Volume LXXVIII, Number 11
Princeton Charter School Wins Regional Science Bowl . . . . . . 5 NJ Transit Fare Increases Could Come This Summer . . . . . . 8 MCCC Horticulturalists Win Gold Medal at Philadelphia Flower Show . . . . . . . . . . 12 Princeton Symphony Orchestra Joins Forces With String Trio . . . . 15 Energetic Revival of Dreamgirls Comes to McCarter . . . . . . . . . 16 PU Men’s Hoops Routs Penn to Earn Outright Ivy Title, Primed for Another Big Postseason Run . . 25 Sparked by Stifling Defense, Sharp Shooting, Tiger Men’s Lacrosse Defeats Rutgers 14-8 . .27
Director Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-Winning Oppenheimer Began in Princeton . . . . . . . . . 14 Art . . . . . . . . . . . .20, 21 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 22 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 33 Luxury Living . . . . . . 2, 3 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 13 New to Us . . . . . . . . . . 24 Performing Arts . . . . . 17 Police Blotter . . . . . . . 11 Real Estate. . . . . . . . . 33 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
Penn Medicine Princeton Proposes New Cancer Center For Plainsboro Campus
75¢ at newsstands
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Candidates Gearing Up for High-Stakes Primary National politics has been constantly in the news in this 2024 election year, and closer to home the political heat is rising, with the June 4 New Jersey primary on the horizon and the March 25 candidates’ filing deadline less than two weeks away. The main attention-grabbing political item locally and throughout New Jersey has been the battle between Congressman Andy Kim and Tammy Murphy, wife of N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy, for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate seat likely to be vacated by Sen. Robert Menendez, who is currently under federal indictment on corruption charges and has not filed for reelection. Meanwhile local Princeton races for mayor and town Council appear as if they will be uncontested, with Democrats Mayor Mark Freda and Councilman Leighton Newlin running for reelection and new Council candidate Brian McDonald, also a Democrat and currently a member of the Princeton Public Schools Board of Education, all running unopposed. Councilwoman Eve Niedergang has announced that she will be stepping down from Council at the end of the year.
Kim, who represents the 3rd N.J. congressional district, adjoining Princeton’s 12th district, has recently been gaining momentum in Mercer County with a victory at the March 11 Mercer County Convention, winning the Mercer Democrats’ endorsement by a 235-108 margin, 63 to 29 percent, over Murphy. Also in the running, Patricia CamposMedina received 22 votes and Larry Hamm gained eight votes. Winning
more than 60 percent will place Kim at the top of the June 4 primary ballot. Last week Kim also received endorsements from the Mercer County Democratic Caucus and the Princeton Community Democratic Organization (PCDO). At the March 3 PCDO meeting, held at Center for Modern Aging Princeton’s Suzanne Patterson Center, Kim received 85 of 93 votes cast, with Campos-Medina finishing second with six votes and Hamm and Murphy receiving one vote each.
Penn Medicine Princeton Health is planning a new cancer center at its Plainsboro campus. The proposed 195,000-square-foot facility includes more than 40 exam rooms, over 30 infusion chairs, and two radiation oncology linear accelerators. The estimated cost of the project, which includes a six-level parking garage and a 31,000-square-foot imaging center Continued on Page 11 for outpatients, is $401 million, according to a Penn Medicine spokesperson. The proposal is currently in the early stages of the approval process in Plainsboro Township. Clifford Zink is a longtime resident of beginning of Zink’s new booklet Jugtown/ Princeton’s Jugtown section. During one Queenston, Princeton’s 18th Century Since 2018, Princeton Medical Cenof his regular walks down Nassau Street, Crossroads Village. The 48-page publicater has been owned by the University of he began to wonder about two small rem- tion about Princeton’s third-oldest neighPennsylvania. The university’s board of nants of its past — a flat, brownstone slab borhood is illustrated with then-and-now trustees approved the plan on February in front of No. 343, and an upright, granite photographs of houses; pictures of jugs 29. Construction of the garage is targeted post topped with a hook at No. 361. A his- made in the area’s potteries, which closed to begin in 2026, followed by the cancer torian and author, Zink put his researching in the mid-1800s; and historical maps. center and imaging center in 2028. skills to work. Zink, who is leading a walking tour of the “Penn Medicine’s advanced cancer The slab, he found, was a block for area this Saturday, March 16 (sponsored care draws patients who live both near horse and carriage mounting. And the by the Historical Society of Princeton and and far from our facilities — on average, column of granite was a hitching post sold out), shot all of the photos himself. a Penn Medicine cancer patient travels for horses. These discoveries were the 20 miles for care in Philadelphia, and 15 Continued on Page 10 miles to be treated at our regional hospitals,” said Michele Volpe, University of Pennsylvania Health System chief operation officer. “But that travel can be difficult for patients and families going through hard times, and our cancer system investments continue to expand access to the most advanced care across the entire region we serve. The communities around Penn Medicine Princeton Health are a crucial area for increasing these services, since many patients there otherwise face lengthy drives to hospitals in Philadelphia or New York City. We are tremendously excited to move ahead with this project to provide more patients in New Jersey with options close to home.” The Penn Medicine Princeton Health Cancer Center is planned as a “foundational” part of Penn Medicine’s cancer system strategy, providing a platform for more advanced care in the Central New Jersey region. “The proposed facility will offer comprehensive cancer treatment in a single facility staffed by disease-specific physicians and multidisciplinary teams workRare Books • Vintage Books • Foreign Language ing in concert with Abramson Cancer DAY PRINCETON: Albert Einstein reenactor Bill Agress, rear, gathered with young participants Center physicians across Penn Medi- CELEBRATING PIBooks in the Einstein Look-Alike Contest on Saturday at Princeton Public Library. Presented by the Princeton Tour cine,” according to the Penn Medicine Beautiful Artevent andwas Design Books Company, the one of many scheduled in honor of Einstein’s birthday, March 14 (3.14) — the numeric spokesperson. “This integrated model equivalent of pi. (Photo by Sarah Teo)
Booklet Considers the History of Jugtown As Development Pressures are Looming
Choose arran Continued on Page 10
Choose from over 60,000 books arranged into 63 categories Most Books Are $3 Choose from over 60,000 books arranged into 63 categories
Details at bmandwbooks.com
Choose from over 60,000 books arranged into 63 categories $3
March 20 - $30 ticket • March 21 - 24 – Free entrance Stuart Country Day School 1200 Stuart Road, Princeton