Volume LXXVII, Number 10
Pages 20-25 Tap Room is Reimagined Around Rockwell Painting . . . . . . . . . . 5 Student Researcher Helps Detect Spotted Lanternfly Egg Masses . . . . . . . . . 8 Princeton Future Hosts Workshop on Land Use, Circulation . . . . . . . . 12 PU Orchestra Acknowledges One of Its Own in Pair of Concerts . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Theatre Intime Presents Autumn Rewind . . . . 19 PU Men’s Hoops Rallies To Edge Penn in OT, Earning Ivy Regular Season Crown . . . . . 32 Rose Finishes PHS Wrestling Career on a High Note, Winning 2nd Straight Girls’ State Title . . . . . 35
Marking John McPhee’s Birthday in This Week’s Book/Film Review . . . 17 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . 28-29 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Hughes Vows to Fight To Continue Campaign For County Executive Despite losing the Mercer County Democratic Organization’s endorsement to Assemblyman Dan Benson (D-Hamilton) last Sunday, as well as the Princeton Community Democratic Organization’s (PCDO) backing a few weeks before, Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes is not giving up on his bid to continue in the office he has held since 2004. “Today’s convention results come as no surprise considering the planned and orchestrated maneuvering by the Mercer County Democratic Chair Janice Mironov and my opponent, Dan Benson, who are intent on weakening our party for their own personal ambitions and gain,” Hughes said in a statement issued after the gathering at the Hyatt Regency on Route 1. “I believe the voters of this great county recognize effective leadership and my long record of accomplishments. We have always put our constituents first by providing critical services and opening up county government to everyone regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, or geography.” In the 499 votes that were cast at the county gathering, 384 went to Benson while 109 were for Hughes. That means Benson will run on the primary ballot in June as the sole county executive candidate endorsed by the Mercer County Democratic Organization. At the PCDO’s annual endorsement meeting on February 23, held at The Jewish Center Princeton, Benson was endorsed with 76 percent of the vote. Also endorsed at that event were Andrew Zwicker (one seat) for Senate, Roy Freiman and Mitchelle Drulis for Assembly (two seats), John Cimino and Lucy Walter for Mercer County commissioners
Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 15 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 31 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 39 Performing Arts . . . 26-27 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 40 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Jugtown Residents Air Concerns Over Development As of Monday afternoon, a petition on change.org titled “Save Jugtown Historic District” had collected 537 signatures. Residents of the neighborhood and others who have signed the petition are concerned about a project that would add a four-story addition behind two, two-story buildings at 344 Nassau Street, on the corner of a busy intersection with North Harrison Street. Part of the Affordable Housing Overlay Zone 2, which addresses a mandate for Princeton to expand housing around town, the site includes five buildings in the Jugtown Historic District. The owner, RB Homes, would create an apartment building with 20 units, four of which would be designated affordable. A zoning overlay is a zoning district that is applied over one or more previously established zoning districts to establish additional zoning standards, such as affordable housing. The project was given a concept review before the Planning Board on February 2, and the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) on February 27. No applications have been filed by the developer.
Residents say they are not opposed to affordable housing. “That’s not the issue,” said Clifford Zink, who lives in the neighborhood. “Almost everybody in town is in favor of affordable housing. It’s about balance. When you have a historic area, how do you balance that with bringing in affordable housing?” “We don’t have a problem with affordable housing in our neighborhood,” said Catherine Knight, who started the petition and lives on Nassau Street. “We’re not
trying to come out and say we’re against the whole idea. We’re just trying to protect this one intersection.” The existing building facing Nassau Street, which the developer would leave intact, was built in 1760 and is believed to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad, according to the petition. Princeton designated Jugtown as a local historic district in the 1990s. “The Harrison Street crossroads is a gateway into town,” said Zink. “It used Continued on Page 10
Princeton’s Pi Day Celebrations Feature Fun and Learning for All
Any way you slice it, what could be as fulfilling as Pi Day in Princeton, where scientist Albert Einstein lived and worked while on the faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study? Since Einstein was born on March 14, the numeric equivalent of the first three digits of Pi (3.14), Princeton offers a full menu of events beginning on Saturday, March 11 at 8 a.m. at LiLLiPiES in the Princeton Shopping Center with a “Pie Flight” experience. Festivities on Saturday and on actual Pi Day,
Tuesday, March 14, include tours, Einstein Look-Alike Contests, presentations, Dinky rides with professional Einstein reenactor Bill Agress, an event at the Princeton Public Library with children’s book author Dan Gutman, and more. This year Pi Day falls on Einstein’s 144th birthday. “Only in Einstein’s hometown, where there is one of the top math departments in the world, are there an ‘irrational’ number of events,” said Mimi Omiecinski, founder and coordinator of Princeton’s Continued on Page 12
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Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 30 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 40
75¢ at newsstands
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Camp Guide
www.towntopics.com
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Daylight Saving Time starts this Sunday at 2 a.m. Turn clocks ahead one hour.
SNOWY GREETING: The Princeton area finally got a lovely brushing of snow early Tuesday, but it was gone by mid-morning. The next chance for snow is on Saturday. (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)