LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, June 1
Trotman offers thoughtful leadership
To the editor:
I encourage my fellow citizens to participate in our privilege of democracy by voting in the June 5 primary. We in the borough have had the thoughtful, knowledgeable and open hearted leadership of Mildred Trotman for a number of years in various capacities. She knows and cares deeply about the many communities that constitute the town we all love and share in our daily lives.
I appreciate Kim Pimley for her devotion to the American Civil Liberties Union, a group I’m virtually a lifelong member of, and I assume that she is intelligent and aware. So, it is hard for me to understand why she thinks she can jump into being the mayor without ever having served in our municipal government.
It is easy to say that you can solve hard problems whose intricacies and constituencies you don’t really understand. It is also easy to say that those who’ve been in the system for some time are no longer open to new ideas. Is there evidence that Mildred Trotman falls into the latter category? I don’t know of any. (Indeed, last year the Princeton Democratic organization wisely undertook an examination of itself and as a result decided on new directions; Mayor Trotman was very supportive of that process.) Rather, it is my impression that her time in office has been well spent in learning the issues and how things work, as well as being thoughtful, inventive, and open to suggestions about changes that might be made to improve life in the borough for all of us.
Please, dear fellow citizens, go to the polls for this primary and vote for Mildred Trotman for her commitment to and her compassion for all of us.
Ann Yasuhara
Pine Street
Princeton
Pimley offers a fresh start
To the editor:
With great hopes for the future of our beloved Princeton Borough, I have attended numerous borough council meetings through the years. I have listened to my fellow citizens express their heartfelt and often desperate concerns about taxes; housing affordability; parking; the integrity and beauty of our residential streets; the proliferation of drug and gang activity; the inefficiencies and costs of overlapping borough/township agencies and the precarious state of town/gown relations.
Year after year, we all bemoan the existence of these and other problems and resolve that something must be done. Election after election, we are promised that these critical issues are going to be addressed. Yet, council meeting after council meeting, nothing substantive seems to happen. Many of us find ourselves asking why, with quite possibly the smartest, most civic-minded constituency in this country, we don’t have more effective government?
Apparently and fortunately, Kim Pimley has asked herself the very same question. This is our chance to do at our Borough mayoral level what voters have done in New York City and at the New Jersey state level which is to vote in a fresh kind of candidatea successful, self-made business person who has the skill set, compassion and community service experience to put smart ideas and smart people to work on the complex problems which face us.
Haven’t you wondered how the so-called "development" of our prime downtown real estate has resulted in a costly, soggy carbuncle of unfinished concrete? Favorite stores keep closing because expensive and scarce parking discourages customers. Those establishments who try to expand and bring more tax revenue to Borough coffers are thwarted by bureaucratic red tape. Friends have to move out of the Borough, because they can’t afford their mounting tax bill. The only time I feel good about Princeton’s astronomical (and growing) taxes is when I’m at an out-of-town reunion: I know that I am guaranteed to one-up (and astound) any cousin who starts in with his own property-tax horror story.
Don’t our officials realize that as goes the health of the business district or as fares any one of our residential neighborhoods, so go the rest of us? From what she has told us in her campaign, Kim Pimley understands that we are all in this together and that the best way to unite diverse peoples and protect every neighborhood is to provide sound, trustworthy and responsive government.
I am tired of waiting for somebody to do something in this town. I will be voting for hope and a brighter future. The opportunity is now. Carpe Diem June 5.
B. J. Booth
Morven Place
Princeton
Pimley an alternative to ‘failed policies’
To the editor:
My family and I fled Cuba in the 1960s due to the lack of a democratic process. I became a citizen of our great land in the 1970s and cherish the competitiveness and the open debate that defines the very public democracy of our system of government. And so, it is with great dismay that I note several disturbing trends displayed in bold fashion right here in Princeton: a complete lack of accountability for failed policies; incumbents who refuse to make themselves available for public scrutiny; and the final insult refusing to accept an invitation to publicly debate forthe benefit the citizenry with a challenger who has offered alternative solutions, a public discourse, and fresh ideas.
As Princetonians face a municipal tax (yes, just the Borough component)increase of over 40 percent in the last five years, undeniable symptoms of gang violence, and a lower standard of fiduciary responsibility in the form of millions of dollars in unbilled charges to the Township than one could ever imagine for their own financial affairs, can there be any stronger evidence that this community needs a new course, a better way?
I proudly support Kim Pimley as an agent of change in the Democratic mayoral primary, on Tuesday June 5.
Fernando Guerrero
Hodge Road
Princeton, NJ
Ducking debate discredits Trotman
To the editor:
It would have been terrific if we had seen more public debates between the two candidates for mayor in the borough democratic primary. The borough is at a critical juncture regarding such issues as growth, relationship with the university, increasing property taxes and maintaining our diverse population of miniorities, seniors, students and young families.
Mildred Trotman has devoted 20 years of public service to the borough for which she deserves our gratitude and admiration but at this point, Kim Pimley, another Democrat equally as dedicated to her party’s philosohy, is challenging the status quo.
Wouldn’t it have been in the best interest for all borough voters, both Democrat and unaffiliated, low income, middle class, seniors on limited income, so-called wealthy, to have had the visions of these two candidates articulated in a public forum?
It really is too bad that Mayor Trotman could not find time in her schedule to allow for additional public discourse to take place. Clearly both candidates have been shoring up their supporters for the upcoming primary elections, but for those voters who remain undecided, it is a discredit to the incumbent’s campaign strategists that they resisted providing more opportunities for the voting public to evaluate both candidates’ positions on all the significant issues.
Based on the overwhlming interest in Ms. Pimley’s candidacy from all walks of borough life, it would behoove Mayor Trotman’s supporters to back off from labeling her opponent as being supported exclusively by her neighbors. Many voters are simply concerned that for years candidates have run unopposed in the borough, and that perhaps the time has come to be given a choice, at least on the primary level. In an open town hall forum, those Democrats who so vehemently oppose Ms. Pimley’s candidacy could have challenged her in person rather than resorting to vindictive e-mails and personal innuendo about her motivation in running for public office.
Laura Todd
Boudinot Street
Princeton
Favoring Trotman’s ‘positive manner’
To the editor:
We are writing in support of Mildred Trotman in the June 5 Democratic primary. Over the years, Ms. Trotman has been involved at a working level with all aspects of borough government and has proven herself a good representative of all residents of the borough.
She is knowledgeable, smart, thorough and open minded. Mildred is reserved and thoughtful. She is a fair and well-reasoned mayor who listens to all sides and acts in the best interests of the community.
One of the most important roles of the mayor in Princeton Borough’s form of government is to elicit ideas, moderate discussion, and encourage civil discourse in a positive manner. Mayor Trotman has repeatedly displayed these abilities in dealing with difficult and divisive issues in the borough.
Unfortunately, her challenger Kim Pimley lacks these qualities. She has neither the temperament nor the experience necessary for this demanding position.
For example, in dealing with the issue of possible historic designation for part of the Western Section, Mayor Trotman listened to both sides of the debate, insisted on sticking to the facts, and proved adept at moderating heated discussions.
By contrast, while we recognize the right of every citizen to advocate their own point of view, Ms. Pimley needlessly inflamed the discussion and ratcheted up the rhetoric and vitriol. In her letter of March 14, 2007, to "Town Topics," as she "write(s) from Singapore, on my way to Australia," she stated that her pro-historic designation neighbors "greet new homeowners with suspicion" and are "arrogant, provincial and undemocratic."
So, with no government background or experience, constant travel, and confrontational interpersonal style, we question Ms. Pimley’s ability to bring reasonableness and the necessary time to what is a full time job here in the borough. Mildred Trotman is by far the more able candidate.
John & Mary Heilner
Library Place
John & Ruth Sayer
Library Place
Austin Newton & Noriko Ohta
Library Place
David Tolman & Dorothy Shepard
Library Place
Craig & Ann Muhlhauser
Library Place
Chris Rice
Library Place
Denise Comsudis
Greenholm Street
Princeton
Corzine blamed for "click-it" ticket
To the editor:
Recently, I unexpectedly found myself a political symbol in the employment of Governor Corzine’s campaign to gloss over his decision to drive 91 mph without his seat-belt on.
To controvert the bad example he set for the public, he initiated a campaign that led officers to issue me a ticket in Princeton when I infelicitously pulled out of a parking space before putting on my seat-belt. The reaction of the officer passing on foot was decisive: "If you started driving, you get a ticket, even at 10 miles per hour."
So my question is this: "Why are NJ drivers paying $46 a shot for a multimillionaire’s decision to rarely (if ever, according to everyone around him) wear a seat-belt?"
Answer that question, and I might consider voting again for the man who undermined our state’s entire public service system by neglecting to wear a seat-belt while speeding at 91 mph in the middle of the night.
Derick Bowen
Roberts Drive
Mountain Lakes

