Borough Council Candidate: Jenny Crumiller

Name: Jenny Crumiller 

Street of Residence: Library Place

Occupation: Council Member

Previous Government Experience: Current Borough Council member since 2009

Other Civic Experience: 

• Current Vice Chair, NAACP Legal LDF Princeton Committee (Past Chair)
• Previous Cable Commission member; Past President, PCDO
• Obama Princeton Headquarters co-chair and volunteer for many other Democratic campaigns, including local campaigns 
• School volunteer at Community Park, Johnson Park and Princeton High School
• Organizer, Antiwar Video Fund and other Iraq war antiwar activities
• Neighborhood organizer (when we lived on Moore Street)
• Sunday school teacher (Nassau Presby)
• Meals on Wheels volunteer
• foster parent of two children.

Why do you want to represent Princeton on Council? 

I cherish Princeton and I feel a sense of responsibility for keeping it special, both to honor its past and for future generations. I love its classic, small-town aesthetic and its people, mainly for how smart and idealistic they are.

What differentiates you from your opponents? 

I have a proven record of working to benefit our community and getting things done. I’ve spent my time as a community organizer encouraging people to get involved in the life of the community because I believe that’s the single most important thing to do that improves government. Many speak of this but few actually do it. One example is the Princeton Community Democratic Organization, where 6 years ago I got a lot of new people involved to transform the club into an open and highly participatory organization. People who are new to Princeton politics take our current process for granted, but it was very different before I was involved.  More recently, prior to joining the Borough Council, in 2009, I contacted some business people to form a citizen finance committee for the Borough to look at our budget because I was concerned about the management of Borough finances.  I invited participation, brought people together and got some talented people to delve in.  The sitting council had always raised taxes -- they had raised taxes every single year for decades, but with the scrutiny and pressure from our group, for the first time we had a zero percent increase.   

If elected, what are your TWO top priorities for Princeton and specifically what will you do to make those a reality? 

Consolidation offers the greatest opportunity to improve how our government operates by giving us a fresh start.  So besides the obvious “achieving the promise of consolidation” which has become a cliché among candidates, specifically, I have two “pet projects.” 

1. First, I hope to create customer service standards for all employees interacting with the public.  Other municipalities have done this already – for instance, Rockville Maryland has such a program (see  http://www.rockvillemd.gov/government/custserv.htm). 
2. My second priority is improving government transparency through improved electronic communication. I’d like to expand our email notification system and create a more full-service website. I will also work to institute an electronic records management system. Like many local governments, both the Borough and Township currently still rely on paper files for organizing and storing their documents. Turning to an electronics records system will make sharing public information such as agendas, minutes, contracts and budget documents with the public a lot easier, cheaper and faster. While this may seem obvious to Patch readers, government regulations on how documents are retained partly explain obstacles to moving away from paper. But we also need leadership to embrace the benefits of electronic communication.