By Lauren Otis, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR — “We are in tough economic times. I think we all need to take a look at that,” said Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes at a press conference at the corporate offices of architecture firm RMJM announcing the fourth annual Mercer County Economic Summit on March 12.
”You have to get together with other people and look at what are shared opportunities and shared problems,” Mr. Hughes said of the benefit of the economic summit even in difficult economic times.
”This region is still one of the best to start a business, to own a business, to see that business grow, to see that we give economic opportunity to everyone no matter where they are on the economic ladder,” Mr. Hughes said. He said the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce — which is co-sponsoring the economic summit with the county — is committed to those opportunities.
”We started this event several years ago in better times,” said Gerard Fennelly, president of commercial real estate company NAI Fennelly, and a co-chair of the event. “We believe still it is going to be a great tool for everyone to benefit from,” Mr. Fennelly said.
Economist Herb Taylor, vice president and corporate secretary at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, said his keynote presentation at the March 12 summit would deal with the continuing problems of the national economy, and would take advantage of a recent survey of economists conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
”The current recession is, as is no secret to the people in this room, going to be one of the largest and most severe in post-war history,” Mr. Taylor said.
Mr. Taylor said the most likely scenario is “the economy does not reach a trough in this cycle until the middle of the year in 2009.”
”We have weathered this kind of economic downturn before. The economy has always come back to its full growth potential,” said Mr. Taylor, noting this was likely to occur in 2010 or 2011. He said he was looking forward to learning a few things at the summit himself.
The fourth annual Mercer County Economic Summit is scheduled for Thursday, March 12, from 2 to 6 p.m. It will be held at The Conference Center at Mercer County Community College in West Windsor. For more information, contact Cheri Durst at the PRCC at (609) 924-1776, ext. 105, or email [email protected].

