Mildred Trotman retains seat as Princeton Borough Council president.
By: David Campbell
Joseph O’Neill was sworn in as Princeton Borough’s new mayor during the borough’s annual reorganization meeting Sunday.
Former Mayor Marvin Reed, who held the office for 13 years but chose not to seek re-election in November, administered the oath of office to Mayor O’Neill, and bid adieu to his colleagues on the council, staff and volunteers and constituents.
"We have worked well together, and we have gotten so much done," the former mayor said. "Thank you for the opportunity."
The council voted 5-0 to appoint Mr. Reed to continue serving on the Princeton Regional Planning Board. He will fill the unexpired term of Trefor Williams.
Also at Sunday’s reorganization meeting, Councilwomen Peggy Karcher and Wendy Benchley were sworn in to new three-year terms on the governing body.
With a unanimous vote by the council, Mildred Trotman was reappointed as council president for another year.
In his inaugural address, Mayor O’Neill said Mr. Reed "epitomized the consensus builder, the careful and thorough winnower of fact, and above all, a leader whose quiet perseverance set the stage for the transformation of the center of this historic town."
As the borough begins a new year, Mayor O’Neill continued, it faces several challenges, the first of which he said is the economic health of the central business district.
"Despite the euphoria that greeted the Palmer Square developer’s agreement, we must face the reality that our downtown will be a construction site for the next several years," he said.
The settlement with Palmer Square Management, reached last month after an impasse of more than a decade, permits construction of 97 to 100 luxury townhouses at Hulfish North.
Mayor O’Neill applauded initiatives undertaken by Princeton Future, downtown merchants and the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce.
"Now is the time for the merchant community and the borough to consider a mechanism for cooperative action to enhance the magic of our central business district during a prolonged period of construction," the mayor said.
A second area of concern, he noted, is the impact of Princeton University’s growth on the borough.
"In the half century or so since the end of World War II, the university has added on average a million square feet of new buildings each decade," the mayor said. He cited another half-million square feet of space that is expected from the planned Whitman College and the science library by architect Frank Gehry.
"The university’s growth has had a significant impact on the borough’s aging and sometimes ancient infrastructure of roads, sewers, parking and utilities," Mayor O’Neill said.
His agenda, he noted, will include reforming the way the university’s voluntary non-tax payments are calculated to link them to current and future growth by the school.
The future of the University Medical Center at Princeton, which Princeton HealthCare System is weighing whether to relocate from its current site off Witherspoon Street or grow in place, will also be high on the new mayor’s agenda.
He and Princeton Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand have agreed to appoint a joint task force to assist PHCS in its long-range planning, and possibly recommend relevant zoning and Master Plan changes, Mayor O’Neill said.
"The Medical Center, with more than a half million outpatient and emergency-room visits a year, employs a staff of 2,600," the mayor said. "Of the 800 physicians affiliated with the Medical Center, some 300 of them maintain offices in either the borough or the township.
"If the Medical Center were to move out of town, would these physicians move their offices to the new location?" Mayor O’Neill continued. "What would be the effect on our central business district if Princeton were to lose several hundred thousand visitors a year?
"We need to know the impact of the Medical Center’s plans on its employment of Princeton residents, on health care for the poor and uninsured, and indeed, access to emergency care for all of us," Mayor O’Neill said.
The "perennial social issue" of affordable housing also tops his agenda, the mayor continued, adding that overcrowding in the John-Witherspoon neighborhood is the "most obvious and pressing housing need the borough must address."
"But the answer to overcrowding is not to throw people out on the street," Mayor O’Neill said.
"I intend to ask Borough Council and the boards and agencies dealing with health and affordable housing to address both the symptoms and the substance of overcrowding so that we can relieve neighborhood eyesores without injustice to those living there," the mayor said.