We can only welcome the news that two neighboring governments have interrupted their estrangement to discuss matters of contention. It is always interesting to contemplate what might be accomplished if people with sharply divergent views can at least agree to meet on a more regular basis.
But that’s enough about North and South Korea. Let’s discuss Princeton, where the lack of a nuclear weapons capability by either the township or the borough makes the quibbling municipalities’ joint meeting on Dec. 4 only slightly less momentous than the aforementioned talks in Pyongyang.
Despite some testy exchanges, the Princeton session ended with the resolution of an extended dispute over ownership of the 120-acre Sewer Operating Committee property, located off River Road. The Borough Council voted, 5-1, to name the township as joint tenant.
This occurred only after attempts to table the matter for further discussion prompted one borough resident, Mark Freda, to warn the two governing bodies that their inability to resolve the SOC land issue had become “embarrassing.”
Mr. Freda’s comment reinforced similar admonitions from Township Councilman Chad Goerner and Borough Council member Wendy Benchley. Still, it is unclear whether the Borough Council was shamed into finally voting for shared ownership or was simply making a calculated concession aimed at furthering discussion of other disputes.
If it was the latter, Councilman Roger Martindell believes the borough is barking up the wrong tree. At the meeting, and in a subsequent letter to The Packet, he argued that the council members who voted for the SOC land resolution have weakened the borough’s bargaining position on other matters of contention.
”It’s really a sad commentary on how bad the borough is at negotiating on anything with anybody,” said Mr. Martindell, after the Dec. 4 vote.
The flip side of that argument was voiced by Councilman David Goldfarb. He expressed hope that the vote would make the township more willing to negotiate other matters with the borough. After all, he said, the township’s confidence level in such discussions was already “so low that it can’t go any lower.”
The same observation probably applies to the Princeton public’s level of confidence that these two municipalities will ever get around to undoing such collaborative embarrassments as the library parking fee impasse.
The stated desire of officials on both sides to hold more joint sessions is mildly encouraging. We just wish they would stop making the scheduling of such meetings seem more difficult to accomplish in Princeton than on the Korean peninsula.
