downtowner Trenton’s City Paper
April 2021 |
communitynews.org
Saving Trenton’s Brutal Beauty
The downtown fight for a historic state building, page 4. Trenton’s creative connection, 9; Passage’s pandemic plans, 12; Summer Camps inside
pring g p r ri i in n ng S
So if you’re lost, or looking for the motor vehicle department, the Governor’s mansion or just general assistance, you can count on them to help you out.
iiss He Here. H erree. er And so are the
TDA Ambassadors!
“Sometimes I think this is just a job, but it isn’t. We make a difference in people’s lives every day,” says Ambassador Duwayne Brown, who loves making the neighborhood look good.
“We represent downtown Trenton. As long as our work gets done, everyone is happy,” adds Keith.
W
hen the sun comes out, so does the community of Trenton, says James Keith Bethea. And he should know. For more than 27 years, Keith has been representing Trenton Downtown Association as a Clean and Safe Ambassador, keeping downtown Trenton clean, safe and welcoming. The TDA “Clean Team” is a dream team of five very dedicated individuals who not only clean, maintain and beautify the streets and sidewalks of downtown Trenton, but also act as unofficial tour guides. They've got their eyes and ears on what's happening in their community.
TDA Clean and Safe Ambassadors (left to right): Duwayne Brown, J. Keith Bethea, Jamar Peck, Michael Ford, and J. Tony Coleman.
Dining Artworks Trenton has been providing gallery space, art classes and art-related events in Trenton since 1964. While closed during the pandemic, Artworks began to offer a variety of virtual classes, an option they plan to retain so that they can continue to make art accessible to even more people.
Best known for two signature programs, Art All Day and Art All Night Trenton, Artworks Trenton is pleased to announce that its gallery is now open to the public (up to 8 people at a time), Thursday–Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Artworks Trenton 19 Everett Alley Trenton, NJ artworkstrenton.org
Out
The Big g Easy
111 S. Warren Street Trenton, NJ
609-393-1845
2Trenton Downtowner April 2021
1911 Smokehouse BBQ
11 W. Front Street Trenton, NJ
609-695-1911
Delia’s Empanada Café 113 S. Warren Street, Trenton, NJ
609-396-7775
NEVER MISS A BEAT!
.com
Now that the weather is starting to get warmer, you can expect to see more outdoor dining options popping up downtown. These popular spots already offer some outdoor seating.
Sign up for our Weekly E-Blast at Trenton-downtown.com
NJ Weedman’s Joint
322 E. State Street Trenton, NJ
609-437-0898
Starbucks Community Store 102 S. Warren Street, Trenton, NJ
609-393-0261
Visit Trenton-downtown.com for a list of businesses open in the downtown Trenton area.
UP fRoNt
DO YOU SUFFER FROM
PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY?
Water Works celebrates new training program
M
ayor W. Reed Gusciora, Trenton Water Works (TWW) Director Mark A. Lavenberg, state representatives, and educators recently came together to commemorate the second semester of the TWW Training and Apprenticeship Program (TAP). The historic new two-year program available to all TWW employees provides the necessary education for career advancement and the opportunity to pursue higher-level jobs in water treatment and distribution. Ten students are currently enrolled in the program, including six from the water-filtration plant, three from construction and maintenance, and one from engineering. Ten additional students are scheduled to begin in June. Five students also participate in an apprenticeship component managed by the N.J. Water Association with support from Mercer County Community College and the N.J. Department of Labor and Workforce Development Growing Apprenticeships in Non-Traditional Sectors (GAINS) program. The GAINS program promotes the expansion of apprenticeship programs that drive economic development by providing the skills and education necessary for advanced credentials and better-paying jobs. The program also provides half of the apprentices’ salaries. Apprentices are assigned currently employed TWW water system
From front left: NJ Water Association Director Richard Howlett, NJ Department of Labor Director Nicholas Toth, Assemblyman Anthony Verrelli, Mayor Reed Gusciora, Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, TWW Superintendent Tanya BrownHumphrey, and councilman Joe Harrison. They are surrounded by TAP participants and TWW staff. licensed mentors and receive 290 hours of training, including 180 for the Operator Prerequisite Course at Mercer County Community College. That course is conducted at TWW Courtland Street headquarters by Andrew Pappachen, a water-industry executive with 46 years of experience in water system operation and management. The TAP curriculum includes OSHA and FEMA emergency response training. Participants will ultimately become water system operation specialists or water treatment specialists who will be eligible to take the related state exams once they complete the required work hours. “Having a major public utility right here in the Capital City puts us in a unique position to provide quality, high-skill jobs to our residents and the training to help them get there,” said Mayor Gusciora.
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allcurespineandsports.com ACUPUNCTURE • PHYSICAL THERAPY • CHIROPRACTIC SERVICES April 2021 | Trenton Downtowner3
the state of the CITY Preserving Trenton’s brutalist legacy By Dan Aubrey
T
he New Jersey Department of Health and Agriculture Building on South Warren Street, consisting of an eight-story office wing and a five-story laboratory wing, is playing a role in an ongoing, slowmoving Capital City drama. The story started with the famously miserly Governor Chris Christie’s surprise announcement that he was giving the state two new office buildings, razing three, launching a multi-million dollar state house renovation, and leaving the cost to the next governor and the citizens of New Jersey. When Trenton citizens and stakeholders saw problems related to state and city master plans, contemporary urban development practices, effect on downtown businesses, costs, and the legality of the ex-governor’s financing design that gave the project to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, they created the Stakeholders Allied for the Core of Trenton (ACT!) coalition, petitioned to change the plan, and sued the state. Their actions were unsuccessful, and current Governor Phil Murphy’s administration has been making Christie’s plan a reality. Now some of the same people who created ACT! are asking the state to hold the wrecking ball to one of the buildings designated to be razed, the New Jersey Health and Agriculture Building. The reason is that it is a historically important building that can be used for mixed purposes and be part of the region’s “gallery” of architecturally important structures — ranging from the colonial to the cutting edge. Their arguments are buoyed by report conducted by Hunter Research, New Jersey State Historic Preservation Office, and Preservation New Jersey. Here are some of the findings: The New Jersey Department of Health and Agriculture Building — constructed between 1962 and 1965 as part of a plan to expand the state government campus — is an example of the monumental modernism that characterized the architecture of public government buildings throughout the United States in the post-World War II era. The complex of two buildings uses a “brutalist” approach to design, one that “expresses itself in the use of exposed concrete and tinted windows treated as voids or holes in the solid mass of the exterior walls,” according to the Hunter Report. Its designers were Alfred Clauss and Jane West Clauss, husband and
wife architects who worked in the international style and other modern styles. As the Hunter report continues, “Clauss was born and trained in Germany and graduated from the Munich Technical Institute in 1926. He came to prominence working for Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (one of the founders of the international style of architecture) for the Barcelona World’s Fair of 1929. This experience placed him squarely at the forefront of the modernist architecture movement in Europe, an experience he would use to his advantage following emigration to the United States. “Clauss came to the United States in 1930, shortly thereafter winning an award for a prototype, all-steel-andglass gasoline station for Standard Oil Company of Ohio. He worked for architects Howe and Lescaze on Philadelphia’s PSFS Building, a skyscraper of 1932 that is the first internationalstyle skyscraper constructed in the United States and a National Historic Landmark.” Clauss became a design presence in New York City and was represented in the Museum of Modern Art’s influential 1932 modern architecture exhibition. It was curated by noted architect Philip Johnson and featured designs from around the world, including work by Frank Lloyd Wright. From 1934 to 1945, the Clausses collaborated on “Little Switzerland,” a Tennessee Valley Authority New Dealera housing development credited with popularizing split-level homes in the United States and, according to Preservation New Jersey, “one of the earliest examples of the international style in the United States.”
T
he Hunter report adds that “West Clauss, a native of Minneapolis and graduate of the University of Minnesota in 1929, was the first American woman to work in the atelier of Le Corbusier (another major proponent of modernism in architecture and design) from 1932 to circa 1934.” After World War II, the Clausses settled in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, and partnered with architectural companies in Philadelphia and Scranton. In 1956, says the above report, they “opened Alfred Clauss and Associates in an office at 114 West State Street in Trenton. This office was under the direct supervision of Alfred and Jane West Clauss and may have been formed specifically in the firm’s pursuit of commissions from New Jersey’s state government. The Trenton office handled the design of the Health and Agriculture Building, as well as an expansion to the state’s youth correctional center at Yardville Heights.”
4Trenton Downtowner April 2021
Architect Jane West Clauss, right, designed the state health and agriculture buildings, above. Other Clauss designs include modernist buildings for St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, University of Scranton, and the Philadelphia House of Detention. In addition to the designers, the building also represents the contributions of others involved with establishing mid-20th century American modernism. The building’s general contractor was McCloskey and Company, a major Philadelphia construction firm that served as general contractor on several notable Philadelphia modernist structures: the U.S. Mint (1969), Veterans Stadium (1971), and the Mann Center in Fairmount Park (1976).
F
Jersey’s state government campus in downtown Trenton including preparation of the master plan and design of several important buildings including the New Jersey Department of Labor and Industry Building, the New Jersey State Museum, and the New Jersey State Library.” In its argument to save the Health and Agriculture Building, Preservation New Jersey notes, “The complex is architecturally significant as an outstanding example of New Formalismstyle architecture designed for government use in the City of Trenton.” It is also one of the only examples of a modern architectural structure involving a pioneering woman architect who was at the heart of modernism — and had an office in Trenton. It becomes part of a regional collection that includes prominent modern and contemporary architects, including Louis Khan, Michael Graves, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Marcel Breuer — buildings that attract national and international visitors to the region. It would become a type of reconciliation for the people of Trenton who saw the current building projects as an affront to their concerns regarding the health of the downtown Trenton area. And it may also mitigate lingering city resentment on how the state’s Capitol Complex and John Fitch Way projects changed the residential look of downtown Trenton — including erasing residential working class neighborhoods. Summing up the sentiments of many in the region, Preservation New Jersey encouraged the EDA to not demolish these buildings and make a state parking lot but “instead find a new use or a sympathetic buyer.”
rank Grad & Sons Company was the planning consultant for the Capitol complex after the state restated its goal of centralizing office spaces in downtown Trenton — an idea that started in the early 20th century but wasn’t realized until the postwar boom. Grad founded the Newark, New Jersey-based firm in 1906 and was joined by his sons Bernard and Howard Grad in the mid-1930s. According to the Hunter report, “Frank Grad & Sons was a leading designer and developer of Modernist governmental and corporate office architecture from the 1920s to the 1960s, and a New Jersey firm with a significant national presence. “Among Grad’s most important commissions were Newark Symphony Hall (1925); the 35-story, Art Decostyle Eleven80 Building (1929-30) in downtown Newark; and the 44-story, Art Deco-style Essex House (1931) at 160 Central Park South in Manhattan. “During World War II, Frank Grad & Sons was heavily involved with the design and construction of large-scale military bases overseas, and entered the postwar era as an important governmental architect with perhaps their best known commission being the James V. Forrestal Building complex (1965-69) for the U.S. Department of Defense in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www. “The firm played a major role in the stakeholders-act.org. late 1950s to 1960s expansion of New
HEALTH @capitalhealthnj
APRIL 2021
HEADLINES
B I - M O N T H LY N E W S F R O M C A P I TA L H E A LT H
Capital Health Welcomes New Neurology Specialists to Capital Institute for Neurosciences
“When patients require expert care for complex neurological conditions such as stroke, aneurysms, and brain and spine trauma, they look to our Capital Institute for Neurosciences,” said Dr. Dustin Rochestie, director of Neurology and Neurocritical Care. “Drs. Patel, Kiviat, Kananeh, and Patel add additional depth and experience to our team, so patients can be confident they’re receiving the most advanced neuroscience care in the region.”
Capital Health Regional Medical Center includes one of the largest dedicated Neuro ICUs in the state to care for the most complex neuroscience patients. DR. MOHAMMED KANANEH is one of the hospital’s fellowship trained neuro critical care physicians who provide intensive care for patients with life threatening conditions such as stroke, traumatic brain or spine injury, brain aneurysms, and other serious neurological disorders. He was fellowship trained in neurocritical care at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He completed his neurology residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, where he also completed his internal medicine internship.
DR. PRATIT PATEL joined the team to treat patients requiring endovascular intervention and diagnostics for cerebrovascular conditions like brain aneurysm, stroke, carotid and intracranial stenosis, arteriovenous malformation (AVM), arteriovenous fistula, and subdural hematoma. He is board certified in vascular neurology, neurology and neurosonology (ultrasonic imaging of the brain and other neural structures). Dr. Patel uses minimally invasive neuroendovascular techniques to treat patients accessing the brain’s vascular system using a catheter through the groin area or wrist. After completing his neurology residency at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Dr. Patel was fellowship trained in vascular neurology at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and later completed additional fellowship training in endovascular surgical neuroradiology at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey.
Capital Institute for Neurosciences also offers care in the outpatient setting. Neurologist DR. MITEN PATEL, who recently joined the Institute’s Pennington-based practice, is board certified in neurology and fellowship trained in neuromuscular medicine. He received his medical degree at University College London in London, England. He went on to complete further graduate studies at University of Cambridge and conducted research at the Sanger Institute, which culminated in an MPhil degree. Dr. Patel completed his neurology residency at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, New York, where he also completed his fellowship training in neuromuscular medicine, with an emphasis on electromyography (EMG). EMG is used to detect neuromuscular abnormalities by measuring electrical activity and muscle response to a nerve’s stimulation of the muscle.
DR. DAVID KIVIAT received his medical degree from the University of Florida, where he also completed his neurology training. He has treated patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings and has managed care in the neuro ICU, stroke unit, and inpatient neurology service. Dr. Kiviat works with the Capital Health team as a part of its neurohospitalist service, treating patients with a wide range of neurologic disorders and emergencies. Dr. Kiviat is also experienced in neuroradiology, routine and long-term electroencephalograms (EEG) studies, and lumbar punctures.
Capital Institute for Neurosciences provides the most advanced neuroscience care and treatments for conditions such as stroke, aneurysms, vascular malformations, carotid artery disease, cerebrovascular disorders, brain tumors, brain and spine trauma, and complex spine care. Surgical services include neuroendovascular surgery, neurovascular surgery, microsurgery, brain tumor and skull base surgery, as well as advanced spine surgery. Capital Health’s Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center also operates a Mobile Stroke Unit, the first unit of its kind to go live in New Jersey and the Delaware Valley.
Capital Health recently welcomed Dr. Pratit Patel, Dr. Mohammed Kananeh, Dr. David Kiviat and Dr. Miten Patel to its Capital Institute for Neurosciences. The new providers include fellowship trained and board certified specialists who join the Institute in providing the most advanced neuroscience care and treatments to patients in central New Jersey and Lower Bucks County in Pennsylvania.
To learn more, visit capitalneuro.org.
Health Headlines by Capital Health | Trenton Downtowner 5
Capital Health Introduces NEW ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD TO IMPROVE PATIENT CARE Capital Health, a regional leader in providing progressive, quality patient care, is now using a new electronic health record (EHR) across its two hospitals’ acute care areas to better serve the community and its patients. The EHR from global health care technology company Cerner Corporation supports doctors, nurses and staff to document and access critical patient information to make treatment decisions, ensure safety and improve the health care experience. "During this challenging time, we are proud to offer our patients an improved health care experience through the launch of our new EHR,” said Gene Grochala, chief information officer, Capital Health. “Despite the challenges of COVID-19, our staff came together to successfully launch this new technology as part of our commitment to the health and well-being of our patients. We look forward to showing the community the benefits of this new system in simplifying and streamlining our ability to provide highquality health care services.” The new Cerner EHR will support Capital Health clinicians to efficiently document and access patient information all in one location. Having the most up-to-date patient information at their fingertips supports clinicians in making the most appropriate and informed data-driven decisions. It also means patients who receive care at both Capital Health hospitals may not have to fill out as much paperwork because their critical health data will be able to follow them between locations. "Setting up a new EHR during a global pandemic is not a simple task, and Capital Health overcame immense challenges to complete the project for the benefit of its patients and clinicians,” said Brian Kincade, senior director and general manager, Cerner. “We were able to successfully move a large portion of the design and build activity to a virtual environment, due to social distancing and travel restrictions, without skipping a beat. Capital Health’s dedication to getting the new system up and running, while also providing life-saving care amid COVID-19, is a testament to its commitment to the community.” Patients will also have access to their health records through Cerner’s secure online patient portal. Once enrolled, patients can securely exchange messages with their care team, view health information and records, settle balances and view upcoming appointments. Through greater access to their own information, Capital Health is empowering patients to take a more active role in their care to support health and well-being. Capital Health is the Central New Jersey/Lower Bucks County region's leader in providing progressive, quality patient care with significant investments in physicians, nurses and staff, as well as advanced technology. Comprised of two hospitals (Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton, NJ and Capital Health Medical Center – Hopewell), an outpatient facility in Hamilton, NJ, and various primary and specialty care practices across the region, Capital Health is a dynamic health care provider accredited by DNV GL – health care and a four-time Magnet®-recognized health system for nursing excellence. For more information, visit capitalhealth.org.
6Trenton Downtowner | Health Headlines by Capital Health
SIGN UP FOR CAPITAL HEALTH’S HOSPITAL PATIENT PORTAL CAPITAL HEALTH’S FREE ONLINE HOSPITAL PATIENT PORTAL GIVES YOU ACCESS TO YOUR HEALTH SUMMARY if you were admitted to one of our hospitals or visited one of our Emergency Departments on or after July 15, 2015. Outpatient diagnostic test results and laboratory results are available from July 1, 2016. Additional features to help you better manage your health will become available at a later time. Our portals are available to patients 18 years of age or older. Parents or guardians of patients under the age of 18 who wish to have access to their child’s medical records are asked to call our Health Information Management Department at 609.303.4085 (Hopewell) or 609.394.4460 (Regional Medical Center).
PREVIOUS PORTAL SIGN UP:
(for visits from July 15, 2015 – February 5, 2021) • Visit capitalhealth.org/myportal. Click on the link for the Capital Health Hospital Patient Portal July 15, 2015 – February 5, 2021. • Use your personal (not work) email. You should receive a confirmation email once you have registered for the new patient portal. • You must have an email address in order to register for the portal.
NEW PORTAL SIGN UP: (for visits from February 6, 2021 – present) • Visit capitalhealth.org/myportal. Click on the link for the Capital Health Hospital Patient Portal February 6, 2021 – present. • Use your personal (not work) email. You should receive a confirmation email once you have registered for the new patient portal. • You must have an email address in order to register for the portal.
Capital Health Specialty Practices – Bordentown is located on the second floor at 100 K Johnson Blvd N, Suite 201, Bordentown, New Jersey 08505.
CAPITAL HEALTH OPENS NEW MULTISPECIALTY CARE OFFICE IN BORDENTOWN Expanding access to specialty health care service for residents in Burlington County, Capital Health recently opened its new Specialty Practices – Bordentown location at 100 K Johnson Blvd N, Suite 201, Bordentown, New Jersey 08505 (on the northbound side of Route 130, across from the Team 85 Fitness & Wellness Center). The new office shares a building that is also home to Capital Health Primary Care – Bordentown and Rothman Orthopaedics. “Thanks to the continued growth of Capital Health Medical Group, access to expert health care in Burlington County is more convenient than ever,” said Al Maghazehe, president and CEO of Capital Health. “When our neighbors who live or work in Burlington County need specialized care for more complex conditions, our new Specialty Practices – Bordentown location brings highly trained clinicians under the same roof as our Primary Care – Bordentown team to streamline their care and address a wider range of health care needs.” The providers at Capital Health Specialty Practices – Bordentown are part of Capital Health Medical Group, a network of more than 400 physicians and providers who offer carefully coordinated primary and specialty care. All Medical Group offices use a shared electronic medical records system, which allows providers to access medical records on secure network, making it convenient for patients to continue their care across our network of primary and specialty care providers. Patients can also manage their health easier using our Capital Health Medical Group patient portal, which allows them to conveniently access information about any of their office visits online. For more information about Capital Health Specialty Practices – Bordentown, visit capitalhealth.org/specialtybordentown.
Capital Health – Behavioral Health Specialists clinicians, including DR. CHRISTI WESTON, DR. ARVIND BHASKER, DR. KRISTINA MCGUIRE, and licensed clinical social worker VICTORIA PENACARDINALLI, provide compassionate psychiatric care, counseling services, and advanced treatment (such as transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression) in a warm, calming environment. To learn more, visit capitalhealth.org/behavioralhealth or call 609.689.5725 to schedule an appointment. Capital Health – Endocrinology Specialists includes DRS. SHERI GILLIS-FUNDERBURK, ERIKA VILLANUEVA, JOANNA TOLIN, SUNIL THOMAS, and NAZISH AHMAD, who provide care for people living with diabetes, thyroid disorders, metabolic bone diseases (such as osteoporosis), and other problems involving the endocrine (or gland) system. To learn more, visit capitalendocrinology.org or call 609.303.4300 to schedule an appointment. Capital Health – Gastroenterology Specialists includes fellowship trained gastroenterologists DRS. MARK SAXENA, WASEEM BUTT, and MICHAEL ITIDIARE, as well as nurse practitioner LISA COSTELLO, all of whom specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of general diseases of the digestive system for adult patients. Visit capitalgastro.org to learn more or schedule an appointment by calling 609.528.8884. Capital Health – Pediatric Gastroenterology Specialists, led by fellowship trained pediatric gastroenterologist DR. SABEENA FARHATH, provides patient-focused care with compassion for treating gastrointestinal illnesses in infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. Visit capitalhealth.org/pediatricgi to learn more or schedule an appointment by calling 609.528.8894. Capital Health – Rheumatology Specialists includes fellowship trained rheumatologists DRS. WILLIAM TORELLI, RISHI PATEL, and LEIGH SEGAL, who specialize in the care and treatment of conditions that affect the joints, muscles, bones, and immune system. For more information, visit capitalrheumatology.org or call 609.303.4360 to schedule an appointment. Capital Health – Pediatric Orthopedics features DR. MEGAN GRESH, a board certified and fellowship trained pediatric orthopedic surgeon who is dedicated solely to diagnosing, treating, and managing musculoskeletal conditions in children. For more information, or to schedule an appointment, call 609.537.6000. Health Headlines by Capital Health | Trenton Downtowner 7
Capital Health Earns
NATIONAL HONOR FOR EXCELLENCE in Treating Pancreatic Cancer The National Pancreas Foundation (NPF) recently recognized Capital Health Cancer Center as an NPF Center for treating pancreatic cancer. After a rigorous audit, Capital Health earned this designation by demonstrating a focus on the multidisciplinary treatment of pancreatic cancer—treating the whole patient—with a goal of achieving the best possible outcomes and an improved quality of life.
To earn recognition as an NPF Center, Capital Health met comprehensive standards developed by a task force of pancreatic cancer experts and patient advocates. The criteria include having expert physicians in specialties such as gastroenterology, pancreas surgery, and interventional radiology, along with more patient-focused programs such as pain management, behavioral health, and more.
“Being named an NPF Center for the treatment of pancreatic cancer is a great honor for Capital Health, but it is even better news for patients who need our services,” said DR. CATALDO DORIA, medical director of Capital Health Cancer Center and a hepato-pancreato-biliary surgeon. “This designation is a result of the great work done by teams across disciplines at our Cancer Center every day and reaffirms Capital Health’s commitment to providing innovative, world-class care that is close to home for patients in Central New Jersey and surrounding regions.”
Capital Health Cancer Center, located at Capital Health Medical Center - Hopewell, is the area’s most advanced provider of cancer treatment delivered by some of the most experienced medical experts, led by medical director Dr. Cataldo Doria. At the Center, a team of physicians from related fields such as medical oncology, radiation oncology, gynecological oncology, neurosurgery, hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery, interventional GI and pulmonology, radiology, plastic and reconstructive surgery, colorectal surgery, thoracic surgery and other specialties collaborate and provide patients with a network of physicians trained in the most complex oncology issues.
KNOW THE RISK OF PANCREATIC CANCER Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading causes of cancerrelated deaths in the US, with more than 48,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Though the exact cause of pancreatic cancer are not yet well understood, research studies have identified certain risk factors that may increase the likelihood that an individual will develop the disease.
For more information, visit capitalhealth.org/cancer.
OBESE people have a 20% increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer compared to people who are of normal weight
DIET high in red and processed meats is thought to increase the risk of developing pancreatic cancer
SMOKING is associated with 20 – 30% of all pancreatic cancer cases
PANCREATIC CANCER RISK FACTORS
FAMILY HISTORY: 2 – 3 times increased risk if a first-degree relative (parent, sibling or child), is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
PANCREATITIS: Chronic or hereditary
Slightly more MEN are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer than women
8Trenton Downtowner | Health Headlines by Capital Health
AGE: Most people diagnosed are greater than 60 years of age
LONG-STANDING, (over 5 years) diabetes
Exit 7A: The Capital City’s creative connection By Susan Van Dongen
Y
ou know a business is from New Jersey when it’s named for an exit off the Turnpike. That would be Exit 7A Creative Services and Studios, on West Front Street in Trenton, managed and masterminded by owner/producer Scott Miller, who lives on the second floor of the 1873 building. The business provides custom audio and video productions, studios, and technology and support services for performers, businesses, campaigns, and events. Since 2003 Exit 7A has been creating professional media for promotions, product and client development, fundraising, social media, websites, training, and sales presentations. Nationally and internationally, clients include small and large businesses, media outlets such as CNN, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), National Public Radio (NPR), and USA Track and Field. The studio has also assisted politicians, labor unions, and municipal governments, as well as other media professionals. Locally, Exit 7A and Miller have done sound, recording, and other technical support for Art All Night, as well as the Trenton Punk Rock Flea Market, the Trenton Farmer’s Mar-
ket, the Capitol Philharmonic of New Jersey, the Trenton Half Marathon, and the Trenton Pork Roll Festival, which Miller produces. The company supports all kinds of musicians and bands, students, indie filmmakers, and other performing and creative artists, including Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa. “One simple project we did (recently), which I’m really proud of, was an audio recording for the newly remodeled MoMA in New York,” Miller says. “It’s a recording of Yusef Komunyakaa reciting a poem he wrote for the museum tour of Wifredo Lam’s famous painting ‘The Jungle.’” Exit 7A is a bustling place for local and regional photographers as well. In fact, on a recent socially distanced interview, Miller had to end the con-
versation to open the backyard barn, which is being used as a photography studio. Will Foskey, Ebony Johnson, and Habiyb Shu’Aib, among others professional photographers, use the studio for their client photo shoots. As soon as conditions allow, Miller says Exit 7A will be opening its large studio building for monthly indie film screenings, open mic events, podcasts and talk shows, indie film productions, and private events. To help run Exit 7A, Miller sometimes utilizes the services of interns from Rider University or the College of New Jersey. Otherwise, he likes to keep the business lean with only one other regular employee, Tony Catanese (Tony Goggles), a graphic artist and drummer for Trenton-based hard rock band Honah Lee.
Scott Miller, center, with members of the Sun Ra Arketra outside the studio. (As a filmmaker, Catanese has had success with his exploitation Trenton vampire film “Girls Just Wanna Have Blood” — originally titled “Teenage Bloodsuckin’ Bimbos” — a hit at the New Jersey film festival in the winter of 2019.) “Tony does most our graphic design, but I’ve also helped him make feature films — in fact we just spent 40 hours in the freezing cold working on a short film,” Miller says. “He’s very creative, and I think he’s the only (filmmaker) in Trenton who ever got a distribution deal, and not just with independent films, there’s interest from See EXIT 7A, Page 10
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April 2021 | Trenton Downtowner9
EXIT 7A, continued from Page 9
the ‘majors’ for Tony. He’s latched onto some great connections.” One of Exit 7A’s latest productions was a live gospel concert video for the Bishop’s Choir of the Grace Cathedral in Trenton, which was streamed live in late January to rave reviews and more than 25,000 views. Take a look at https://fb.watch/3tavsqQCRe and you can see how the expert camera work and audio capture the moving sound and spirit of this ensemble. At the same time, Miller has been working with June Ballinger, playwright, producer, actor, and former producing artistic director of the Passage Theatre, whose recent onewoman play “Remembrance Day” is an homage to her late mother, Nancy Annan, a Bletchley Park code breaker during World War II. “Before she was married, June’s mother was code breaker with Alan Turing (and others) in England,” Miller says. “So parts of the play have her dating airmen in the U.K., then moving to New Jersey to have a family, etc., and June plays each role (in each time period). We’ve made a film out of that, and it’s in the final editing stages.” Reflecting on the end of 2020, Miller says Exit 7A had a good year, even though the COVID-19 pandemic put a real damper on business at first. “When the pandemic hit last spring, we got wiped out; there was no business at all in Trenton,” Miller says. “But a couple of months later, things started trickling back. We were still doing vocal recordings. It’s a separate booth, so it’s a very safe operation.” “It seems like during the pandemic people revisited their creative side, and we started to get all kinds of projects,” he adds. “People were stuck at home and needed to create something.” Miller says 2020 was an especially busy year for collaborations on new music projects with Michael Ray, longterm trumpeter with Kool and The Gang, for Ray’s own band, the Cosmic Krewe. “These include a few sessions with 96-year-old sax player Marshall Allen and other members of the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra — who themselves currently have an album on the international jazz charts,” Miller says. “We also did trumpet recordings for five songs with Michael, for Kevin Hearn and the Canadian band the Barenaked Ladies for their new album, coming later in 2021.” It’s not the first time Miller and Exit 7A has collaborated with the Canadian super band. “We also did the horn recordings for the Barenaked Ladies’ 2018 album ‘Fake Nudes,’” he says. One of the highlights of 2020 for Miller and Exit 7A was last summer’s production of a 75th birthday tribute for funk, soul, and disco legend Sarah Dash, the iconic Trenton-born singer
The New Jersey Turnpike exitinspired Front Street studio supports all kinds of musicians, bands, filmmakers, and other performers. who was, of course, one third of Labelle. “Sarah’s concert was supposed to be part of the Levitt AMP concert series, so (the organization) had money He also studied art and audio engibut no concerts to spend it on,” Miller neering there. says. “Instead, the funds were put toAfter graduation Miller worked on wards creating this birthday tribute, complex soil and groundwater remewhich we figured we could stream, so diation projects in New Jersey, Penneveryone could see it.” sylvania, Virginia, and California. He “We got birthday greetings from began his career in environmental all kinds of celebrities, including the services as a field engineer and left as Rolling Stones,” he adds. “We staged a senior design and project engineer. a concert at the 1867 Sanctuary with a He was starting to hate his work and live band, Sarah did two numbers solo, daydreamed about running his own then her friends came on and sang.” multi-media studio. Miller had dipped Growing up his toe into sound in Wilkes Barre, production, proPennsylvania, viding audio Since 2003 Exit 7A Miller is the son equipment and of an engineer services for area has been creating father, while his bands and events grandfather was professional media for (helping out at an enthusiastic the Mill Hill Sapromotions, product collector of Ediloon in Trenton, son cylinder reand client development, for one thing) and cordings. wondered how he fundraising, social “He had difcould make the ferent machines jump and do it full media, websites, to play them all, time. even the Edison training, and sales “I was living on Victrolas with the other side of presentations. the big cone amthe river in Morplifier, and I used risville, Pennsylto help him fix vania, when I saw them,” Miller says. the Trenton Downtown Association “I think it was my second grade had a business plan competition to enfield trip to the Thomas Edison Mu- tice people to move to the New Jersey seum that really put the idea in my side of the river,” Miller says. “Funny brain about media creation,” he adds. thing was, the deadline for the propos“When I saw all those great inventions als was the next day.” of Edison’s, it really resonated for me.” “I wrote a business plan, they liked Miller reflects that he strayed from it, and they gave me about $3,000 in his first love when he studied engi- seed money,” he says. “The revitalizaneering management, environmental tion of downtown Trenton had a lot engineering, and business, earning a of energy and money behind it at the B.S. from Wilkes University in 1990.
10Trenton Downtowner April 2021
time.” He notes that in the early 2000s Front Street had been redone in cobblestone, the Trenton Marriott at Lafayette Yard opened, Maxine’s restaurant had been rehabbed, and the Patriots Theatre at the War Memorial was going strong with concerts. “I was friends with J.R. Capasso (Brownfields coordinator for the city of Trenton), and he said, ‘take a look at downtown, things are moving and shaking.’ He showed me this property, which had been abandoned for 30 years,” Miller says. “I didn’t know anything about rehabbing a house, but everything else around here was looking real good.” “I thought, ‘wow, I could put a studio in here,’ so I made the decision to buy the abandoned building, which also had this barn in the backyard,” he continues. Although Exit 7A’s official address is on West Front Street, Miller says that the house and barn are situated on tiny Howell’s Alley, “which dates back to the 1700s. This neighborhood is one of the oldest parts of Trenton, and it’s really unusual.” “The Old Barracks is only about 100 yards from my house, so reenactments and other events spill out of there,” he says. “Several buildings within a block are on the National Historical Register, including the Masonic Temple. There’s a real 18th-century flavor to this part of Trenton, and it’s turning me into a history buff.” Exit 7A Creative Ser vices and Studios, 9 West Front Street. 609-8151343. www.exit7a.com.
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April 2021 | Trenton Downtowner11
Wylie keeps the faith at Passage Theater By Dan Aubrey
O
ne year after the pandemic disrupted Passage Theater‘s schedule, board president Carolyn Wylie is keeping the faith for the capital city’s only nonprofit professional theater — fittingly housed in an old church. “I think the staff has done an amazing season given the restrictions and how they reinvented theater,” says Wylie during a recent Zoom interview from her home in Trenton’s Mill Hill section. With recent news that the company received a Princeton Area Community Foundation New Jersey Arts and Culture Recovery Fund grant, Wylie’s upbeat assessment may seem like predictable business spin, but there is a twist. Like nonprofit board members throughout the region, Wylie is a volunteer. So, along with her full-time job as an Educational Testing Service principal research scientist/research director, she has taken on the responsibility of leading a group of other volunteers in raising funds for an inner-city arts organization during one of the grimmest business seasons in memory in a city suffering from state and business closures. “We had planned a season that was split,” she says about the planning that went into effect last spring. “October to January was to be online. The spring plan was to be back in the building. But we had to make a decision at the end of the year that it was would be online.” And while she says the digital presentations will have improved production values and not be “just Zoom online,” watching plays online just isn’t the same as being in theater. But in the meantime, she and the board are busy keeping the company together. “There is always a funding challenge for small theater,” she says, adding that one of the surprises to her when she got involved was learning that ticket sales are just a small amount of a theater’s income. The difficulty also comes with the theater’s mission. “Passage is committed to creating and presenting new works and continuing to identify stories that are meaningful.” That also means “identifying works that aren’t just new works but resonate with Trenton — that’s a core part of the theater’s mission.” As an example, she mentions Passage’s “OK Project,” a new documentary-style work being built around the actual story of a group of young Trentonians creating a sculpture — a giant hand giving the OK signal — that became a social and political hot topic after the police and city administration connected it to gangs and censured it. “It is exciting to see these (new works) come to fruition — interviewing and bringing that team together,” she says. “But it is expensive to workshop and present them. And there are two workshop projects going on this year.” Therefore, she says, Passage benefits from donations from individuals as well as funding organizations designed to support cultural organizations and new work. To help with Passage maintain its current budget of approximately $370,000, Wylie credits the Dodge Foundation for providing “a series for boards and basic rules about what it means to be a board member and how do we think about diversity, equity, and inclusion.” She also says the NJ Theater Alliance has been sharing information regarding how theater professionals are responding to COVID-related situations. And she adds that Passage “has also been for-
12Trenton Downtowner April 2021
tunate to have a part-time grant writer, New Hopebased consultant Julia Bumke,” who served as Passage’s interim artistic director when current artistic director, C. Ryanne Domingues, was on maternity leave. “It is an interesting role. It’s not like it’s my job,” she says about leading the board at this time. “The people who are doing the hard work are the Passage staff. As board president I’m there to be a support to them. “And for the board, we are advocating for Passage. It’s a thing we volunteer to do, and it is a commitment. We formed a COVID committee to give the staff that extra support because they had to make plans and had to remake plans. “It is hard to redo all these plans. Especially since they want to see the audience and hear the audience response. It is an important part of the job this year to just be encouraging.” Wylie’s passage to becoming the president of a small professional theater in Trenton is not without its own plot twists. The daughter of a farmer and farm equipment and fertilizer sales representative father and an English teacher mother, Wylie was born and raised in the Northern Irish town of Omagh, in County Tyrone. She attended Queen’s University in Belfastm where she received a bachelor’s of science in physics (1992), a post graduate certification in education mathematics/informational technology (1993), and a doctorate in educational assessment (1996). Her studies related to teaching standards and assessments paved the way for her long term involvement with the University of North Carolina Greenberg’s National Board Teacher Assessment Program. When the program moved to the Educational
‘It is important to every community to have access to quality theater and to have stories. No one asks about why New York needs Broadway or Princeton has McCarter.’ Testing Service campus in Lawrence Township, Wylie became a likely candidate to staff it, and she moved to New Jersey in 1997. “ETS gave me a contract for two years. I was on a three-year visa and said I may as well stay a few years. So I said I would stay for a second run of my visa,” she says. About her becoming part of the central New Jersey community, she says, “I came to take a job at ETS, and 23 years later I’m still there. “More recently my work has focused on formative assessment — a classroom-based process that teachers and students engage in to elicit evidence of student learning while it is still developing in order to support next learning steps — and kinds of professional learning opportunities that teachers need to develop and deepen their formative assessment practices.” She says her introduction to the Mill Hill Theater, the city-owned property that is also Passage Theater’s home, was in 1999, when someone gave her a flyer that announced a production featuring Irish plays. While not trained in theater and with little experi-
Carolyn Wylie became Passage Theater’s board president in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. ence outside of being a stage manager for grammar school productions, the then-Pennington apartment renter continued to visit the theater and became a Passage Theater subscriber. She also became a Trenton resident. “In 2006 I heard of some apartments that were going on sale in Trenton, and I couldn’t afford Pennington,” she says, then adding that since she usually parked near the front of the Mill Hill Playhouse she didn’t realize that the places for sale were so close to the theater. Wylie says she brought a house in Mill Hill, married photographer C.a. Shofed, and got more involved (with Passage Theater). “I was a subscriber and started to volunteer and chair the benefit committee and was eventually asked to join the board,” she says. She became board president in August, 2020, and saw the addition of several new board members: Matthew Cooper, associate provost for the Center for Learning & Technology at Thomas Edison State University; Hope Grant, assistant superintendent of the Trenton Board of Education; Euen Gunn, senior director of research and development for Johnson & Johnson; Rev. Brian Joyce, Trinity United Methodist Church, Ewing; Beth Reddy, retired, section chief, New Jersey Division of Environmental Protection; D. Vance Smith, professor, Department of English Princeton University; and Madhu M. Sonti, senior client advisor of wealth management at PNC Bank. Asked about the specific skills she brings to president’s role, Wylie points to her ETS work in formative assessment and its ability to use information to determine “what is working and what we can do to make it better. If you don’t know where your strengths and weaknesses are, you don’t know how to improve.” Applying a similar strategy to herself, she says, “I learned the value of theater more when you see it from the inside. Just seeing the amount of work and the infrastructure it takes to put something on the stage and that it looks effortless from an audience perspective. I have appreciated seeing that. “I’ve appreciated the opportunity to take the management skills of my work world and apply them, to stretch myself and think about fundraising and other things that require a new set of skills.”
City lore: The prehistoric ‘Trenton Man’ By Dan Aubrey
‘T
his is the story of one curious branch of our family tree, an early form of Homo sapiens who, it was thought, lived right here in the Garden State.” Yet to be more accurate, former New Jersey Historical Commission director Marc Mappen just should have said Trenton to start his article “Trenton Man” — found in his 1992 book “Jerseyana.” The following tells why. The time is the mid-1800s, and the concept of prehistoric men and women was generating scientific interest in both Europe and the United States. That includes Charles Conrad Abbot, a Trenton-born physician turned archaeologist then living on a farm on the edge of the marshlands between Trenton and Bordentown. The site happened to be on what was later called one of the largest Native American settlements on the East Coast and has yielded numerous archaeologically significant artifacts — now in the collections of the New Jersey State Museum, Princeton University, and Harvard University’s Peabody Museum. Some of Abbott’s deep soil finds included “stone implements much cruder and more weathered than the graceful Indian arrowheads, spear points, and the other tools he was accustomed finding closer to the surface.” Abbott began to connect the older implements with the age of the soil and what he knew about glaciers, soil ages, and the latest European prehis-
toric studies. In order to test some theories he was developing, Abbott sent stone tool examples to the Society of Anthropology in Paris, where they were compared to European Stone Age implements. The result was a conclusion that there was formerly some type of bridge that allowed the same race of primitive humans to inhabit both the Old World and the New. That was followed by the question, “Who were these primitive people who hadn’t progressed enough to develop a bow and arrow and became extinct in Europe?” Abbott furthermore theorized that invading natives pushed the ancient people from New Jersey into colder regions, where they became Eskimos. As Mappen notes, “Abbott published his findings and theories in several books, notably his 1881 ‘Primitive Industry’ and attracted some strong support. His Trenton farm was visited by the most eminent geologists, paleontologists, and anthropologists of Europe and America, and the discovery of glacial humans in the Delaware Valley was discussed at international symposiums.” Abbott was offered positions at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, where he became its archaeology curator. Meanwhile his stone implements were exhibited at the Peabody Museum, American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Museum, and others. At the same time, writes Mappen, “other investigators began to dig in the area, and some supporting evi-
Then, thinking larger and more philosophically, she touches on why she and others are volunteering their time for a downtown Trenton project: “It is important to every community to have access to quality theater and to have stories. No one asks about why New York needs Broadway or Princeton has McCarter; it is a given. People deserve to have an opportunity to have stories that resonate with them because it tells a story that is like them or an opportunity to hear stories that don’t seem connected then because that is how we learn. We learn through stories about the ‘other,’ someone not like us. That is how we learn and how we grow.” Looking forward, Wylie says the board is looking at ways to generate more financial support and maintain an annual fundraising event. Additionally, with plans to expand Passage’s education program and work with the Trenton School System, Wylie hopes to see a grassroots fundraising and community awareness campaign that can generate “lots of little donations from Trenton” and “remind people we are here and that we’re a resource.” But more immediately, she says, “I would really like folks to visit the Passage website to see what Passage has been doing.” Passage Theater, Mill Hill Playhouse, 205 East Front Street. 609-392-0766. www.passagetheatre. org.
dence was found, such as the fossil of an extinct animal under the streets of Trenton.” But there were also skeptics “mainly centered at the Smithsonian Institution, who thought that Abbott was completely wrong. These critics argued that humans had arrived in North America a mere two thousand years ago, long after the glaciers.” And Abbott was accused of sloppy archaeology. Mappen continues as follows: “For years, this was one of the hottest debates in American archaeology and
By 1919 ‘the story of Trenton Man was a faint embarrassment to the city of Trenton and to the supporters of Abbott.’ geology. By the time of Abbott’s death in 1919, however, the Smithsonian view had prevailed. In the mid-1930s excavations at (Abbott’s farm) by a young woman archaeologist form the New Jersey State Museum, Dr. Dorothy Cross, seemed to settle the issue once and for all. “Dr. Cross confirmed that the earliest inhabitants of the farm site were Delaware Indians from the Middle Woodland period, which is now dated form 500 B.C. to A.D. 500. The Trenton gravel implements found by
Abbott were, in fact, merely quarry blanks dating from that recent period. “And so the matter rested. The story of Trenton Man was a faint embarrassment to the city of Trenton and to the supporters of Abbott. No doubt local wags made jokes to the effect that the only specimens of primitive human life to be found in the city were in state government. “But wait — the story takes another turn. In 1926 archaeologists discovered a group of fossilized bison in New Mexico; spear points found together with these remains indicated that these bison had been killed by human hunters around 12,000 years ago. This date was subsequently confirmed by the discovery of similar spear points in other New World locations and pushed back still further by the carbon-14 dating of archaeological sites. “Scientists now believe that Indians first arrived in North America over a land bridge from Siberia something like 15,000 to 25,000 thousand years ago while the glaciers were still there. These Indians spread over North and South America, and later separated into sub-groups such as the Delawares of New Jersey and the Eskimos of the Arctic. “So there were humans in New Jersey just about when Abbott thought there were, even though they were not Eskimos and not a branch of European Paleolithic culture, and even though they had nothing to do with the tools he discovered.” As the archaeology community eventually concluded, “Abbott was right, but for the wrong reasons.”
In the galleries: ‘Women Artists, Trenton Style’
T
renton-based artist Tracey Jones is one of the artists in the current Trenton City Museum exhibition “Women Artists, Trenton Style.” As demonstrated in the work “Triangle,” at right, Jones is an artist devoted to abstraction. In a Community News Service interview, the artist shared the following thoughts on creativity: “To find yourself as an artist takes many years. I trusted that work and paint would take me there. Artists see things that influence them; they digest it and spit it out with their own imprint. I have my students start by painting still life. They don’t think it’s creative, but they have to learn the craft of painting, mixing colors, and looking at something and seeing how to take something three-dimensional and interpret it on a flat surface. Then they can rebel.”
‘Triangle’ by Tracey Jones. Women Artists, Trenton Style, Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, Cadwalader Park. Friday and Saturday, noon to 4 p.m., Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m., through June 6 (masks, social distancing required, and timed entry). Free. For more information, call 609-989-1191. To reserve a viewing time or take a virtual tour of the exhibition, go to www.ellarslie.org.
April 2021 | Trenton Downtowner13
Trenton
Off the Presses: ‘The Foreigner’s Song’
N
ationally known and former Trenton and area poet Pablo Medina’s “The Foreigner’s Song: New and Selected Poems” is a type of aural retrospective. Here the Cuban-born American poet reaches back to his first published book of poems, the 1975 “Pork Rind and Cuban Song,” culls from five others, and releases 19 fresh works that open with “That Dream Again.” It’s a fitting title to start the book. Not only does Medina mention dreams in a number of his poems, he charges his poems with a dreamlike quality — one that leads readers to a place where familiarity and certainty surrender to strangeness and reflection. In the following excerpt from “Jersey Nights,” which first appeared in his 1991 volume, “Arching into the Afterlife,” the poet explores a subject that he returned to frequently during his time in the region: the landscape of the Garden State, and that of its capital city in particular:
Deep winter night. The tongues of the Common quivered — the salt tongues, the tongues of the dreams of Hungarians, the tongues of windows sealing envelopes for their husbands, tongues of macadam, pine barren tongues, tongues of poets and politicians battling one another with mirrors. I meet a woman cradling a stone in her arms. The doctor found it by her bladder waiting for light. She walked on singing. Her talisman cracked.
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14Trenton Downtowner April 2021
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16Trenton Downtowner April 2021