Jeff and L.A. talk about mayoral expectations
On the campaign trail, Trenton Mayor-elect Reed Gusciora was at a luncheon after services at Grace Cathedral Church. He was talking to members of the congregation, and an 80-year-old woman raised her hand to speak. What she said more or less summed up Gusciora’s campaign and his plans for the job. “I don’t care what you do in the bedroom,” the woman said. “I just want my potholes fixed.”
And so Gusciora, who officially takes office in July, is planning on making this woman very happy ... on the pothole front.
I asked him what his plans were as mayor. I was expecting the first thing out of his mouth to be the typical “big ideas” politicians are fond of talking about. But Gusciora is aiming lower to start.
“We need to get the basics done,” he said. “We need to fill the potholes. We need to take care of the abandoned buildings — you know we were given $11 million from the Christie administration to do that but not one penny has been spent yet? We need to clean up the trash.”
He’s also got big parking meter plans.
Really.
“If you step out of your car in Princeton, there’s meters everywhere, and meter enforcement,” he said. “We have posts but no meters, and little enforcement. It’s a lot of revenue being lost. We have 20,000 state workers and probably that many lawyers going to the Hughes Justice complex parking for free.”
To be clear: Gusciora plans on putting parking meters everywhere. Like any other city in America.
And while to some this may sound like small potatoes, I’m fully on board with Gusciora’s immediate vision: Clean up the mess and go from there.
And “there” means a lot. Gusciora has plans to boot the Department of Education into the downtown area to kickstart waterfront revitalization. He plans on bringing manufacturing jobs to the four vacant Roebling buildings. He plans on doubling down on the arts in an effort to draw people to move to the city.
So how does he do all this, from potholes to revitalization?
One way he’ll go about doing it is by shaking the state’s money tree. Months ago, when I advocated in print for Gusciora to be the next mayor, I based it on something — at least to me — that is simple and obvious: His 22 years as an assemblyman. He knows how money gets doled out, knows which levers to press, knows how to play the game.
“I heard from the governor, the assembly speaker, a lot of my colleagues,” Gusciora said. “They’re all ready to help out. They want me and the city to be successful. I imagine the relationships I’ve built up over the years will be very helpful. They recognize it’s the capital city and would like to see it treated better than it has been, particularly under the Christie administration.” (Speaking of Christie, I asked Gusciora if his frenemy had reached out yet with congratulations: “He’s made enough calls to me,” Gusciora quipped.)
The Gusciora era feels like a turning point, one way or another, for Trenton. Much has been made about Gusciora being white, about Gusciora being gay, but again, you ask me, the most important part of Gusciora is the fact he’s seen things get done on the state level, and the state level is where things get done for New Jersey’s urban centers.
I expect great things to happen under Reed Gusciora. The man is a fountain of ideas and wants to see Trenton reclaim its past glory.
“There’s no time to waste,” Gusciora told me.