Linda Oppenheim, Don Stryker, Princeton
Last Thursday, while most local attention was focused on Donald Trump’s visit to Lawrenceville, candidates for Princeton’s Municipal Council participated in a forum where they thoughtfully answered questions about how they would work on problems specific to Princeton.
In an era of political showmanship, superficial answers and “gotcha’ politics,” the forum was a refreshing discussion going into detail about addressing challenging issues at the local level.
For this we commend the council candidates in attendance — Leticia Fraga, Anne Neumann, and Tim Quinn — for expressing their commitment to addressing difficult issues of social, economic, and racial justice.
Rather than a traditional debate, the forum was structured as a discussion where the candidates were provided questions in advance, written by members of the co-sponsoring groups. This allowed the candidates time in which to provide thoughtful responses.
The issues addressed during the evening were worker’s rights, housing, building an inclusive community, civil rights, and environmental justice. In discussing worker’s rights, all candidates stated support for an earned sick days ordinance, but said that they would reject a compromise ordinance that would exclude certain workers. Wage theft was also addressed, recognizing that the problem occurs in many low-paying jobs in the service and hospitality industries, in addition to the wage theft problem occurring in landscaping and property maintenance work.
The forum was co-sponsored by New Jersey Working Families, and local advocacy groups including; Not In Our Town, LALDEF, SEIU Local 175, Central NJ DSA, and Unidad Latina en Acción.
The advocacy groups involved with this forum hope that council candidates will participate in future forums and also actively support greater collaboration between the council and local advocacy groups.
Linda Oppenheim
Don Stryker
Not in Our Town Princeton
