John Witherspoon area residents speak out against overcrowding
About a 10-minute walk from the sprawling, manicured landscape of the University campus and the sparkling sidewalks in front of chic storefronts on Nassau Street, abandoned cars litter the yards and children sleep in basements in dangerously crowded conditions.Residents from the John Witherspoon area ? an ethnically diverse and typically lower-income area north of Palmer Square ? filled the Princeton Borough Hall meeting room last night.During the Borough Council meeting, area residents voiced their concerns over the deteriorating conditions in their community.Representatives from the John-Witherspoon area came before the Council after holding several of their own forums during which they discussed problems they sensed had been rapidly growing worse in recent years.Minnie Craig, of 173 Witherspoon St., stood before the microphone and encouraged her neighbors to take advantage of their opportunity to speak up."This is your chance to be heard," Craig said.And members of the audience displayed no timidity, voicing an attack against their landlords while emphasizing that racial issues were in no way at the root of their anger."I want to stress that this is not a racial thing," said Craig, who is black.