Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Newark Mayor Ras Baraka Talks Gov. Race, NJ Housing & Homelessness, Drones, Congestion Pricing + MorE

Transcript

INTERVIEW: Newark Mayor Ras Baraka Talks Gov. Race, NJ Housing & Homelessness, Drones, Congestion Pricing + MorE · The Breakfast Club

0:00
Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning.
0:02
Speaker 2: Breakfast Club Morning, Everybody's DJ Envy, Jess hilarious, Charlamagne the guy.
0:09
Speaker 2: We are the Breakfast Club long the roster filling in
0:11
Speaker 2: for Jess. We got a special guest in the building,
0:13
Speaker 2: Governor Baraka Hey is running for governor. Ladies and gentlemen,
0:18
Speaker 2: Ross Baraka, welcome.
0:19
Speaker 1: Brother, thank you, thank you, glad to be here. How
0:22
Speaker 1: you feeling good? Man? Good cold? But I'm good cold.
0:25
Speaker 2: So you're gonna put your hat in this race? And
0:27
Speaker 2: what makes you want to run for governor?
0:29
Speaker 1: I already did. I think it's time, man, I mean,
0:32
Speaker 1: we have a very short window. I don't think we
0:34
Speaker 1: get an opportunity to do this anymore. There's a crowded feel.
0:36
Speaker 1: It's an opportunity for African American kid from the city
0:40
Speaker 1: of Nework to make New Jersey live up to its
0:43
Speaker 1: democratic values, to build a broad based coalition to really
0:46
Speaker 1: respond to the issues we deal with in the city
0:48
Speaker 1: every day that I think are state wide issues. This
0:50
Speaker 1: was a housing, unemployment, safety, uh, the affordability of the
0:54
Speaker 1: state being too expensive for most folks in New Jersey.
0:58
Speaker 1: We deal with those things every problem. New Jersey. We
1:00
Speaker 1: got it twice in Newark. But whatever we grappling with
1:03
Speaker 1: the state is doing it. And if we're mitigating those
1:06
Speaker 1: problems in Newark, we can certainly do it in the state.
1:08
Speaker 1: And if the state is better, Newark is better.
1:09
Speaker 3: So what are some things you'll be able to do,
1:11
Speaker 3: is governor that you aren't right now capable of doing?
1:14
Speaker 1: A myth help build more affordable housing across the state
1:17
Speaker 1: of New Jersey, which makes it easier for folks like
1:20
Speaker 1: folks in Newark who are trying to get in housing.
1:22
Speaker 1: So we started twenty percent affordability and all development in
1:26
Speaker 1: the city. The state followed suit and did the same thing.
1:29
Speaker 1: So now there's not one hundred people on the waiting list,
1:31
Speaker 1: it's five thousand people on the waiting list because New
1:33
Speaker 1: Jersey is in it. And now we can't discriminate against
1:36
Speaker 1: where you come from across the state, which means we
1:38
Speaker 1: need more affordable housing in a state we need workforce housing.
1:41
Speaker 1: We can do that right. We can help reduce the violence,
1:44
Speaker 1: not just in Newark, but also Camden and Trenton, right
1:47
Speaker 1: in Jersey City and places like that. To begin to
1:50
Speaker 1: create an environment in the city or in the state
1:53
Speaker 1: that is conducive to business, conducive to growth, helping families
1:56
Speaker 1: grow and be safe. We can do that, we can
1:58
Speaker 1: bring more business to the state of New Jersey. We've
2:00
Speaker 1: brought them to Newark, so we could bring them to
2:01
Speaker 1: the state. You know, I think we uniquely qualified. Most
2:05
Speaker 1: of these other folks that are running have never done,
2:06
Speaker 1: have no receipts of doing anything except for being in
2:09
Speaker 1: the Democratic Party. To them, I mean that gives them
2:13
Speaker 1: the privilege. The party picks them and puts them in
2:15
Speaker 1: front of people and say this is who you're supposed
2:17
Speaker 1: to vote for. I'm tired of that. You know, we
2:19
Speaker 1: got to mix it up.
2:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love Newark, Man, and you know you've done
2:23
Speaker 3: some amazing things in Newark, Man, Baraka.
2:25
Speaker 4: One thing I want to talk about is Newark.
2:28
Speaker 3: They experienced a sixty percent decrease in violent crime, right
2:32
Speaker 3: and a lot of times, you know they say that
2:35
Speaker 3: in cities, but you don't see it in Newark compared
2:39
Speaker 3: to where Newark was, you know, a decade ago. You
2:42
Speaker 3: can see that Newark is. You know, it's a lot
2:44
Speaker 3: safer than it was. Not saying it's perfect, but it's
2:46
Speaker 3: a lot safer than it was. How did you do that?
2:49
Speaker 1: Well? We created an ecosystem Officer Violence Prevention, trum Recovery,
2:53
Speaker 1: Brick City Peace Collective, and that's as we brought in
2:56
Speaker 1: community based organizations to partner with the police. We the
3:00
Speaker 1: police started doing really intelligence based policing, but we bought
3:04
Speaker 1: ruckers on to kind of identify with crime, what's happening that,
3:06
Speaker 1: with violence was happening that. For example, they told us
3:09
Speaker 1: all the bodega's in the city where violence happened in
3:11
Speaker 1: one hundred feet of and gave us some data point
3:16
Speaker 1: that said if we turned the lights on this area,
3:19
Speaker 1: it will reduced violent crime about thirty four percent if
3:20
Speaker 1: we put lights on in this area. So we did
3:22
Speaker 1: those things right. We put community people in those communities
3:25
Speaker 1: to deal with high risk interventions, deal with folks that
3:28
Speaker 1: were trying to retaliate kids that are getting out of jail,
3:31
Speaker 1: meeting them immediately like yo, this, we need you to
3:33
Speaker 1: get involved in this and do this, give them opportunity,
3:36
Speaker 1: and we have a I want to thank like New Direction,
3:40
Speaker 1: you know one hood organizations like that that work with
3:42
Speaker 1: us in the city that do very very dangerous work
3:45
Speaker 1: in these communities, trying to reduce the temperature, like they say,
3:48
Speaker 1: reduce the temperature.
3:49
Speaker 2: I wanted to ask, you know, when it came to Newark,
3:52
Speaker 2: how did you get your out? I want to say,
3:54
Speaker 2: governing style? And the reason I ask is, We've met
3:57
Speaker 2: a lot of Mays, We've seen a lot of Mays
3:58
Speaker 2: and a lot of different cities, but I've never seen
4:00
Speaker 2: a mayor do with some of the things that you do,
4:02
Speaker 2: Like you go out there and touch to people, right,
4:04
Speaker 2: you use everything that you have to bring people in.
4:08
Speaker 4: Why do you do that so much?
4:09
Speaker 2: I mean, Charlemagne has been part of the stuff that
4:11
Speaker 2: you've done in Newark. I've been down there a million
4:13
Speaker 2: and one times. I've seen you bring celebrities to come
4:15
Speaker 2: down there and not just speak, but to actually help.
4:18
Speaker 2: Why have you done it that way? And why don't
4:20
Speaker 2: you think other mayors follow your way of doing it
4:22
Speaker 2: because obviously it's successful.
4:24
Speaker 1: Well, I think I do it this way because it's
4:27
Speaker 1: how I was raised. I'm from Newark for real, Like,
4:29
Speaker 1: this is my community, and you know, I know these people.
4:34
Speaker 1: I know these neighborhoods, these streets, the people on them,
4:37
Speaker 1: good and bad, and I know we need them to
4:39
Speaker 1: help solve these problems. And people that are closer to
4:41
Speaker 1: the problem are closer to the solutions in my mind.
4:44
Speaker 1: And you know, I don't feel like I'm special because
4:47
Speaker 1: I'm the mayor of the City of Newark. I feel
4:49
Speaker 1: like this God gave me opportunity to do more with
4:52
Speaker 1: the resources that I have, and and I owe it
4:54
Speaker 1: to a whole lot of people. When I was a kid,
4:56
Speaker 1: at fifteen, sixteen years old, I could easily been in trouble.
4:58
Speaker 1: I had good friends who make sure I wasn't trouble
5:00
Speaker 1: when beef came. They walked me home, you know what
5:02
Speaker 1: I mean. Kids that made sure I was in the
5:04
Speaker 1: house when things went on, and they talked about it
5:06
Speaker 1: the next morning. So I feel obligated to take care
5:09
Speaker 1: of them now that they took care of me. When
5:10
Speaker 1: I was a kid, you know, I was on my
5:12
Speaker 1: way to college. My best friend was on his way
5:13
Speaker 1: to Anadelle or the youth correctional facility. So I feel
5:17
Speaker 1: like it's my job and duty to take care of
5:19
Speaker 1: folks in my neighborhood. And that's just basically how we
5:22
Speaker 1: govern and how I operate in the city.
5:24
Speaker 5: Yep, there's a lot of gentrification happening in Newark right
5:28
Speaker 5: and I've only been in the area for about like
5:30
Speaker 5: a year and I'm like, wow, it's a lot that's changed.
5:33
Speaker 5: You're really from Newark, Like you said, how do you
5:35
Speaker 5: balance working with people that are in the community and
5:39
Speaker 5: then also bringing in these new partners who might not
5:41
Speaker 5: have that same feeling or commitment to the city and
5:43
Speaker 5: the people that are like what you said, because you
5:45
Speaker 5: kind of need the outsiders at the same time, Well,
5:48
Speaker 5: they don't.
5:48
Speaker 1: Have no choice. I'm the mayor, we in charge. We're
5:51
Speaker 1: a city of ann you know. So if we didn't
5:54
Speaker 1: do that, twenty five percent of the people in the
5:55
Speaker 1: city pay taxes. They homeowners. So if we didn't have business,
5:59
Speaker 1: if we didn't have the growing up in the city,
6:01
Speaker 1: we wouldn't be able to hire the people we hire
6:03
Speaker 1: would have the infrastructure we need. We need more people
6:05
Speaker 1: to pay taxes, so you have to create opportunities. So
6:08
Speaker 1: that's why we take Section eight vouchers and turn them
6:10
Speaker 1: into mortgages so people could be homeowners so they could
6:12
Speaker 1: pay taxes. Twenty percent of every building that goes up
6:15
Speaker 1: in the city has to have twenty percent affordability in it.
6:18
Speaker 1: You have to put affordable housing in every development. Hell,
6:22
Speaker 1: you got to plant trees, you invest in community through
6:25
Speaker 1: community based community benefits agreements. We force developers to do
6:30
Speaker 1: very specific things in the city because we don't want
6:32
Speaker 1: them to leave folks behind. We change the led service lines.
6:35
Speaker 1: We made the folks who did that hire community based organizations,
6:40
Speaker 1: people that work in the city, and bring on black
6:43
Speaker 1: and brown businesses to help them.
6:45
Speaker 4: Did you break down the higher buy Live initiatives?
6:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we all of the corporations in the city,
6:52
Speaker 1: we call them anchor institutions. We told them that. Actually
6:56
Speaker 1: Prudential did the study for us. Showed us that all
6:58
Speaker 1: of the business only spend three percent some of their
7:00
Speaker 1: dollars in the city of Newark. If they lifted it
7:02
Speaker 1: to ten percent, they would add fifty to sixty million
7:05
Speaker 1: dollars to the economy. So based on that, we began
7:08
Speaker 1: to bring people together and said, we need you to
7:10
Speaker 1: lift the level of your procurement, your spend in the city.
7:13
Speaker 1: We want you to hire Newark. Because deliberately we had
7:16
Speaker 1: a goal of twenty and twenty people to hire, they
7:19
Speaker 1: actually hired three thousand, and we wanted you to encourage
7:22
Speaker 1: your employees to actually live in the city of Newark.
7:25
Speaker 1: It went so far that Audible was paying the first
7:28
Speaker 1: month's rent for folks who decided to live in the
7:31
Speaker 1: city of Newark. I mean it got that you know,
7:34
Speaker 1: deep with the corporations because they saw the success of
7:36
Speaker 1: it and how the city was changing, so they leaned
7:39
Speaker 1: into it. You know, Beth Israel leaned in, Rutgers Newark,
7:43
Speaker 1: the university leaned in. They probably hired more people than
7:46
Speaker 1: anybody in mid level, the high level staff than anybody
7:50
Speaker 1: in the city. So we think that that model works,
7:53
Speaker 1: not just in the city, that could be a statewide
7:55
Speaker 1: model as well.
7:56
Speaker 3: The thing I love about Nework too is like the
7:58
Speaker 3: political infrastructure is so black, and you know, the city
8:02
Speaker 3: is just a beautiful black city.
8:03
Speaker 4: It makes you want to invest it.
8:04
Speaker 3: How important is it when people like Queen Latifa want
8:07
Speaker 3: to build affordable housing? They are a shock wants to
8:10
Speaker 3: build you know, affordable housing. Now, how important is that?
8:13
Speaker 1: That's very dope. Shack is on his building number three, Wow,
8:16
Speaker 1: and his buildings are going up very quickly. You know,
8:20
Speaker 1: I'm excited about it makes other people excited about it.
8:23
Speaker 1: It makes more importantly, it makes people black and brown
8:25
Speaker 1: folks that are you know, small to missiles developers feel
8:28
Speaker 1: like I got a shot. So when you bring them together.
8:31
Speaker 1: We feel like because a lot of people don't want
8:32
Speaker 1: to take the risk, or they don't want to go
8:34
Speaker 1: through all the bureaucracy or the patience that it takes
8:36
Speaker 1: to get knocked down to get back up, because it's
8:38
Speaker 1: not a simple and easy thing. I make people understand
8:40
Speaker 1: this is hard what we asking you to do. It's
8:42
Speaker 1: not easy, but it makes people feel like it's possible,
8:45
Speaker 1: it's plausible. Let's get let's do this. So when all
8:48
Speaker 1: of you guys, when other folks come in and invest
8:50
Speaker 1: in the city. That's why I bring people around them
8:52
Speaker 1: so they can see folks that look like them, have
8:55
Speaker 1: similar backgrounds in them, that they did it, that you
8:57
Speaker 1: can do it as well.
8:58
Speaker 2: I was gonna ask congestion pricing.
9:01
Speaker 1: What's your take on congestion pricing?
9:03
Speaker 4: Does it help?
9:03
Speaker 1: Does it hurt? How does it affect? Especially in New Jersey,
9:06
Speaker 1: bunch of rich bureaucrats fighting with each other about things
9:09
Speaker 1: that work in people have no knowledge of the reality
9:13
Speaker 1: is I think the objective is right that obviously the
9:17
Speaker 1: environment and congestion is a problem. I think going at
9:19
Speaker 1: it this way is an issue, and that's usually what
9:23
Speaker 1: the problem is. In the state House and governments because
9:26
Speaker 1: most of these people making these decisions make decisions based
9:30
Speaker 1: on a small frame of reference, make on a small circle,
9:33
Speaker 1: and they're not bringing people in, regular working folks in
9:36
Speaker 1: to weigh in and on what they're trying to do.
9:38
Speaker 1: You're not bringing the fire guy in who lives in
9:41
Speaker 1: the outer boroughs, who gotta work in Manhattan every single day,
9:44
Speaker 1: that's gonna have to pay that. You're not you know,
9:47
Speaker 1: working class people in New Jersey you have to drive
9:49
Speaker 1: here to go to work, who don't make a whole
9:50
Speaker 1: lot of money that you're at. You're hitting them over
9:52
Speaker 1: the head again and again and again. You're driving people
9:55
Speaker 1: away from the party, dripping away from government. They're becoming
9:58
Speaker 1: more cynical because they think that these guys are making
10:01
Speaker 1: decisions that are hurting them. They don't care about all
10:03
Speaker 1: of the big issues you're talking about because you're hurting
10:06
Speaker 1: my pockets. I don't got no money as it is,
10:08
Speaker 1: ain't gonna take more of my money. This doesn't make sense,
10:10
Speaker 1: so we have to figure it out. Now they say, oh,
10:12
Speaker 1: we need to reverse congestion. That yeah, I think it's ridiculous, right.
10:16
Speaker 1: I think these are just political people throwing volleys at
10:19
Speaker 1: each other in the newspaper, trying to get video and
10:22
Speaker 1: in airtime, you know, trying to get earned media about
10:25
Speaker 1: this stuff. The reality is none of that it's going
10:26
Speaker 1: to fix the problem. Like if you want to deal
10:28
Speaker 1: with congestion, you want to deal with the issues people have,
10:30
Speaker 1: and you need to get on the ground and talk
10:32
Speaker 1: to folks about how to really solve this problem. You know.
10:36
Speaker 1: And if you're raising money for MTA off the backs
10:39
Speaker 1: of working class people, I think that's wrong and we
10:41
Speaker 1: need to figure out how to do that in a
10:43
Speaker 1: better way, right doesn't hurt working class folks.
10:45
Speaker 4: I want you to expand on that.
10:47
Speaker 3: That's a problem that I feel like just Democrats have
10:49
Speaker 3: is with their messaging.
10:50
Speaker 4: But you say you got something that you say.
10:52
Speaker 3: You say politicians can't make policy for people they can't see.
10:56
Speaker 3: They can't solve problems they don't know exist. And I
10:59
Speaker 3: say that all the time in regard to the politicians
11:01
Speaker 3: because they talk about people they never talk too.
11:03
Speaker 4: So how can politicians do a better job of it?
11:05
Speaker 1: They got to get out of there, go to the barbershop,
11:08
Speaker 1: the beauty parlor, the thrift store, the lounge, the bar.
11:11
Speaker 1: They got to talk to folks where they at. You know,
11:14
Speaker 1: right now people are picking people for people, and you know,
11:17
Speaker 1: surrogates are running out convincing people to vote for you,
11:20
Speaker 1: and you're not going in front of people talking and
11:21
Speaker 1: having conversations with them. And that's the real problem, Like
11:25
Speaker 1: you don't know these people, Like you don't know the
11:27
Speaker 1: parent that has an eight year old, seven year old
11:29
Speaker 1: and a four year old, gotta go to work, leave
11:31
Speaker 1: them home at the house, try to get the neighbors
11:32
Speaker 1: to check on them because she can't afford childcare. Right,
11:35
Speaker 1: and then you know, the child finds a gun and
11:37
Speaker 1: shoots himself, and everybody talking bad about her, but not
11:39
Speaker 1: about the economy that's the richest in the world that
11:42
Speaker 1: does not allow folks to find childcare that they can afford.
11:45
Speaker 1: So now she has to make a decision, right, Or
11:47
Speaker 1: the fact that I can't pay my rent because I'm
11:49
Speaker 1: buying Christmas gifts and I wait for my income tax
11:51
Speaker 1: to come in, so suck a level up on my rent,
11:54
Speaker 1: but I want to buy Christmas gifts. I don't know
11:56
Speaker 1: these people. I don't have conversations with these people. So
11:59
Speaker 1: the policies I'm I'm not going to address them. For example,
12:02
Speaker 1: New Jersey fighting over a policy for five hundred for
12:05
Speaker 1: seniors that make five hundred thousand dollars, you know, to
12:08
Speaker 1: give them tax breaks. You know, my grandmother is in
12:11
Speaker 1: a nursing home, trying to figure out how to pay
12:14
Speaker 1: the nursing home, how to pay medicine right, how to
12:17
Speaker 1: do all the very specific things. She don't got a
12:18
Speaker 1: home here in a home in the Hamptons, and a
12:20
Speaker 1: home in Florida. But we don't see these people, so
12:22
Speaker 1: you can't make policy for them. So those people get
12:24
Speaker 1: pissed out. And the problem is those are the majority
12:26
Speaker 1: of the people that's.
12:26
Speaker 5: Right, and for you, somebody that is with the people right,
12:30
Speaker 5: even when something like the congestive pricing happens with the
12:33
Speaker 5: tolls and stuff, when people are talking to you, how
12:36
Speaker 5: do you what are you instantly trying to do to
12:38
Speaker 5: help them? Because a lot of people I know that
12:39
Speaker 5: are in Jersey or like well, especially us that aren't
12:42
Speaker 5: from there, and we moved there thinking it was better
12:43
Speaker 5: for us to commute. We like, dang, we might as
12:45
Speaker 5: well move into New York now. But then that goes
12:47
Speaker 5: against what you're trying to do with bringing people to
12:49
Speaker 5: Jersey and getting these companies to invest in that, Like,
12:51
Speaker 5: how do you start to solve that problem before us
12:54
Speaker 5: leaving Jersey becomes a problem.
12:55
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I think what the governor is trying
12:58
Speaker 1: to do is he's still been in court trying to
13:01
Speaker 1: raise the issue of it so it can be reversed.
13:04
Speaker 1: I mean, he went as far as wrote a letter
13:06
Speaker 1: to Donald Trump. I don't know how far this is
13:07
Speaker 1: going to go, but ultimately we have to keep it
13:10
Speaker 1: on people's mind that can continue to have the discussion
13:12
Speaker 1: about it to see if we can repeal it in
13:14
Speaker 1: some way. We can't just allow it to sit like that. Order,
13:19
Speaker 1: MTA or somebody else has to figure out how to
13:21
Speaker 1: compensate people or give them an opportunity to reduce the
13:26
Speaker 1: what it's going to cost, the burden to go back
13:28
Speaker 1: and forth to the city who were forced to go there,
13:31
Speaker 1: not just going there because they trying to go shopping.
13:34
Speaker 4: Did you go to the inauguration?
13:35
Speaker 1: No?
13:36
Speaker 4: You did not go. No. We actually put out a
13:38
Speaker 4: statement talking about Trump's first day.
13:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't have went there. Yeah. I mean
13:44
Speaker 1: it was crazy. I mean, all all the things he did,
13:47
Speaker 1: I mean he said he was going to do so,
13:49
Speaker 1: I mean it's crazy. He attacked birthrights, citizenship, got rid
13:51
Speaker 1: of diversity, equity and inclusion, fired everybody, got rid Office
13:54
Speaker 1: of Violence Prevention. I went to the website. It's gone.
13:57
Speaker 1: You know, just all of the things that we need
14:00
Speaker 1: to continue to do what we're doing in the state
14:02
Speaker 1: of New Jersey and Newark. He just attacked and got
14:05
Speaker 1: rid of partnered all of those people, straight out white supremacist,
14:08
Speaker 1: dangerous folks. Uh that that he let loose. I don't
14:12
Speaker 1: know why anybody, they right mind thought it that he
14:14
Speaker 1: wouldn't do any of these things. Uh, but but he
14:16
Speaker 1: did it right. And Uh, you know, people tell you
14:18
Speaker 1: who they are, like they said, believe them.
14:20
Speaker 3: How do you navigate that as a as a as
14:22
Speaker 3: a politician like you because you know, like they say
14:25
Speaker 3: that you have to be cordial with them, which I
14:27
Speaker 3: completely don't understand because it confuses me as a voter,
14:30
Speaker 3: Like if I hear you say somebody is a threat
14:32
Speaker 3: to democracy, you call somebody a fascist, you liking them
14:35
Speaker 3: to Hitler, But then as soon as the election is over,
14:38
Speaker 3: you know, you at the funeral smiling with him, or
14:40
Speaker 3: you're walking them back to the White House having tea
14:42
Speaker 3: with him.
14:42
Speaker 4: How would you navigate that.
14:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the problem that Democrats have. They you know,
14:46
Speaker 1: they can't out Republican Republicans. And that's that's the reality one.
14:51
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's one thing about being respectful to people.
14:53
Speaker 1: It's another thing about standing on your beliefs and your values.
14:56
Speaker 1: You don't have to celebrate with these people. If somebody
14:59
Speaker 1: come in the room, you be cordial to them. You
15:00
Speaker 1: don't have to celebrate with them. You don't have to
15:02
Speaker 1: rejoice with them. You don't have to pretend that there's
15:04
Speaker 1: somebody that they're not right. You can't uphold us something
15:09
Speaker 1: for the sake of the system that you know is wrong. Right,
15:12
Speaker 1: you know, you shouldn't be in the room. You can't
15:14
Speaker 1: go there and play with them, and you know, make
15:16
Speaker 1: everybody think that this is okay, because it's not okay. Right,
15:19
Speaker 1: And I believe that that we were right. I think
15:22
Speaker 1: Kamala was right and the stuff that she was saying
15:24
Speaker 1: was right, that the things that she was standing on
15:27
Speaker 1: was right, and all those people were wrong, and we
15:29
Speaker 1: have to stand with that. I think people like power,
15:31
Speaker 1: so they want to stand close to power. The proximity
15:34
Speaker 1: the power is what it is. They feel like they're
15:35
Speaker 1: gonna be safe if they're next to power, because he's
15:38
Speaker 1: going to destroy everybody but me. I think it's really
15:40
Speaker 1: a coward move. And what it does is what you
15:43
Speaker 1: say confuses everybody and makes them believe we really all
15:46
Speaker 1: on the same side. We just try pretending so we
15:49
Speaker 1: get elected.
15:49
Speaker 2: I wanted to ask, you know, we talked about congestion prices.
15:53
Speaker 2: They say property tax is one of the highest in
15:55
Speaker 2: the country as far as New Jersey is concerned. How
15:57
Speaker 2: do we keep people in Jersey and people well not
16:00
Speaker 2: wanting to leave Jersey.
16:01
Speaker 4: How do we do that?
16:02
Speaker 1: Well, we have to load the costs. Right. People tell
16:05
Speaker 1: you they're going to load taxes. Most of the time
16:06
Speaker 1: they lie in right, because the only people taxes get lowered,
16:10
Speaker 1: like the super wealthy. Right. So you know, regular working
16:13
Speaker 1: class and middle class families, because what's happening and like
16:15
Speaker 1: what happens in this country, we take from poor people,
16:19
Speaker 1: give to rich folks, and the middle class pay the bill. Right.
16:22
Speaker 1: So if the bills, if health care costs are growing
16:24
Speaker 1: and we don't get under control, you're paying for that. Right.
16:27
Speaker 1: If housing costs keep growing, don't get under control, you're
16:30
Speaker 1: paying for that. You can't if you go to a restaurant.
16:33
Speaker 1: The bill is the bill, right, unless you take something
16:35
Speaker 1: off the bill, that's what the bill is. So I'm
16:37
Speaker 1: a lower taxes. The government pays for itself through taxes.
16:41
Speaker 1: We ain't selling cars off the back of the city hall, right.
16:44
Speaker 1: So at the end of the day, taxes is our revenue.
16:47
Speaker 1: So if we can't get health care, hospitals in check,
16:51
Speaker 1: insurance companies in check. If we don't get all these
16:53
Speaker 1: insurance companies in check, then the bill is going to
16:56
Speaker 1: continue to grow. Healthcare costs grow fifteen twenty people saying
17:00
Speaker 1: arbitrarily every year you're paying for that because all of
17:03
Speaker 1: the workers that we hire, we how to pay their healthcare. Right.
17:06
Speaker 1: And as those costs increase, your costs increase. Right. And
17:09
Speaker 1: if you live in if you don't build housing. So
17:12
Speaker 1: if you're not building housing, you're not adding people to
17:15
Speaker 1: help you pay the bill. Right. So when you get
17:17
Speaker 1: this ideal, we don't want to build any housing. We
17:19
Speaker 1: don't nobody to come to our neighborhood. What you're essentially
17:21
Speaker 1: saying is you want the cost to continue to go up.
17:23
Speaker 1: New Jersey has more cities than California. Right, it was
17:26
Speaker 1: eight times larger than New Jersey. So because we have
17:30
Speaker 1: all of these cities, we're paying individual costs for all
17:33
Speaker 1: the things we need, and our school system costs are
17:36
Speaker 1: higher because we have less kids with the same infrastructure. Right,
17:38
Speaker 1: because nobody's moving to our neighborhoods. Right, And until we
17:41
Speaker 1: build housing, put people in our community and lower costs,
17:44
Speaker 1: our tax is going to continue to go up.
17:46
Speaker 4: Why do you think people are leaving New Jersey Because
17:48
Speaker 4: I saw something.
17:49
Speaker 3: I said this, For seven consecutive year, more residents moved
17:52
Speaker 3: out of New Jersey than any other state.
17:54
Speaker 1: Well, we actually had a reversal of that this year,
17:59
Speaker 1: so j have seen more people move to it than
18:03
Speaker 1: most states in the country, so one of the fastest growing.
18:06
Speaker 1: So people are now coming back into the state because
18:10
Speaker 1: I would imagine because you know, it's getting expensive everywhere, right,
18:14
Speaker 1: is expensive everywhere, and housing is an issue all over
18:17
Speaker 1: the country, and New Jersey is a little bit more
18:20
Speaker 1: liberal than other places, so folks want to come there
18:25
Speaker 1: and not be targeted.
18:26
Speaker 3: I think Jersey is going to be I don't want
18:29
Speaker 3: to say the new Hollywood, but when you got lions
18:32
Speaker 3: Gate building what they're building in Newark, when you got
18:34
Speaker 3: Netflix building what they're building in Mamouth County. I think
18:37
Speaker 3: there's going to be a lot of people fluctuating New Jersey.
18:40
Speaker 5: Is that why, you guys? Because I'm looking here in
18:42
Speaker 5: the Newark land bank came in twenty nineteen. Yeah, And
18:46
Speaker 5: for as long as I've known in Delaware we had
18:47
Speaker 5: a land bank. My grandmother has got a lot of
18:50
Speaker 5: property in land and stuff, and I'm like, twenty nineteen,
18:52
Speaker 5: that's so recent. Why did it take so long? And
18:55
Speaker 5: is that why it happened? Because there's so much coming
18:56
Speaker 5: you want to make sure people can get land.
18:58
Speaker 1: We the only city in the entire state that has
19:00
Speaker 1: the land bank. Wow. We fought for it on the
19:03
Speaker 1: state side and then we passed it and locally we
19:06
Speaker 1: did it so we can turn property over the people
19:08
Speaker 1: in the city who lived there. Yeah.
19:09
Speaker 5: I thought that was like a law, like there had
19:11
Speaker 5: to be a landbank.
19:11
Speaker 1: No, Wow, that's no. We want to be able to
19:14
Speaker 1: get it into people's hands, and that's been working. That's
19:17
Speaker 1: how people have been getting property really through the land bank,
19:20
Speaker 1: because through the city you got to go through all
19:21
Speaker 1: this bureaucracy, all the other kind of you know, you
19:23
Speaker 1: got to go before the council. The land bank. I
19:25
Speaker 1: can sell you the property for five dollars, right. That's
19:28
Speaker 1: how we're able to do the the Section eight mortgages.
19:31
Speaker 1: We take people's vouchers and we turn it into a mortgage.
19:34
Speaker 1: With the Bank of America and the Land Bank, they
19:36
Speaker 1: pull a product together. Were working with the New York Giants.
19:39
Speaker 1: New York Giants are fully furnishing people's homes. So you
19:42
Speaker 1: got people moving into houses that used to live in
19:44
Speaker 1: the projects, paying the same amount of money that they
19:48
Speaker 1: were paying in backs to the terrorist projects. Now they
19:51
Speaker 1: are at their own home.
19:51
Speaker 5: Can you explain what the land bank is just for
19:53
Speaker 5: people who might not know what that is.
19:55
Speaker 1: Well, like, if I was a private dude with a
19:57
Speaker 1: whole bunch of money, right, I could buy up all
19:59
Speaker 1: of the property and bank it and sit on it.
20:02
Speaker 1: And you know what usually happens is our weight until
20:05
Speaker 1: prices go up, and then I want to sell the property,
20:07
Speaker 1: I sit on it. That's why you go to a
20:08
Speaker 1: lot of cities and you see a lot of vacant
20:09
Speaker 1: property and you're trying to figure out, oh, why they
20:11
Speaker 1: don't do anything with it because the city doesn't own it.
20:14
Speaker 1: Some private person took it and they holding on to it.
20:16
Speaker 1: So they can make money. So the city does that.
20:18
Speaker 1: Now the city gets all of the property and we
20:20
Speaker 1: bank it like so we hold onto it. We parcel
20:23
Speaker 1: it together. And so we give the first right of
20:26
Speaker 1: refusal to community development organizations to local folks so they
20:32
Speaker 1: can develop it, so they can build it, to keep
20:34
Speaker 1: wealth in the community, to create more diversity in ownership
20:38
Speaker 1: in a property, and keep prices low at the same time,
20:42
Speaker 1: so we can manage what happens with our property in
20:45
Speaker 1: the city through the land bank.
20:46
Speaker 3: How important is that because you know, you want to
20:48
Speaker 3: keep even Lauren brought up gentrification, but you want to
20:50
Speaker 3: keep new work full of people from the right. So
20:53
Speaker 3: when stuff like the studio gets built, the line against
20:56
Speaker 3: studio and you see you know, places like Audible coming up,
20:59
Speaker 3: you still want to keep the residents of Newark in there.
21:01
Speaker 4: So how do you make sure that happen.
21:02
Speaker 1: Well, that's why you got it. That's why we have
21:04
Speaker 1: those meetings that we have men's meetings, we have other
21:06
Speaker 1: meetings because I'm trying to make people go get the property.
21:08
Speaker 1: We set this thing up, now go get it, Like,
21:10
Speaker 1: let's figure out how you can get property. So I mean,
21:13
Speaker 1: you got people you know who own buildings was put
21:18
Speaker 1: the store there's a grand open and an old boy
21:20
Speaker 1: had a store, a sandwich shop. Now he has a
21:23
Speaker 1: sandwich shop on top of residents that he owns now
21:25
Speaker 1: in the building that he owns Right. Got my man
21:28
Speaker 1: Chino who just came home, you know a few years ago,
21:30
Speaker 1: who now is not only developed his own property, now
21:33
Speaker 1: he's involved in a part of a development, a larger
21:36
Speaker 1: piece of property in the city. And then telling developers,
21:39
Speaker 1: big developers that you have to partner with missiles and
21:42
Speaker 1: small developers from the city gives them an end right,
21:46
Speaker 1: So you don't you don't need me anymore. You know
21:50
Speaker 1: that these folks need you. So you show up with
21:53
Speaker 1: your expertise and your skills and your ability and say, look,
21:56
Speaker 1: this is what I can offer you. Plus I'm from Newark.
21:58
Speaker 2: So you know, I do have to ask to the
22:02
Speaker 2: couple of months ago drones, what were the what were they?
22:08
Speaker 4: I wish I do you know something I wish I
22:11
Speaker 4: do because they just went away too. They just been gone.
22:13
Speaker 4: I haven't seen them since.
22:14
Speaker 1: They did just go away. But they were saying it
22:17
Speaker 1: was just people putting up their individual drones. Like once
22:19
Speaker 1: it started the size of big glass hysteria. Actually, I
22:23
Speaker 1: know a company that that trains uh, you know, folks
22:27
Speaker 1: on big drones like that too, like Alpha. It's called
22:30
Speaker 1: Alpha Drones, you know. But they they removed graffiti, They
22:34
Speaker 1: do all kinds of stuff with those drones. So I've
22:35
Speaker 1: seen big drones like that before. But you know, I'm
22:39
Speaker 1: glad I didn't get involved in that that that discussion
22:41
Speaker 1: that was going on though, because now that sounds really
22:43
Speaker 1: crazy that people are arguing about it does.
22:45
Speaker 2: But I don't think them drones would pulled up at Newark.
22:47
Speaker 2: I think if it would have been and shot them
22:48
Speaker 2: drones down to me.
22:51
Speaker 4: A beautiful place. You know, you got them down though.
22:55
Speaker 3: Another thing I love that you you've done in Newark
22:57
Speaker 3: is the homelessness program, because you've helped to cut Newark's
23:00
Speaker 3: homelessness in half.
23:03
Speaker 4: What have y'all gotten right that a lot of people
23:05
Speaker 4: around the country haven't.
23:07
Speaker 1: Well, we have street teams, and our street teams we
23:10
Speaker 1: just expanded it to twenty four hours a day because
23:13
Speaker 1: they do so good, you know, and the state just
23:15
Speaker 1: witnessed the uptick twenty four percent this year, I mean
23:17
Speaker 1: the end of last year, and we got a little
23:19
Speaker 1: uptick too. But because we had reduced at fifty seven
23:22
Speaker 1: percent were still down. You know, our street teams go
23:26
Speaker 1: out there through Path Home, We talk to folks, we
23:29
Speaker 1: get them off the street, and we're being more creative
23:31
Speaker 1: about like we created you know, housing out of containers, right,
23:37
Speaker 1: we took the containers ship and containers and we build
23:39
Speaker 1: housing out of shipping containers, which which was successful to us.
23:43
Speaker 1: We just went to the housing authority took two hundred
23:47
Speaker 1: of their units that they weren't using, that was abandoned,
23:49
Speaker 1: and we're investing in fixing those up so we could
23:51
Speaker 1: use them as transitional homes for folks that are off
23:54
Speaker 1: the street. So we have flexes to put people when
23:56
Speaker 1: we pull them off off the corners. And we're just
23:58
Speaker 1: very very very deliberate and intentional through our street team
24:02
Speaker 1: about that, about that work.
24:03
Speaker 3: Talk about the path home. In this you be speeding
24:05
Speaker 3: through stuff they ever rocket because you do. Actually you're
24:08
Speaker 3: one of the elected officials. I can actually say yo,
24:10
Speaker 3: that guy out there, he does doesn't work and you
24:12
Speaker 3: can see it reflected in the city.
24:14
Speaker 4: What is the path home?
24:16
Speaker 1: Path home is like you know, we say housing first,
24:19
Speaker 1: so we talk to people on the street until they
24:21
Speaker 1: comfortable coming with us to go places. So they know
24:24
Speaker 1: our street team know most of the homeless people in
24:26
Speaker 1: Newark by name, where they live at so well and
24:29
Speaker 1: so on what street they on, what corner they end,
24:32
Speaker 1: what tent day under, so they continue to talk to them, right,
24:36
Speaker 1: And then we have a cell phone thing text path
24:39
Speaker 1: home eight five five one path home to that and
24:42
Speaker 1: the guys that go out there and engage these folks
24:45
Speaker 1: right and make sure and it's just not regular people.
24:48
Speaker 1: You know. You have a drug counselor's there, you have
24:52
Speaker 1: a psychiatrist there, you have social workers there, you have
24:55
Speaker 1: regular street team folks there. So it's a whole team
24:57
Speaker 1: of people that go out and break bring mobile units
25:00
Speaker 1: to the folks where they are and begin to try
25:03
Speaker 1: to convince them and pull them into housing, right. And
25:06
Speaker 1: sometimes they don't come right away. But the first you know,
25:08
Speaker 1: we keep going, keep going, keep going. It was the
25:10
Speaker 1: lady told the story that it took the folks three
25:13
Speaker 1: or four times to talk to her before she said
25:15
Speaker 1: I'm going, you know, but but she finally went, and
25:18
Speaker 1: she gave a testimony how it turned her change her
25:20
Speaker 1: life around because they kept being persistent about, hey, we
25:25
Speaker 1: come in here, we go again, you know some food.
25:27
Speaker 1: We're just not giving you food. We try to give
25:29
Speaker 1: you help, support, get you off the street. A lot
25:31
Speaker 1: of people come and give out food and it makes
25:33
Speaker 1: them feel good for that moment. But the person need
25:36
Speaker 1: more than food, right They need a house, They need treatment,
25:39
Speaker 1: they need counseling. So we try to bring all of
25:41
Speaker 1: that to the folks and bring them into housing when
25:44
Speaker 1: we can. All we have to do is keep building
25:47
Speaker 1: housing so people could come in to have a place
25:50
Speaker 1: to go because it's no place for us to put them.
25:52
Speaker 1: Then these street teams don't make it. They become useless.
25:56
Speaker 2: Now, when you become governor, because you know we're gonna
25:58
Speaker 2: put that in the air. What's the first thing you
25:59
Speaker 2: want to do for the people in New Jersey? What's
26:01
Speaker 2: your first attack?
26:02
Speaker 1: I think we need to get the budget in order first.
26:04
Speaker 1: I think is out of control and we need to
26:06
Speaker 1: one cut spending, cut costs, make the wealthy paid their
26:09
Speaker 1: fairs share. That's number one. We need to invest in
26:12
Speaker 1: the economy by building housing next to transit all over
26:14
Speaker 1: the state. We need to put thousands of people to work,
26:17
Speaker 1: turn it into a public works project, the same way
26:19
Speaker 1: we did the less service lines. Put thousands of people
26:21
Speaker 1: to work in the economy. Get the building trades to
26:24
Speaker 1: give us a price for affordable housing and tell them
26:27
Speaker 1: they can make up on the volume what they're going
26:29
Speaker 1: to miss out on what we reduce in the price.
26:33
Speaker 1: Build ten fifteen thousand units up front. Right, we need
26:37
Speaker 1: to take our procurement dollars and invest in black and
26:40
Speaker 1: brown communities immediately, to South Asian communities, women businesses. The
26:45
Speaker 1: state of New Jersey spends less than one percent of
26:48
Speaker 1: his dollars in those communities. Now, we got to turn
26:50
Speaker 1: that around because to me, that is why the economy
26:53
Speaker 1: doesn't grow. I mean, you know, you can't have an
26:55
Speaker 1: exclusive economy and expect it to grow. There's a whole
26:58
Speaker 1: bunch of communities that need to be gauged in the
27:00
Speaker 1: economy that we're leaving out. The Latino populational business community
27:05
Speaker 1: represent twenty percent of the workforce in New Jersey. That's
27:08
Speaker 1: on their own merit, that's without any investment, without any
27:11
Speaker 1: support from the state. We got to put money in
27:13
Speaker 1: those communities and watch those communities grow. Hire people. If
27:17
Speaker 1: you hire more people, we have to pay them less
27:19
Speaker 1: unimportant employment. We get them opportunity to get homes, they
27:22
Speaker 1: can pay taxes, and then you will be crying less
27:24
Speaker 1: about the taxes you pay because they'll be helping you
27:27
Speaker 1: pay them right invest in those communities asap. And that's
27:31
Speaker 1: what we do in the first one hundred days.
27:33
Speaker 2: And I wanted to know when Newer Acquas should say
27:36
Speaker 2: Jersey lost the professional team, how bad did that affect
27:40
Speaker 2: the industry of the market or the finances during that time?
27:42
Speaker 2: How bad was that And is there any talks of
27:45
Speaker 2: getting another professional team money chance?
27:46
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's impossible because you know New York
27:50
Speaker 1: the teams. You got to get permission from the Yankees
27:53
Speaker 1: and the Mets to put another team. From the Giants
27:55
Speaker 1: and the Jets, you gotta get permission from them to
27:57
Speaker 1: bring another team in this market. First of all, if
27:59
Speaker 1: they don't allow you to do it, it ain't gonna
28:01
Speaker 1: happen unless one of the move to New Jersey. The
28:04
Speaker 1: good thing about Prudential Arena, the Potential Arena is one
28:07
Speaker 1: of the top three most selling arenas in the nation.
28:09
Speaker 1: So you know, after the Nets left, they really up
28:15
Speaker 1: their game. So and I think it's like that because
28:18
Speaker 1: of diversity, because you could go there, go to a
28:20
Speaker 1: K pop show, right, you could go see Romeo Santos.
28:24
Speaker 1: You know, they have everything there. And because of that,
28:27
Speaker 1: it's always crowded. Eighteen thousand people on the street almost
28:31
Speaker 1: every day of the week. I mean, it's crazy over there.
28:34
Speaker 1: They making a lot of money and they bringing a
28:35
Speaker 1: lot of attention to the city of Newark while people
28:38
Speaker 1: keep putting business there because it's always crowded.
28:42
Speaker 3: How will Lionsgate impact Newark and how will Netflix impact
28:45
Speaker 3: just Jersey as a whole, like both of.
28:47
Speaker 1: Them, Well, lions Gates will help a community, a neighborhood
28:51
Speaker 1: that's been distressed for a very very long time. And
28:53
Speaker 1: when they come there, you know the path the airport
28:58
Speaker 1: is already building a stop there by there so people
29:00
Speaker 1: could get on the train to get to the airport.
29:03
Speaker 1: So that that's gonna be awesome. And because those studios
29:06
Speaker 1: are there, obviously they're they're gonna be retail that's gonna
29:08
Speaker 1: pop up there because people have to eat, they need
29:10
Speaker 1: to do these things, they want to get the hair,
29:11
Speaker 1: they don't do whatever, So they're gonna obviously the retail
29:14
Speaker 1: is going to grow there, and it's gonna do something
29:16
Speaker 1: about the housing market as well, because the housing Authority
29:19
Speaker 1: is already talking about investing in the housing in that community.
29:23
Speaker 1: So I see a shot in the arm happening for
29:26
Speaker 1: the economy in that area, and obviously the state that
29:29
Speaker 1: region is gonna benefit from it. Once you put the
29:31
Speaker 1: train stop there, you know, people could get on the
29:33
Speaker 1: air tran from there. It's gonna create incredible opportunity for
29:36
Speaker 1: that neighborhood and for the Elizabeth and all of the
29:39
Speaker 1: cities that are attached to it.
29:40
Speaker 3: In that reason, what about the cannabis industry, because you know,
29:43
Speaker 3: we opened up a Pashtoria in Newark, myself and Rae Coon,
29:46
Speaker 3: the chef and car sellers.
29:48
Speaker 4: What about the cannabis industry.
29:49
Speaker 1: I think it's a I mean, we got to do
29:51
Speaker 1: better in New Jersey. Let me say that. You know,
29:53
Speaker 1: I just think the bureaucracy is too much and the
29:56
Speaker 1: cost of cannabis of putting it together in New Jersey
29:59
Speaker 1: is hired in place like Pennsylvania and other places like that,
30:02
Speaker 1: that we have to work out those price lower that stuff,
30:05
Speaker 1: make it competitive in our state and cut a lot
30:09
Speaker 1: of the red tape so more these things can happen
30:11
Speaker 1: faster than it's happening now, and lean into to making
30:14
Speaker 1: sure that black and brown and underrepresented community. So with
30:17
Speaker 1: victimized have a bigger portion of what's happening here that
30:20
Speaker 1: we have to do this deliberately, like New Jersey is
30:22
Speaker 1: they want to do the right thing, that is afraid
30:24
Speaker 1: to do it out loud, you know what I mean.
30:25
Speaker 1: So you got a whole bunch of people. If you say, oh,
30:28
Speaker 1: black people are suffering, they'll raise their hand. I agree
30:30
Speaker 1: with that. They say, oh, we should do something about it.
30:32
Speaker 1: Their hands don't go out, you know. So that's really
30:36
Speaker 1: what the difference is. So we have to lean into like, look,
30:39
Speaker 1: this we notice is the problem. You agree with it.
30:41
Speaker 1: We need to fix it right. We can't charge this
30:43
Speaker 1: amount of money. There has to be carve outs for
30:45
Speaker 1: certain people in certain communities, and we have to grow
30:49
Speaker 1: it faster than what's happening. I just think it's taking
30:51
Speaker 1: too long.
30:51
Speaker 3: Well, come see us, Come see us at hash story
30:53
Speaker 3: of seven nine nine Broad Street in Newark. I need
30:55
Speaker 3: you to have the chief of police just do a
30:57
Speaker 3: little sweep in front of the store.
30:58
Speaker 1: Though.
30:59
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, a lot of entrepreneurs be out there, you
31:01
Speaker 3: know what I'm saying.
31:02
Speaker 1: We had a discussion about.
31:03
Speaker 4: That out there.
31:07
Speaker 3: You know, it's very like our customers pull up and
31:10
Speaker 3: they be trying to get their own sales.
31:12
Speaker 4: Drop a diamond, move down the block, deal with.
31:15
Speaker 5: The people that be outside his story. He can drop
31:17
Speaker 5: tell four bags all so that he can increase their revenue.
31:19
Speaker 5: Maybe you should talk to those brothers and see what
31:21
Speaker 5: they're trying to do and how hah story you can
31:23
Speaker 5: talk to them.
31:23
Speaker 4: They try to get me.
31:24
Speaker 3: We we own the dixpense, give me nothing.
31:28
Speaker 4: When is the election?
31:29
Speaker 2: When can people make sure they toate to what they
31:32
Speaker 2: need to make sure they support you in your site
31:34
Speaker 2: and everything and absolutely rask.
31:36
Speaker 1: For governor dot com that's us. June tenth is the
31:38
Speaker 1: primary UH in New Jersey.
31:41
Speaker 4: UH.
31:42
Speaker 1: The general election is in November, first Tuesday in November,
31:45
Speaker 1: but the primary is June tenth. You can donate, you
31:48
Speaker 1: can get on the website, volunteer, ask questions, do whatever
31:52
Speaker 1: it is that you need to do it feel comfortable doing.
31:54
Speaker 5: Absolutely, you're not worried about the trickle down from this
31:57
Speaker 5: new administration because a lot of stuff you're trying to do.
32:00
Speaker 5: Of course they ain't really the biggest proponents of it.
32:03
Speaker 5: You know, you're not worried about that at all.
32:05
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that we got to govern the
32:07
Speaker 1: way we govern. We gotta do what we do. Like
32:09
Speaker 1: that's it, Like we can't like do what we need
32:11
Speaker 1: to do thinking about them, Like we have to do
32:14
Speaker 1: what we need to do, thinking about the people in
32:16
Speaker 1: New Jersey. If they come up come over to New Jersey,
32:18
Speaker 1: they got to deal with us, then we my no
32:19
Speaker 1: own business. But if they come over here with some nonsense,
32:23
Speaker 1: then we got to take your business. Other than that,
32:25
Speaker 1: we're gonna do what's right for the people of the state.
32:27
Speaker 3: Is the federal government gonna make what you want to
32:29
Speaker 3: do in Jersey easier or harder?
32:31
Speaker 1: Probably harder. Probably in some instance it's probably hard. I mean,
32:35
Speaker 1: but this guy ran saying he wanted to make the
32:37
Speaker 1: economy easier. He wanted to lower prices, costs. He want
32:40
Speaker 1: to do all of these things. Put people to work.
32:43
Speaker 1: We want to put people to work. We want a
32:44
Speaker 1: lower cost. That's what we want. All the other crazy
32:47
Speaker 1: foolishness that he's talking about is what he really wants.
32:49
Speaker 1: He's not He haysn't started doing that right, and I
32:52
Speaker 1: don't think it's ever good. Just like he said he
32:53
Speaker 1: wanted to invest in the infrastructure. The last time he
32:56
Speaker 1: was the president. That never happened, right, All the other
32:58
Speaker 1: stuff happened, but not that, So I think that's a ploy.
33:01
Speaker 1: But we're gonna lean in on creating jobs, creating small business,
33:05
Speaker 1: incubating folks, giving people a housing, reducing the costs. Were
33:09
Speaker 1: leaning in on that. And we're gonna protect the immigrants
33:11
Speaker 1: and migrants in our community. We're gonna protect the LGBTQ
33:14
Speaker 1: community in our neighborhood. We're gonna protect the people who
33:17
Speaker 1: from Newark that we know, those our uncles, our nephews,
33:19
Speaker 1: our cousins, our neighbors, the people we you know, we
33:22
Speaker 1: hang out with. We're gonna protect them. I mean, we
33:24
Speaker 1: ain't gonna run away from them because now that Trump
33:26
Speaker 1: is the president of the United States, what kind of
33:28
Speaker 1: people would we be in, Like, we leave our folks
33:30
Speaker 1: behind because the bully done showed up. Now you're scared, right,
33:34
Speaker 1: It is what it is. These are our family members
33:36
Speaker 1: and we gotta make sure they're good.
33:38
Speaker 3: How insulting is it to be called a DEI mayor
33:40
Speaker 3: as a blackness.
33:41
Speaker 1: Well, I'm not insulted by it, you know what I mean?
33:44
Speaker 1: I mean, I think diversity and equity and inclusion is
33:46
Speaker 1: the right thing I think what they're trying to say
33:48
Speaker 1: is that you're not qualify and what they and they
33:51
Speaker 1: say that by everything, So what they're really saying is
33:52
Speaker 1: that we not qualify for anything. Now you can't be
33:55
Speaker 1: anythingcause you're not qualified for anything. That's what they're really saying.
33:57
Speaker 1: I don't think that we should run from the idea
33:59
Speaker 1: of being of supporting diversity, equity inclusion. In fact, the
34:03
Speaker 1: economy needs diversity equity inclusion. It's just not enough white
34:07
Speaker 1: men to support the economy of this country just doesn't exist.
34:11
Speaker 1: So there are a whole bunch of people that keep
34:14
Speaker 1: saying we have a labor shortage because they're talking about
34:16
Speaker 1: the traditional folks who have these jobs that are aging out,
34:19
Speaker 1: and because they're not going into the black community, the
34:21
Speaker 1: brown community, the South Asian community, women. Then, yeah, people
34:25
Speaker 1: aging out. There's a whole bunch of folks that are
34:28
Speaker 1: a part of this country. You know, American families are different, man.
34:33
Speaker 1: You know, we eat plantinos and you know black beans
34:36
Speaker 1: and rice and college greens and cornbread and you know,
34:39
Speaker 1: black rice and conch American families are different. It's not
34:42
Speaker 1: the same concept of what American family is. It's all
34:45
Speaker 1: kind of people that are Americans these days, and we
34:48
Speaker 1: just got to own up to it and invite these
34:50
Speaker 1: people to participate in the economy.
34:51
Speaker 3: My last question, because you know, I just wanted to
34:53
Speaker 3: cover some great things that you've done in new that
34:55
Speaker 3: I know you would implement. Of view government, the shaping
34:59
Speaker 3: the education future, innure, what did you do to help that?
35:03
Speaker 1: Well, you know, the state wasn't control our schools for
35:06
Speaker 1: twenty years. You know when I was a vice principal,
35:09
Speaker 1: principal teacher, most of that time was under well all
35:12
Speaker 1: of it was under state control. We took the state
35:15
Speaker 1: the schools back from the state when Chris Christy was
35:18
Speaker 1: the governor, by the way, and got the schools back
35:20
Speaker 1: under the city's control. Since then, you know, we have
35:24
Speaker 1: been trying to help with childhood literacy, maternity, help with
35:28
Speaker 1: maternity care, and giving women access to opportunity for child
35:33
Speaker 1: care and literacy because we want kids to start school
35:35
Speaker 1: ready to learn. That's really what we've been focusing on.
35:38
Speaker 1: I mean, the school system is not under our control,
35:40
Speaker 1: but we're doing we can to support what we think
35:43
Speaker 1: will help kids get a better education by preparing them
35:46
Speaker 1: for school before they start.
35:48
Speaker 2: All right, Well, we appreciate you for joining us. Definitely
35:51
Speaker 2: make sure you go out support Mayor ros Baraka. He
35:53
Speaker 2: will be the next governor of the Jersey. We're gonna
35:55
Speaker 2: put that in the air and thank you so much.
35:56
Speaker 2: Brother rask for governor the number four or governor.
36:01
Speaker 1: All right, it's Rosparaka. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning,
36:04
Speaker 1: wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club.
36:11
Speaker 1: M hm.