On Violent Crime in the Ironbound
The “recent news”:http://dailynewarker.com/2007/05/21/man-shot-killed-in-the-ironbound/ about a man killed in the Ironbound has brought on a bit of post-traumatic stress disorder that I thought was worth discussing in a separate piece.
While generally known as a low-crime area of Newark, the Ironbound has seen it’s share of violent crime in the past two years. In November 2005, “two people were killed on Elm Street”:http://dailynewarker.com/2005/11/21/more-violent-crime-in-the-ironbound/, which — combined with perceived higher rates of violent crime — caused a massive outcry in the community. The police held community meetings which, in December, were attended by over 300 citizens from the community. The Guardian Angels were asked to come patrol our streets and protests were held outside of City Hall. In response, the NPD assigned an additional 40 police officers to patrol the neighborhood, which used a police helicopter for support.
Those were eerie times to live in Newark, and — combined with some issues with our apartment building at the time — my wife and I very nearly moved out of the city. I’d come home from work to find a helicopter floating over the neighborhood and squad cars roaming the streets, at times in high-speed pursuit. There were nights where my wife would come into the living room late to find me watching the helicopter through the window, wondering whether another person’s life had been taken that night.
This is _not_ the Newark we want to live in: in fear of getting held up while walking the dog or carjacked at gunpoint while taking the baby to our parents’. This is the make-or-break issue of Booker’s political life and, indeed, Newark’s future. All the good news about development and new restaurants won’t do anything to restore this city if it continues to be overrun by criminals with deadly agendas.
