Sherrill tours small businesses in Jersey City

Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill toured businesses at the Newark Avenue Pedestrian Plaza in Jersey City on Nov. 24 with Sen. Raj Mukherji, Hudson County Executive Craig Guy and Assemblywoman-elect Katie Brennan.

The visit was billed as an event to discuss her agenda to help small businesses. She did not go into much detail about the specifics of any plans she has to do this.

She chatted with business owners about their biggest challenges. While some said business is strong, their greatest challenge is finding employees to work in their shops.

Rich Mendez, owner of PostNet, a printing, copying and shipping company located on Grove Street, said business is good, but retaining employees is his biggest problem. “Nobody can live here,” he said.

“With the governor’s help over the next four years, we’ll be able to hopefully address,” Mendez said. “It’s not just me, it’s everybody around here.”

Mukherji said the best way to tackle the cost of housing is to increase the supply. He said in Congress, Sherrill sponsored a bill to transform vacant land into malls, office space and residential housing. He added that officials will work to do that in New Jersey.

“The more housing we build, the more rents can stabilize, and that’s what we’re gonna have to do in urban areas like this, especially when the rents are $4,000, $3,000, for a one- or two-bedroom,” Mukherji said.

When asked about UEZ funding and how she would use it to help small businesses, she said it was a high priority for her administration.

“We’re looking at how we can continue to grow businesses across the state. One area that’s been very successful, as you’ve seen here, are UEZs,” she said. “So making sure that we allocate resources in the correct way to continue to grow businesses is something that’s very important to me.”