Word: mayoring
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...months of operation. And against the advice of his staff, the police director, even his mother, Booker started personally patrolling the streets with his security team until 4 in the morning. "At some point, I just told him, 'Cory, you keep me on my knees,'" says Carolyn Booker, the mayor...
McCarthy wanted the mayor to get back to his day job. "I grabbed my chiefs and said, 'Look what the mayor has to do to raise his comfort level,'" McCarthy says in his thick Bronx accent. "'Why aren't you guys making sure that he's not uncomfortable?'" Whether the cameras, Booker's patrols or the Policing 101 measures instituted by McCarthy - moving more officers to night and weekend shifts, when, get this, crime is more likely to happen - were most responsible for the turnaround, the results are stunning. Murders dropped 36% in Newark - from 105 to 67 - from...
Booker is obsessed with the murder statistics. While Booker and McCarthy discuss a recent homicide investigation in the mayor's office, the creases on Booker's forehead increase tenfold. He admits to posting a murder target for 2009 on his bedroom wall, a practice that he knows is somewhat morbid. (Booker won't share the number he wishes Newark to beat.) Booker has dumped the 4 a.m. chases, however. "I made a deal with Garry that as long as the crime numbers are going where they are going," Booker says, "I will not get in the police cars anymore...
...mayor remains upbeat. "I don't say this in an exaggerated way, but in five years, we're going to shock the nation," Booker says. "In a way that you're kind of resuscitating people's belief in democracy and belief in the American ideals." If you're a politician who could possibly face Booker down the road, clip that quote. The city is burdened with the same drug, crime and urban-decay issues it had four, 10, 20 years ago. Booker talks a big game, and three years into his term, he has certainly impressed. But despite Booker...
...Leadership, but for How Long? Still, Booker's political future in Newark remains bright. According to an internal poll, he enjoys an 80% approval rating. More important, a strong opponent has yet to enter next year's mayoral election. Booker's victory looks like a foregone conclusion. "For the first time in my life, Newark is looked at more positively because of its mayor," says Steve Adubato Sr., a longtime local power broker, and former Booker foe, who runs a nonprofit in the city. "Newark is no longer a big joke." (Read "No Charisma? Don't Worry, You Can Still...