Politics & Government

Booker Says City 'Moving into the Light'

Council Members Walk Out of State of City Speech Tonight

Two members of the municipal council left the stage during Mayor Cory Booker’s state of the city address tonight after Booker admonished the governing body and the municipal clerk’s office for failing to slash their budgets, as other city departments have done in response to Newark’s ongoing struggle to bring its finances into line.

“They couldn’t take the heat,” Booker said after Councilwoman-at-Large Mildred Crump and South Ward Councilman Ras Baraka exited the stage they shared with Booker at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

Booker’s 2012 state of the city speech, his sixth as mayor, also touched on the progress and ongoing challenges regarding education, crime and the city’s creaking water system, which serves dozens of communities. Overall, however, the tone was upbeat, as Booker spotlighted the city’s growing tax base and the arrival of corporate headquarters and distribution centers, reversing a decades-long decline. 

A few dozen protesters clustered outside the arts center tonight, representing a broad coalition that was opposed to plans to close city schools and layoffs of public employees.

“I’m against the school closures. We’re here to support the teachers,” said an activist who gave his name as Pastor Ali. All around him protesters chanted “no more years,” and “Cory, Christie and Cami have got to go,” a reference to Booker, Gov. Chris Christie and Cami Anderson, the superintendent of schools appointed last year.

The reception inside for Booker, who has gotten national attention for his Newark revitalization efforts but has drawn sharp criticism from others closer to home, was much warmer -- for the most part.

Among those local critics are some members of the municipal council, who were stung recently by revelations that they had hired relatives for their personal staffs and have expense accounts totalling tens of thousands of dollars for cars, phones and other amenities. Booker said he has personally taken pay furloughs in solidarity with employees furloughed in other city departments and called on the municipal council to do the same.

Booker also noted that council members Augusto Amador, Carlos Gonzalez and Anibal Ramos have supported his plan to slash $4 million from the council and clerk’s budgets.

“Last year if they made the tough decisions as the administration did, they could have saved some funding for our libraries recreation and police,” Booker said. “But instead they chose to do little with their budget and criticize me for making the tough, unpopular difficult choices.”

Those statements prompted Baraka’s and Crump’s exit. Councilman Luis Quintana did not attend and attempts to reach him tonight were unsuccessful. Council President Donald Payne was in Washington, DC with his father, Rep. Donald Payne Sr., who is suffering from cancer, Booker said, before wishing the veteran lawmaker well and describing him as a “fighter” who can “beat” his illness.

At a press conference following the speech, Booker said the council’s failure to cut its budget could have an impact on state aid and, consequently, property tax increases. 


Describing the state’s famously combative governor as a “pugilistic person,” Booker said, “Watch and see what happens if the council does not take any action.....I’m telling you right now if the council doesn’t act there will be consequences.”  

Speaking about the budget generally, Booker said that despite falling state aid and declining revenue from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns Newark Liberty Airport and the city’s seaport, Newark is nearly “free from the historic budget challenges that have plagued the city for decades.”

Booker said discretionary costs have been reduced by nearly 20 percent and the city workforce cut by 25 percent. He said this year’s budget, however, calls for no “significant” layoffs and no furloughs, and also said that “two years from now,” the city can be “through this financial storm.”  

Booker touted the arrival of “global corporate headquarters” coming to Newark, including those for Panasonic and Manischewitz, as well as distribution and manufacturing businesses like Damascus Bakery, Pitney Bowes, Bartlett Dairy and a distribution center for the Wakefern corporation, which will service grocery stories all along the East Coast.

All told, Booker said, there’s another “$1 billion in development in the pipeline” over the next few years, along with existing development that has brought 6,000 jobs to the city, including 3,000 permanent positions. The city is working to ensure city residents fill as many of those positions as possible through “first source” agreements, Booker added.

Crime was another major topic of tonight’s speech. Booker said progress on reducing crime has been fitful, with large reductions in murder in 2010 but monthly increases in crime overall from mid-2010 to mid-2011.

“But now, that trend has changed. Crime is again declining,” Booker said.

Booker said the administration of the police department, Director Samuel DeMaio and Chief Sheilah Coley, have stepped up enforcement, with the gun recovery rate “up 108 percent.” But Booker also touted proactive measures designed to crime by aiding convicted criminals’ return to society as well as another program, which debuted last year and will be expanded to two additional neighborhoods, which helps gang members find legitimate employment.

“[T]he best crime-fighting strategy is to empower people so the crime never happens in the first place,” Booker said. “And my administration will not yield in creating and deepening partnerships with individuals and organizations that are standing up and helping people succeed despite their past mistakes.”


Booker also expressed his support for Anderson, the school superintendent, praising her for “bold common-sense plans”. He also said Newark schools, “charter and public,” will be held to a “new standard” and that failure “will not be tolerated.”

He also expressed support for a tenure reform bill sponsored by state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-29).  

To view the entire speech, click here.


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