[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We have her back, Christina Renna, who's President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, Southern New Jersey.

Christina, good to see you again.

- Well, always good to see you, Steve.

Thank you.

- You got it.

We're taping this right before Thanksgiving, 2025.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Actually taping on Veterans Day.

Thank you to all of our vets for their service.

But let's talk new governor, new agenda, top two or three items as it particularly relates to the business community of South Jersey, please.

- You know, Governor-Elect Sherrill is going to be what we believe at the South Jersey Chamber to be a supportive one of business, economic development, job growth in the region.

She seems to really understand some of the challenges that face South Jersey as well as a lot of the interesting opportunities, which, at the end of the day, really equates to the fact that New Jersey is pretty built out.

So if you wanna grow as a business owner in New Jersey, you're gonna be doing it in South Jersey.

I think she recognizes that and is eager to work with us and members of the community and making sure that we can continue to grow business in the state.

- But to push that a little bit further into the weeds, transit an issue, housing an issue, affordable, accessible housing.

Connect the two, please, transit, housing, Christina.

- So what, and this is not a South Jersey issue, this is not a New Jersey issue, this is a national issue, and that is the housing crisis that we're seeing.

And in South Jersey, we have a real shortage of housing options, especially as it relates to workforce housing and affordable housing.

Of course, they're the two main issues that we are seeing.

So in South Jersey, we have a lot of open space.

As I said, we have a lot of buildable land, no homes nearby, no apartment complexes, nowhere affordable or really any entities at all to house residents that want to maybe move to where a new business decides to call it home.

So that's the housing issue, and then you put that in conjunction, as you correctly stated with our transportation infrastructure shortage here in South Jersey.

And I hate to be dramatic in saying this, but I do think it is an accurate statement when you say that South Jersey, the deeper you get in the footprint, the more of a transit desert it becomes, and that's something that our current president and CEO of New Jersey Transit, Kris Kolluri, completely understands.

But as you said, we have a new administration coming in.

- Sorry for interrupting.

- We need some new things.

- Christine, I'm sorry for interrupting.

There'll also be a new head.

Kris Kolluri is leaving.

There'll be a new head of New Jersey Transit.

So help us on this.

I'm sorry again for interrupting, Christina- - No, no, no, you're fine.

- There's a $5 million federal investment in transit.

I'm reading off of our prompter here.

But where are the feds?

What's the fed's role?

What's the state role vis-a-vis New Jersey Transit and the Department of Transportation?

Who's got what responsibility, Christina?

- So with the $5 million that you're specifically speaking to, that was a Governor Murphy federal gift essentially, and that comes from COVID money, so it is a one-time allocation.

New Jersey transit, and as well as the South Jersey Transportation Authority are going to have to oversee these micro-transit lines.

That's where they come into the picture.

But this is just a one-time $5 million infusion, gifted to us by Governor Murphy from federal COVID dollars.

The lines will be overseen by those two agencies.

- But the need is much greater than that $5 million or micro-transit initiative.

Help folks understand, for those of us up in the North.

I don't wanna over complicate things, but I've often thought about this, and we have some new partners in South Jersey, South Jersey industry.

You happen to know the CEO there, I think, right?

- I know a guy.

- Yeah, yeah.

Mike Renna, the CEO But also, we're partners with Stockton University now and Cape Resorts with Curtis Bashaw.

And I keep thinking to myself, it feels at times, Christina, like there are two states.

- Yep.

- And I don't wanna oversimplify it, but for those of us who live in North Jersey, South Jersey, to me, is almost like New Brunswick and Trenton.

But it's much further south and east and west.

Help folks get a picture of what the heck South Jersey is and what the people of South Jersey face.

- South Jersey is deceivingly geographically expansive and diverse.

If you were traveling from Burlington County down to Congress Hall in Cape May, that is almost a two-hour drive, because we don't have the highway structures that we need to get to and from point A to point B.

- You go across the state?

Is that across the state?

- That is, that would be, no, that would be north to south.

Burlington County to Cape May would be north to south.

And we have some highways, but then at some point, it becomes all back roads to Cape May, because we don't have highway infrastructure there to support us.

We certainly don't have light rail in any way, shape, or form.

We have one light rail line from 30th Street Station in Philadelphia to Atlantic City with a multitude of stops in between that are in no way, shape, or form, tourist destinations or places anywhere anyone would actually wanna travel to.

We have limited bus routes.

We do have buses, but they're not consistent, and they are sparse.

So the $5 million allocation in micro-transit is going to plug those bus gaps, but it's only for one year.

- Wow, let's shift gears- - Sure.

- from transportation to childcare, no natural segue.

And we've been involved in a public awareness initiative, "Start Strong NJ," the graphic will come up, focusing on affordable, accessible quality childcare.

- Yeah.

- We've been talking more and more about the connection between childcare and the economy, childcare and women disproportionately and some men, parents being able to work.

Help us understand your chamber's agenda vis-a-vis childcare and economic development, please.

- Oh, Steve, you hit the nail on the head.

I mean, you said all the things that are very real and livable.

Every day, working families, these are the challenges they face.

And it's even more so in South Jersey where we have a much lesser population than we do in the rest of the state.

You know, when you're an employer, there's a few things you need.

First of all, you need employees.

And these days, sometimes that's hard to come by.

But then once you have really quality employees, what do good employers wanna do?

They wanna make those employees happy.

Where does happiness start?

Knowing that their children are taken care of, right?

And so, supporting childcare initiatives in the workplace is something that we are passionate about, and it's something that we have been consistently supportive of.

But we also need to consistently continue that conversation and say, "Not every business's solutions to childcare, "problems that their employees are having, "are gonna be the same as the others."

And so, we need to be creative when we look at solutions in order to be, you know, basically dynamic for what our employees need and the industry in which those employees are serving.

- Yeah, and to Christina's point, let's stop considering and talking about childcare as daycare.

It's much more than that with a direct economic impact.

Last question before I let you go.

Number one energy issue in South Jersey.

I've heard some of the wind stuff, which apparently will be changing off the shore.

You know where I'm going.

Where the heck do we need to go?

Murphy Energy policy vis-a-vis wind?

Big bet on that, didn't turn out.

What do we need to do?

- We need diversification, right?

There is no easy answer.

So there is no solution that you're gonna come up with, Steve, I'm gonna come up with, any thought leaders or policymakers.

It's not an easy fix.

It's a supply and demand issue that everyone is facing.

What we need in Governor-Elect Sherrill, is a really strategic energy portfolio, a concept that really includes diversification.

So, one criticism of Governor Murphy would be that he put too many eggs in that wind energy basket.

Our chamber was supportive of wind energy.

We obviously love renewable energy.

What we would like to see, and what we think helps the businesses of South Jersey, is a dynamic energy plan where everything plays a role.

And the more diversity we have in energy, natural gas, RNG, nuclear, renewables and solar, renewables and wind, whatever it is, hydrogen, whatever it is, that is going to create diversity, so your consumers have their selection, always good, and all that diversity is gonna help bring prices down.

And so, we are hopeful that Governor-Elect Sherrill has seen some of the issues that the Murphy administration faced as it relates to his energy policies, and adapts.

And, you know, she campaigned a lot on energy, so we're all in wait-and-see mode at this point right before Thanksgiving.

And I think 2026 is gonna be a big telltale sign of where this is headed.

- Again, we're taping right before Thanksgiving.

It'll be seen after, and we'll also have an in-depth interview with the governor, Governor Sherrill on these issues.

Christina, wish you and the team at the chamber all the best, thanks so much.

- I appreciate you Steve.

Thank you.

- We appreciate you.

I'm Steve Adubato.

That's Christina Renna.

We'll see you next time.

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

Funding has been provided by South Jersey Industries.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

PSEG Foundation.

Congress Hall.

Rutgers University Newark.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Englewood Health.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

And by New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Promotional support provided by NJBIZ.

And by BestofNJ.com.

- How long you been waiting?

- About a half hour.

- Brutal.

This keeps up, I'm gonna miss my pickleball game.

- I've been waiting eight years for a kidney.

What can you do?

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Over 100,000 people in the US are waiting for a life-saving transplant.

But you can do your part in an instant.

Register as an organ donor today at NJSN.org.