the federal changes, you know, how we protect our very highly cultural, diverse and immigration populations.

- [Michelle] As he begins his eighth term, protecting the city's immigrant population is top of mind for Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien.

He says many are fearful over what President Trump's crackdown on undocumented immigrants will mean for them.

- We're always gonna side taking care of the residents, documented or undocumented.

- [Michelle] Federal immigration authorities are now allowed to arrest migrants at places like schools and churches.

But Grebien says.

- There was a lot of misinformation, you know, last couple weeks because of all those executive orders and everybody's reacting and not having a clear picture.

ICE will never tell us when they're coming in, but we won't be participating with them.

- [Michelle] And that's far from Grebien's only concern.

Longtime resident and toy maker, Hasbro, is considering moving its headquarters out of the city.

- They decided that that building from a capital investment is no longer worth investing.

- Hasbro is such a point of pride, not only for people in Pawtucket, but also for people in the state.

What are you doing to persuade the management of Hasbro to stay put?

- And that's hard, right, 'cause it all depends on what their goals are.

And we've done everything we can.

We've put a proposal together and when I say that we have developers who are willing to develop the Hasbro site, put them as a class A tenant.

- [Michelle] Grebien is referring to the site of the former Apex department store.

The city purchased the building and several surrounding properties for more than $17 million in 2021.

Grebien wants the toy maker to be the anchor tenant.

Seeing them leave, he says, would hurt in several ways.

- The financial loss to Pawtucket is a little over a million dollars.

You know, we're not gonna lose all of that because they're still gonna have the property.

They're still gonna have to pay taxes.

But we don't want to vacant building.

You know, we'll be losing some of the tangible tax, which is a smaller number.

So it's not really a major financial hit.

It's an image, it's a pride.

- [Michelle] Saying goodbye to Hasbro would be a big loss for a city that still remembers the blows its suffered when the Paw Sox left McCoy Stadium for Worcester and when Memorial Hospital shut down.

- I tell folks all the time, you wish you could control those, right?

Because it's not on the local government.

It really becomes business.

- Do you say to yourself, what could I and my administration have done differently so that we wouldn't even be having this conversation about Hasbro considering a move?

- Absolutely.

We've talked about that.

We have conversations, the council, even at home with my wife, you start to pull yourself off with our team.

I think that if there's anything that I could do differently, as I probably would've spent more time knocking on the door at Hasbro the old fashioned way, you know, to hold their hand a little more.

- [Michelle] Grebien points to the progress Pawtucket has made as yet another reason why Hasbro should stay in his hometown.

- As we sit here and we are talking today and you see the good things gonna happen and we have the stadium and a lot of new development coming in, it's where you need it to be.

It just takes two darn long.

- [Michelle] This year promises to be a memorable one.

This spring, the stadium at Tidewater Landing will open to the public.

We went with the mayor to the construction site to see how the work is progressing.

- It's exciting times like, you know, as we get through, everybody was questioning the financing and all that stuff.

You know, they're on time, they're on budget now.

It's positive and the community is really getting engaged and excited about it.

- You'll be at the first home game?

- Oh yes, I'll be at the first.

I haven't bought my ticket yet, but I will be at the first home game.

- [Michelle] The multi-use soccer stadium will be home to the Rhode Island Futbol Club overlooking the Seekonk River.

Developers also plan to build out the riverfront over the coming years and create much needed housing.

- We're looking at about 600 units of a mixed use, mostly residential and a couple of storefronts.

So that becomes the active zone.

You have the bike path, you have the water access, and Blackstone Valley Tourism honestly was just in the other day talking about, okay, how do we get a dock down there so we can get the boats in?

And so it's gonna be that life center style.

- It's building on what Grebien describes as a renaissance in Pawtucket.

Two years ago, the Pawtucket Central Falls Transit Center opened, making it easier for many Rhode Islanders traveling to and from Boston.

One block from there, a mixed use apartment and retail center is being built with 150 apartments.

The mayor says about a quarter of them will be affordable housing, the rest will be market rate.

There are people who say that some of these projects are too focused on bringing in affluent commuters and they're worried that these projects will price people out of Pawtucket who've been here for years.

Do you share in those concerns about rising rents, rising home prices?

- Yeah, I mean that is truly a factor of, right now Pawtucket is a moderate to low income community, so we need to get some of those dollars in, but we need to protect all of the folks that are here as well.

You know, now with the new housing legislation, it's helpful to keep people in their homes.

You know, we need to start looking at what we do to control some rents.

In the last two weeks, I have senior citizens who have 70-year-old, or have been in their homes renting for 30 years and they're getting priced out, right?

So there's a balance.

As much as I love my community, we are considered a distress community.

We have been for years and based on our populations, so we need to get a little more of that in, but balance and protect.

- Another point of concern for the mayor, the quality of the city school district.

Five schools including William Tolman Senior High School, are in comprehensive support and improvement status, meaning they're in the bottom 5% for academic achievement and growth.

Grebien says the district is working with RIDE, the Rhode Island Department of Education, to turn things around.

Are you worried about a state takeover with the schools?

- I don't get concerned, though, I don't think we're at a potential of a takeover.

I think there could be, you know, if we as a community or as the superintendent doesn't get the organization together, there are concerns about that.

Having said that, you know, I'm not worried.

I don't think RIDE will be coming in tomorrow to take over.

- The future hope of the city schools comes back to a property that today is a scar of recent loss.

The old McCoy Stadium will be demolished and the site will be turned into a new unified high school bringing Tolman and Shea Senior High School onto one campus.

Grebien estimates it'll take five to six years before it's open.

You have now been in office 14 years, you have two years, and then we'll see what happens.

What else do you aspire to do?

- People always ask you, "Are you gonna run for a state office?

Are you gonna do this?"

You know, I tell everybody, "Would I love to run for state office?

It's never never, I don't know what the next step would be."

You know, if I had my way, you know, you're looking at the Lieutenant Governor or Secretary of State, not against anybody that's there.

- [Michelle] Whatever the future holds, Grebien says one thing is for sure, he'll never be able to sit still.

- If I could and the voters would have me, I would love to retire from here and continue to make those changes.

It really is about hoping that people remember that at the end of the day, we provided a better quality life for them.