December
2002
DOWNTOWN
NEWS
TDA Announces Winners of Downtown Trenton Business
Plan Competition
The Trenton Downtown Association announced four
winners of the Downtown Trenton Business Plan Competition. The
Competition, which was launched in June, solicited business plans
from existing downtown retailers and office businesses, as well
as start-up firms seeking to locate in downtown Trenton. The four
winners will share $9,000 in total prize money.
Capital City Craft Studio, a boutique specializing in contemporary
handcrafted gifts, is the grand prizewinner in the Best Retail
Plan category. The new retailer provides products ranging from
garden ornaments to baby gifts to accessories for wine lovers.
Individual artisans make the majority of the items for the store,
which opened on November 1 as a co-tenant of Blossoms and Gifts
at 117 South Warren Street.
Liberty Bike Works Pedicab Service is the grand prizewinner in
the Best Aspiring Downtown Plan category. The business, owned
by Milt Sharp, seeks to provide bike-powered carriages for shuttling
tourists between the Marriott Hotel, downtown restaurants and
various downtown tourist destinations.
Two businesses, MSP Associates and MicroJazz, shared honors for
Best Downtown Office Plan. MSP Associates is a debt collection
firm handling accounts in areas such as consumer and automobile
debt, utility services, and home mortgage debt. The business,
owned by Trenton native Damion K. Miles, is located in the Trenton
Business and Technology Center and has grown from 2 to 9 employees
in the past year. MicroJazz
is a start-up jazz recording studio seeking office space in downtown
Trenton.
The prize funds will assist winners in purchasing inventory and
equipment, increasing marketing efforts, and undertaking expansion
plans. According to Barbara Moore, owner of Capital City Craft
Studio, "The competition proceeds will allow us to get the
word out about the unique and creative product line we carry."
According to Matt Bergheiser, Executive Director of the Trenton
Downtown Association, "The purpose of the competition was
to generate excitement and interest in entrepreneurship in downtown
Trenton, and I think we accomplished that. We've identified some
new ventures that have the potential to grow to be downtown anchor
businesses."
Twenty plans were received by the September 30 deadline. Competition
sponsors included Palo Alto Software, First Union National Bank,
The Vaughn Collaborative, Sun National Bank, Louis H. Linowitz
and Company and the Trenton Business Assistance Corporation.
George Washington comes to Mill Hill Playhouse
We wouldn't lie to you. We have received a press
release stating that General George Washington and "several
companions" will make an official visit to historic Trenton
on Dec. 27 and 28. General Washington will meet with a delegation
of patriots to discuss waning supplies and funding and later will
visit with local citizens at the Mill Hill Theater. No word on
whether the General plans to re-cross the Delaware.
Okay, so it's not really a resurrection as much as it's the Magnet
Theatre Company's presentation of "An Evening with General
Washington," featuring re-enactor Robert V. Gerenzer as the
father of our country. In character, Gerenzer will speak about
18th-century spies, pillaging and war plans as if they were headlines
from today's news.
Calvin Iszard, the president of Magnet Theatre Company and a former
television newscaster and New Jersey Network producer will host
the performance in a TV talk-show presentation. According to Iszard,
some surprise guests will join him on stage as well.
Tickets are priced at $10 for adults and $8 for seniors and students
and include colonial-style refreshments. For tickets and information,
call (609) 392-5589. Patriot Patron tickets ($25) include a candlelight
reception and photo opportunity with General Washington as well
as reserved seating.
WIMG names one-time songwriter new VP
WIMG 1300-AM, a gospel station based in Trenton,
named Lawrenceville resident and former Supremes lyricist Pamela
Pruitt their vice president for business development. In her new
role Pruitt will be responsible for all aspects of promoting the
station and developing sponsorships and programming that focuses
on the community. She will continue to host the station's public-affairs
program, Women to Women, which is simulcast on WZBN-TV (Channel
25).
Prior to joining WIMG, Pruitt served as an account executive with
the Wall Street Journal Radio Network in New York as an a national
account executive with CBS/Westwood One. Pruitt's career as a
lyricist included the hit song "Baby Come Close," which
was recorded by Smokey Robinson.
WIMG broadcasts bringing gospel music throughout Mercer, Burlington,
western Monmouth and Ocean Counties as well as Bucks County, Pa.
Passage Theatre presents Mixed Blessings for
the holidays
Passage Theatre is gearing up for its annual holiday
gift to the community, "Mixed Blessings," a series of
vignettes about the holidays, family and community. Performances
will run from Fri., Dec. 13 to Sun., Dec 15 at the Mill Hill Playhouse.
Local families go to the show to see their friends and neighbors
onstage in the production, which is part of Passage's State Street
Project, a mentoring program that provides children with the opportunity
to develop their self esteem through positive experiences in the
arts. Young performers are matched with professional actors, given
the kids a chance to work with skilled arts as colleagues. The
project is designed to give them a measure of responsibility onstage.
"The kids always give the pros a run for their money,"
says Nick Anselmo, Passage's education director. "The kids
put so much energy and humor into their performances that the
adults have to do their best work to keep up."
This year's show will feature eight Trenton youngsters alongside
professional actors from New York, Philadelphia and the Trenton
area. The vignettes, written by professional playwrights on a
variety of holiday themes, were written expressly for the State
Street Project.
Tickets are free but performances sell out frequently, so reservations
are required. Call (609) 392-0766 for more information or to reserve
your seats.
State Planetarium celebrates New Year with the
Nutcracker
The N.J. State Museum's planetarium will be presenting
the "Laser Nutcracker Spectacular," a 3D laser light
show, from November 30 to January 5, 2003. In addition to the
classical music from Tchaikovsky's ballet, the program includes
"Frosty the Snowman," "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
and other favorites.
The show will be presented on Saturdays and Sundays at 1 and 3
p.m. Tickets are #5 per person and include 3D glasses. They are
available at the Planearium Box Office only. Members of the Friends
of the New Jersey State Museum can receive one dollar off on each
ticket up to a maximum of four. For more information about the
laser shows, call the "Laserline" at (609) 777-9444.
Capital Health anesthesia tech receives parenting award
Gary Lockhart, an anesthesia technologist on the
Capital Health System Mercer campus, and his wife Fredericka have
just adopted for the fifth time, bringing the total number of
children in their home to seven. This past summer, Gary was chosen
as the New Jersey's "Adoptive Parent of the Year" for
his work to support adoption and for his own family story. N.J.
State Senator Shirley Turner bestowed the accolade, which is presented
annually to an individual dedicated to the cause of adoption.
The Lockharts' boys are aged from 20 to one. Helping the boys
meant adopting them around 18 months of age from foster homes.
Gary said his first adopted son was a very "severe"
case. He is proud that the boy is now 13 years old and doing well.
In many cases, adoptive children in foster homes have been the
victims of neglect, physical or emotional abuse, some from as
early as infancy.
When Gary was 26, he volunteered his time to pass out brochures
on adoption throughout the city of Trenton. Intrigued by the idea
of adopting a child, he attended seminars and classes about the
issue and eventually adopted his first son.
Through this experience, Gary was introduced to the Mill Hill
Child Development Center in Trenton, a day care facility run by
the state of New Jersey specifically for adopted and foster children.
Today Gary is a board member for Mill Hill Child Development Center
where his own children are cared for while he and his wife are
at work. Gary also volunteers at Capital Health System where he
makes rounds to patients in the hospital as part of the pastoral
care department's hospital ministry.
For those considering adoption, Gary offers this
advice, "It takes love, patience and understanding. If you
aren't going to give it your all and give love, then adoption
isn't the right choice."
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