George Muschal was sworn in as interim Trenton mayor Feb. 26.
Interim mayor George Muschal has trod a path from shootouts to City Hall
Trenton acting mayor George Muschal is wearing a crisp white shirt and business tie. He sits at the edge of the large meeting table in his office on the second floor of Trenton City Hall, the ornate, early 20th century building designed in a style called American Renaissance.
Less than two weeks have passed since the 65-year-old city council president assumed by default the role of Trenton’s interim leader — after the removal of Trenton Mayor Tony Mack who was convicted of corruption in a federal court — and a few hours before the city council meeting.
It’s a busy day. Documents, notes, and a calendar are scattered before him, and the office secretary, Darlene Herring, has appointments and calls waiting. But the self-described “straight shooter” has agreed to talk, and he is all business.
Acknowledging that unhappy circumstances placed him in position to temporarily run the capital city, he says, “I work hard for the people. I consider myself a statesman and work for the people who put me in the office. I consider myself a statesman because I consider politicians corrupt.”
Muschal will not be running for mayor in the May 13 election to determine Trenton’s next mayor. The former policeman who put in 39 years on the job said he got involved in city governance because he wasn’t happy with the way the city was being run.
Muschal knows the city from that career and as a long-time resident. His life has revolved around the corner of Lalor Street and Lakeside Avenue. That’s where he and Theresa, his wife of 33 years, live and have operated the Wishie-Washie Laundromat for 32 years. It is a family business that has involved Muschal’s now deceased 90-year-old mother and currently Theresa’s 86-year-old as employees. The couple has no children.
Muschal’s father was a millwright who also specialized in building staircases and houses, among them several on the other side of Lalor Street in Hamilton. They include the Marshall Avenue family home where Muschal’s sister now lives and the Bow Hill Avenue shop once used by his father and now the Eagle Sign Company.
The interim city leader attended Holy Angels Catholic Elementary School on South Broad Street and Saint Anthony’s High School (now Trenton Catholic Academy), both in Hamilton. That was followed by obtaining trade school certificates from a General Motors training center on Prospect Street in Trenton and a Philadelphia technology school.
“I was a licensed and certified mechanic. My first job was at Bunderchuck Chevrolet on Nottingham Way,” he said.
He served as a mechanic from age 17 to 21 and then made a change. He went for six months training, and then spent six years in the National Guard, prior to joining the police department.
Being a police officer was not Muschal’s first choice, but one that he made during the application process.
“I really wanted to be a fireman,” he said. “But I had to wait in a longer line for the fireman test, so I took the police one.”
It was his workaholic tendencies that kept him a patrolman and not an officer. He never took a test for rank, he said, because he worked numerous other jobs. In addition to working full time for the police, he also oversaw the city’s Board of Social Services security force of 32 members.
He says that he could do both jobs because of his sleep habits.
“I average approximately 2 to 3 hours sleep,” he said. “I never slept a lot, never in my life. That’s in line with what I do now,” which includes rising at 5 a.m. to tend to the laundromat, oversee City Hall, and attend evening meetings. His wife said she barely sees him.
Describing his former Trenton police force duties, Muschal said, “I started off and did undercover work. I was in the detective bureau in the early stage. Then I went under cover. I dressed up like a woman and was assaulted on the street. I was a decoy. I went right into the tactical unit when it started — I was always in the aggressive unit area — and from there I went in K-9, which is basically an aggressive unit. My whole career was there with a dog. I went through four dogs.”
His dog days included a special one, the last one, named Ars, selected from a breeder in what was then Czechoslovakia at a cost of $6,000.
“This was the best dog at the time that money could buy. I went on line to get the best dog for trafficking and police work. The last dog was so accurate that he could track a suspect a mile and half away. He was right on the money. It was unbelievable,” he said.
“I had a lot of good times with my dogs,” he says. “It’s very hard putting these dogs to sleep. The first three dogs lasted about 10 years. The last one was 12 years when he was retired and lasted until 14 until I put him asleep.” A sense of fondness and loss fill his expression.
Besides normal benefits of joining the police force, another one was meeting his wife, the sister of a woman a fellow patrolman was dating.
“They said to her, ‘You want to meet someone who was a workaholic?’ I advised her that I would give her one day a week, and she accepted that. Her father operated a hardware store and the Colonial Deli at 94 East Paul Avenue (in Trenton). We were married at St. James Church on Paul Avenue,” he said.
As expected, a career on the Trenton police force was not all a love affair — and the stories are harrowing. In addition to Muschal being stabbed once and in several gun battles, there was the March 17, 1972 Gordon kidnapping. That case involved a dangerous encounter with armed men holding a family and child hostage and a situation where, Muschal said, a gunman “came out of the house with the young girl and the guy had a gun, and I had a shotgun in my hand. He came up and shoved the gun in my mouth and said, ’I m going to blow your head off.’”
Muschal said his call to another patrolman to shoot the gunman changed the moment, and the alarmed kidnappers forced their hostages into a car, raced away, and started a chase. It ended with the suspects deliberately crashing into police car barricade on Route 29. Undeterred, the perpetrators hopped out. That’s when “this guy pulled out a .45 caliber and pointed it at me. I wrestled with the gun, as (a fellow patrolman) Don Berry hit him with the shotgun, and we got control of the situation,” says Muschal.
The story ended with the police investigation finding that the suspects were actually part of a plan hatched by a Police Benevolent Association attorney who had some inside information about the family and a $100,000 bank deposit that it was suppose to make. Recounting the tale, Muschal shook his head with disbelief.
There was also the incident with a former Trentonian newspaper editor whose house was engulfed in flames.
“I arrived on the scene, broke the door down, went in the house, and got (the family) out of bed. They were totally groggy. Then they said that their child was left in the crib, and I immediately went back — and my clothes were already smoldering — and got the kid out of the crib. That was the job,” he said.
“There’s nothing that I haven’t seen. I guess I’ll see more. But my main attention to is to move the city forward and do what’s right for the city of Trenton,” Muschal says of his new responsibilities.
With literal blood and sweat already given to the city, it is a wonder that he continues being involved and is known for his attention and quick response to Trenton residents.
“My heart is in Trenton,” he said. “I have seen how Trenton was deteriorating to nothing. When I came on in 1970, it was booming. The businesses were booming. We had Sears and Dunham’s. Trenton Makes the World Takes, the sign speaks for itself. Everyone deserted and moved out of the city of Trenton because of no leadership.”
Explaining why he and Theresa have stayed while other left, he said, “I stayed for the fight and the hope that the city comes back. I wasn’t happy with the way the police department was operating. I was very concerned. I always said if the opportunity arises, I would try to make a change. I believe that the people deserve better than what they have.”
The opportunity came in 2009 when South Ward Councilman Jim Costin suddenly announced he was moving and a special election to fill the vacancy was held.
Muschal had recently retired from the police force, and decided to run. “People said that you won’t win because people didn’t want a cop (as council member). But I won. I knew people wanted a change. I never looked back,” he said.
He successfully ran again in 2010 and has since gained reputation as a hands-on councilman who meets regularly with citizens, quickly follows up, is in touch with police, and even has asked county prosecutors to investigate City Hall when problems were becoming apparent. Though he is not running for a full term as mayor, he is seeking re-election to council and to continue to represent the city’s South Ward.
Now the man who is not a politician but the temporary leader of the most political city in New Jersey said as he puts on his jacket to leave for a meeting, “We’re in a turn-around administration, and we’re going in the right direction for the next few months until the next mayor comes in and continues the direction.”
That direction has included removal of several Mack appointees, opening up discussions to reopen the public libraries, stabilize city-owned buildings, planning to communicate with Gov. Chris Christie to strengthen the police department, and demanding more accountability from department heads.
“Safe, Clean, and Prosperous: that was my campaign motto,” he said of his run for city council. “If the city is safe, it can be prosperous with education.”
Like the building style, there seems a brief American Renaissance — or rebirth — going on in Trenton City Hall, one that hopefully will set the standard for a new “business as usual.”
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