NEWARK – Mayor Ras Baraka this morning helped distribute turkeys and Thanksgiving baskets to Newark residents ahead of the holiday, where he also considered the impact on his city of the $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill signed into law by President Joe Biden.

“I wish the money was coming right to the City of Newark,” Baraka told InsiderNJ at The Clubhouse. “We only got one shot at that. This infrastructure bill is tremendously important to us. When it goes to the state we are going to lobby the state to get the money we need – money for the expansion of Broadband, money for our walking bridge that we’re creating. We are actually trying to find some reimbursement money for lead service line replacement in the city. We borrowed $120 million from Port Authority, thank God we paid it, but we are going to be trying to get reimbursement dollars. Obviously our roads and resiliency in the city [to combat flooding]; resiliency infrastructure dollars for large scale projects around the water department and the sewer system.

“And we want all those jobs,” Baraka added. “We want to be able to employ people in this area to get them good salaries. I am incredibly optimistic. Thank God we have Murphy as our governor.”

Up for reelection to a third term in 2022, the mayor made his comments in a break between lugging boxes of holiday foodstuffs and turkeys at an event co-sponsored by the Meal-kit company, HelloFresh, the City of Newark, the Believe in Newark Foundation, and Baraka.

Following his efforts at this location, Baraka planned to make other stops throughout the day as part of a five-ward, citywide turkey tour.

From the City of Newark:

The City is grateful for the generous support this year from its sponsor, the Believe in Newark Foundation, and the co-sponsors:

·         HelloFresh: Delivering 5,800 boxes of produce

·         Green Giant: Donating more than 7,000 cans of Green Giant Vegetables

·         Pepsi Bottling Co.: Donating 1,200 cans of assorted Pepsi products

·         Brantley Brothers Transportation Co.: Transporting donations to multiple sites

·         Bindi North America, Inc.: Donating 300 Pistachio Cheesecakes

·         Bimbo Bakeries, Inc.: Two pallets of assorted items from Entenmann’s, Arnold’s Stuffing and Sara Lee Bread Line

·         The Home Depot of Newark: Hand Sanitizers, Gloves and Masks

Residents from each of the City’s five wards have an opportunity to pick up their free turkey and food products from various locations throughout the City’s five wards in time for the Thanksgiving holiday.