“Neighbor Notes” hosted by Metuchen Mayor Jonathan Busch

On this episode, Mayor Busch speaks with Hackensack Meridian Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff Kenny Esser.
Hackensack Meridian runs 17 hospitals, including JFK in Edison, and is one of the largest employers in the State of New Jersey. 
Kenny discusses the impact that COVID-19 has had on the Hackensack network, including hospital capacity, the inspiring work and morale of his employees. 

On this week’s episode, Mayor Busch speaks with Councilwoman Sheri-Rose Rubin, who is leading Metuchen's “You Have a Friend Here” program.
“You Have a Friend Here” already has more than 100 volunteers who will collectively make regular contact with every Borough resident over the age of 70, for as long as this epidemic lasts. 
Additionally, Councilwoman Rubin speaks intimately about her own personal experiences with our new reality, including her close relationship with former Councilman Richard Weber, who died in New York City last week, due to complications from coronavirus.

On this episode, Mayor Busch hosts the Metuchen Board of Education Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Vincent Caputo.
They discuss a variety of issues related to the delivery of instruction, and meals to students, in the midst of school closures due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

On this episode, Mayor Busch hosts two guests as we start to wrap our heads around the impact that COVID-19 is having on our community.
Our first guest is resident, Board of Heath Member, and urgent care clinic partner Dr. Paul Popeck. Dr. Popeck describes much of what he is observing on the front lines and what we can expect in Metuchen in the near future.
Our second guest is nine year-old Owen Clancy who recently decided to cancel his birthday party to help stop the spread of coronavirus. Owen is understandably disappointed but his resilience can serve as a lesson to all of us “grown-ups” who may be feeling the same way. 

Metuchen Chef John Manzo kicked off Metuchen’s most epic week during the early afternoon on February 23, 2020 when he stopped his car at a Main Street crosswalk, rolled his window down and proceeded to speak with and take a picture of Paul McCartney in front of the Buttery Bake Shop. Since then, John’s picture of the former Beatle has been blasted across television and social media around the world, he has been interviewed and quoted by countless media outlets, and with one moment he has become Metuchen’s “Forest Gump.” Join Mayor Jonathan Busch and John Manzo on the next episode of “Neighbor Notes” as they discuss John’s brush with “Beatlemania”, the amazing impact of the picture including the memes that residents created, Metuchen’s banner week, and a little about John’s impact on the food scene in the Brainy Borough. 

This is the first episode of “Neighbor Notes” hosted by Mayor Jonathan Busch with none other than Metuchen native and “King of Magic” David Copperfield. Copperfield is widely regarded as the most commercially successful magician of all time. He has sold more tickets than any other solo performer in history (more than even Elvis, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Justin Bieber), he has won 11 Guinness World Records and 21 Emmy Awards, and has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. However, during Mayor Busch’s visit to Copperfield’s private International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts in Las Vegas, Copperfield focused on the ways that Metuchen and its community have inspired him in his life.

Among the largest collection of magic memorabilia in the world, Copperfield talked about what it was like to grow-up in Metuchen during the 1960s and 70s, including his father’s Main Street store, his role as a boy magician, the Forum Theatre, a baby bunny he found while waiting for the RFK funeral train to pass through, and of course, he weighed in on Paul McCartney’s recent visit to Metuchen’s downtown.