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Trounced!

Tuesday, 9 May 2006 · Posted by Ken

After 4 years of work, $6.1 million dollars in fund raising, and innumerable handshakes, Cory Booker has been elected Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He won 74% of the vote, Rice took 23%. Booker won by a margin of more than 3 to 1.

The ??Newark Star Ledger??’s ??Battle for Newark?? blog provides the “final election results”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139497.

Cory Booker swept to victory in the Newark mayor’s race by a historic margin today, collecting more than 70 percent of the vote from an electorate that rejected his candidacy four years ago.Booker’s closest challenger, state Sen. Ronald L. Rice, finished with less than 25 percent.

The election of Booker, a 37-year-old former Rhodes scholar and Yale-educated lawyer who moved to Newark just a decade ago, opens a new chapter in the city’s political history. A self-proclaimed reformer, he is Newark’s first new mayor in 20 years and just the second since 1970.

The ??New York Times??’ ??Newark 06?? blog is also reporting “that the Booker Era has begun”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=193.

And when Reginald T. Jackson, executive director of the Black Ministers’ Council of New Jersey, was told of the results, he eschewed the neutrality he has maintained since 2002.

“That’s terrific,” he said.

“It’s a new era for Newark,” he continued. “I think it brings the possibility of Newark really becoming the city it can be. And it’s my hope now that with the election over, all the factions can come together and unite work in the best interests of the city and the citizens of Newark.”

All in all, here are the final results of tonight’s election–congratulations to the winners:

* *Mayor:* Cory Booker
* *Central Ward:* Dana Rone
* *North Ward:* Anibal Ramos
* *South Ward:* _Runoff!_ John James/Oscar James decision on June 13
* *East Ward:* Agusto Amador
* *West Ward:* _Runoff!_ Mamie Bridgeforth/Ron Rice Jr. decision on June 13
* *At-large:* _Runoff!_ the top eight candidates will compete for the at-large seats on June 13

Tags: Newark, Politics & City Hall | Comments (1)

Ongoing Election Coverage

Monday, 8 May 2006 · Posted by Ken

Monday, May 8, 8:33 PM: Cory got his sound bites out with “this interview”:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5391513 with NPR reporter ??Nancy Solomon?? on All Things Considered. Newsvine also has an Associated Press story, “Newark to Elect 1st New Mayor in Decades”:http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2006/05/08/190995-newark-to-elect-1st-new-mayor-in-decades.

Tuesday, May 9, 8:07 AM: The ??Battle for Newark Blog??: the “polls are open”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139049, get out the vote! Mayor James still “will not be silent”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139048 about the election. And what will Cory do when he “wins the election”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#138988?

Asked what was the first thing he planned to do if he wins, Booker replied coyly, “The electric slide.”

The slide is a James specialty. He’s been pictured doing the boogie, woogie, woogie on several occasions during his time as mayor.

“Ever since Sharpe said I wasn’t black enough, I’ve been trying to get the electric slide down,” Booker joked.

Tuesday, May 9, 9:35 AM: Voted this morning on the way into the office, just in time to see a drove of volunteers in Booker t-shirts cross Ferry Street. On the way to the booth, I had one Booker Team door hanger on my car, saw dozens of signs for Amador and Linhares — who seem to have papered anything in the Ironbound that was securely fastened to the sidewalk — and was handed another Booker flyer on the way through the door. Several volunteers had staked out the “Wilson Avenue School”:http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=school,+wilson+ave,+newark,+nj&ll=40.735551,-74.165096&spn=0.036095,0.054245&om=1 with signs and flyers calling out campaign slogans in Portuguese and English. There was no sign of any Rice supporters — but I’m not sure if they’ve written off the East Ward as a Booker holdout.

Tuesday, May 9, 9:51 AM: ??Damien Cave?? from the ??Newark06?? blog caught up with “Councillor”:http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rv_cmp/rv_bios_west.html, er, Cornell West, who is “campaigning this year for a Booker opponent”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=188. You may remember that Professor West was prominently featured as a Booker advocate during the 2002 campaign in Marshall Curry’s documentary Street Fight. On the Newark Speaks forum, the “aforementioned drama”:http://blog.newarker.info/2006/05/08/big-day-tomorrow/ begins “to unfold”:http://newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2208.

Tuesday, May 9, 10:28 AM: “Booker votes”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139098. “James votes”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139159. Still no sign of Rice. The folks at the Star Ledger ??Battle for Newark?? blog are doing an excellent job today — they’ve been on the campaign trail since early this morning, and have been blogging every half hour, it seems. I’ve been punching the Refresh button on their page like a mouse hitting the feed bar. More sobering, a “double homicide”:http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=4155444 was reported last night, again highlighting just what’s at stake in this election.

Tuesday, May 9, 11:10 AM: ??Damien Cave?? and ??Nate Schweber?? for the ??Newark06?? blog: “Peach Cobbler and Beyond”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=190. A story by Associated Press reporter ??Janet Frankston?? has been “making the rounds”:http://news.google.com/news?tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&ncl=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/09/AR2006050900268.html&hl=en&scoring=d through the press. Here is the “Washington Post version”:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/09/AR2006050900268.html. The County Superintendant of Elections “fields some complaints”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139185 about missteps by campaigners, but nothing major. By the way, has anyone seen Mr. Rice yet?
Tuesday, May 9, 12:19 PM: ??Brad Parks?? for the ??Battle for Newark?? blog, “Rice campaign running out of steam?”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139203 Seems as though the Rice team is already running out of promotional materials. Ah, and “here’s Ron Rice”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139218.

Tuesday, May 9, 2:20 PM: After some silence on the blog front for a couple hours (lunch?), this comes in from ??Josh Benson?? at the ??Newark06?? blog, “Turnout Heavy in Booker Territory, Light in James Territory”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=191. According to Rutgers-Newark historian Clement Price, turnout will be a truer indicator of Mr. Booker’s appeal to Newarkers than whether or not he defeats State Senator Ronald L. Rice in today’s election. And, from ??Wally Edge??, if Booker wins tonight, he could be the “front-runner for NJ state governor in 2013″:http://politics.nexcess.net/insideedge/2006/05/booker_13.html.

Tuesday, May 9, 3:16 PM: The ??Battle for Newark?? on the “mid-day lunch break”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139300. On Newark Speaks, ??Maximus?? paints a Hegelian picture of the Cory Booker/Sharpe James struggle for power in Newark with “Who Made Booker”:http://newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2215.

Tuesday, May 9, 5:40 PM: Seems that the vote today has been pretty quiet. Rumors “are circulating”:http://newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2219 that the turnout in the South Ward has been slow, though the candidates have been “trading barbs”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139364 over signage in the area. Voter fraud has been “practically nonexistant”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139378 in the race so far, with nowhere near the amount of turmoil we saw in 2002. The race is heading into its final push as poll workers expect voters to finish work at 6 PM and head to the polls. The polls close at 8 PM tonight.

Tuesday, May 9, 8:14 PM: The polls are closed, and ??Gregory Washington?? of the ??Battle for Newark?? blog says we can have the results “as early as 8:10 PM”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139425. I’m tuned into WBGO, but nothing yet.

Tuesday, May 9, 8:34 PM: WBGO notes that if Booker has a run-off tonight that it would be a disaster for his campaign — to have Newark’s trust, as Clement Price noted at the 2:20 PM update here, Booker will not just have to win, but win big. I want to know the results as soon as they come in, but if I have to listen to _one more plea for money_ from WBGO, I think I’m going to freak out.

Tuesday, May 9, 9:07 PM: Results are starting to roll in. I switched over to “1010wins”:http://www.1010wins.com/ for updates — there’s advertising, but not as bad as this fund drive. Anyway, “50 of 168 districts reporting”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139461:

Mayor race update - 50 districts
With 50 out of 168 districts reporting for Mayor

David Blount 498
Nancy Rosenstock 73
Cory Booker 8,961
Ronald Rice 2,597

Not looking so good for Mr. Rice, who is “hoping for a runoff”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139464.

Tuesday, May 9, 9:30 PM: “120 of 168 districts reporting”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139475.

Mayor update - 120 districts
With 120 of 168 districts reporting for Mayor

David Blount 1,309
Nancy Rosenstock 175
Cory Booker 23,146
Ronald Rice 7,000

Tuesday, May 9, 10:00 PM: The ??Battle for Newark?? blog reports on a random visit from John Corzine to…”Ron Rice’s campaign headquarters”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139492!?

About 9:20 p.m. a caravan of black Crown Victorias came to Ron Rice’s headquarters on Broad Street and out came Governor Jon Corzine. He walked in with his bodyguards, shook a few people’s hands and when asked what he was doing there, he answered, “I’m just going to make an impression of support to Ron Rice.”

Er, a little late for that, isn’t it?

Tags: Crime & Safety, Newark, Politics & City Hall | Comments (0)

Big Day Tomorrow

Monday, 8 May 2006 · Posted by Ken

I told my wife this morning on the way to the train station, “Well, tomorrow’s the big day! I’m going to have to do something really big with the blog — like maybe blog every hour of Election Day!” She sniffed, “Why? Just blog once: everybody knows what’s going to happen, anyway.”

It’s true. ??Damien Cave?? notes in today’s ??New York Times?? article, “In Newark, Booker Mayoral Campaign Takes on Air of Coronation”:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/08/nyregion/08newark.html?_r=1&oref=slogin, that Booker’s last few days on the campaign trail — despite Rice’s best efforts — have made his installation into office seem inevitable. Tomorrow will see the first major administration change in the city of Newark for the first time in twenty years. On July 1, 2006, Cory Booker will be sworn in as Newark’s new mayor.

Sure, there will be some drama. Yesterday’s bizarre breakfast rally for Rice resulted in “this classic quote”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#138643 from Mayor James about Ron Rice:

“I got to get him to shut up now,” James said as he exited the ballroom.

The media will have a good time with more moments like this as the Rice campaign works through its “denial”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stages_of_dying before conceding the victory. I have a feeling, though, that Rice will handle it with grace. He has been in public service for years and seems like a good guy.

The nail-biter for tomorrow’s election, however, lies with the 9-member city council seats that are all up for re-election. The race is particularly close in the North and East Wards, which have seen “intense campaigning”:http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?p=20769#post20769, “allegations of fraud”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=186 and “bitter court battles”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#137150. More commentary on the North Ward race at “Newark Confidential”:http://newarkconfidential.squarespace.com/journal/2006/5/7/tight-in-the-north.html.

Whether Booker can land the rest of his team into the city council positions is the real question for tomorrow. His ability to get a city council in place that will be sympathetic to his legislation will be a key success factor for his administration for the next four years. Rumor has it that Booker will be staging a “shock and awe”:http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showpost.php?p=20864&postcount=14 ground campaign tomorrow to mobilze the vote for his team.

So, while we know _some_ of what will happen tomorrow, it is guaranteed to be an exciting day for Newark that will be fun to watch. Will I be blogging throughout the day tomorrow? Well, you’ll just have to stay tuned.

Tags: Newark, Politics & City Hall | Comments (1)

On the Radar: Four Days and Counting…

Saturday, 6 May 2006 · Posted by Ken

* ??Damien Cave?? from the ??Newark06?? blog: “Newark Teens Tackle the Gang Problem”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=168. Both Ronald L. Rice and Cory Booker have laid out plans to study the issue and add more police to the streets. But according to many of the teenagers in Newark’s schools, the problem is not just a lack of law enforcement — it’s also a matter of where the police are stationed, and what the city can do to break the gang tradition among families.
* “NewarkSpeaks”:http://newarkspeaks.com/forum gets an RSS feed! I emailed the board administrator and asked that they set this up. A few days later, I found “this feed”:http://newarkspeaks.com/forum/external.php?type=RSS2. As far as I know, it wasn’t publicly announced, but I found it because they run vBulletin, and vBulletin “documents this feature here”:http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/vboptions_group_external.
* ??Damien Cave?? and ??Josh Benson?? from the ??New York Times??: “Newark Candidate Runs Against His Own Fame”:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/04/nyregion/04booker.html?pagewanted=1. A thorough introduction to Cory Booker, with his educational background, and the story of how he came to be involved with Newark politics. Damien and Josh take a pragmatic look at this political newcomer’s ability to effect real change in a tough city. This one comes with an “introductory blog”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=170 and “video of the interview”:http://video.on.nytimes.com/ifr_main.jsp?nsid=a3b99bbc2:10b09e755e9:-4140&fr_story=1abc86e0dc2313eaae8f7684be115e5315e64282&st=1146925477779&mp=FLV&cpf=false&fr=050606_102437_3b99bbc2×10b09e755e9xw413f&rdm=832596.7120314735.
* ??Damien Cave?? and ??Josh Benson??, again for the Times: “Newark Mayoral Candidate Tries to Escape Shadows”:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/05/nyregion/05rice.html. A similarly thorough look at Ron Rice, his background as a police officer and deputy mayor in Newark, his on-again, off-again relationship with Mayor James, and his struggling campaign. Damien and Josh also provide an “introductory blog”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=175 and a “video of the interview”:http://video.on.nytimes.com/ifr_main.jsp?nsid=a3b99bbc2:10b09e755e9:-4140&fr_story=1abc86e0dc2313eaae8f7684be115e5315e64282&st=1146925477779&mp=FLV&cpf=false&fr=050606_102437_3b99bbc2×10b09e755e9xw413f&rdm=832596.7120314735.
* ??Ted Sherman?? from the ??Newark Star Ledger??: “Newarkers are now putting their money on Booker”:http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1146806558227840.xml&coll=1. Cory Booker, despite his external funding from contributors as far as Wyoming and as close as New York City, _still_ outpaced Mr. Rice in donations in his local Newark funding. Mr. Rice’s rallying cry, “Who are you really?” sounds a bit hollow now — apparently, Newarkers are well aware who Cory Booker is.
* ??Damien Cave?? from the ??Newark06?? blog: “The Sign Patrol”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=177. Mr. Diggs, you see, is a burly member of the Newark sanitation department’s anti-graffiti crew. At 37, he is a man on the front lines of a war against slogan-filled paper, ear-to-ear smiles on the photographed faces of eager candidates and plastic banners that run the length of a king-sized bed. Can these guys do something about the roving billboards with loudspeakers in our streets?
* WBGO: “Journal for Friday, May 05, 2006″:http://www.wbgo.org/news/journal/archive.asp?date=5/5/2006. Hey, a Newark podcast! WBGO covers the development in the Central Ward, the status of the election, the face-off between the Historical Preservation Society and Mayor James, and the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater at NJPAC.
* ??Jonathan Casiano?? for the ??Newark Star Ledger??: “Chaotic start for city’s new historic panel”:http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1146721447263090.xml?starledger?nex&coll=1. More about the turmoil with the new historical panel.

Tags: Newark, Politics & City Hall | Comments (0)

The Debate Over Newark, Part II

Thursday, 4 May 2006 · Posted by Ken

Here’s some coverage of last night’s Cablevision debate. Unfortunately, no podcast.

??Damien Cave?? from the ??New York Times??: “In a Debate of Newark Mayoral Candidates, Some Agreement and a Lot of Discord”:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/04/nyregion/04newark.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.

“Ron Rice was the deputy mayor right next to Mayor James during all the fiscal scandals,” Mr. Booker said. And when Mr. Rice countered by noting that his deputy mayor position “is pretty much ceremonial,” Mr. Booker said that if he is elected, “the first thing I will cut is the ceremonial deputy mayor who makes $80,000 to say nothing and do nothing.”

Ouch–that had to hurt.

??Jeffrey C. Mays?? and ??Brad Parks?? of the ??Newark Star Ledger??: “Newark mayoral candidates face off”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#137713 (at 12:13 AM, God bless ‘em).

“Why is it that millions of dollars continue to follow you from Arkansas,” Rice asked in more of a rambling statement than question. “Who really are you? Who do you really represent?”

??Brad Parks?? also has some instant analysis of the debate: “How well the candidates debated”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#137689.

BOOKER’S WEAKNESSES: “He showed some vulnerability on his record as a councilman and in his ability to connect to the day-to-day experience of Newarkers. You wonder what he’d be talking about if he didn’t have Sharpe James’ record to attack. I was a little surprised by how much Cory chose to attack Ron Rice. He has a large lead in the polls, but he wasn’t acting like a candidate with a large lead.”

And, finally, some more reactions from non-media-affiliated Newarkers. Newark Speaks: “The Great Debate”:http://newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2166. Here’s ??5Reasons??:

You would never know Rice was a public official for 25 years by last night’s performance. He was horrible. Geez, even Blount was better than him. In fact, for those hardcore Booker-haters, rather than waste a vote on Rice, you’re better off rewarding Blount with your vote, since he did make quite a few good points. I admit, I like Blount mainly because he’s actually worked in the private sector.

Tags: Newark, Politics & City Hall | Comments (2)

The Debate Over Newark, Part I

Wednesday, 3 May 2006 · Posted by Ken

??John Koblin?? of the ??Newark06?? blog: “The Quiet Debate”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=167. Surprisingly understated:

But up on the dais, the action was far more demure. State Senator Ronald L. Rice — after weeks of accusing Mr. Booker of being a front man for a vast right-wing conspiracy — only mentioned his leading opponent’s name a handful of times. And he spoke in such hushed tones that the moderator had to ask him to raise his voice.

But, Ras Baraka expects some more controversy tonight:

Tonight, Mr. Rice and Mr. Booker will appear at the campaign’s only televised debate, carried live in New Jersey on News 12 at 8 p.m. When the cameras are turned on tonight, Mr. Baraka said viewers can expect more aggressiveness. “It’ll be different,” he said.

WBGO will “also be broadcasting”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#137370 the debate, as well.

I wonder if anyone is Web 2.0-savvy enough to podcast the debate, too.

Tags: Newark, Politics & City Hall | Comments (0)

On the Radar: More Analysis on the Race, More Development

Wednesday, 3 May 2006 · Posted by Ken

* ??Katie Wang?? (??Newark Star Ledger??): “Candidate pushes worker rights in Newark race”:http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1146545660102330.xml&coll=1. Favorite quote: She said she does not have a solution for the crime problem, but said she is against police brutality. ‘I would take the cops off the streets,’ she said. Instead of having cops patrol Newark, she said working class citizens would guard the streets. Yeah, she’s not winning.
* ??WBGO??: “Applebees to Open in Central Ward”:http://www.wbgo.org/news/articles.asp?newsid=1405. Not really news, but news for Newark. Corporate brands are starting to make their way into the city–brands which are run by companies that are risk-adverse. If they’re here, then the city is doing well (or so goes the thinking).
* ??Urban Land Institute??: “Hoboken is Model for Newark Plan”:http://www.uli.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=27250 (originally from the ??Newark Star Ledger??). On the developer planning to revitalize Mulberry Street with condos, shopping and a new park.
* ??Jeffrey Gold?? (??Newark Star Ledger??): “Exhibit showcases men and their cars”:http://www.nj.com/business/ledger/index.ssf?/base/business-3/1146545266102330.xml&coll=1. For much of the latter 20th century, Cadillac signified not only a pinnacle of automotive engineering, but proclaimed the success of its driver.
* ??Brian Donohue?? and ??Jonathan Casiano?? (??Newark Star Ledger??): “Urban myth strikes fear in illegal immigrants”:http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1146479449217380.xml&coll=1. I’m not sure what the answer to dealing with illegal immigrants is, but I’m pretty sure that terrifying them isn’t it.
* ??Brad Parks?? and ??Robert Gebeloff?? (??Newark Star Ledger??): “Of Newark’s new voters, most live in North Ward”:http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1146545651102330.xml&coll=1. The Ledger takes a look at the voting registration vs. population trends in the city.
* ??Katie Wang?? (??Newark Star Ledger??): “‘Outsider’ Booker slowly makes way into Newark”:http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-0/114637115850760.xml&coll=1&thispage=1. In-depth back story on Booker’s youth and draw to the city of Newark. As they say: slow and steady wins the race.
* ??Barry Carter?? (??Newark Star Ledger??): “It’s a new ballgame in Newark campaign”:http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-0/114637117850760.xml&coll=1. ‘Crime is a disease,’ he said. ‘I am the cure. The antidote is vote Dwayne Smith.’ I think Mr. Smith might have himself confused with an action movie star — like The Punisher, or maybe Batman.
* ??Jeffery C. Mays??: “A Newark upstart eyes an upset”:http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1146633947297920.xml&coll=1. Good story on a fourth candidate for Mayor of the city. The job is probably a bit too big for him, but his commitment to local neighborhoods is admirable.

Tags: Arts, Culture & Media, Biz & Development, Newark, Politics & City Hall | Comments (0)

What Endorsement?

Tuesday, 2 May 2006 · Posted by Ken

??Newark06??: “The Real Deal Disses The Rice”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=164.

Mayor James pulls a no-show at an event made to showcase his endorsement for Ron Rice. You just have to feel bad for Rice — that’s quite a blow one week from Election Day. One wonders how he’ll perform at “tonight’s debate”:http://blog.newarker.info/2006/04/27/the-main-event/.

It was supposed to be the rally where Mayor Sharpe James displayed his charisma and charm on behalf of Ronald L. Rice. Finally, according to a flyer announcing “The Real Deal Wants The Rice,” the city’s political general would vigorously support his foot soldier -– the former Marine, Newark police officer, councilman, state senator and deputy mayor.

There was just one problem: Sharpe James never showed up.

Tags: Newark, Politics & City Hall | Comments (0)

Naïve Like a Fox

Monday, 1 May 2006 · Posted by Ken

??New York Times??: “Be Careful What You Wish For”:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/30/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/30njBOOKER.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin (via “Newark Speaks”:http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?p=20225#post20225).

Booker takes a combative tone in this interview with Times reporter Josh Benson. Citing management inspiration from New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, Booker talks about making his campaign promises a reality: bring safety to the city streets, overhauling education, and dealing with a potential fiscal crisis. These must be interesting but harrowing times for our young new mayor-to-be.

CALL Cory Booker idealistic, pragmatic or some combination of the two. Just don’t call him naïve.

“I’ll take that criticism,” he said, his eyes boring in on his questioner. “I’m politically naïve, but I’m a guy who started in this process four or five years ago, who took on the biggest, toughest political machine, urban political machine in the state of New Jersey. And I’m sitting here right now, naïve as I am, 40 points ahead of my opponent — maybe 50 points, according to our internal polls — ready to become the mayor of the City of Newark.”

Mr. Booker ended by asserting that he was, in fact, “naïve like a fox.”

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Tom Plays the Anti-Race-Card

Friday, 28 April 2006 · Posted by Ken

??Tom Moran??: “A serious accusation, made cheap in Newark”:http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/moran/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1146202059107270.xml&coll=1. Moran takes a skeptical look at the “race card” that he says is played too often in Newark.

On Wednesday, the job fell to Councilman Ras Baraka, who sat directly across a large conference table from Corzine and his senior aides. The proposal had been modified by then, but its odor remained.

So Baraka played the race card.

“You’re looking at it from a racially and economically privileged position,” he told them. “I don’t have that privilege. I live in Newark where kids are getting shot in the streets and parents are coming to me saying, ‘My child needs a job.’”

I think, with regard to the $80 million the Council is trying to pinch from the city budget, that he’s absolutely right: the Newark city council is backpedaling and grasping for arguments. And Moran’s clever jab at the mayor is warranted — James’ own empathy for Newarkers’ lack of jobs and opportunity comes off as disingenuous given his quarter-million-dollar salarly, Rolls Royce, and 46-foot-long yacht. One could argue that the mayor of uses his identification with Newark along the lines of race and poverty as leverage to push his self-aggrendizing policies through the city Council.

But, I think a more detailed analysis would be more helpful before we paint all Newark social policy arguments with the same brush. This city has been underserved by the state of New Jersey for decades, and one cannot ignore the role of racial demographics that have played part in that disparity. Brushing off all — or, at least, all _recent_ — racial arguments as a “race card” is not helpful to the dialog of understanding racial politics in Newark for Tom’s readership (who apparently need to be reminded that “Newark matters”:http://blog.newarker.info/2006/04/15/why-newark-matters/ because it’s not on the other side “of the planet”:http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110001676).

Tags: Newark, Politics & City Hall | Comments (0)

On the Radar: Rice spreads the hate, Rutgers examines the past, NJPAC looks to the future

Thursday, 27 April 2006 · Posted by Ken

* ??Battle for Newark??: “League of Women Voters letter”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_04.html#135555. In brief, it went something like, “Ahem, *NO* we didn’t sponsor “that”:http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-0/11460308927720.xml&coll=1.”
* ??WBGO??: “Sen. Rice wants the Newark mayor’s race monitored for fraud”:http://www.wbgo.org/news/articles.asp?newsid=1400. Isn’t that we have state election boards?
* ??Newark06??: “Rice Goes on the Attack”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=156. Rice mimics James’ 2002 tactic of flinging hateful accusations at Booker in order to undermine his reputation. It seems that where the “Booker team has matured”:http://blog.newarker.info/2006/04/26/he-smellslike-the-future/, the current administration has descended to grade school warfare. What’s next? Will Rice shout boldly to Booker at the “debate”:http://blog.newarker.info/2006/04/27/the-main-event/ that “you’re not the boss of me,” or will he use the “I’m rubber, you’re glue” attack instead?
* ??Battle for Newark??: “Where to catch the candidates”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_04.html#135562. Katie shares a quick reference for next week’s appearances for the mayoral candidates.
* ??Rutgers-Newark??: “Newark Riots - 1967″:http://www.67riots.rutgers.edu/n_index.htm. Rutgers has put together a site in remembrance of the 40^th^ anniversary of ‘67 riots that scarred the city.
* ??Urban Land Institute??: “Arts Center Has A Plan to Help Newark Revive”:http://www.uli.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=55180&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm (from the ??New York Times??). Further development plans around the NJPAC.
* ??National Jeweler??: “Newark Museum launches jewelry exhibition”:http://www.nationaljeweler.com/nationaljeweler/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002423746. A museum exhibit spanning five centuries of American and European jewelry masterpieces is slated to land next week in a city that may be best known as an airport hub for Continental, but was also once a hot spot for gold jewelry manufacturing: Newark, N.J.

Tags: Arts, Culture & Media, History, Newark, Politics & City Hall, Rutgers University | Comments (0)

The Main Event

Thursday, 27 April 2006 · Posted by Ken

??Rutgers-Newark??: “Rutgers-Newark Campus To Host Newark’s Four Mayoral Candidates In May 2 Debate”:http://www.newark.rutgers.edu/news/index.php?sId=viewArticle&ArticleID=5125&prevTitle=Top+Stories&prevURL=index.php. One week before election day, Rutgers-Newark will be hosting the mayoral-candidate smackdown on May 2^nd^ at the Robeson Center.

The event at R-N will be the only forum to bring together all four candidates in the nonpartisan election: David Blount, Cory Booker, Ronald L. Rice and Nancy Rosenstock. The format calls for the debate moderator, Desiree Taylor of NJN, to present a series of questions, with each candidate given an equal amount of time to respond to each. Questions will be drawn both from audience questions, submitted shortly before the debate, and questions developed by Student Voices based on input from Newark high school students about local issues they are most concerned about. Doors to the program will open at 6:30 p.m. to allow audience members to submit their questions.

Tags: Newark, Politics & City Hall, Rutgers University | Comments (2)

He Smells Like the Future

Wednesday, 26 April 2006 · Posted by Ken

Clement Price, Newark historian at Rutgers University, introduced tonight’s screening of Marshall Curry’s “Street Fight” by explaining its relevance in the stream of documentaries about the city, including “City of Promise” and “Revolution: 1967″. He noted the film’s Oscar nomination, but explained that the film was ultimately was beaten out by “100 penguins”:http://wip.warnerbros.com/marchofthepenguins/.

We got started with the film shortly after Curry shared some additional words of introduction — though some technical difficulties at the outset prompted a member of the audience to ask, “Is there anyone here from NJIT?” It was fun to see the film again, this time with an audience. We laughed as one enthusiastic little girl declared that Booker “smells like the future,” and gasped in amazement as Curry caught James telling lie after lie down the campaign trail.

What struck me most about watching the film this time was how much the Booker team has grown since their run in 2002. The film opens as an officer from the Newark Housing Authority threatens to call the cops on Booker as he canvases a residential apartment building, then cuts to a scene where Booker is explaining how his “grassroots campaign” is looking to save money by cutting corners wherever possible. Fast forward to today where the “6.1 Million Dollar Man”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=128 now leads his opponent in the polls by as much as 43%, as if his campaign was gliding along on rails.

Curry fielded questions at the end of the film, explaining that his interest in Newark began in 1991 when he started a literacy program for children. He covered issues like Booker’s support of school vouchers, how he dealt with the intimidation he experienced during the filming of the movie, and why he thought James dropped out of this year’s race. One observation that really seemed to grip Curry about the film — and the election itself — was how the media treated the city as if it were “another country”:http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110001676. People in the state of New Jersey just didn’t seem to care that much whether the election was run fairly and prefered to vew the rough-and-tumble race as if it were a sporting event. Even today, it’s still hard to find people who are interested in the city of Newark without drawn-out explanations of “why Newark matters”:http://blog.newarker.info/2006/04/15/why-newark-matters/.

After the screening, I got a chance to catch up with “Damien Cave”:http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/damien_cave/index.html?inline=nyt-per from the New York Times and co-writer of the “Newark06 blog”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/. I asked him a bit about how the Times is engaging its readers through the web and how the medium is being treated internally at the company. When he asked how I got involved in blogging about the city, I explained that I had moved here two years ago, and enthused about the city’s untapped potential. He explained to me that the city has been in the midst of this renaissance for a long time. “Every three years or so since 1990, you see this type of story about Newark.”

We agreed that perhaps Booker will be the catalyst the city needs for real change to take hold. I didn’t quite get the chance to ask Damien what will happen to the Times blog after the election, but I sure hope they stick around for what is sure to be an interesting year for the city of Newark.

Tags: Education, Newark, Politics & City Hall, Rutgers University | Comments (2)

Booker on Living Conditions

Wednesday, 26 April 2006 · Posted by Ken

I’m just getting around to reading the Q&A Cory Booker had with the “Newark Speaks”:http://newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1903 community. His answers to the handful of questions he chose to answer were very clear and exciting for the people of Newark. One question, in particular, really struck me as an extreme example of public service:

Q. Do you plan to move (I’m embarrassed to say my mayor lives in a run down apt. building.) and if so what ward do he plan to move to?

A. Get used to it. I made a pre-politics commitment to the folks that live in that community — most specifcally including Ms. V. Jones. I told her I would stay there until the job is done. I will remain in that building until we can secure it and then secure the funding to rehab the building. In fact, we had already done that and we had secured millions of dollars in rehab but the city blocked us. This is a great building and a viable one. It should be saved and restored to its 1969 level of greatness. There are people in other city’s that would kill for such large spacious apartments. We can make that a model of mixed income redevelopment right near the heart of our down town.

But as far as where I live…I am not concerned about what people say. It is my personal choice. And I tell you this, you may be surprised where I choose to live next. This city has communities that are in a state of crisis. And for the next four years I am committed to making every neighborhood safe. I am willing to go to any personal lengths necessary to accomplish that as my past living choices have shown: from a moble home to a tent at garden spires. So if I win, your mayor might “embarrass” you again, but I think in the end you will be proud that I got the job done in our city.

—Cory Booker

Tags: Environment, Newark, Politics & City Hall | Comments (1)

On the Radar: Pseudo-debates, UMDNJ, and the $80 million question

Wednesday, 26 April 2006 · Posted by Ken

* ??Newark Star Ledger??: “‘Debate’ in Newark draws criticism from Rice rivals”:http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-0/11460308927720.xml&coll=1. The political sketchiness surrounding the debate-in-quotes kept Booker from attending, and other mayoral hopefuls from fielding questions. A move in desperation for Mr. Rice, perhaps?
* ??New York Times??: “Newark Official Defends Work as a College Trustee”:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/26/nyregion/26medical.html?_r=1&oref=slogin is the latest in a “stream of bad press”:http://news.google.com/news?ie=ISO-8859-1&ncl=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/26/nyregion/26medical.html&hl=en for the beleaguered medical school. According to the Times, the dean of UMDNJ was blowing cash on nights at the Waldorf-Astoria, expensive meals, and lavish office decor. Favorite headline so far about the issue: “Med school dean living large”:http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk1JmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2OTI0ODMxJnlyaXJ5N2Y3MTdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5Mg. Indeed.
* ??New York Times??: “An $80 Million Tug of War Between Newark and Trenton”:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/nyregion/25newark.html chronicles the drama between the Newark city administration and New Jersey watchdogs. Ledger also reports that “Corzine will be meeting”:http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-3/11460299337720.xml&coll=1 with James to discuss the issue later today.
* The Ledger also has an article detailing “the work the James administration is planning to complete”:http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-2/1144040386222550.xml before he leaves office.
* Rutgers University, my alma mater, is considering broadening its presence in Newark by “moving its business school into the city”:http://www.nj.com/business/ledger/index.ssf?/base/business-3/1145941101186730.xml&coll=11, reports the Ledger.

Tags: Education, Government, Newark, Politics & City Hall | Comments (1)