Newark in 2013: A Look Back at the Year's Headlines

With 2013 drawing to a close, Patch is taking a look back at some of the biggest stories in Newark this year.

Politics dominated the headlines, as one longtime mayor left city hall and another took his place -- at least for a little while. Several candidates also launched their campaigns to become the next mayor of the state’s largest city.

In a city plagued by too much violence, crime -- and strategies for combatting it -- repeatedly cropped up in the news. So too did issues surrounding the city’s public schools, which have been run by the state of New Jersey since a takeover in the mid-1990s. Newark, the bustling commercial capital of the state, also welcomed a variety of new businesses, large and small.

Here’s a recap of Brick City’s top stories of the last 12 months:

Mayor Cory Booker suffered a setback when a judge ruled that his vote during a raucous meeting of the municipal council in November 2012 was improper. The vote involved selecting a replacement for Donald Payne Jr., who left the governing body to become the congressman for the 10th District.

The judge’s ruling set the stage for a special election in November, when Newark voters elected John Sharpe James, the son of former mayor and Booker nemesis Sharpe James, to the council.

A Florida jury’s decision to acquit neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African-American teenager, touched off protests across the country, including in Newark. Protesters here rallied at the state’s busiest intersection, Broad and Market streets,  for five consecutive days during rush hour to register their disapproval of the verdict.

Sharpe James, the former mayor, was mugged on a city street. Shortly afterward, a suspect turned himself in.

Hundreds of Newark Public School students walked out of class and rallied downtown where officials were meeting to discuss the school budget. The youths --- along with other groups rallying in solidarity -- were protesting proposed cuts to the budget.

An appeals court ruled that “governance” of the Newark Public Schools should remain in state hands, meaning that officials in Trenton and not the locally elected schools advisory board would continue to appoint the district’s superintendent, while the superintendent would also retain veto power over most board decisions. The schools advisory board would, however, gain additional control over some aspects of district management. Local and state officials were working out the details of that arrangement as the year was drawing to a close.

A 30-year-old African immigrant was shot and killed as he tried to break up a fight at a Bergen Street pancake house, where he was a manager. The murder sparked outrage among many Newarkers.

Five people, including a 10-year-old girl, were shot and wounded during an impromptu memorial for a man killed in a traffic accident earlier that week. Police later arrested a few suspects.

Booker’s decision not to seek election to a third term as mayor, but to instead seek the US Senate seat occupied by fellow Democrat Frank Lautenberg, coincided with the emergence of several mayoral candidates. Those candidates -- Shavar Jeffries, Anibal Ramos and Darrin Sharif -- are all seeking election in May 2014. A fourth candidate, Ras Baraka, launched his campaign in 2012.

Booker, however, was forced to launch his campaign for Senate sooner than he anticipated after the death of Lautenberg in June. With a year and a half remaining on Lautenberg’s term, Gov. Chris Christie called a special election for October. In that election, Booker easily defeated Republican Steve Lonegan and was sworn in two weeks later, ending his seven-year tenure at city hall.

With Booker’s departure, the municipal council selected longtime councilman Luis Quintana to serve as acting mayor until July 2014. Quintana, who has said he will not seek a full, four-year term, became the city’s first mayor of Hispanic descent when he was sworn in shortly after Booker left Newark for Washington.

Newark native and NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal announced the launch of the “Brick City” athletic shoe, named in honor of his hometown.

The New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union praised the Newark Police Department and the city government for rolling out specific guidelines governing the city’s “stop-and-frisk” policy. The police practice of stopping pedestrians for questioning is controversial in some places, particularly in New York City, but civil liberties advocates said Newark’s plan to record and publicize data on stops, including data on the race of those questioned, did not violate the Constitution.

A report by a state government agency revealed that government officials and employees living in school districts across New Jersey -- including in Newark -- defrauded the federal school-lunch program. In most cases the fraud involved applicants who did not meet income requirements to qualify for the benefit.

Essex County Sheriff’s officers shot and killed a city man suspected of narcotics violations. Authorities say the man pulled a weapon on the officers but a few witnesses claim he was lying on the ground and injured when he was shot.

In a city hall ceremony, the dog tag belonging to a Newark World War II veteran was returned -- nearly 70 years after he lost the military ID in southern France.  

A Swedish firm that has done major construction projects across the world was selected to build a new skyscraper for Prudential, the city-based financial services firm. The office tower is being built on Broad and Halsey streets.

A groundbreaking was held for a new housing and retail complex to be built near University Hospital. The anchor tenant at the sprawling complex will be a ShopRite supermarket.

Newark public school teachers starting receiving merit pay under a contract signed by the Newark Teachers Union in 2012 designed to improve educator performance.