LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, July 5
Borough out of line on Cottage Club
To the editor:
The underlying principle of the recent "Cottage Club" legislation makes perfect sense: historic designation should not grant tax exemption unless historic preservation is an entity’s "primary mission".
Several aspects of that law and the borough and state’s handling of the matter trouble me, however:
1) The current legislation is retroactive, anathema to the rule of law. How can citizens know their responsibilities and plan for them if obligations change retroactively? This principle is both common sense and explicit in the U.S. Constitution ("No State shall…pass…any ex post facto Law") and the N.J. State Constitution: ("The Legislature shall not pass…any ex post facto law").
2) Cottage Club sought tax exemption in 2001. Six years later the current legislation is unlikely to resolve the matter, but only to lead to more lengthy and expensive litigation. With all due respect to the new law’s sponsors and the borough’s legal counsel, their confidence that an eccentric interpretation of state revenue law will trump unambiguous language in the U.S. and New Jersey state constitutions seems wishful thinking, at best.
3) The borough apparently presumed victory from the start, failing to reserve against loss even as adverse decisions accumulated. There is no indication that this attitude has changed or that reasonable provision will be made going forward, despite the borough’s dubious legal position.
4) Senior borough officials are now publicly threatening to selectively enforce underage drinking laws if Cottage Club continues to fight back.
I’m not sure which implication of such tactics is the most disturbing: that the borough, at present, is willfully failing to enforce the law, thereby making it accessory to any future tragedy; that the borough is prepared to use extortion to reverse undesirable judicial outcomes; or that the borough is so corrupt that it’s OK to publicly offer to continue to look the other way if Cottage Club forfeits the $326,000 in dispute.
I have no association with Cottage Club. As a borough homeowner I certainly don’t like the idea of paying higher taxes to cover their exemption. The long-term price will be far higher, however, if this confrontation weakens the Constitution and encourages future abuse of power.
Nick Karp
Boudinot Street
Princeton
Princeton needs Frist lectures?
To the editor:
Former Senator, Bill Frist, has just been appointed as a lecturer at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. The dean, Anne-Marie Slaughter, was quoted as saying "Our students will benefit from his perspectives as a healer and as senate majority leader."
I watched Frist pander shamefully to the religious right in the Terry Shiavo case and certainly wouldn’t want anyone like him teaching students at one of the best universities in the world. Frist speaks of health care reform as an important issue. Does he believe all Americans should have access to health care? Did he support this in the Senate? Is he an expert in foreign affairs? Is he a scholar or a diplomat?
Why not appoint someone like Madeleine Albright or Hans Blix, real scholars and peacemakers, unlike Frist. The student center on the Princeton campus is named the Frist Center because the Frist family donated money to Princeton. I certainly hope one cannot buy an appointment at this great university.
Also, it is curious as to why the university waited until students had gone home for the summer to make the announcement. Perhaps some protests were anticipated.
Ronald A. LeMahieu
Sequoia Court
West Windsor
Joyce Carol Oates award ‘ironic’
To the editor:
Re: "Joyce Carol Oates receives humanities award" (June 29, 2007).
If nothing else, the world of contemporary literature, such as it is, offers irony. Case in point: what could be more ironic than Joyce Carol Oates receiving a humanities award? Ms. Oates’s fiction has always displayed a morbid fascination with murder and violence. Some of her most notable nonfiction has been devoted to pugilism not as an outspoken opponent but as a fan.
An article in the The New York Times Book Review mentioned that, "there is, first of all, no room for humor in Oates’s intense, fevered world." ("People Who Hurt People" by Cathleen Schine, The New York Times Book Review, April 30, 2006.)
I needn’t elaborate on how the last century and the beginning of this one have seen no dearth of violence. Perhaps in response to this fact, the greatest works of fiction have been animated by humor and love. I’m thinking of "Ulysses," "Lolita," "In Search of Lost Time," and Beckett’s trilogy, as well as his plays. Heck, even Kafka had a sense of humor!
In movies, murder and violence are dependable crutches: they’re easy, they titillate witness Quentin Tarantino’s popularity. To make murder and violence one’s métier as a writer is to pander to a similarly shallow, calloused audience. So when will Stephen King get his award?
Margaux O’Nolan
Witherspoon Street
Princeton
A band shell for Montgomery
To the editor:
We were very pleased to see the timely letter in the June 29 Princeton Packet regarding the need for a band shell in Montgomery. Prior to reading the article, we were having a very similar discussion. We had just spent an evening at the beautiful Hopewell Gazebo to see Tom Reock’s "Rock & Reock Review", where families gathered on folding chairs and blankets with picnic dinners as children danced and played while parents sat and enjoyed.
The next day we went to Princeton to listen to the New Jersey Opera Theater company perform a collection of Broadway show tunes in Palmer Square.
A few days earlier, we traveled to South Brunswick so our 5 year old son could see Mr. Ray perform a rock-and-roll concert for kids.
The prior week we were headed to New Brunswick to see the Metropolitan Opera open air performance of "La Boheme."
Each event was a wonderful opportunity for outdoor family entertainment. Each event also brought us outside Montgomery Township. This does not have to be.
At the time, we were unfamiliar with Mr. Colby-Witanek’s efforts to obtain signatures to petition the town to consider building a band shell (http://njperformingartsyouth.org), but we enthusiastically support his efforts now.
We thought the objectives of the group to find a location to accommodate an open-air band shell that is both accessible to the entire township and respectful of our neighbors to be well thought out and considerate.
With planning efforts under way to turn the former North-Princeton Developmental Center site (now known as Skillman Village) into an official "town center", we thought this would be a great opportunity to incorporate the concept of the "open-air stage" into the overall design. The location is close to ideal in terms of accessibility and distance from established neighborhoods (so as to not disturb those that prefer the quiet surroundings that our town is noted for).
To be fair, the township does host several well-run concerts in Montgomery Park each summer, but these events require the rental of a portable county band shell which, I am sure, is available in limited supply and only at a cost that may be outside the reach of many non-profit organizations looking to host an independent event.
Investing in a permanent fixed structure would provide additional opportunities to promote music initiatives for young people as well as other musical, theater, and performing arts groups. In addition, concession opportunities at the band shell could be used to offset recurring costs or used as potential fund-raisers for the local Fire Department and EMS, as is currently done in Hopewell Borough.
Let’s join Princeton Borough, Hopewell Borough, South Brunswick, Somerville, New Brunswick and other municipalities in embracing the idea of "music in the park" with a permanent outdoor entertainment venue. I’d like to be able to support and enjoy the town I live in, and not have to rely on other neighboring communities for my family entertainment.
Ken and Louise Reilly
Barrington Road
Montgomery