By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Council candidate Leticia Fraga said she would bring “unity” to municipal government if elected to the governing body.
“I don’t like to think that there are factions, but I see it sometimes,” said Ms. Fraga, who is one of four candidates running for two seats in the June 7 Democratic primary. The winners next month will run unopposed in the general election in November.
“I don’t back down from tackling tough issues,” she said in an interview last week. “But when it comes down to getting things done, to really my core values and how I feel about an issue, I will fight for it.”
Ms. Fraga said affordability is the top concern for residents across town, regardless of their income level. She said the high property tax burden is “edging people out from even being able to stay in their homes.”
“The solution is to look at other housing options,” she said in favoring so-called micro-housing or small residential units. She said she feels that if Princeton becomes an exclusively wealthy town, the community would lose its diversity.
“I want my children to grow up in a community that’s diverse, that’s diverse in not just ethnic but also socioeconomic diversity, because that’s the real world,” she said.
She said that as she campaigns around town, people tell her that they feel like “they’re not being heard.” She said she thinks government can more accessible. She said wants to see the town do a better job of communicating to the public what the town is doing and proposing to do.
In making spending decisions, she said the request would have to be “justified.”
“If we’re going to spend the taxpayers’ money,” she said, “it’s our responsibility to be able to clearly answer why this is needed and where it’s coming from, not just wishful thinking.”
Ms. Fraga is seeking to join the municipal government at a time when Princeton University is poised to begin its first expansion in a decade by adding more students and constructing more buildings. She said she is “not intimidated” by the university but she does not view Nassau Hall as her “foe” either.
“I feel that Princeton is what it is because of the university,” she said. “But at the same time, the university attracts students that families want to send their students to Princeton because of our community, because they come and see what the community has to offer.”
Still, she said she thinks the university could contribute “more” financially to the municipal budget. She did not have a dollar amount in mind, however.
In judging consolidation, she said the merger has lived up to the expectations that advocates had raised five years ago when selling the idea to residents to support combining the township and the borough.
“But I still think that we could still improve. We could still look at what other services could be shared,” she said.
Asked for an example, she said Access Princeton, the customer service center, is underutilized. She said she favors looking at what other responsibilities it could take on.
“I wouldn’t necessarily start firing people,” she said, “but through attrition, I believe that we could consolidate some duties.”
Of the future of the old Valley Road School building, she said she does not think the town should use it to expand the firehouse on Witherspoon Street, but would like to see the property developed.
Ms. Fraga, a native of Mexico, came to the United States as a 12-year-old with her family. She recalled working in the fields along with her siblings. In running for political office for the first time, she would be the first Latina to serve in the municipal government.
She expressed concern for immigrants from Central America living in substandard housing where landlords do not abide by regulations.
“They don’t comply and it’s not being enforced, again, because there’s nowhere else for them to go. There’s no other housing available,” she said in supporting a tenant bill of rights.
Ms. Fraga has lived in Princeton for the past 17 years. She and her husband, Steven Nadler, have a son and a daughter. She has three adult children and seven grandchildren.
Ms. Fraga, 57, holds an associate’s degree from Rider University. She is unemployed, although she previously worked in the Kings County office of civil rights enforcement in Washington state. She volunteers on various boards, including the municipal human services commission.
“And for me, I feel that I’m ready to graduate to the next level,” she said of taking the step to join the council.
