Borough Council candidates discuss ideas, viability of alcohol ordinance

With the Princeton Borough Council election only weeks away, the USG will hold a forum for the four candidates to speak to students and community members Sunday night in Frist 302 at 8 p.m.

USG campus and community affairs chair Nina Langsam '03 said each candidate will make a short statement. Following that, audience members will be given an opportunity to ask questions to which each candidate will respond in turn.

The four candidates are Roger Martindell, running for reelection, Michael Carnevale II, Joseph O'Neill and University student Steven Abt '04. There are two seats open on the council, on which members serve three-year terms. Borough residents vote for two candidates.

Langsam said approximately 600 University students are registered to vote in the Borough — population just over 12,000. "It can definitely influence the outcome," Langsam said. The registered students are all designated to vote in the Trinity Church Parish House, at 33 Mercer Street, on Nov. 6, according to Langsam.

Martindell (D), 51, a civil rights lawyer, has been a council member since 1989. He was born in Princeton and has been involved in politics for the past 17 years. Martindell said two of his top priorities for the coming term are development of Hullfish North — a vacant lot behind Nassau Inn — and reducing Borough residents' tax burden by seeking more financial support from local nonprofit institutions.

Martindell said the value of housing in the Borough has gone up considerably in the past 25 years. A house that was once worth $75,000 may now be worth $250,000. Residents are therefore paying higher taxes, but some residents who have a fixed income can no longer afford to remain in Princeton and are forced to move out.

"A lot of native Princetonians, particularly in the John Witherspoon neighborhood, are doing exactly that," he said.

While Martindell said Borough residents are not paying especially high taxes compared to other areas, the high value of land makes finding affordable housing difficult. "[Let's] keep taxes low. Let's provide more affordable housing," he added.

He said he would prefer to see affordable housing developed throughout the Borough, not just in the John Witherspoon area.

Martindell said he is also concerned with issues that directly affect students — he was at yesterday's WROC rally — and is aware of the concern over the council's proposed alcohol ordinance. The proposed ordinance would prohibit underage possession and consumption of alcohol on private property.

"I've always been against the ordinance," Martindell said, adding, "I don't think it has a snowball chance in hell of passing."

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If the council were to take up the issue, Martindell said, "It is imperative of having the input of the University community."

One consideration, Martindell said, would be to license the eating clubs for the sale of alcoholic beverages, making the server responsible for underage drinking. Licensing would put pressure on the clubs to police themselves, and would not have the adverse effect of making students afraid to seek help — one possible result of the proposed ordinance.

Carnevale (R), 43, a lawyer and the father of two children in the local school system, said he is primarily interested in seeing local nonprofit organizations, such as the University and the Institute for Advanced Study, contribute more to the Borough. The Borough has, he said, "not engaged the tax exempts in any kind of meaningful dialogue to establish a fair contribution or payment in lieu of taxes."

Though Carnevale said he recognizes that the University does make generous contributions, he said, "Although those are nice and welcome, they really are gestures, and we need frankly more than gestures — as a matter of fairness and a matter of practical benefit to everyone involved."

Half of the Borough's land is designated nonprofit — approximately $1 billion in assessed property value. Even so, the University is the Borough's largest individual tax payer from the portion of University land that is not marked as nonprofit, he said.

"I've got serious concerns about the management of the Borough government," Carnevale said, referring to an incident where a court found that a local police officer had been harassed by Borough officials. "There's ways to make sure those things don't happen," he resolved.

Carnevale said he does not favor the immediate passage of the proposed alcohol ordinance, though he did leave open the possibility of supporting a similar ordinance in the future. "I would much rather see the eating clubs and the University . . . resolve the problem themselves. If they can't, then I wouldn't be averse to the Borough enacting an ordinance to do something about that," he said.

O'Neill (D), 68, formerly the principal research scientist at Educational Testing Service, is now retired. O'Neill said his priorities are managing the development of the downtown garage, creating more affordable housing and smoothing out the zoning system.

Referring to affordable housing, O'Neill said, "We have a fair amount of housing for families, so I would prefer to see new units be devoted to the elderly poor."

"One of the reasons that Witherspoon Street looks the same . . . is that in order to build a bigger building you would have to show that you have the parking. Now that we have a parking garage, this may unfreeze some of the value," he said.

O'Neill said he also plans to address social issues in the Borough. "The black community at Princeton still remembers [the creation of Palmer Square in 1937 that displaced much of the local African-American community], and what we're having now is a second disruption of that community, and in some way or other you might say that the University has had a part to play in that."

O'Neill said he does not support the proposed alcohol ordinance. "If a Constitutional amendment could not modify behavior on alcohol, I don't think an ordinance will," he said.

He said he also does not feel that the police should be given the power to try to modify personal behaviors on private property.

"You all as members of the University have a great deal of power which you may or may not exercise over the conduct of the administration," he said. "We consider you very important, and I have some proposals to get you all riled up [at the candidate forum]."

Abt said he is running to give the University a voice on the Borough Council. "I will effectively represent [students'] interests and their voices which have long been unheard by the council," Abt said.

He said one of his concerns is that "overall relations between the University and the Borough . . . could stand to be greatly improved."

"Each have so many resources that are capable of being shared," he said.

Abt said he agrees with Carnevale and Martindell on the issue of the alcohol ordinance. "I am against the ordinance, which I think is a terrible idea. I think it won't address the problems of dangerous drinking. If anything, it will only exacerbate them."

Yet Abt said he disagrees with the other candidates on the issue of the University's contributions to the Borough. "I think the University certainly contributes its fair share," Abt said. He said that there are 2,500 student volunteers in the area in "just about every service opportunity."

Even so, Abt said he would still be in favor of seeing the University contribute more to the surrounding community.

Abt said he also would focus on ensuring that current residents are able to continue to be able to afford to live in the Borough by keeping taxes low. He added, "We need to look at ways to build more senior housing complexes."

Abt will graduate from the University more than six months before his term as council member would be over. "Hopefully I'll stay around Princeton in some capacity," he said, noting that his home in Philadelphia is not far away. "If, for some reason, I am completely unable to do that, I would have to resign."

Carnevale questioned a student's viability as a candidate. "The voter would have to question would a student be committed to the community," Carnevale said.

Though Abt has not been a Borough resident for long, he said, "I'd still make a sincere and conscious effort to continue to learn all the issues and talk to as many people as possible in the Borough . . . to figure out what I can do to make their lives better."