Borough Council adopts resolution opposing war

Princeton Borough Council broke from strictly local concerns Tuesday night when it adopted a resolution against a possible war with Iraq.

The Borough became one of only about 80 municipalities nationwide to formally oppose a war.

"I think what [the council] did in passing the resolution is highlight the fact there is a great deal of uncertainty," said Andrew Koontz, director of the Princeton Community Democratic Organization, which lobbied the council to consider an antiwar resolution.

Koontz said that though there would not be a "national referendum" on President Bush's policy toward Iraq, local citizens could through the resolution express their opposition.

"President Bush seems hellbent on acting unilaterally," said Rev. Bob Moore, chair of Coalition for Peace Action, a local grassroots advocacy group. "Nothing will affect us more than a war — if it generates terrorist attacks. What will devastate the economy more than the war? It is a local concern."

Democratic council

The council has been all-Democratic since 1993, but Moore said it took about two months to persuade the body to consider such a resolution. He said there is a rule that the council only considers local concerns.

David Goldfarb was the lone council-member to oppose considering a resolution.

"I would have preferred not to have considered it in the first place," he said. "I don't think this is the type of thing that the borough should promote. We weren't elected to represent our views on national issues."

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Borough council voted four to one to consider the resolution and then unanimously supported the final text.

Reservations

Goldfarb said he generally supported the aims of the resolution but had reservations.

"I doubt policymakers in Washington will spend very much time talking about what the mayoring council of Princeton says about this," he said.

Wilson School researcher Zia Mian, who is a member of the Princeton Peace Network, disagreed with Goldfarb's reasons for hesitance and said that the resolution was part of a long tradition of Americans voicing opposition to local government when "Washington won't listen."

Undergraduate involvement

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There are three University undergraduates in PCDO, including president of College Democrats Owen Conroy '05, who supported the resolution.

Princeton Committee Against Terrorism president Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky '04 said the resolution was endemic of the "Princeton bubble."

"[The council] is almost certainly responding to acute pressure from a small, fiercely active radical minority who are among the few people who remember that the Borough Council exists," he said in an email.

The resolution will be sent to state and federal politicians, Moore said.

Moore said there was a "snowballing" effect and that additional cities are considering passing similar documents. He said that he had discussed resolutions in nearby Trenton, Hamilton and Lawrence Township.