even if wrenched downwards by AvalonBay’s PTA crew. But the unpredictable delay resulting from judicial appeal is detrimental to the fiscal health of Princeton’s future, and so is any future conflict with AvalonBay as corporate taxpayer. The entire Borough as well as the old hospital’s neighborhood will feel increasingly cheated by Princeton HealthCare and by Mr. Rabner in particular.

Is there a solution to this problem that would preserve the integrity of all parties?

While we wait: since there is no desired revenue stream at hand, the Board should vote for the best urban planning it can get — surely not AvalonBay’s behemoth.

The Planning Board should vote its conscience.

Jane Buttars

Dodds Lane

Looking for Reasons to Make Donations, Remember Library’s Help After Hurricane

To the Editor:

Like many others in town, my family enjoyed heat, electricity, internet connectivity, and a sense of community in the library during the days after Hurricane Sandy. We hope that, in this season of giving and thanks, others who took shelter there will join us in making a donation to the Friends of the Library. You can go to https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspxname=princetonlib&id=2 or get an envelope at the front desk to make a gift.

Elizabeth C. Hamblet

Wittmer Court

Senior Resource Center Acknowledges Chairs, Sponsors, Public for Fundraiser

To the Editor:

On November 17, more than 700 people filled Richardson Auditorium for The Capitol Steps sold-out performance benefitting the Princeton Senior Resource Center (PSRC).

Special thanks go to our honorary chairs, Bill and Judith Scheide and Ellen and Albert Stark. Thanks, too, to our event committee, Rebecca Esmi and Audrey Hallowell who chaired the event and Rich Bianchetti, Dave Saltzman, Hazel Stix, Bob Hillier, Paul Gerard, Henry Opatut, Linda Richter, Todd Lincoln, Bill Isele, Jay Kuris, and Claire Jacobus, committee members who worked tirelessly to make this year’s performance such a rousing success.

This event, the capstone of our fundraising year, provides significant financial support for the programs and services offered by PSRC and helps us achieve mission-critical goals to be the center of active aging in the greater Princeton area. We are grateful for the invaluable contribution of our corporate and individual sponsors who made this event possible led by Archer & Greiner, the Gordon and Llura Gund Foundation, Otsuka, Arlene and Henry Opatut, Stark and Stark, Princeton Global Asset Management, Hill Wallack, Robert Hillier Architect, Hilton Realty, Dave Saltzman Insurance, Irwin and Cecilia Rosenblum, and Lynn and David Wong. For a complete list of our sponsors, visit our website at www.princetonsenior.org.

As the more than 1200 people who attend PSRC programs each week and the 125 who receive our support and guidance services know, PSRC is serving the needs of the greater Princeton 55-plus community and their families all year long. We continue to provide dozens of programs and services and continue to empower older adults to make informed choices and live healthy lives.

We invite you to stop by and visit PSRC and see all the smiling faces in person. Learn more about our many programs such as Evergreen Forum, the Health Fair, newly expanded Next Step: Engaged Retirement and Encore Career program, GrandPals and Caregivers programs as well as our countless support groups and services.

With best regard and sincere thanks to the many organizations, corporations, and individuals who partner with and contribute to PSRC. In doing so they enhance the Princeton area active adult community.

Susan W. Hoskins, LCSW

Executive Director

Obituaries 12/19/12

Albert O. Hirschman

Renowned social scientist Albert O. Hirschman, whose highly influential work in economics and politics in developing countries has had a profound impact on economic thought and practice in the United States and beyond, died at the age of 97 on December 10 at Greenwood House in Ewing Township. Hirschman was professor emeritus in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, where he had served on the faculty since 1974.

“Albert Hirschman developed innovative methods for promoting economic and social growth through his study of the intellectual underpinnings of economic policies and political democracy,” said Robbert Dijkgraaf, director and Leon Levy professor at the Institute. “An impassioned observer who sought to understand the world as well as change it, Albert will be sorely missed by the Institute community and by the international community at large where his voice has influenced and guided advancement for more than half a century.”

Born in Berlin on April 7, 1915, Hirschman left Germany in 1933 for France, where he studied economics, finance, and accounting. In 1935, he received a one-year fellowship at the London School of Economics. From London he went to Barcelona to fight in the Spanish Civil War, saying, “I could not just sit and look on without doing anything.”

He completed his studies in Italy at the University of Trieste, where he received a doctorate in economics in 1938. Racial laws enacted by Mussolini compelled Hirschman to return to Paris, where he produced his first economic writings and reports, marking the beginning of a prolific publication record. In his numerous books and articles since that time, he continued to explore the complex relationships between economics, politics, social structures, values, and behavior.

Hirschman volunteered for service in the French Army and was enlisted in 1939. With the collapse of the French Army in 1940, he fled to the south of France. There he met Varian Fry, an American who had come to Marseille to organize a rescue operation to try to save the lives of endangered refugees, including Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, André Breton, and Marcel Duchamp. Fry needed a close assistant, and he found one in Hirschman, whom Fry dubbed “Beamish” for his unfailing optimism during this especially dark and dangerous time …. By the time the operation closed down in September 1941, when the French expelled Varian Fry, his group had helped some 2,000 people escape from France. The United States government recognized the Varian Fry group in 1991 for its heroic accomplishments.

Hirschman immigrated to the United States in 1941 with the help of a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, he met and married Sarah Chapro, a fellow European émigré who was earning her master’s degree in French literature. In March 1943, Hirschman enlisted in the U.S. Army and was sent to North Africa and Italy as part of the Office of Strategic Services and served as an interpreter for a German general in one of the earliest World War II criminal trials. With the war’s end, the Hirschmans settled in Washington, where Albert worked for the Federal Reserve Board on European reconstruction, focusing on new initiatives within the Marshall Plan agency.

In 1952, they moved to South America, where Hirschman worked as an economic adviser to the country of Colombia. The subsequent four years there inspired his vision of economic development as a sequential and unbalanced process ….

Hirschman returned to the United States in 1956 and began his academic career, which included positions at Yale, Columbia, and Harvard Universities. In 1974, he became a professor at the Institute, where he joined Clifford Geertz in creating the School of Social Science. He became professor emeritus in 1985. It was at the Institute that he and Professor Geertz created a unique forum for the social sciences. In seeking to bridge the divides between increasingly professionalized disciplines, they favored a more “interpretive style,” a term which eventually acquired multiple meanings — not all of them consistent with Hirschman and Geertz’s original purpose to explore the interaction between culture, politics, and economics.

“There is no doubt,” says Jeremy Adelman, Princeton University historian and author of a forthcoming biography of Hirschman, “that Hirschman’s time at the Institute allowed him to become one of the great sages of our times. His unusual background, combination of intellectual traditions and ironic disposition were combined to yield some of the classic works of the social sciences.”

Hirschman was widely recognized for his work and was the recipient of many prizes and honors, including the Talcott Parsons Prize for Social Science, presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1983; the Kalman H. Silvert Award of the Latin American Studies Association in 1986; the Toynbee Prize in 1997; the Thomas Jefferson Medal of the American Philosophical Society in 1998; and the Benjamin E. Lippincott Award of the American Political Science Association in 2003. In 2007, the Social Science Research Council established an annual prize in Hirschman’s honor. The Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University selected Hirschman as a recipient of the 2013 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought for his critical role in crossing disciplines to forge new theories and policies to promote international development. In honor of Hirschman’s exceptional contributions to economic thought, the Institute created the Albert O. Hirschman professorship in the School of Social Science in 1998.

Hirschman is survived by his daughter, Katia Salomon of Paris; two sons-in-law, Alain Salomon and Peter Gourevitch; four grandchildren, Lara Salomon Pawlicz, Grégoire Salomon and Alex and Nick Hirschman Gourevitch; nine great grandchildren, Hannah, Rebecca, Isaac, Eva, Rachel, Olivia, Ezra, Theodore, and Zackary; and a sister, Eva Monteforte of Rome. He was predeceased by a daughter, Lisa Hirschman Gourevitch, in 1999, and by his wife of 70 years, Sarah Hirschman, founder of People & Stories/Gente y Cuentos, in January of 2012.

———

Gertrude Neelen

Gertrude Neelen was born on October 6, 1925 and died on February 23, 2012 at the age of 86. As a celebration of her life, and as a remembrance of this wonderful woman, we publish her obituary here for the first time.

Born and raised in Hoboken, New Jersey, both Trudie (as everyone knew her) and her brother George were avid fans and participants in the Hoboken soccer league where Trudie served as a long-time member of the Ladies Auxiliary. As a young girl, Trudie was a member of the Grace Reformed Church in Hoboken and remained inspired by and faithful to her religious beliefs throughout her life. Choosing a career in “service” as she teemed it, Trudie put her perfectionist tendencies to work as a housekeeper in various illustrious households along the Eastern seaboard, including the Rockefellers.

Finally settling in Princeton, New Jersey, Trudie lived as a longtime resident of Princeton Community Village where she was known for her love of animals and plants, exhibiting a tender and inspired way with all of the animals she rescued and the multitude of plants that bloomed, exuberantly under her watch. A shy, gentle woman, Trudy will be remembered for her generous spirit, which was manifested through her continuous lifelong support of animal organizations throughout the United States. Trudie will also be remembered for the characteristic devotion she exhibited towards her friends, her own animals, and the greenery, which always surrounded her.

Trudie is missed by her friends, her longtime animal companions, Holly and Tessie, and her family, with whom she reunited after a long absence in the final brave days of her life. Trudie is survived by her brother George and his wife, Mildred of Belvidere, New Jersey, and their three children Janet, Barbara, and George II.

In honor of Trudie, all those who knew her are encouraged to give to an animal or wildlife organization of their choice. The Mercer County Wildlife Center is a local organization that is always in need of support and supplies.

———

Genevieve Somers Gorman

Genevieve Somers Gorman died Tuesday, December 11, 2012, following a long and courageous battle with cancer. She died at home in Princeton surrounded by family who love and miss her very much.

Gen was born on February 21, 1934 in Newark, New Jersey to Dr. James F. and Helen W. Somers. She was raised in South Orange, New Jersey and Peru, Vermont where she developed a life-long love of nature and the outdoors.

Following graduation with a BS degree from St. Mary of the Woods College in Terre Haute, Indiana, Gen worked for New Jersey’s Public Service Electric and Gas Company where she conducted televised cooking classes intended to educate women on nutrition and cooking. This was the first of many professional and volunteer efforts devoted to helping those less advantaged improve their lives primarily through education and nutrition.

While raising her children, Gen served as chairman of the combined Junior Leagues of New Jersey’s Legislative Task Force, successfully lobbying for legislation to protect the state’s neglected and abused children, and as president of the Association of the North Princeton Development Center, a 600 member volunteer organization dedicated to raising funds and developing programs for the Center’s mentally handicapped clients.

Between 1984 and 1993, Gen worked at the Katherine Gibbs School of New Jersey first as director of continuing education and later as director of placement. In 1993, she joined the Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation in Princeton where she was director of the foundation’s Crisis Ministry Program providing grants to religious, community-based hunger relief programs across the country. While at the foundation, Gen developed an annual two day conference bringing together leaders of non-profit organizations involved in anti-hunger initiatives with the goal of sharing hunger solutions and fund raising policies. She also co-founded New Jersey’s Farmers Against Hunger Program, whose mission was to bring fresh produce to the hungry. As a result of her efforts, Gen was invited to serve on a panel advising the Clinton White House on hunger issues.

In the final years of her life, Gen was a member of the Advisory Board of Farmers Against Hunger, the Board of Princeton Pro Musica and The Present Day Club.

She is survived by her five children all of whom attended Princeton’s public schools: Kevin (Philadelphia); James (Philadelphia); Mary Singh (New York City); Robyn Savage (Boulder, Colorado); and, Sally Fitzhugh (Oakland, California). She is also survived by her daughter-in-law Megan Othersen Gorman, her sons-in-law Alok Singh, Michael Fitzhugh and Thomas Savage, eight grandchildren and her sisters Mary Moore (New York City) and Helen Somers Moses (Asheville, North Carolina). She was predeceased by her former husband, Robert P. Gorman, a grandson, Henry Gorman, and her two brothers, James and William Somers.

There will be a funeral mass and life celebration on Saturday, January 12, 2013 at 11 a.m. at Aquinas House, 65 Stockton Street, Princeton, New Jersey. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Gen’s memory to HomeFront, Inc. an organization whose mission is to break the cycle of poverty for homeless families in Central New Jersey (1880 Princeton Avenue, Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648). Memorial funds will be dedicated to HomeFront’s Healthy Food/Healthy Life Program, providing food and nutrition to vulnerable and homeless families.

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Andrew Solomon’s Timely, Timeless Book: Embattled Families and the Work of Love

“I am glad I had kids and glad I had the kids I did,” says Sue Klebold, the mother of Columbine killer Dylan Klebold, “because the love for them — even at the price of this pain — has been the single greatest joy of my life.” People looking for answers or at least insights in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook School shootings might begin by reading Andrew Solomon’s Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity (Scribner $37.50), which includes a long, timely, in-depth conversation with Klebold’s parents. In the decade Solomon spent gathering material for this bible of “differentness” (702 pages, 130 pages of notes), he spoke with some three hundred families, including my own.

The Word

When Andrew first contacted us (from now on it’s “Andrew,” since that’s how we know him), he was calling the book A Dozen Kinds of Love. The change from a primarily descriptive title to the more didactic, agenda-driven Far From the Tree is reflected in the almost Emersonian assertiveness of the first sentence — “There is no such thing as reproduction.” The idea that “two people are but braiding themselves together” in “an act of production” is “at best a euphemism to comfort prospective parents before they get in over their heads …. Parenthood abruptly catapults us into a permanent relationship with a stranger.”

As the parent of a child who is as close to the tree as he is far from it (this has never been an either/or situation), I’m sympathetic to the working title, if only because the final one lacks a crucial word, and the word (as the Beatles sing in “The Word”) is “love.” It might be an awkward fit, but you could put Love after Children in the subtitle. That one word and everything it stands for is behind the force that drives parents to bravely make the best of — or else to be unmade by — a dire situation. And it’s the word parents bet everything they have on, emotionally and materially, in hopes of saving a life or a mind or at least sustaining the day-to-day reality of a family that could fall apart forever with the next 9-1-1 call.

Love Hurts

Before and after chapters on deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, severe disability, prodigies, rape, transgender, and crime, Andrew tells his own story, first as a gay son whose sexuality alienated his parents, and then, in the concluding chapter, as a gay father suddenly dealing with a new son and an extended family so diverse and complicated as to make the very issues of parenthood he highlights at the outset seem almost trivial.

In the last sentence of the book’s first paragraph, Andrew claims that “Loving our own children is an exercise for the imagination.” As many of the heartbreaking stories in Far From the Tree suggest, parental love actually blindsides the imagination; it’s a visceral experience, it hurts, it doesn’t have time or space to think or imagine, it’s a sensory ground zero, as can be seen in Andrew’s own response to childbirth.

On learning there may be serious medical issues with George, his newborn son, Andrew writes, “I felt the inside parts of my body that are usually warm go cold, while the parts exposed to the air suddenly seemed to be on fire.” Earlier, though his partner John had been “instantly enraptured” by the baby, Andrew was imagining birth as “so mysterious and so much weirder than sorcery or intergalactic warfare that it humbles you instantly.”

When, however, it begins to look as though George may have bleeding in the brain, a symptom necessitating surgery, Andrew thinks “how ironic it would be if, in the midst of writing about exceptional children,” he “were to produce such a child.” He may also have been thinking how ironic that with his powers of empathy, and the enormous effort he’s made to understand and appreciate what so many suffering parents have gone through, he’s about to experience the real thing. But “imagination” leaves the room when he looks at his son as a victim: “I knew I loved him by how hard I suddenly tried not to love him. I remembered all the parents who had described spreading the news about their thriving baby and then picking up the phone a day or two later to report a different tale.” At this point, it gets intense: “A terrified piece of me was contemplating giving him up into care. My strongest impulse was to hold him tight and not let him go for the tests at all. I wanted him to be well, but I wanted me to be well, too, and even as I formulated that divide, it collapsed, and I saw that one thing could not be true without the other.”

When the brain scan is completely clear, Andrew realizes “that George, who had done nothing more admirable than cry and feed, was richly and permanently human to me, possessed of a soul, and no alteration could change that.”

Accepting Columbine

It’s only because of the debacle in Newtown that I’ve singled out the Columbine mother’s story from among the many gathered in this invaluable book’s “epic narratives of resilience,” as Andrew puts it after describing the birth of his son (“no other optimism is so great as having a child”). When you meet Sue Klebold, Dylan’s mother, in these pages, you get at least some small notion of what Nancy Lanza would have been facing had she not been her son Adam’s first victim last week. “After Columbine,” Sue tells Andrew, “I felt that Dylan killed God. No god could have had anything to do with this, so there must not be one. When everything in your world is gone, all your belief systems, and your self-concepts — your beliefs in yourself, your child, your family — there is a process of trying to establish, who am I? Is there a person there at all? …. I sat next to someone on a train a while ago and we had a really wonderful conversation, and then I could feel the questions coming — ‘So, how many kids do you have?’ …. I had to tell him who I was. And who I am forever now is Dylan’s mother.”

On another occasion, Ms. Klebold, whose job involved counseling victims of disabilities, was talking with a client “who was blind, had only one hand, had just lost her job, and was facing trouble at home.” When the woman told her, “I have my problems, but I wouldn’t trade places with you for anything in the world,” Dylan Klebold’s mother could only laugh: “All those years I have worked with people with disabilities and thought, ‘Thank God I can see; thank God I can walk; thank God I can scratch my head and feed myself.’ And I’m thinking, how funny it is how we all use one another to feel better.”

That last thought suggests one of the many virtues of Far From the Tree. Regardless of any reader’s particular situation, from the parent of a “perfect child” to the parent of an unending human challenge, reading this book, using, in effect, “one another to feel better,” we know more and we care more.

Beginning in Venice

I can’t resist mentioning “Welcome to Holland,” the popular fable (5000 postings and counting on Google) Andrew quotes in full to open the chapter on Down Syndrome (DS). Briefly stated, the idea is that expectant parents who have been looking forward to childbirth as to “a fabulous vacation trip to Italy” (“you buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans”) end up, alas, in poor little Holland. The parents are upset (“All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy”) but since the change in the flight plan is beyond their control, they make do with the thought that it could have been worse, could have been some “horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine, and disease.” But hey, it’s “just a different place,” and all you need is a new set of guidebooks.

It’s hard to believe that “Welcome to Holland” has been recommended by doctors and therapists to parents of disabled children. For a start, the essence of the premise is thoroughly absurd. To equate a lifetime proposition like raising a disabled child with a vacation! But I’m a sucker for crazy analogies, so let’s try it my way. If the birth and beauty of the child is as thrilling and as engaging as, say, ours was, Holland and Italy have got nothing to do with it. Our plane lands in Shangri-La, or, to be faithful to the original, Venice, since that’s where my wife and I actually began the hitchhiker’s honeymoon in reverse that led to marriage and a baby and a place in Andrew’s book.

Okay, so there we are in our metaphorical Venice, living humbly but happily in a pensione off Piazza San Marco with the most beautiful baby in the world. For the first few weeks we spend every evening at Caffé Florian on the Piazza pigging out on silver saucers full of chocolate gelato, but then we start hearing from Italian pediatricians about conditions like “failure to thrive” and “renal tubular acidosis” and “possible dwarfism” (precursors to the “perfect multitude of psychiatric symptoms” listed for our child in Far From the Tree) and all of a sudden Venice is threatened with flood and famine and plague; in fact, it’s sinking, possibly to its doom, and we have no choice but to head back to the U.S.A. and an apartment on Patton Avenue in Princeton. Jump ahead three decades and here we are having lunch with Andrew on the back deck of the house we now own and have been living in since 1986. And when Andrew tells our son goodbye, saying, “I know it can be hard having a total stranger come into your house and ask you all these questions,” our then-33-year-old son gives him “a warm hug,” looks him in the eye, and tells him, “You don’t seem like a stranger to me.” For a brief moment, Andrew senses “a deeply touching capacity for connection” and a “self beneath the illnesses.”

The truth is, in this relationship there are no strangers and the work of love goes on and on and on.


Alicia Ostriker and Gerald Stern Share the Stage at Labyrinth Books

“It’s so fun to be reading with Gerry,” said poet Alicia Ostriker on Saturday afternoon at Labyrinth Books.

“Gerry” was another poet, Gerald Stern, a Pittsburgh native who has written 17 poetry collections and won the National Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, the Ruth Lilly Prize, and the Wallace Stevens Award, among others. He currently lives in
Lambertville.

Ms. Ostriker, a former English professor at Rutgers University and current resident of Princeton, was born in Brooklyn. Her writing includes 14 poetry collections as well as several books on the Bible, and her prizes include the Paterson Poetry Prize, the William Carlos Williams Award, the San Francisco State Poetry Center Award, and the National Jewish Book Award.

The two are good friends, and on Saturday they complemented — and complimented — each other with their introductions, rapt attention to the others’ readings, and easy banter. It is not surprising to learn that they are currently sharing an “Arts of Respect” residency at Drew University.

Introducing Ms. Ostriker, Mr. Stern noted that her latest collection of poems, The Book of Life, is a reference to the Jewish belief that, on Yom Kippur, people’s fates for the coming year are sealed in a heavenly book. “Jews are so obsessed with books that their God is even a librarian,” he joked.

Ms. Ostriker described the volume as a “diaspora of poems” that “speak to each other” about what it means to be Jewish, female, and a poet, “yesterday and today.”

Her selections on Saturday afternoon included a poem about being with her relatives Becky and Benny in Far Rockaway, a place that “is past the last subway station” where aging Jews, “warty like alligators,” soak up the sun “as if it were Talmud.”

Segueing from that first generation that was “so full of yearning for the young ones,” she read poems about the joys of being with a grandchild; Allen Ginsburg’s saintliness; being in Israel; and, more than once, arguing with a God who allows tragedies like the bombing of Kosovo to take place. “Judaism is at a turning point,” she observed as she finished. Although we “don’t know how yet,” she suggested that these differences would occur because “women will help imagine it.”

Ms. Ostriker transitioned to her role as introducer, by walking around the podium three times. She described Mr. Stern as “our mad poet … a cross between Whitman and Rimbaud,” who deserves his many prizes.

Reading from a recently published book of essays, Stealing History, Mr. Stern cast an eclectic net as he considered everything from dragonflies to Turkish restaurants in Paris.

Wearing a cap and well-worn jeans, Mr. Stern explained that rather than being “essays,” the works in Stealing History were divided into “sections” that reflect the “chaos you will encounter” in life. “Essays would be more meditative,” he observed. “This gets right to it.”

One reviewer described the book as “patient and wise, but also frenzied, angry — kind of wild. It’s loose and free, but also elegantly written. The work is a trip, full of humor, wit, and wisdom.”

The essays are very personal, as is Mr. Stern’s poetry. A poem about Eleanor Roosevelt in In Beauty Bright imagines Mrs. Roosevelt meeting Vice President Henry Wallace for lunch at One Fifth Avenue so that they can plot on ways to get Franklin to do good. Briefing the audience on Saturday about the poem, Mr. Stern said that as a young man, he regularly read Mrs. Roosevelt’s column, “My Day,” and that he kept a photograph of her next to one of his grandmother. “’Did you know her?’” he reported someone asking. “’Sure,’” he replied. “’But you didn’t,’” said the other. “’Sure I did,’” responded Mr. Stern. “’I wrote a poem about her.’” Other poems were about Whitman in Camden (“Broken Glass”), a little white Fiat (he had to run with it and then jump in to get it started), and Nietzsche (“he suffered from shame and sadness in different cities”).

“I’m a spy on myself,” said Mr. Stern. In their awareness of what’s human, unjust, inexplicable, and very funny, Mr. Stern and Ms. Ostriker are members of the same ring.


Area Exhibits 12/19/12

Art for Healing Gallery, University Medical Center of Princeton, Route 1, Plainsboro, is showing watercolors by Joel Popadics through January.

Arts Council of Princeton, Paul Robeson Center, 102 Witherspoon Street, has outdoor sculpture by Mike Gyampo on view through March 30 on the Michael Graves Terrace. Visit www.artscouncilofprinceton.org.

Bernstein Gallery at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, has works by political artist Marcia Annenberg through February 14. A reception and artist talk is February 3, 3-5 p.m.

Bray Gallery, 202 North Union Street, Lambertville, shows recent paintings by Joseph Bottari and Malcolm Bray, and photography by Andrew Wilkinson through January 6. Call (609) 397-1858 for information.

D&R Greenway, 1 Preservation Place, has “Urban Landscapes” on view through February 15. Works by Louis Russomanno, Susan Marie Brundage, Jean Childs Buzgo, Wills Kinsley, Leon Rainbow, Thom Lynch, and others are included, along with art by the A-Team Artists from Trenton. Also on view is a photo documentary on dance by Edward Greenblatt. Call (609) 924-4646 before visiting.

Ellarslie, Trenton City Museum in Cadwalader Park, Parkside Avenue, Trenton, is showing “James Rhodes, Trenton Stoneware Potter, 1773-1784” and “Contemporary Art from the TMS Collection” through January 13. On view through January 6 is “Over the River: The Artists of Yardley,” a juried exhibition. Call (609) 989-3632 or visit www.ellarslie.org.

Firestone Library at Princeton University, has in its Milberg Gallery “Woodrow Wilson’s Journey to the White House,” through December 28. “First X, Then Y, Now Z: Thematic Maps” runs through February 10 in the main exhibition gallery. “Your True Friend and Enemy: Princeton and the Civil War” shows in the Mudd Manuscript Library Cotsen Children’s Library through July 31. “Into the Woods: A Bicentennial Celebration of the Brothers Grimm” is on view through February 28.

Historical Society of Princeton, Bainbridge House, 158 Nassau Street, is showing “Einstein at Home” and “From Princeton to the White House,” which celebrates the 100th anniversary of Woodrow Wilson, through January 13. On December 28 at 11 a.m., “Happy Birthday Woodrow Wilson!” family program includes stories and activities. December 29 at 11 a.m., the family celebration is “USS Constitution,” focused on the story of “Old Ironsides.” For more information visit www.prince
tonhistory.org.

Morven Museum & Garden, 55 Stockton Street, presents “Portrait of Place: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints of New Jersey, 1761-1898” through January 13. Museum hours are Wednesdays-Fridays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. Group tours of 10 or more can be arranged any day by advance reservation. Visit www.morven.org.

New Jersey State Museum, 205 West State Street, Trenton, has “Size Matters: Small Works from the Fine Art Collection” through December 30. Visit www.newjerseystatemuseum.org.

The Princeton University Art Museum has works by Parastou Forouhar, Mona Hatoum, Sigalit Landau, Shirin Neshat and Laila Shawa on view through January 13 as part of “The Fertile Crescent” project. “Dancing into Dreams: Maya Vase Painting of the Ik’ Kingdom” is on exhibit through February 17. “City of Gold: Tomb and Temple in Ancient Cyprus” is on view through January 20. Museum hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. Call (609) 258-3788.

Small World Coffee, 14 Witherspoon Street, is showing paintings by Maxine Shore through
December 21.

Rudd and Mann Revive Roles From an Earlier Film

IN THE MOOD: Pete (Paul Rudd, left) and his wife Debbie (Leslie Mann) are enjoying a rare romantic moment, which Pete will undoubtedly dispel later on with inappropriate behavior, such as flossing his teeth at a critical moment.

We first met Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) in Knocked Up (2007), when the couple was in crisis, primarily because of her controlling behavior. She unreasonably suspected her husband of cheating on her because of the odd hours he kept as a rock and roll talent scout.

Their subplot was an amusing diversion from the main story about the farcical plight of a popular TV host. In This Is 40, Pete and Debbie, who we learn are in an unhappy marriage, have become the protagonists of a battle-of-the-sexes comedy.

At the point of departure, we find them both on the verge of turning 40-years-old. Debbie’s in denial, still trying to pass for 38, and is dreading the impending arrival of her birthday.

Meanwhile, Pete has regressed behaviorally, and routinely undermines any potential romantic mood by inappropriately flaunting unappetizing behavior such as flossing, among others, thereby ruining the mood. So, it comes as no surprise that the spark has gone completely out of their relationship.

This sad state of affairs is established during the picture’s opening tableaus when we see how, between their demands of work and raising two daughters (Maude and Iris Apatow), Pete and Debbie are too drained by the end of the day to even think about lovemaking. In fact, the most passion either exhibits is for their jobs.

He’s the CEO of a struggling retro record company that represents obscure has-beens like Gram Parker, and she owns a trendy boutique that is in financial trouble because of embezzlement on the part of a trusted employee. In addition to their marital problems, they may also lose their multimillion-dollar McMansion.

It’s important to note that This Is 40 was written and directed by Judd Apatow, who is the master of the shock and exploitation genre, whose productions have glorified profanity, potty humor, graphic sexuality, and nudity. This offering won’t disappoint his diehard fans in that regard, and even has the rudiments of a plot that may be of interest to people whose IQs are in the room temperature range.

Very Good (**½). Rated R for sexuality, nudity, crude humor, drug use, and profanity. Running time: 134 minutes. Distributor: Universal Pictures.


Library’s “Spotlight on the Humanities” Series Is Focused on Architecture and Engineering

UP ON THE ROOF: Photographer, pilot, and architect Alex MacLean has made a career of viewing landscapes from above. Shown here shooting an angle of New York City’s rooftops, he was the most recent speaker at the Princeton Public Library’s “Spotlight on the Humanities” architecture series.

Last Wednesday, people attending a lunchtime lecture at Princeton Public Library were given a rare glimpse of New York City. A bird’s eye view of Manhattan and Brooklyn rooftops, provided by pilot and photographer Alex MacLean, revealed surprising “roofscapes” containing lush gardens and geometric, agricultural patterns. The audience, clearly engaged by Mr. MacLean’s commentary as he projected views from his book Up on the Roof: New York’s Hidden Skyline Spaces, murmured repeatedly in surprise.

The gathering was the most recent in the library’s Spotlight on the Humanities Series focused on architecture. Begun earlier this year with talks by Princeton architecture professor Esther da Costa Meyer, the library’s designer Nicholas Garrison, and architect and dean emeritus of the Princeton University School of Architecture Robert Geddes, the series will continue with University Architect Ronald McCoy on January 17, Princeton based architect Michael Graves on February 13, and author Siobhan Roberts, whose book Wind Wizard is about Alan Davenport, considered the father of modern wind engineering, on February 26.

“It’s a wonderful series,” says Janie Hermann, the library’s programming director, following Mr. MacLean’s presentation. “People were just thrilled. And Alex sold almost a whole box of his books.”

The series is funded by contributions the library receives from the National Endowment for the Humanities. “I came up with the Spotlight on the Humanities because we had been getting requests for more daytime programming,” Ms. Hermann continues. “That’s challenging. But I realized that we would probably attract a crowd if we did scholarly lectures. I thought a lot of people in this town, some of whom are retired and some of whom are working, would hopefully come during their lunch break. And we’ve had a minimum of 40 or 50 people each time.”

Mr. MacLean is an architect who has flown his plane over most of the United States to document the landscape. His talk last week followed one the previous day at New York’s Mid-Manhattan Library. The latest book, published by Princeton Architectural Press, shows how changes to the city’s diverse rooftops are making the city more livable and sustainable. Photographs show not only green spaces but also water towers, swimming pools, tennis courts, restaurants, and sweeping works of art meant to be seen from above.

A committee including Ms. Hermann, Princeton University professor Stanley Katz, and Princeton University Art Museum Curator of Education Caroline Harris helps decide about programming for the series. Ms. Hermann found Mr. MacLean after reading a review of Up on the Roof. “I looked at his website and saw that he did public speaking,” she says. “So I reached out to him and he was happy to come.”

Next up is Mr. McCoy, whose talk is titled “Creating Place at Princeton.” The presentation will focus on “place-making” in architecture and landscape design, and how the Princeton campus balances innovation with a lasting sense of place. Mr. Graves, an internationally known architect whose most prominent local building is the Arts Council of Princeton across the street from the library, will discuss his work when he is featured in the series. Ms. Roberts will talk about her book, which investigates how wind navigates the obstacle course of the earth’s natural and built environments, and how when not properly heeded, causes damage — particularly appropriate considering the recent devastation of Superstorm Sandy.

Audiences meet in the library’s Community Room, where coffee and cookies are served, and attendees are welcome to bring a brown bag lunch. “The idea is to do this once or twice a year, depending on topics and availability,” says Ms. Hermann. “We’re very excited about it and the response has been very positive so far.”


Justin Timberlake’s Presence on Nassau Street Pleases Some Store Owners, Angers Others

News that actors Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck would be filming scenes for the crime thriller Runner, Runner at several sites in Princeton drew hordes of people to town last Friday. The streets, already clogged with holiday shoppers, got even more crowded as visitors anxious for a glimpse of the movie stars quickly filled up parking garages and side streets.

While there were no sightings of Mr. Affleck, Mr. Timberlake was spotted at numerous locations. Chief among them was the 100 block of Nassau Street, where a section of the sidewalk was closed off for approximately an hour while New Regency Productions shot scenes for the film. While some local business owners reached this week said they welcomed the attention, others were angered by the interruption of what they consider a crucial holiday shopping day.

“At 2:45 they closed the sidewalk until 4 p.m.,” complained Henry Landau of the Landau store at 102 Nassau. “We were having a great day, and all of a sudden there’s nobody in the store. It’s ridiculous. One customer had driven from a distance and couldn’t get in. It just shows a total lack of consideration of the merchants.”

Next door to the Landau store at Forest Jewelers, owner Mitch Forest concurred. “Whoever gave permission to do the filming didn’t take into consideration, other than receiving a fee, how it would affect shopping,” he said. “Did they talk to any Borough merchants? If nobody did, then it’s just another indication of how little perhaps those who gave permission understand how business works in the community. It’s almost a disrespect. It killed us for that period of time.”

Borough administrator Bob Bruschi said merchants received hand-delivered notifications about the planned filming. “Clearly there is an impact,” he said. “We tried to make that impact as small as possible. We felt that since they were kind of hop, skipping, and jumping around town at three and a half locations that it wouldn’t be that much of an interruption. We try to be flexible and we feel that in the long term, it’s a good thing. It’s a tough time of year and I know that they want to make their nut, and we want them to do that. But we have to weigh the decision.”

One merchant saw business improve as a result of the filming. “I thought it was great,” said Sal Mazzella, owner of Massimo’s Express at 124 Nassau. “A lot of kids, especially high school girls, who were on the street, came in and got slices, and the movie company ordered 10 pizzas. We had an extra 100 people who came in. This kind of thing brings people to town who usually don’t come. If you live half an hour away and you want to see JT, then you’ll come to town.”

Mr. Mazzella has souvenirs in his store from the making of the film Transformers in 2008. A scene from the movie was shot on the Princeton University campus, and actors Shia LeBoeuf and Megan Fox were among the cast and crew who came in for pizza. “I locked the doors when they came in, and as a thank you they gave me a copy of the Bumblebee [action figure], an autographed script, and a picture of them, which are up on my wall,” he said. “It’s great when that kind of thing happens.”

Brian Harris, manager at Princeton Running Company at 108 Nassau, said he had no complaints about loss of business due to the filming. “There was one period where we didn’t have many customers, but generally we got the business we were going to get for that day,” he said. “A lot of customers said they had a problem parking, though.”

Parking is a constant concern for Dorothea von Moltke, owner of Labyrinth Books at 122 Nassau. While the sidewalk in front of that store was not closed for the filming, the lack of parking added to her worries. “The big thing that was a problem was the traffic snarl,” she said. “As bad as it is on Friday afternoons, and with parking such an issue during the holidays, this made it more of a concern. We are always worried about that because our competition is the malls, which have easy parking. So anything that compounds that is an issue. But we were busy, and because the weather was good it was a fine day for us anyway.”

Mr. Forest said that while he did receive the flyer informing him of the filming, the news came as a last-minute surprise. “They just popped it on us,” he said. “This is a time of year when we need nothing but momentum, and we lost some momentum. Did it tick clients off? Absolutely.”


After Timberlake

Life on Nassau Street was back to normal Saturday following Friday’s closing of a portion of this block to permit Justin Timberlake and a film crew to do location filming for the crime thriller “Runner, Runner.” Not all local merchants were happy. See story on page 7. (Photo by Emily Reeves)