Moore '79 backs out of debate

The on-campus mayoral debate became a one-candidate forum when one of the candidates did not show up on Monday evening. Republican candidate Jill Jachera took questions on University-related issues when Democratic candidate Yina Moore ’79 was unable to attend.

The debate was hosted in Whig Hall Senate Chamber by the American Whig-Cliosophic Society and Princeton Votes. Though she originally proposed the Monday date for the debate, Moore told P-Votes student representatives a few days before the event that she would not be able to attend due to a conflict with a municipal meeting.

Instead, Moore attended a Township Committee meeting on the memorandum of understanding regarding transit negotiations between the University and the community.

While municipal meetings are scheduled weeks in advanc, the agendas are not finalized until shortly before the meetings.

Moore said that she sent out an email to students explaining why she could not attend the debate, but it is unclear who received it.

“This was, I believe, the fourth date that we’d been working on with her and Jill,” P-Votes director of voter education Guy Wood ’13 said. “We couldn’t reschedule anymore.”

Wood is also an associate editor for multimedia for The Daily Princetonian.

Despite the last-minute changes, Jachera attended the former debate and, in a Q-and-A format, took questions from Wood and the audience on her positions on Borough issues. She expressed support for leaving the eating clubs on Prospect Avenue to Public Safety’s jurisdiction and for greater student involvement in Borough government.

“The fact of the matter is [underage drinking] does happen,” Jachera said. “The important thing is to make sure the students are safe.” Jachera said she would prefer to see drinking-related 911 calls go to Public Safety officers rather than to municipal police so that the threat of arrest would not deter students from seeking help.

As mayor, Jachera said, she would establish a commission of University students to meet with her on a quarterly basis to discuss municipal issues relevant to the student community, and she added that she would welcome student input as often as necessary.

Jachera also said she favors approving the University’s zoning request to build the Arts and Transit Neighborhood in the Alexander Corridor near Forbes College.

Over the past year, Borough Council members have unanimously opposed the plan because it would move Dinky Station 460 feet further southward.

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Jachera added that she supports the memorandum of understanding that, if approved along with the zoning ordinance, would obligate the University to fund transit and traffic studies of the community.

“Nobody wants [the Dinky] to be moved, but the University has made a decision that they’re going to move it anyway,” Jachera explained. “If we don’t approve the arts center, then what we’re left with is nothing.”

The University makes an annual no-strings contribution to the Borough’s operating budget, a gift that was $1.2 million last year. When the University’s six-year agreement for these contributions expires at the end of this year, University officials will negotiate a new contribution plan with Borough elected officials.

University officials have stated that, while they do not intend to withdraw the payments completely, the level of cooperation they get from the Borough on issues such as the Arts and Transit Neighborhood will influence their generosity.

“We’re on a collision course. It’s very dysfunctional; it’s very unproductive. It doesn’t encourage the University to invest more in our community,” Jachera said of the tensions between the town and the University over the past year.

She said she would like to see the University’s financial support diverted away from an annual budget contribution and redirected toward itemized investments that the University would be better able to justify as clearly benefiting both the University and the town communities.

The Borough’s year-to-year reliance on the contribution to balance its budget is dangerous, Jachera said.

“If we get it, that’s great. But since we don’t have legal leverage to get it, relying on it is very dangerous, and I would like to see us be more self-reliant rather than being so dependent,” she explained.

Along with the Nov. 8 races for municipal office, voters will face a referendum proposing a full Borough-Township merger. If both the Borough and Township pass the referendum with a majority, they will become one municipality beginning in 2013.

Jachera expressed her support for consolidation, pointing to the benefits in budgetary savings and service efficiencies that the community would receive from consolidation.

Last week Jachera asked Moore to apologize for a parody of Gloria Gaynor’s 1978 song “I Will Survive” mentioning Jachera that Moore sang at a meeting of the Princeton Community Democratic Organization on Oct. 16.

At Monday’s debate, Jachera reiterated that she saw the incident as an example of Moore’s poor judgment, but she said that she was no longer seeking an apology for the incident.

“I don’t care about her apologizing to me one way or another,” Jachera said. “I want to move forward, focusing on the issues.”