Right now, in Newark's South Ward, there's an exchange going on - toy guns handed over by small children, exchanged for other playthings, or for books. Mayor Cory Booker, whose story and interaction with Newark police and the street crimes they tackle has been chronicled for two years in a documentary series on Sundance, was planning to speak.
The event - Newark's city council members will also attend - is a project of Stop Shootin' Music and its founder Al'Tarik Onque, who lives in Newark.
You can imagine the power of the symbolism here. Toy guns are more than mere baubles. Between 1979 and 2001, gunfire killed 90,000 children and teens in America. Real loss is felt in Newark. And Essex County has more homicides than the next three counties combined. Newark's police force is likely to come under federal monitor after a federal Justice Department investigation spurred by a formal request from NJ's ACLU, citing inaction in its internal affairs bureau - the police dept. policing itself - and community complaints of excessive force.
Oh, pesky facts. Why won't you just go away? As reported by Jeremy Rosen over at the Courier-Post, documents released by the Christie administration in the wake of Coptergate don't actually absolve the governor of any and all wrongdoing with respect to inappropriate use of state helicopters. The issue? Missing flight information; unnamed guests and passengers; contradictions between administration documents and other relevant records. Here's a taste:
Yet records show Christie's Aug. 28 Newark meeting with city Mayor Cory Booker and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was surrounded with helicopter flights to the governor's shore house. Further details of that flight were redacted, so it's unclear if Zuckerberg or Booker were on board.
Get your caption contest toolbelt and strap on the thought bubbles. This is Mayor Cory Booker at the new corporate offices of The Manischewitz Co., yes the sticky Kosher wine people. Newark's gain is Secaucus' loss; New Jersey's biggest city got Manischewitz without tax incentives, for it's "business-friendly climate". So there's that.
For the happy occasion, there was a blessing by the chief rabbi of Israel and Manischewitz baked a monster matzo. That's 25 feet of unleavened yummy loveliness. And as Chris Pedota, Record photog, snapped this picture, Mayor Cory Booker, in a fetching paper hairnet, had just broken off a big chunk.
The Courier-Post's opinion editor Mike Daniels ran a recent Sunday feature citing folks, "who closely follow state politics to give us their take -- who they think might vie for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, and what advice they would give the candidates."
I am excited to hear how'd you'd answer. Meantime, here was my take:
"My short list includes Sweeney, Buono and Booker at this point. If the election were tomorrow I think a Sweeney/Buono ticket seems most plausable, given the state's machine-driven dynamics which don't favor Booker at the moment. A Rob Andrews/Loretta Weinberg ticket is my fantasy pick."
My recommendations for the Democrats who throw their hat in against Christie: (below)
"All the little chatter from small people" is how Newark Mayor Cory Booker described anyone with the temerity to criticize his double-dipping political sugar daddy Joe DiVincenzo's expolitation of NJ taxpayers.
I'm gonna just assume by "little" he means deliciously thin.
US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is in Newark right now, at a "Town Hall" open only to teachers and other "education stakeholders". He is joined there by Congressman Donald Payne, and Newark's mayor, Cory Booker.
Duncan will be discussing the federal TEACH Campaign to recruit teachers to "high-need" urban and rural school districts. But it's likely other issues, like privatizing New Jersey schools and the role Acting NJ Ed Commissioner Chris Cerf has played in the direction Newark's public schools may take.
And this was Cory Booker yesterday, promoting the arrival of Southwest Airlines:
You tell me, is this good or bad? A young man dreaming of space, who achieves his dreams with real airplanes? Or has he sold out his dream of space exploration to wear a dark suit with The Man and merely fly in the atmosphere? Where's Newark's spaceport?
Nothing like a dose of the truth to shine the light on the fact that the Emperor really wears no clothes.
1. New Jersey Loses Jobs: 13,000 of them according to the state DOL. So much for all those tax cuts to make NJ welcoming to business. So much for the Governor's veto of the Legislature's job creation bills.
2. Property Taxes Increase: A 2010 increase averaging about 4.1% vs. an average increase of about 3.5% in the years 2007 thru 2009. So let's see - the "tough budget" Governor Christie has increased property taxes more than that "wimpy budget" Governor Corzine. mmmmm?
3. The Straight Talking Governor: apparently doesn't always talk so "straight and honest" - read the New York Times article unmasking Governor Blunt Speaking who seems to embellish the truth just a little.
It's a kick to read in the Washington Post today that Blue Jersey's made their list of best state-based political tweeters in the country, via Chris Cillizza's political column The Fix. We have our readers and Cillizza's readers at The Fix to thank for that, because he compiled the list after asking for nominations from his own Fixistas and sifted through them all for every state in the country.
Cillizza apparently was thinking (here's his call for tweeter nominations) most of people he chose would be reporters. In his NJ list, only 2 are; Ginger Gibson of the statehouse bureau shared by Star-Ledger & Bergen Record and New Jersey reporter for the Wall Street Journal Lisa Fleisher both made Cillizza's list.
The rest of us are all progressive or Democratic partisans. more below
Certain bloggers and governors could benefit from the kind of public commitment to lose weight, eat healthier and get fit that Mayor Cory Booker is conducting since he hit his all-time high weight of 295 lbs. on Christmas Day, a month after Michelle Obama came to Newark to talk farmer's markets, dance classes and low-fat school lunches at the city's Maple Avenue School.
Booker's getting a lot of attention with this hashtag: #letsmove, which has turned into a kind of national daily pep-talk for thousands of people. Let's Move is the name of FLOTUS' campaign for healthy eating & fitness; Booker is her overweight national co-Chair.
Here's Booker getting weighed in - publicly - this week, and how much he's planning to lose (that comes in at about the 1:00 mark):
Chris Christie can star in all the "YouTube moments" - as his staff calls those taxpayer-funded propaganda video clips - he wants. But he's got nowhere near the power to attract cameras that the mayor of Newark has.
Season 2 of Sundance Channel's Peabody-Award winning documentary series Brick City finds Booker caved under Newark's financial problems and violent crime. The first episode, premiering Sunday, picks up Booker's story just before the Christie era, the mayor firing up police academy recruits.
We remember that day - October 13, 2009. Former sheriff Kim Guadagno had just said she was afraid on the streets of Newark. And in a show of solidarity, Jon Corzine ran through those streets with the mayor, and those recruits. I never liked the optics. If the message was that Newark's streets were safe, leave the recruits home. But there's another reason we remember that day; Jon Corzine ran wearing a Blue Jersey tee shirt, the workout wear of the Blue Jersey Road Runners Club. (Get a glimpse of that at the 2:48 mark).
There's no ease in Newark for Cory Booker. Nothing's simple. Facebook and Oprah money just are a Band-aid. And as Brick City 2 documents, his city's populated by as many who revile him as see him as savior. But no other city, no other mayor, has the spotlight and the cameras this guy does. And New Jersey cannot rise without Newark rising.
This is Brick City's season opener, running time: 45 minutes.
In August 2010 Seton Hall Law School released a report entitled Ironbound Underground which documented that in Newark's East Ward 96% of local immigrant day laborers have been victims of wage theft, 27% assaulted by an employer, 80% not given safety equipment, and 20% hurt on the job. Then in January 2011 the Law School issued All Work and No Pay in which it expanded its research to Elizabeth, Freehold, Morristown, Orange, Flemington, Bridgeton, and Palisades Park. There it documented among day laborers 48% not paid, 54% underpaid, 26% injured, 35% abandoned and 26% assaulted.
Ironbound Underground concluded, "Our findings demonstrate a staggering degree of workplace violations and exploitation of day laborers by local employers in violation of federal and state law, resulting in a loss of dignity for the day laborer population and a loss of revenue to the public. Yet the day laborers in Newark have found few effective avenues to address the violations of their rights." The more extensive All Work No Pay concludes: "Community organizations, municipal courts, prosecutors, and state and local officials all have essential parts to play in enforcing labor standards and further safeguarding the rights of workers."
With the current tough economy the number of day laborers is increasing, and they are not only immigrants. Local officials should establish hiring halls for day laborers, as they decrease worker abuse. State legislators, in particular the Labor Committee chairs Sen. Fred Madden and Assemblyman Joseph Egan, and Judiciary Committee Chairs Sen. Nicholas Scutari and Assemblyman Peter Barnes, should draft new legislation. Bill S1588, which seeks to set up a division to investigate and address disparities and civil rights violations suffered by immigrants, could be a start. The All Work No Pay report recommends that New Jersey's Wage Theft statute be updated and include standardization of the procedure which allows workers to file complaints directly with municipal courts, criminal sanctions against employers who retaliate against employees who file complaints, and sufficient fines and damages to deter wage theft.
NJ Raymond Lesniak wants to reduce prison recidivism rates by offering a small fraction of now risk, non-violent drug offenders early release in exchange for entering a rigorous drug/alcohol treatment program.
Learn about how it'll pay for itself (+ an intriguing connection between former Gov. McGreevey & First Lady Mary Pat Christie) in this 2min. clip.
In establishment politics, folks tend to get pretty jaded. Every word, every action, hell, every sneeze by a politician is viewed as a calculated move. If a constituent's son is killed at war, it's assumed that an elected official's response is less about human emotion and more about conveying said official's capacity for human emotion. Of course, that's an extreme and somewhat silly example - the death of any service member is heart-wrenching, especially one in your own community. But the fact remains, we've all heard politicians and office holders attacked by their opponents for their "response" to tragedies, disasters, and other events in the news.
Just a few weeks ago, we were treated to the spectacle of all manner of criticism lobbed at officials at all levels for their handling of the December 26 blizzard. Mike Bloomberg only cared about Manhattan and was flippant towards the city's residents. Chris Christie couldn't even be bothered to skip his trip to Disney World to help New Jersey residents deal with the storm. Perhaps the most frustrating criticism was that lobbed at Cory Booker, especially in insider political circles, that his relentless updates on Twitter about his personal efforts to help residents dealing with the snow was a matter of grandstanding.
The most glaring public example of this criticism came from Governor Christie, in fact. As Jack Bohrer pointed out in an excellent article at Capital, the Governor snapped back at those pols who would "decide to be a showboat, hop on the back of a plow" and engage directly during the storm.
To my knowledge, Mayor Booker never directly responded to this criticism.
more below the fold
Mayor Cory Booker was a guest on Sunday's Meet the Press, in case you missed it. Interesting that Booker advanced 2 of his key themes for that national audience - bi-partisanship and working with Gov. Christie, and - in his remarks about White House policy - clearly acting as an apologist for President Obama, or at the very least offering explanation for the president and portraying his policies in positive light.
Joining Mayor Booker on the MTP roundtable were NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell, former GOP congressman Joe Scarborough of msnbc's Morning Joe and GOP strategist Mark McKinnon of "No Labels".
Among topics; DADT & military preparedness, Obama and his compromised tax cut bill, 2012 elections, Booker on "our liberal base", the Afghanistan War & troop withdrawal, national economy trouble, DREAM Act, and the launch of the No Labels political group. And finally, Time Magazine's Person of the Year (and Newark benefactor) Mark Zuckerberg.
Not unlike other cities in NJ and throughout the U.S., Newark today has its share of woes, but more importantly a feeling of despair. The most recent issue is the dismissal of 167 police officers, but the hope that was engendered by the election of Mayor Cory Booker five years ago seems to be rapidly disappearing. The national and state economic crisis of unemployment and housing plays a key role, but nowhere is there much confidence that Newark is on the mend.
Police officers don't like their director and feel they were mistreated by the mayor in the failed union negotiations. A retired police union official says the result is that higher paid but more experienced officers were the ones let go. He points to crime as once again on the upswing and blames the mayor and the courts.
Some Newarkers speak of the "good old days" of Sharpe James and point to the PAC, Prudential Center, and other achievements, some of which James did not even support until the last minute.
Everyone knows the story of the Wizard of Oz and Dorothy's quest to help her three new found friends. With the trouble New Jersey is in, we need our own wizard who can help our leaders with the attributes that L. Frank Baum told us about so many decades ago.
The most obvious need is to find Governor Chris Christie a heart. He needs it more than Baum's Tin Man ever did. Christie is the leader of the new "compassionless conservatives" who value the wealth of millionaires and the welfare of corporations more than the well-being of public servants and the disadvantaged.
Who knew? In addition to Oprah, Newark Mayor Cory Booker is also good friends with Congressman John Adler. That's the way it was presented at an Adler rally today in Willingboro.
The event was well-attended by the party faithful with a slew of local Democratic celebrities on the dais. Local candidates were well-represented including Aimee Belgard, candidate for Burlington County Freeholder, and Jay Coltre, candidate for Burlington County Sheriff.
After the introductions, John Adler addressed the crowd of about 150 supporters. I've heard Adler speak many times, and this was by far his best performance. In the past, he has seemed a bit stiff to me, but today he was on top of his game. His ten-minute extemporaneous presentation was lively and he delivered a very positive message. The congressman reminded the crowd that he was there to serve them, not necessarily the party, and that he hoped to have another two years to help the President with his agenda. (I'm not sure how this is in accord with Adler's health care position, but this was a "feel good" rally and the audience seemed to buy it.)
The popular Newark mayor was the highlight of the afternoon. He spoke from the heart, telling the audience about his childhood in North Carolina, the influence that his father had on him, and the need to be partisan during elections, but non-partisan in governing. My favorite line was about Democrats' "sedentary agitation" - getting all worked up about Fox "News" and other demagoguery, but not proactively working toward fixing the system. Booker reminded me of another young politician - John F. Kennedy. His remarks were passionate and sincere. But unlike JFK, Booker was not born into wealth and his story was inspiring. When talking about the election of Governor Christie, he lamented about the low voter turnout in his own Newark election district, and implored the audience not only to vote this year, but to get the message out to their friends and co-workers.
The mayor concluded with excerpts from Langston Hughes' poem Let America Be America Again:
O, let America be America again-
The land that never has been yet-
And yet must be-
The land where everyone is free.
The land that's mine-
The poor man's, Indian's, Negro's,
ME-
By all reports, Tyler Clementi of Ridgewood, New Jersey was a young man of great promise and enormous talent. Can we imagine what desperate feelings Tyler might have been experiencing as he drove to that spot on the George Washington Bridge? Can we imagine secretly having our most intimate moments photographed and sent viral over the internet? Can we imagine being 18, just starting college and finding out your roommate "spied" on you with a hidden camera to make the pictures into a "joke"? How desperately sad for Tyler and his family and indeed for all of us.
What could have made these two young college students think this cruel idea was a "funny prank"?
We've all asked each other the most appropriate questions. We've written and talked about how in our State gay folks do not have all the same rights as the rest of us do! We comment on people who think being gay is a choice which can be "cured"! We know how some in our community still think they can bully and torment others, snicker and make them the brunt of awful jokes. Tyler Clementi's suicide is being discussed in the national media. The higher incidence of suicide among gay teenagers is dissected. A new blog by Perez Hilton called "It Gets Better" was announced on CNN (and even on Fox News), and is designed to reach out to gay teens.
People are asking should the two idiots who dreamed up this horror be prosecuted under hate crime laws. Should our laws be re-written or changed? We know that Garden State Equality has been working with Assemblywomen Mary Pat Angelini and Valerie Vaineri Huttle to re-work our anti-bullying law to make it more appropriately stringent.
How will we work to build a community where these laws won't be so necessary? This week I don't have very many answers. As an affilliated Jew in the Bergen/Hudson area, I receive a weekly newspaper which I greatly respect: The Jewish Standard. Last week they printed their first engagement announcement of a gay couple. This week, they announced that they will not do "this" again. Their editor's note said they received many letters of condemnation as well as letters of support, but because of the sensitivities expressed by a strong segment of leaders in our religious community, they do not want to divide the community or offend these sensitivities. That is certainly their editorial right to do so. But coming in the same week as Tyler Clementi's suicide, it makes me even more sad.
So here's a letter to the Jewish Standard, written by Rabbi Rebecca Sirbu, a member of our Teaneck community:
"NJ's commitment to implement its Abbott plan and ensure equitable resources to all students proves that it can be done at the state level - as NJ is the only state with a significant Black male population with a greater than 65% high school graduation rate." John H. Jackson, Schott Foundation for Public Ed.
YES WE CAN: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males 2010 presents positive news about education in NJ. The study demonstrates that whereas the US White Male Graduation Rate is 78%, in NJ the Black Male Graduation Rate (BMGR) is a high 69% and in Newark it is an even higher 75%. NJ overall ranks 9th among the 50 states in BMGR, but it is Newark's record for which we can be most proud. As the report points out, "The increased resources from Abbott v. Burke funding in NJ, which became effective about 2003, have allowed the much-maligned Newark school district to nearly close the gap for Black males with national White male graduation rates." Newark is ranked #1 in the Ten Best-Peforming Large Districts for Black Males.
The report also looks at the data by the percentage of Black male students scoring at or above proficiency, using the National Assessment of Educational Progress 2009, Grade 8 reading percentages.
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