Reed Gusciora delivers first State of the City
TRENTON » Mayor Reed Gusciora put forth a bleak portrait of a neglected capital city whose past leaders, either corrupt, unqualified or in over their heads, failed to put the city on a path toward self-sufficiency and stability, allowing the once-economic hub to slip into decay and disarray.
Balancing a brutal sense of honesty about the State of the City while striking a tone of cautious optimism for future recovery, Gusciora delivered his first milestone speech Thursday night inside council chambers at City Hall since taking over July 1 for former Mayor Eric Jackson.
His remarks came on the same night he nominated Carol Russell, a retired Trenton Police sergeant, to take over as acting police director.
“This isn’t meant as an indictment of any one person, department or entity,” Gusciora told the hushed crowd, as he rattled off a list of heavy-duty problems. “Our problems are not insurmountable.”
He urged residents the city was “strong at its core but with work to be done.”
His speech, broken up by bouts of applause, had the ring of the former state assemblyman hitting the reset button from past mayors, to remind people of how far the city has plunged and perhaps giving himself an early escape valve for criticism that his administration hasn’t accomplished more in its nearly four months in office.
That work remains plentiful.
The city, he said, faces mounting budgetary issues, including what he described as a “phantom” multi-million-dollar budget surplus that wasn’t utilized to fill roughly 70 critical city openings.
He said the city was living “check to check” after ceding upwards of $45 million in lost state funding, either by gaffe or neglect.
Federal grant money has been frozen for years while the city foreclosed on a slice of millions in state aid, buoyed by a 23-cent increase at the pumps to replenish the Transportation Trust Fund, the mayor said.
Hundreds of abandoned homes have impacted the city’s tax rolls which was further hamstrung by a controversial 2016 tax reassessment that sent some property owners into a frenzy, with many filing tax appeals, Gusciora said.
And then there’s the whole business of that looming forensic state audit, requested by the mayor this month, that could uncover more financial woes for a city at wits end.
Meanwhile, Troubled Trenton Water Works, notoriously understaffed because of what the mayor said was former Gov. Chris Christie’s stranglehold on the capital city, hasn’t gone long without racking up another violation.
That has triggered state intervention and fears from residents of an eventual takeover, pushed in part by surrounding suburban communities serviced by the water department as the city faces another $3 million in fines from the state public utilities regulatory body, Gusciora said.
Added up, the mayor admitted, it all means continued strict state oversight: a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Community Affairs and an administrative consent order with the Department of Environmental Protection.
“The budget is very bleak, so he didn’t lie about that,” North Ward councilwoman Marge Caldwell-Wilson said of the city’s problems. “I think we need to do this budget process to see where the city lies financially.”
Council president Kathy McBride said she was “shocked right now about the budget.”
The mayor contrasted the past with his vision for the future, promising fiscal responsibility and a continued partnership with Gov. Phil Murphy who recently signed an executive order intended to help revitalize Trenton.
Touting the hopeful influx of grant money, he said he planned to reign in the city’s financial problems, starting with getting a budget to council sooner next year, hopefully by the start of the fiscal year in July.
By contrast, council barely received a budget proposal this month.
Gusciora promised to hire more than two dozen workers to help “save” Trenton Water Works from what many perceive as an outside push to privatize the city’s water utility, as Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo’s so-called TWW “takeover” bill still looms in the legislature.
The mayor credited council members — save for George Muschal, who noshowed the speech in protest of the mayor’s hiring of Russell — for their commitment to clean up the city.
That cleanup includes Gusciora’s intent to still hit the 1,000 homes in 1,000 days benchmark he laid on the campaign trail, revamp the downtown area and make the city safer, starting with the appointment of Russell.
Russell received a standing round of applause as she earned the distinction of the city’s first black woman to become police director.
Gusciora said his appointment was intended to “break the glass ceiling,” which was a fitting metaphor for the city as a whole.
“There is so much positive energy in the city. Now is a good time to locate and build in Trenton,” Gusciora said, mentioning the city’s passage of a medical marijuana ordinance that paves the way for the opening of a dispensary in a redevelopment zone as lawmakers mull statewide legalization of adult recreational use.
“We need help from everyone, every asset, every agency,” Gusciora said. “Together, we’re watching our pennies. Together, we’re scraping our victories. And together we can lift Trenton.”
But not all spirits were lifted by the mayor’s remarks.
“He’s done a really good job of talking about the plight of Trenton, but we are hoping he has a plan,” at-large councilman Jerell Blakeley said. “I think we’re looking to move forward not stand still.”
McBride urged residents it takes time.
“I don’t know what it’s going to look like in four years, but I do know the needle will move forward from zero to eight,” she said.