This strongly Democratic district includes Trenton, the fiscally distressed state capital, along with the affluent suburbs of Princeton Borough and Township, Hopewell Borough and Township, Lawrence Township and Pennington Borough. Ewing Township, a predominantly middle-income community located just north of Trenton, was formerly an important manufacturing center, but much of this industrial activity has given way to service companies, retail establishments and government and non-profit activities. The economic recession has impacted some major employers in financial services, particularly Merrill Lynch and Dow Jones, both of which have given up their former independent status to merge into larger entities. In addition to the state government, other major employers include health suppliers and providers such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Covance, Capital Health System, and the Princeton Healthcare System. Of several higher educational institutions, the most prominent is Princeton University, with its core campus in Princeton Borough, but satellite facilities and many of its staff residing in other nearby municipalities. Other institutions include The College of New Jersey (Ewing); Rider University (Lawrenceville and Princeton); Thomas Edison State College (Trenton); Princeton Theological Seminary (Princeton); and Mercer County Community College (Trenton and West Windsor). The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton Township is the world-famous center originally established in 1930 with financial support from Newark retailer Felix Bamberger as a refuge for scholars fleeing Nazi persecution, including Albert Einstein; the Institute continues today to attract some of the world's leading thinkers to its faculty to pursue their research without the distractions of students, classes or other academic commitments. In addition to these institutions, the nonprofit Educational Testing Service is headquartered in Lawrence Township, the world's largest private educational testing, measurement and research organization that develops the SAT (former Scholastic Aptitude Test), the leading college admissions test taken by over two million students annually, and many other tests for higher education and career training.
Senator Shirley Turner of Trenton has served in the Senate since 1998 after two terms in the Assembly and is employed as Associate Director of the Office of Career Placement at Rider University. Assemblyman Reed Gusciora has been an Assemblyman since 1996. He is an attorney who unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Princeton Borough in 2003 and for Congress in the Fourth District in 2000. Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, who is the former chair of the Democratic State Committee, has been a member of the Assembly since 1998. She is a former Assembly Majority Leader, the second-highest leadership position.
Issues affecting the district include the impact of the State government's workforce levels and spending, particularly on Trenton, Hamilton and Ewing, all of which have large numbers of residents who are State employees or who are indirectly affected by State government spending. The district delegation also has been active in lobbying for special state economic development assistance for Trenton, such as in the renovation of the Trenton War Memorial Auditorium; the construction of the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center; and the redevelopment of the Delaware waterfront with its minor-league baseball stadium and nearby indoor sports and entertainment arena. New hospital complexes serving district residents are currently under construction by Capital Health System in Ewing and by the Princeton Healthcare System in Plainsboro to replace older facilities in Trenton and Princeton, respectively.
Sharp increases in property values, along with higher property taxes, also have raised concerns over the affordability of housing, particularly for those on fixed incomes such as senior citizens, and the increasing loss of open space and farmland to development. Currently, Princeton Borough and Princeton Township are undertaking a study of potential consolidation of the two municipalities. |
