They're off and running

Thursday and Friday the race for the Princeton Town Board expanded,
and we now have six candidates for the two board seats up for election.
While Lisa Floors Brown had been widely rumored to be considering a
run, David Holt’s run for office was not on the radar screen.
With municipal elections set up as they are, with no run-off, funny things
can and do happen when you have more than two candidates for a seat.
I know many believe when Elmer Capps added his name to the mayoral
race a few years ago that heretofore had been between William Earl Ormond
and Don Rains, that shifted the tight race and put Don Rains in office. I’m not
saying that necessarily was a bad thing, but it did change the election.
Already I have heard more than one complaints
about the paving of streets in town. That
likely will be a point of discussion in the election.
With three active police officers on the ballot,
the police department will likely continue to
be a hot topic.
Beyond all of that, though, my early sense
of all of the candidates is there is no burning
issue which is fueling their desire to run for
office. I haven’t heard anyone say that if you are
mad about the condition of Princeton streets,
for example, vote for me for I will get them all
repaved. Or if you want to see so and so run out
of office, vote for me.
My sense is they are all offering to serve out
of a love and concern for our town.
To those of you who will be voting in the town
election, let me ask you not to take my word for any of this, but try to judge
on your own.
Beginning this week, the Princeton News Leader will present all of the
information you need, maybe even more information than you want, to help
you make the best decision about the candidates. We will try to help you
know clearly which candidates more closely align to your beliefs about town
government. We will talk about experience, background, and perspectives on
issues that matter to you.
As we will focus on the Princeton candidates and the local issues, we
will make every attempt to be fair and balanced in the coverage we offer the
candidates.
In our attempt to better serve what you are interested in, what issues do
you want to hear discussed? What topics would you like put before the candidates?
Would you like to see a public debate?
I don’t want to minimize the importance of this election. With two of
the four seats on the board up for election, plus the mayor’s seat, clearly the
potential is there to swing the town in a different direction. Some may feel
the necessity of keeping things going as they are.
Clearly the town is different today than it was two years ago, and like it
or not, it will be different two years from now. How we react to the changes,
embracing them, making sure controls are in place, all of that will in part
by the charge of this board.
I pray we make good decisions. I will do my best to help us.
Today I make one of those tough decisions. I will be raising the cost of
the newspaper for many of you.
We have not raised the subscription price of the paper in five years.
During that time we have absorbed a number of cost increases. We have also
tried to trim where we could to keep our costs in line. We’ve stretched the
rubber band about as far as we can go.
Last week our postal rates increased dramatically. While we knew to
expect a significant increase, we did not get the forms until earlier this
month. As we have analyzed the new rates and our other costs, we have recognized
that the increases would be more dramatic than we had originally
anticipated.
We are increasing local subscriptions from $20 to $24 annually. That is the
biggest jump I can remember. I wish we could keep it at $20, or at least keep
the increase smaller, but it’s just not possible to maintain a quality product
without passing along the costs.
We know some of you are on fixed incomes, and I regret the hardship
this increase may pose for you. We will continue to offer specials from time
to time, and encourage you to look at those as a means to reduce your subscription
costs.
While all of us recognize the costs of stamps continues to go up, those
of us who regularly mail larger items know those costs have increased even
more dramatically than the cost of stamps. That is even more the case for
newspapers mailed outside the local area. Out of state subscriptions will be
rising from $31 to $48 per year.
We will be offering for the first time six month subscriptions to help
people cope with the high costs of annual subscriptions.
We will continue to look for ways we can keep the cost of your subscription
reasonable.