The executive order began August 6 with no announced end date. A cannabis activist alleges it targets him and has filed an emergency court motion.

Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora issued an executive order on August 6 that shut down every business on three blocks of East State Street from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. on weekends, four days after gunfire outside a cannabis lounge across from City Hall killed a man. Two days later Edward Forchion, the activist who runs NJWeedman's Joint, filed federal court papers to block it.

The weekend shutdown runs from West Canal Street to South Broad Street, 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. City officials say the corridor saw repeated violence this summer. Forchion says the order targets him alone and will force him to close.

Trenton's second weekend curfew in two years

The order never says when it ends. That blank space is what Forchion and his attorney Edward N. Tobias attacked on August 8 in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Their emergency motion, in consolidated case 3:24-cv-10052-RK-JBD, asks the court to freeze enforcement of the order until a judge can rule on whether it is lawful.

Gusciora first implemented a weekend curfew in July 2025. That order ran for about a month and cost the city roughly $10,000 in police overtime for one weekend alone, Fox29 reported at the time. The City Council refused to pass a permanent ordinance restricting the district's hours, with members calling the dispute a "Mayor versus Ed Forchion" problem, the motion records.

"Last summer, he shut me down for 30 days and he hurt my employees, he really hurt us," Forchion told Yahoo News/NJ.com. "Business did not come back until November and December. He's putting me out of business again."

The new order has no expiration date. "Executive Order EO 26-001 will last indefinitely, thus serving to shutter Mr. Forchion permanently," the motion alleges.

Forchion's attorney also highlights "individuals seeking attention" — unexplained language in the 2026 order that he argues refers to his client. The 2026 order also drops the "substantial costs" language that the 2025 document used to justify police overtime and cleanup spending, the motion notes.

The motion states that where the 2025 order ran from Carroll Street to South Broad, the new one begins at West Canal — dropping the courthouse block. It also claims that on opening night, parking barricades on Stockton Street meant the curfew only hit the single block holding City Hall and Forchion's storefront. 6ABC reported that Forchion's shop is the only business on the block open after 10 p.m.

The mayor told The Trentonian on Sunday that the tactic had already produced results. "For the past two nights there have been no incidents in front of this illegal dispensary," Gusciora said.

The Trentonian reported that Forchion's shop carries provisional city approvals but no full state license. Gusciora told the paper: "He's not licensed for cannabis or alcohol, but both can be found there."

When Forchion opened his restaurant in Trenton in 2015, Gusciora, then a state assemblyman, commended it with an assembly proclamation. Forchion backed Gusciora in the latter's 2018 campaign, when the assemblyman was pushing marijuana legalization bills. A photograph from that campaign shows them standing shoulder to shoulder.

That relationship lasted through Gusciora's successful reelection campaign in 2022, but collapsed as the city pressed his 24-hour operation, which the city says lacks full state licensing. In March 2024, Forchion began projecting what Law360 called a "Batman-like" protest message onto City Hall at night. After what he described as retaliation from the city and harassment from the police due to the display, he sued to defend his First Amendment rights. When the mayor issued the July 2025 curfew, Forchion filed a separate challenge; Judge Robert Kirsch denied his request for a temporary restraining order on August 14, 2025. The court later consolidated that case with the 2024 lawsuit in November of that year.

His new motion claims the mayor built both orders on false facts. The motion claims the 2025 order placed a homicide on City Hall steps when the killing happened at Stockton and State. It also alleges that the order listed an officer assault at 322 East State Street when the incident happened at 330 East State Street, away from Forchion's building.

Dispute tied up in upcoming mayoral elections

Forchion floated a mayoral run in late 2025 after the first curfew. He told The Trentonian on August 10 that he is supporting Jasi Edwards, a Trenton City Councilwoman and certified candidate for mayor, and would file his own paperwork if he does not "see a ground swell of outrage by city council at Reed Gusciora." As of August 10 he had not turned in candidacy forms to Trenton or the Election Law Enforcement Commission; the deadline to file is August 20.

Jasi Edwards, as Councilwoman, attended the August 6 City Council meeting where Forchion spoke and later posted a public account of the exchange to her Facebook page. She asked the Police Director whether officers patrolled the entertainment district and whether the city would have a prevention plan before the next emergency call. 

Edwards wrote that the Police Director distributed responsibility for safety across businesses, residents and community organizations. He also "deflected" to crime statistics across Trenton and pointed to a prior incident that evening at Cooper's Riverview, a restaurant along the Delaware waterfront. She noted that Cooper's had already closed before the East State Street killing and that the earlier incident there could not justify the absence of patrols in the entertainment district afterward. She wrote that the Mayor's executive order was "not a public safety plan" and that "responding after the 911 call is not prevention."

According to Edwards, Council President Jenna Figueroa Ketterburg asked the mayor to come to the council meeting. Gusciora said he had a scheduling conflict — the Trenton Dems Night Out event.

Forchion told the council he has been asking for foot patrols since 2024, including a May 15 request after gunfire on May 10. He said the city depends on ShotSpotter sensors instead of putting officers on the street.

Gusciora told CBS Philadelphia that venues bear responsibility for their own crowds. "We are not in the business of providing protection per nightclub or other venue; we expect them to step up, and a crowd that they attract should be their responsibility," the mayor told CBS Philadelphia. He told The Trentonian that patrons at Cooper's "have to go through security," while "Weedman wants Trenton PD to provide it for him."

Forchion's motion states that he offered to pay for off-duty officers but the city turned him down, citing the pending lawsuit.

As of August 10, the curfew remains in effect with no announced end date. City Hall says it will review conditions daily. Businesses that ignore the curfew risk fines, according to WPVI.

Gusciora is defending the order as a public-safety necessity. Forchion is trying to kill it in court and may run for mayor. Edwards is running herself, on a platform of prevention, not curfews. With the election several months away, the curfew remains in place for now and the court has not scheduled a hearing on Forchion's emergency motion.

Related Articles

• Trenton Mass Shooting: 7 Shot, 50+ Rounds Fired in "Extra Attention Area"

• Trenton Raises Water Rates as Wealthy Suburbs Sue to Take the System 

• Trenton Roebling Demolition to Cost $620K, City Seeks State Funds 

Sources

• Ballotpedia, "Mayoral election in Trenton, New Jersey (2026)" (accessed August 10, 2026)

• City of Trenton, Executive Order 26-001 (August 6, 2026)

• City of Trenton, Press Release, "Mayor Gusciora Issues Executive Order 26-001" (August 6, 2026)

• Forchion et al v. City of Trenton, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey (D.N.J.), Docket No. 3:24-cv-10052-RK-JBD, Document No. 79 (August 8, 2026)

• 6ABC/WPVI, "Emergency weekend curfew takes effect in Trenton, NJ" (August 7, 2026)

• CBS News Philadelphia, Ryan Hughes, "Emergency curfew issued in Trenton, New Jersey, amid surge of weekend violence" (August 9, 2026)

• Edward Forchion, Facebook, "Election Day is Nov 8th..." (November 3, 2022)

• Fox29, "Trenton orders emergency curfew for East State Street after late-night violence" (August 7, 2026)

• Jasi Edwards, Trenton City Councilwoman, Facebook post, "On August 6, the Mayor issued Executive Order 26-001..." (August 6, 2026)

• Law360, "NJ Weedman Sues Trenton Over 'Batman' City Hall Projection" (July 15, 2025)

• NBC10 Philadelphia, "Trenton homicide victim identified by Mercer County Prosecutor's Office" (August 2, 2026)

• NBC10 Philadelphia, Dylan Steinberg, "Due to recent violence, emergency curfew in place for Trenton businesses" (August 7, 2026; updated August 8, 2026)

• News12 New Jersey, "Trenton imposes emergency business curfew" (August 7, 2026)

• NJ.com, "In jailhouse interview, NJ Weedman talks running for mayor of Trenton" (February 12, 2018)

• NJ.com, "Weed activist sues N.J. mayor, claims he was harassed over 'city government sucks' sign" (November 13, 2024)

• PACER, Forchion et al v. City of Trenton, D.N.J., Docket No. 3:25-cv-13654 (filed July 22, 2025)

• Patch, "Trenton Businesses Face Emergency Curfew After Recent Violence" (August 7, 2026)

• Peterson's Breaking News of Trenton, "Federal Judge Denies Trenton Mayor's Motion to Dismiss NJWeedman Lawsuit" (July 14, 2025)

• The Trentonian, John Berry, "NJ Weedman asks courts to stop Trenton's emergency curfew" (August 10, 2026)

• The Trentonian, John Berry, "Trenton announces targeted curfew as response to recent violence" (August 6, 2026; updated August 6, 2026)

• The Trentonian, L.A. Parker, "Trenton mayoral candidates will all need help" (December 16, 2025)

• Yahoo News/NJ.com, "Mayor's emergency curfew to curb crowds; NJ Weedman says it targets his business" (August 7, 2026)