Word: newarkers
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Moving Beyond Murder A small but passionate band of Booker critics is standing on the steps of Newark's city hall early one evening, rallying against a city plan to create a municipal water authority. Among the agitators is Amiri Baraka, a prominent, controversial African-American poet and activist. Baraka, 74, has won a trunkful of literary prizes but was essentially stripped of his New Jersey poet-laureate title after penning a post-9/11 poem that was denounced as anti-Semitic. The writer, who was reared in Newark and still lives in the city, is a voice from...
...team can rattle off a list of accomplishments beyond murder reduction. For example, his administration has doubled the number of affordable housing units currently under construction and quadrupled the affordable stock in predevelopment. Almost a dozen parks have been refurbished. Booker's national profile and endless advocacy for Newark have attracted more than $100 million in private philanthropy - money that is even more crucial for Newark in a recession...
...Booker well knows, philanthropy and social programming, no matter how creative, won't solve Newark's most pressing problems. Unemployment in the city rose to 13.5% in May, the city's highest level in nearly six years. Foreclosures have tripled, and boarded-up homes taint many blocks...
...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's best efforts, 2009 Newark isn't shocking anyone...
Read TIME's 2000 article on Booker "The Savior of Newark...