By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Trenton Mayor Eric E. Jackson met privately Tuesday with Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber on campus for about 30 minutes on the mayor’s latest stop around Mercer County meeting leaders of other towns and major institutions.
The session touched on ways the school is involved in the city already and how it might be helpful as Mayor Jackson carries out his vision for the city, said university Vice President and Secretary Robert K. Durkee afterward.
Mr. Durkee, who attended the meeting in Nassau Hall, characterized it as a "very nice conversation."
"I view the president and the university as a partner and certainly a resource on a number of levels for us here in the city of Trenton," Mayor Jackson said by phone Wednesday.
"So part of that was to get to know the president and open up clear lines of communications and establish us as, on this end, wanting to have a great partnership and sustainable relationship and build upon the work that they’re already doing here in the city."
At the moment, the university’s art museum has programs in Trenton, students do community service there and the Plasma Physics Lab has educational programs for city students, said Mr. Durkee, a former public school teacher in Trenton.
The mayor said the two sides discussed about "some potential for doing some things in the future. We haven’t named those."
The meeting, one that Mayor Jackson requested, did not touch on the university establishing a physical presence in the city.
Mayor Jackson was elected in June and took office in July pledging to turn around the state’s capital city, beset by high crime and government corruption. Former Mayor Tony Mack was forced out of office in February after being convicted of federal corruption charges.
In the short time in office, Mayor Jackson has meet with leaders from around Mercer County, including the presidents of Thomas Edison State College, The College of New Jersey, Mercer County Community College and local mayors, including Mayor Liz Lempert. He called it "important to have relationships that we can sustain the capital city."
Mayor Lempert said Monday the two of them had talked about ways they could work together, noting how her town and his are the "two major hubs" in the county.
"It behooves us to have a good relationship," she said.
In June, Mayor Lempert called on the communities that surround Trenton to build more affordable housing in their towns to break the "concentration" of poverty in the capital city. She said hers and other towns have a "responsibility" to take such action.
"I think the surrounding communities can help with partnerships, with collaborations," she said in an interview at the time.
Mayor Jackson is no stranger to Princeton. He graduated from the Hun School of Princeton in 1976, "a dear experience close to my heart," in his words.
