A community's place . . . in a town's future

Many people would say Princeton Borough stops at the graveyard. Diagonal from the Arts Council on Witherspoon Street in a large plot of earth — where the headstones marking the graves of white people are separated from those marking the graves of black people — many would say Princeton ends and another town begins.

And while most residents of the John-Witherspoon community — which begins with Green Street right beyond the graveyard — do not want to be a completely separate entity, they relish their unique identity.

Just as most blacks still elect to be buried in the black portion of the graveyard, many of those living in the historic community north of Palmer Square have not been forced into their neighborhood, but rather, live there by choice.

"I like Princeton, but Leigh Avenue is cool," said George Cumberbatch, who moved to the John-Witherspoon community from the West Indies as a high school student in 1973 and has owned the restaurant George's Downtown Deluxe on Leigh Avenue for the past 12 years.

"There's more of a sense of community," Cumberbatch added as he casually leaned one elbow on the wooden counter where he places the hot plates of catfish and fried chicken once they are ready to be served. "Maybe people are more at ease."

Though community members are self-sufficient in spirit, they know they need the support of the Borough to preserve and protect their property and to provide adequate recreational facilities for their children.

"You know what they're saying?" asked Rhetta Hoagland — a lifetime resident of the neighborhood and member of Princeton's first black family — at a Borough Council meeting on overcrowding. "We're down there in the black area and they don't care about us."

"This is part of Princeton too," she added, raising her voice.

Though to a much lesser degree than they did in the past, many of the streets in the John-Witherspoon community create a cacophony of site and sound.

Clothing lines hang in the yard of one house that has a torn, tan, corduroy couch sitting on its porch, while a flowering hydrangea bush and white, cushioned chair adorn the grass and porch of the neighboring home. Loud music spilling out the window of one house and into the street conflicts with the quiet neighboring chatter that remains peacefully between two men sitting on a porch.

For residents of the John-Witherspoon community, overcrowding, litter and loud noise filling their narrow streets have been their most recent causes for concern. As prices have risen in Princeton's least expensive real estate area, landlords often sell one-family homes to multiple families while failing to monitor the number of inhabitants or condition in which the house is maintained.

Borough Mayor Marvin Reed said he understands residents' concerns that the character of the neighborhood is being diluted.

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"I think the Borough has helped the neighborhood in that regard to resist that from happening," Reed said. "I think there've been real efforts at neighborhood stabilization."

Reed mentioned the improvements the Borough has made to old homes, the steps it has taken to create new, more affordable housing and its recent efforts to reinforce the importance of housing inspection.

But John-Witherspoon community residents highlighted other areas — such as provision of recreational facilities for youth — that the Borough has neglected.

"They've got to put more places for kids. What they've got isn't doing anything," said Markese Brown, a sophomore at Princeton High School who lives on Clay Street.

Though Reed said the Borough requires the Arts Council to provide programs and services to the community, most residents said they feel that current available facilities are inadequate.

Cumberbatch recalled the days when the Arts Council building used to house a YMCA — a place where people played pool, attended band rehearsals and went to high school dances. But the facility's role changed when the Borough rented the building to the Arts Council because maintaining the YMCA had become too costly, he said.

"The Arts Council's there, but people probably don't feel the same openness," Cumberbatch said.

Cumberbatch said he believes the current youth facilities in Princeton are insufficient.

And when the John-Witherspoon neighborhood needs Borough assistance, community members have, in most cases, been responsible for bringing about change, according to Borough Police Capt. Charles Davall.

Residents' indignation at the changing character of their community led to local legislation prohibiting both the carrying of open containers of alcohol in public and public urination.

"We hear about [problems] because the public isn't afraid to complain," Davall said.

John-Witherspoon residents have had a history of standing up for what they believed their neighborhood should be.

They fought developers' efforts to continue the process begun with the construction of Palmer Square — which pushed the community north of Nassau and squeezed its physical dimensions by uprooting homes and developing high-end real estate.

In 1956, when the Borough proposed an urban revitalization plan to renew the Witherspoon area by tearing down homes and building public housing, residents resisted so strongly that the then-mayor appointed the Witherspoon-John Street Citizens Committee to review the proposal.

As a result of the committee's input, the plan was put down and most homes remained in their original owners' hands.

And more recently, Shirley Satterfield — a lifetime resident of the John-Witherspoon community — has spearheaded efforts to have that neighborhood designated an historic district to ensure the preservation of the area's schools, churches and homes.

Yet despite reports of progress and more amicable relations, members of the John-Witherspoon community still view the Borough's government — to a certain degree — as outsiders making decisions for their part of town.

Albert Hinds, 98, said that during the 20 years he served on the Borough's zoning board he was the lone black representative.

"The black face stays the same," Hinds said. "If you put one up there, you can say that it's at least integrated. But when you're in the minority you don't have the power."

Borough Clerk Penny Carter agreed that one or two people serving on a Borough board could not adequately act as spokepeople for an entire community.

"But no one else has expressed an interest," Carter said. "I don't see it as the Borough discouraging anyone, but I don't see anyone coming forward either."

Carter added that lack of minority representation is due in large part to the increasing percentage of aging blacks in the community. Most older residents of the John-Witherspoon community are too tired from years of social activism to serve on current committees, while younger members of the community often choose not to become involved and move away as soon as they have graduated from high school.

Many residents were reticent to relate their feelings about the Borough's government, and met questions about its effectiveness with vague, close-lipped responses and abruptness.

"Times change, people change, things change," said an employee of the Masonic Temple on John Street, who moved 10 years ago to Hamilton Township because Princeton was becoming too expensive.

And Helen Bess — who moved to the community when she was very young and has lived in the same house on John Street for 40 years — talked about the tightening boundaries of the neighborhood. But she refused to respond to questions about whether she was pleased with the running of the town.

"Let's leave it like that," she said hastily. "I have company now."

But, most likely, residents will have something to say, as Princeton Future — a panel of University and community leaders — discusses plans to create a new town center tentatively called "Madison Square."

Robert Geddes, former dean of the University's architecture school and co-chair of the panel, said that "when Palmer Square was built, it transformed the town," and that he expected the new square to have a similarly dramatic effect.

But beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

And as panel members discuss the details of the town's most recent urban renewal project, they will be deciding not just where to uproot and construct buildings, but how the John-Witherspoon community will find its place in Princeton's future.