Ewing Nj Mayor |top| -

“This town was built by General Electric, by Roebling Steel, by GM,” he says. “Those companies left. But the people didn’t. My job isn’t to bring back 1955. It’s to build 2035.”

Rather than wait for a white knight, Steinmann did something unusual: he lobbied the state for “brownfield” tax credits, pieced together $12 million in federal infrastructure money, and began demolishing the plant himself —by which he means, he put the township in the driver’s seat. ewing nj mayor

“Crime is down,” he says flatly. “The data is on our website.” “This town was built by General Electric, by

As the sun sets over the Delaware, Steinmann walks the perimeter of the GM site. In the distance, you can see the lights of TCNJ’s stadium and, further out, the gold dome of the Statehouse in Trenton. My job isn’t to bring back 1955

Steinmann’s challenge is to serve both.

“Private equity wanted to sit on the land for 20 years,” says Councilwoman Jennifer Keyes. “Bert said, ‘We can’t afford to wait. We’ll clean it up, subdivide it, and sell it piece by piece.’ It’s boring, granular work. But it’s working.” Ask any resident about Ewing, and you’ll hear two different towns.

Steinmann doesn’t pound a gavel. Instead, he pulls out a whiteboard and draws a pie chart showing the cost of a sharpshooter program versus a contraceptive dart program. He cites data from Rutgers.