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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
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Princeton, New Jersey 08544-5264
Telephone 609-258-3601; Fax 609-258-1301Contact: Pam Hersh (609) 258-3018
Date: April 8, 1999
Princeton Region's Long-Term Future the Subject of a Public Conference
PRINCETON, N.J. -- "Beyond the Sleepy College Town: The Future of the Greater Princeton Community," will be the subject of a conference sponsored by the Sandra Starr Foundation on Saturday, April 24 from 8:30 a.m. to noon at McCormick Auditorium on the Princeton University campus. The conference is open to the public and immediately precedes Communiversity Day, Princeton's "town and gown" arts and entertainment festival.
Highlighting long-term trends in the Princeton region, the Sandra Starr Foundation Conference will include the release of findings from a study by the MSM Regional Council, a private, non-profit regional planning and research organization. The study projects the growth of jobs, population, office space, and traffic to the year 2020, at which time, according to the MSM study, developable land in Mercer County will be virtually exhausted, if present trends continue.
The conference will feature the following speakers: Princeton University President Harold Shapiro will discuss the long-term development of the University; Congressman Rush Holt will focus on the long-range implications of national policy for the region; MSM President Dianne Brake will present the findings of the just-released MSM study; and Ingrid Reed, former head of the Mercer County Planning Board, who is currently at Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute, will speak on "Imagining Mercer County and Its Future."
"Once a college town, Princeton is becoming the hub of an information-age city," said Princeton University Sociology Professor Paul Starr, who serves as president of the Foundation. "Instead of just focusing on the short-term realities, we need to look ahead, as best we can, to understand where this process is taking us and what we ought to be doing now."
In addition to the featured presentations, the conference will ask 10 area residents to talk for three minutes each on the subject: "If I were in charge of Princeton…" Ample time will be allowed for audience participation.
The Sandra Starr Foundation has organized the conference in cooperation with the Office of Community Affairs of Princeton University. The Foundation was established to support "the improvement of community life and development of progressive community leadership in the Princeton-Mercer County area" and was created in honor of Princeton Borough Council member Sandra Starr, who died on Oct. 1, 1998 at age 44. It has received more than 100 contributions from Princeton area residents.
McCormick Auditorium is located in Princeton University's Art Museum. For more information about the conference, please e-mail info@sandrastarr.org or visit the foundation's website at http://sandrastarr.org.