PRINCETON: Mildred Trotman: A quiet but compelling force for progress

‘To me, that is what democracy is all about — giving people a fair chance — an opportunity — to be heard …’

By Pam Hersh Special Writer
   At the Jan. 3 Princeton Borough Reorganization Meeting, former Borough Councilman David Goldfarb ended his service to the community with a brief humorous statement: “I am leaving for health reasons — the health of my colleagues on Council.” He followed the laughter from his opening remark with a longer, non-humorous statement about the Princeton University/town relations.
   In contrast, former Borough Mayor Mildred Trotman gave no reason — humorous or otherwise — for retiring from Council, nor did she comment on upon any issue. She simply used her pulpit to summarize the progress made by the town on a number of issues over the past year and to honor Michael Kenwood, the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad EMT who sacrificed his life while attempting a dangerous water rescue during Hurricane Irene.
   I have known Mildred for all of the 27 years she has been on Borough Council, and her parting words were quintessential Mildred. Her pulpit never has been a bully pulpit, but rather a pulpit that has lacked drama, angst, venting, or narcissism. She told me she was leaving Council simply because “it is time,” no clichés, no trumped-up excuses. “It just is time to kick back, relax a little — still be involved (she will be on the Princeton Regional Planning Board for at least another year and will be volunteering in her church and other community organizations), but at a much less intense pace,” she said.
   From my perspective, Mildred had an unusual style for an elected official. She never pontificated or bloviated. “I never talked to hear myself talk,” she said. “If I had nothing new to contribute to a conversation or a debate, I said nothing. I preferred to get my technical questions answered by staff in private conversations, rather than at public meetings. However, I always made sure that the answers to my questions were noted in staff reports presented at the public meetings.”
   Some may have interpreted her low-key style as disinterest. In fact, she cared passionately about the town and all the issues debated in public, but she saw no advantage to being redundant and saw only harm in going to the press with a grievance before Council members had an opportunity to deal with the issue. “I found that for me silence was golden, because when I did speak, I think my words had greater impact. People did not just automatically tune me out.”
   Even though Mildred was inspired to seek elected office by her close friend and political mentor, Barbara Boggs Sigmund, she never adopted the outgoing, flamboyant, sell-ice-to-an-Eskimo style that characterized former Mayor Sigmund, who died in 1990. “Barbara wore me down” with repeated and imploring requests to run for Borough Council. When Mildred first ran for Council, she was fairly well known in the community for her advocacy work in the area of public education and civil rights, but “I had no real political experience. Barbara, of course, convinced me that I could best serve the community by becoming a member of Borough Council. When I won in November,1984, some people called it a ‘fluke.’ That was all the inspiration I needed to run again. I was determined to prove people wrong.”
   Steely determination is the other aspect of Mildred’s quiet, straight-talking personality. Without raising her voice, she let people know that once Mildred set her mind to do something, that was the way it was going to get done. Mildred applied this focused determination most effectively at high-stress Borough Council meetings that featured crowds of angry constituents.
   I remember one particularly hissy-fit filled meeting — Aug. 13, 2005 — when more than 100 people showed up to protest the construction of a parking garage on Spring Street. As Council President, Mildred presided over the meeting because then-Mayor Marvin Reed was absent. Mildred established a process for public presentation — a strict three-minutes per person rule — and refused to deviate from the process even though some people “tried to bamboozle” her into waiving the time limit. She never lost control of the meeting’s proceedings.
   ”I wanted to hear what everyone had to say — not just a select few. To me, that is what democracy is all about — giving people a fair chance — an opportunity — to be heard … I believe in listening and learning. As a matter of fact that is probably what I will miss most when I retire from Council. Throughout my 27-year tenure, I truly learned something new every day.”
   Mildred’s ability to listen and learn was illustrated most recently by the Consolidation debate. Mildred had voted three times previously against Consolidation. “This time around, I was on the Consolidation Commission, and I really listened and learned a great deal. The Commission did a phenomenal job, because I was converted from a disbeliever to a believer in Consolidation,” said the 71-year-old Mildred, who believes that a person is never too old to learn.
   ”I know that some people think I could have been a more aggressive, more outwardly forceful leader,” she said. But Mildred led in a way that was most consistent with her personality and complemented rather than clashed with the forceful personalities on Council. “I never shied away from confrontations, just tried to keep them under control.”
   She had cut her political teeth on civil rights confrontations. When she was a student at North Carolina State University, she participated in a major sit-in, was escorted out by police, but was not incarcerated. Her 13-year-old grandson likes to brag about the civil rights advocacy of his Nana, as well as the fact that she managed “not to go to jail.”
   Her career as Borough Council member, Council President, Borough Mayor, Police Commissioner, Fire Commissioner may have lacked the action-packed drama of a civil rights sit-in, but I would be willing to bet that her Joey still finds many reasons to brag about his Nana.
A longtime resident of Princeton, Pam Hersh is vice president for government and community affairs with Princeton HealthCare System. She is a former managing editor of The Princeton Packet.