[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - Hi everyone.

Steve Adubato here.

We kick off the program welcoming the mayor of our capital city in the great state of New Jersey.

Trenton, New Jersey.

Mayor Reed Gusciora.

Mayor.

Good to see you.

- Great to be here.

- You got it.

Hey, listen, we'll talk about some of the challenges and problems you face in just a minute, but you're particularly proud of Trenton because?

- Well, it's the capital city.

We're gonna be in center stage at the Semiquincentennial celebration in two years.

We know that most of the battles were happened in New Jersey and-- - [Steve] Hold on.

That's the 250th anniversary of?

The United States-- - [Reed] Of our nations founding.

1776 to-- - [Steve] And there was a bit of a battle in Trenton, was there not?

- Yes.

That's when General Washington crossed over the Delaware into Trenton.

- So what are you gonna do to celebrate?

- Well, we wanna link up all our historic sites.

We wanna attract some historic visitors.

We're very excited and we're also sprucing up some of our historic places so that it will be really convenient for people to walk around town and see the sites.

- Good stuff.

Help us understand this.

Trenton is the capital city in the state of New Jersey, as a former state representative, a state legislator back in the day.

By the way, Reed was also a state legislator.

I lost my seat in the legislature.

He got promoted to being the mayor of Trenton.

I remember down there how it was always an issue about the question of there being a hotel in Trenton.

Are we closer?

- We are closer.

It went out of business and there are parties that are interested in purchasing it, and it's gonna be a focal point of our downtown district renaissance.

- The other issue that really is interesting to me is this whole issue of state aid.

There's a $10 million grant, I don't know if it's a grant, but it's state money that goes to the city of Trenton, capital city aid.

What exactly is that aid for, Reed?

- Well, about 52% of our property is tax exempt, and that's either owned by the government or God and neither pay property taxes.

- So hold on.

Churches or government.

Right?

- That's correct.

Hospitals, nonprofits.

- Do not pay for property taxes.

Go ahead.

- Yeah.

52% of our land is tax exempt.

So we have to go to the rest of our residents to make up for that.

But we expect the state government to pay some sort of taxes.

They pay a pilot payment in lieu of property taxes.

The Murphy administration has been good to us.

We got about 45 million last year.

Under Chris Christie we got 6 million.

- What's that money for specifically?

- That money pays for police protection, pays for the roads, pays for our parks, and it helps us get things done in the capital city.

We're a distressed city, so we rely on state aid to fill the gaps.

- What does distressed city mean?

That's a category that has an awful lot to do with state aid.

What is distress?

What does it mean to be distressed?

- Well, it's also based on income factors of the population, and that includes food deserts that we don't have nutritional options for a lot of our citizens, but crime is higher than in the suburbs.

And so we really need to fill the gaps with state aid for all of the challenges that an urban city has.

- So let's talk about economic development.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority is engaged in Trenton specifically around, is it a business incubator?

Is that what it is?

- Yeah, we're actually-- - What does that mean?

- We're gonna put in a business incubator.

A firm is coming in to help fund startups in the capital city.

A lot of our young business leaders, they have great business ideas, but they don't have the capital.

And an incubator will be able to help them get started, fund them and give them space to develop business ideas.

- The other initiative that's really important, and we've talked a lot about this check out our website will come up right now steveadubato.org.

We've done a whole range of interviews with the First Lady, Tammy Murphy and her initiative Nurture NJ, which deals with a whole range of issues connected to maternal health.

There is a maternal, in Trenton, the state capital of New Jersey, and the mayor's gonna talk about this.

There is a maternal and infant health innovation center.

What exactly is it, mayor and why is it so significant?

- Well, we don't have maternity services in Trenton.

After the closure of the hospital, if you give birth, you have to go in the suburbs.

So this actually brings those resources-- - Hold on one second.

You don't have, there's no hospital in Trenton?

- There is a hospital but it doesn't have maternal services.

- Okay.

Go ahead.

I apologize.

Go ahead.

- Capital Health is trauma care, cardiac care, but it does not have a maternity ward.

So if you want to have a baby, you have to go to the suburbs.

The unfortunate thing is a lot of our residents don't have transportation options and it's difficult getting to places that can give them prenatal care.

The First Lady has stepped up to the plate, we're gonna actually have a maternal innovation center that's gonna be right in the north ward and it's gonna enable research and to have a place where healthy babies can be taken care of.

- Hold on, I just wanna be clear.

Are you saying mayor, that at this maternal and infant health innovation center, can mothers give birth there?

- They can't be birthed there, but there'll be resources for prenatal care and postnatal care and we're still working on having birthing options inside the capital city.

- All right, last question.

Food insecurity issues are huge in Trenton.

How serious is the problem, mayor?

- It's very serious and particularly in communities of color where diseases are prevalent relating to food insecurity.

We only have a half dozen food convenience stores for a city of about a hundred thousand.

So we're grateful that the EDA is actually having food insecurity grants-- - The Economic Development Authority.

Go ahead.

- The EDA is actually gonna offer food insecurity grants to communities such as Trenton.

We hope to take advantage of it and increase nutritional options for residents.

- Mayor Reed Gusciora, former state legislator in the great state of New Jersey.

Now the mayor of our capital city, Trenton, New Jersey.

Mayor, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Thank you, Steve.

- You guys stay with us.

We'll be right back.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by Kean University.

NJM Insurance Group.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

New Brunswick Development Corporation.

Veolia, Atlantic Health System.

And by PSEG Foundation.

Promotional support provided by Insider NJ.

And by NJBIZ.

(grand music) - [Announcer] To watch more State of Affairs with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

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