NEWARK — The “Weequahic Park 5K Challenge” has 3.1 miles of track and pavement planned for competitors in and around the Essex County park in Newark’s South Ward.
The event set for Sunday, March 24, will include races for both children and adults, along with cash prizes for the top winners, organizers said. The adult course is USATF-sanctioned, and event organizer Lionel Leach, a track and field coach at Essex County College, predicts turnout of about 100 people.
“It’s the first one that we’re having, and we’re looking to make this a tradition,” Leach said. “There will be lots of prizes for each participant. Medals will be given.”
Essex County and Newark City officials are joining for the event, along with the Weequahic Park Sports Authority Conservancy, which is the county’s recreational partner for that park.
It’s an opportunity to generate unity in a time of turmoil, Douglas Freeman, president of the Weequahic Sports Authority Conservancy, said.
“We want to bring back that community energy, that drive, that energy we have when we’re all together,” Freeman said “So, that’s what the 5K is about. It’s for people to come together, no matter what your background is.”
South Ward Councilman Patrick Council said he would be coming from an 8 a.m. Palm Sunday breakfast at Newark’s TREC Center. He looks forward to the race.
“It’s a great opportunity, especially on Palm Sunday, to be able to bring the community together and see the enjoyment of a fun-filled day filled with runners,” said Council, who is a pastor at St. John’s Baptist Church. “There’s a kids run, 5K run and walk.”
Newark Police Division’s 5th Precinct is helping to sponsor the event, Council said.
“It’s a great partnership with the county, the Weequahic Park Sports Authority, our Newark 5th Precinct Police Department and At-Large Essex County Commissioner Wayne Richardson,” Council said.
Outside of the park, the race is planned to run along parts of Bergen Street and Elizabeth Avenue. “We want folks to come out and be a part of it, look out of your window and cheer people on,” Council said.
The Weather Service predicts a mostly sunny Sunday with a high near 47 degrees.
$3,000 in prize money will be available as follows, organizers said:
Age group awards will be presented to the top 3 men and women in 5-year age groups (excluding those who receive an open or masters prize money award).
Richardson, the commissioner who is a longtime Newark resident, said Leach approached him with the idea and he was immediately on board.
“We can work together, come out, have some fun, do some exercises and highlight Weequahic Park and the activities that go on there,” Richardson said.
While the commissioner said he will be at the race, how much running he does remains to be seen.
“I’ll be there,” Richardson said. “I’m not going to guarantee that I’m going to run. I may do a combination of walk-jog-run, but very little running.”
If you go
The Weequahic Park 5K Challenge is scheduled for Sunday morning, March 24, at Essex County’s Weequahic Park, 92 Thomas Carmichael Drive, Newark. The event is USATF-sanctioned. To register, visit www.weequahicpark.com.
The 5K for adults begins at 11 a.m. The price is $30, plus a $2.80 signup fee. The price increases starting on March 23.
The kids’ race begins at 10:30 a.m. It will be held on the turf softball fields near the start/finish line, which is on the track. The price is $5 plus a $1.30 signup fee. The price increases starting March 23.
The race will benefit the youth programs of Essex County and Newark. The event’s charity partner is Tree House Cares, organizers of community events and programs that address food and essential needs insecurities in Essex County and across New Jersey, organizers said.
For results after the race, visit My Race Result.
]]>A 2-year-old boy is in “stable” condition after falling out of a second-floor window in the 100 block of South 16th Avenue in Newark on Sunday night, March 17, police said.
The boy’s mother carried him to the 4th precinct police station and police took him to University Hospital, Public Safety Director Fritz Fragé said in a statement. The fall happened around 7:26 p.m., police said.
Police did not have additional information to share.
A recent Rutgers New Jersey Medical School report said that over four years, University Hospital treated 30 children for injuries sustained while falling from windows. Most were boys, the report said.
In August, the Newark City Council updated the local requirements for the installation of window guards in rental units. Window guards are metal grills that prevent children from falling out of windows.
The local law requires landlords to install window guards in those apartments in which renters have children 10 years old or younger.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission offers the following guidelines on window guards:
At a state Senate budget hearing earlier this week, advocates for the media and transparency voiced their concerns about proposed changes to the New Jersey Open Public Records Act, and by Friday, March 15, the measure had been put on hold.
Bill A-4045 was to be heard in committee on Thursday, March 14, but after significant public opposition, legislators pulled it. In New Jersey’s largest city, a range of community advocacy groups voiced their opposition to the proposal.
The bill, if approved, would have widened the swath of records blocked from the public eye, including by placing limitations on emails that could be sought, blocking access to email metadata, extending the time frames for providing certain records and changing how attorneys’ fees are awarded in the event of a dispute.
“Understanding how important it is to maintain transparency and the right of the public to know what their government is doing, I appreciate the concerns raised about A4045,” Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin said in a statement. “Right now, we are working on various amendments to ensure we get the bill right.”
Public records attorney Walter M. Luers, president of the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government who on Monday testified against the legislation, on Friday acknowledged there must be a change to the law — just not what was proposed.
“All we’ve done is maintain the status quo,” Luers said. “I do agree that there are aspects of the law that need to be modernized, but the current iterations of the proposals hurt access without accomplishing what the authors of the bill say they want to accomplish.”
Luers said the legislation came from lawmakers’ flawed understanding of how OPRA works.
“This is an opportunity to modernize the act and, really, we need to bring everything into the electronic age: requestors and public entities,” he told TAPinto Newark. “Everyone needs to find themselves in the electronic age. Documents need to be online. Everyone should have portals.”
Luers was referring to online portals, similar to the one used by Cumberland County, which puts both OPRA requests and the documents produced in response to those requests online. He also had praise for the range of records that the state Department of Environmental Protection has placed online.
“If they need money for it, fine,” Luers said. “There are a lot of ways to increase access and increase protections without destroying OPRA.”
The conversation is as much about politics as it is about public records.
Eugene Mazo, an associate professor of law and political science at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said that with Democrats having a supermajority in statewide politics, “They can do what they want.”
“They’re saying that the counties are overtaxed, they have too many people submitting requests, but I don’t think that’s what happens in New Jersey,” said Mazo, a Newark native. “I think in New Jersey, some county boss wants something moved, and then they listen.”
MORE: Judge Rules in TAPinto Newark OPRA Suit, Orders District to ‘Remove all Redactions’
The New Jersey Elections Transparency Act, signed into law in April 2023, was criticized by good government advocates and Republican lawmakers for provisions curtailing investigations, and allowing dramatic increases in campaign donations limits. Mazo said they doubled contribution limits.
“With the Election Transparency Act, there were people upset and demonstrating, but there was very little that they could do,” Mazo said.
He sees a possible parallel to lawmakers’ consideration of the OPRA legislation.
News that the existing iteration of the bill would not be voted on was welcomed by The New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists.
“We are glad that common sense and a commitment to government transparency prevailed in the Legislature on this day,” the NJ-SPJ’s board of directors said in a statement. “We commend Speaker Coughlin for acknowledging how an open and transparent government is not only important for journalists, but a cross section of New Jerseyans who rely on OPRA requests in their individual or collective situations.”
NJ-SPJ said it is “ready and willing to meet” with the bill’s sponsors and others to work with them on the legislation.
]]>NEWARK — A local Republican wants his nonpartisan city government to be nonpartisan. An advocate for safe drinking water has qualms about Mayor Ras J. Baraka's characterization of Newark’s lead water-service line replacements. And a vocal critic of the city’s housing policies demands a plan for people facing eviction.
These are among the counterpoints offered following Baraka’s 10th State of the City Address, which the declared gubernatorial candidate delivered to over 2,500 people at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, March 12.
Republican Chairman for Newark’s South Ward Douglas H. Freeman said Baraka left the GOP’s contributions to the city out of his speech, including those made by the Weequahic Sports Authority, which he heads up.
“I feel like we’re not being appreciated,” said Freeman, who is also an Essex County Republican Committee member. “It’s at that point now, we’re dealing with so much negativity.”
Freeman said he agreed with Baraka that the city has made progress in developing housing and he has worked with the mayor on projects, but he perceived partisanship in the speech from the Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
“Newark is nonpartisan,” he said. “When you come into these positions, you represent everybody, and he made a statement about Republicans. He did, and that’s not right.”
Words Over Water
Anthony Diaz, co-founder of the Newark Water Coalition, and a candidate for mayor in 2022, questioned Baraka’s statements in which he called the city’s program of replacing service lines, “the best damn lead-replacement program in the country.”
“When you’re the first to do something, of course, there are going to be some hiccups and some bumps,” Diaz said. “But to say, ‘We’re still number one’ doesn’t make any sense.”
Baraka acknowledged the recent investigation by the state and city into a “third party” for failure to fully replace certain lead service lines. The news was made public when his comments from a closed-door session of the City Council were inadvertently livestreamed.
“There has been talk to try to besmirch or muddy that accomplishment with the latest news that a vendor may not have done their job correctly,” Baraka said. “And if they did not, they will be held accountable, but I am here to say that we have had at least eight consecutive periods with no lead exceedance since December 2019.”
Diaz, however, pointed to a letter sent to water customers stating that other requirements were not met during that time due to a diminished amount of orthophosphate, a substance added to water supplies to reduce lead levels.
“From July 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022, we did not consistently meet treatment technique requirements for our corrosion control system,” the letter states. “Specifically, our WQP results for orthophosphate fell below the established optimal WOP value on 29 separate days.”
Skepticism on Housing Policy
A key portion of Baraka’s speech focused on a reduction in the number of people experiencing street homelessness. The figure he gave references a reduction over one year ending with 1,627 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness on Oct. 31. No figure has been given for the population of homeless people living in the city’s shelters.
“As a result of our collective efforts, along with our partners and our incredible homeless outreach team, we saw a 57% decrease in the city’s unsheltered population,” Baraka said. “Meaning we are working to get people off of our streets. We have more work to do to see these folks transition into permanent housing, which is why we need more housing not just in Newark but around the state.”
He said the city opened its second “Hope Village,” a reference to a 20-bed transitional housing facility in the South Ward, said 21% of residents in the first Hope Village have moved into permanent housing and the city, and said the city is working on a third and similar community to be called “Resilient Hope.” The structures are built from shipping containers.
Newarker Munirah El Bomani, who has been a vocal critic of the city’s housing policies, is skeptical.
“What plan does Ras Baraka’s administration have for the rest of the people sleeping in the streets and facing evictions every day in Essex County landlord-tenant court?” Bomani asked. “Putting 20 more people in containers just won’t do.”
‘One-party rule is a problem’
In his speech, Baraka traced his life from his childhood as the son of the famed poet-activist Amiri Baraka to a councilman representing his native South Ward before his rise to become mayor of New Jersey’s largest city.
It had a campaign-like feel.
“I believe our collective imagination is robust enough and is durable enough to transform this state,” Baraka said. “And who better to lead a broad-based coalition across the state from every race and every nationality, every religion, gay and straight, city and suburbs, but a pilot from Newark … who has dedicated his life to flying through storms. This is why I’m throwing my hat in the race for governor.”
TAPinto Newark reached out to the campaigns for the declared candidates in the gubernatorial primary: Democrats Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and former Senate President Steve Sweeney, along with Republican Sen. Jon Bramnick, of Westfield.
With the primary ahead of him, Bramnick said, he is the Republican candidate who can win in the general election.
“I don’t really care which of the Democrats runs, and I get along with all of them,” Bramnick said. “It’s not personal. It’s just that one-party rule is a problem. What happens down there is things get extreme because whoever the Democratic government is, they have to go with who the majority is.”
]]>Mayor Ras J. Baraka promised to build more affordable housing, hold landlords accountable, and touted the city’s recent boom in development while hailing what he described as a reduction in people experiencing “unsheltered” homelessness during his 10th State of the City Address on Tuesday, March 12.
Baraka, a declared gubernatorial candidate, sought to change the narrative surrounding a controversial zoning overhaul, which the City Council approved 5-3 in November, that rolls back restrictions on certain real estate development and has raised concern among community groups.
“Despite the controversy being caused by clickbait for a few journalists, I am deeply proud of what we have accomplished,” Baraka said during his approximately hourlong speech in front of several thousand people at New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
“We got an award for our ability to get this done with excellent community input with some 10,000 resident touchpoints.”
He said the city has awarded $35 million to affordable housing projects in every ward. He cited the expansion at NJPAC, which is to include 335 apartments and 15 town homes, and for which the City Council last month approved a 30-year tax abatement.
“We also are making a pledge to start and finish construction on at least 1,000 units of affordable housing this year for the serious focus of those Newark residents that hold vouchers,” Baraka said. “This is not impossible as 827 of those units of affordable housing have already been approved this year alone.”
The promise comes to a city with a housing authority that has a waiting list of 10,448 people, a draft 2024 plan shows.
Baraka provided a statewide figure. “There are about 4,000 people statewide that have a voucher and cannot find placement, either because we lack the available units or discrimination against those who have vouchers, which by the way, is against the law.”
Baraka observed a moment of silence for firefighters Augusto “Auggie” Acabou, 45, and Wayne “Bear” Brooks Jr., 49, both of whom died while fighting a blaze aboard a cargo ship at Port Newark in July.
“We will never forget your sacrifice. Our department, our city, our lives will forever be changed because of your service,” Baraka said. “We are extremely thankful.”
Acknowledging that diminished staffing has been a concern following the blaze, he said that the recent class of recruits is the largest in the history of the Newark Fire Division.
Last month, the City Council questioned why the racial makeup of that class does not match the diverse population of the city — a sentiment Baraka echoed during his speech.
Baraka asked the fire department unions and public safety officials, “To meet immediately and come up with a plan, a strategy to make sure what we did in the police department happens in the fire department, and that we make sure that the firefighters and our recruits are as diverse as our city is.”
The ongoing Democratic U.S. Senate primary battle between New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy and U.S. Rep. Andy Kim was also in evidence at Baraka's State of the City address. Both Murphy and Kim were present, sitting a few seats apart in the front row at NJPAC.
Newark is the political heart of Essex County, which is often the source of the most Democratic votes in statewide elections, including Democratic senatorial and gubernatorial primaries.
In a brief interview, Kim told TAPinto Newark why he made the trip to New Jersey's largest city, located in the northern part of the state, from his South Jersey home.
"I'm here tonight because I want to listen to what Newark needs, what the mayor has been working on, and what the community has been focused on," Kim said in advance of the upcoming June primary. "I hope to be somebody who can be part of that team in the United States Senate to help deliver for Newark and for all of New Jersey. I'm trying to be a public servant here."
While Baraka touched on issues key to Newark, the gubernatorial candidate spoke to an audience beyond that in his home city.
“They want us to believe all of our problems are so different, but if you can't pay the rent on Court Street, the outcome is the same if you can't pay your mortgage in South Orange,” Baraka said during his speech.
In an interview, Baraka addressed how an urban mayor can make an appeal to suburban voters.
"I don't even know what suburbs are in New Jersey anymore. Irvington is a suburb of Newark. So are South Orange, Maplewood, and Livingston. It's about class, the zip code that you live in, and the life expectancy that you have in those areas," Baraka said. "All the issues that affect us - housing, crime, the cost of living - affect all of these places in one way or another. When people say suburb versus city, I think it's a way to divide us even further.”
Baraka announced his bid for governor last month, joining a widening field of candidates. Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop formally announced his campaign for governor in April, and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney announced in December. On the Republican side, state Sen. Jon Bramnick announced his run in January.
“I just think I have more experience in making things happen than other folks,” Baraka said. “We have problems that we have to deal with every day. The housing crisis is not a new problem, it's a statewide problem. When you start talking about tax breaks for working-class families, that’s something everyone can benefit from.”
]]>A controversial bill that would be the first update to New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act in over two decades has drawn the ire of community activists in Newark, who said it will make it more difficult to get public information about local government.
A local teachers union, a civil rights group and an organization that advocates for police accountability voiced objections to the bill, S2930, while the custodian of records for New Jersey’s largest city said she sits in the middle of the debate. Additional amendments may be considered at a Thursday, March 14, Senate budget committee hearing in Trenton.
The proposed law would broaden the swath of public documents that could be made inaccessible to the public and change how attorney fees are awarded in public records disputes. It would also appropriate $8 million, including monies to move certain documents online and pay salaries for members of the Government Records Council, an entity which resolves certain OPRA disputes.
“The Newark Teachers Union opposes the bill in its current form,” said John M. Abeigon, president of the Newark Teachers Union in a statement to TAPinto Newark. “Democracy and transparency are not easy things to defend, especially in a society as addicted to litigation as ours has become.
“However, as a public union currently involved in an OPRA war with the state’s largest school district, the NTU trusts that a bipartisan modified OPRA bill can be agreed upon that does not water down our rights to obtain the facts.”
In that dispute, the Teachers Union has sought the release of a publicly funded report by the firm CREED Strategies that examines racial tensions at Global Studies High School. The Newark Branch of the civil rights organization the NAACP, which has repeatedly called for the release of the CREED Strategies report, also opposes the legislation.
“At a time when citizens are questioning whether we will maintain our democracy or face authoritarianism, this is another slap in the face of our democracy,” Deborah Smith Gregory, president of the Newark Branch of the NAACP, told TAPinto Newark. “The government must be accountable to the people. The ability to OPRA information is part of that accountability. This is a government of the people, not of government officials who dictate to us.”
MORE: Judge Rules in TAPinto Newark OPRA Suit, Orders District to ‘Remove all Redactions’
Newark Communities for Accountable Policing (N-CAP) registered its opposition in a statement issued before the hearing.
“Accountability and Trust of the Police cannot happen without transparency,” Zayid Muhammad, principal organizer for N-CAP, said in an open letter to the Essex County delegation of the state Legislature. “Therefore, we insist that each of you say a resounding ‘NO’ to current efforts to gut this foundationally important legal space.”
City Clerk Kecia Daniels in a phone interview on Tuesday, March 12, said that the number of records requests the city receives has steadily been rising, with her office having gotten over 6,000 requests in 2021 and about the same number in 2022. Figures for 2023 are still being tallied, she said.
“It’s a balance between being transparent and having the resources necessary to respond to each and every request in a timely manner, so a lot of times with a municipality our size, we get a large number of requests, and we just don’t have the bandwidth to keep up,” Daniels said.
“We are responsible for getting documents from every department, and it’s an enormous task, so I’m square in the middle of both sides of the argument, but something has to change. There has to be some revision to the law for us to strike a balance.”
The most frequent requests, she said, are asks for police camera footage, which must be carefully reviewed before being released.
“Our volume is for public safety type requests,” Daniels said. “Everyone wants video. Everyone wants bodyworn camera footage, and it takes time.”
How are Newark legislators voting?
State Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz, D-Newark, on Monday, voted in favor of moving the measure forward. Ruiz was among legislators who left the more than eight-hour budget and appropriations committee session prior to the roll call on the OPRA bill. Voting in absentia is permitted in the Legislature. Requests seeking Ruiz’s comment on the bill were not returned on Monday and Tuesday.
Assemblywoman Garnet R. Hall, D-Maplewood, who represents parts of Newark, voted to release the bill from committee. The vote was 5-2, online legislative records show. Mary Theroux, the assemblywoman’s chief of staff, however, said Hall has reservations.
“She did vote ‘yes’ for the bill to release it from committee,” Theroux said. “She has some concerns about the bill, but she voted to release it so that a full discussion about the bill can take place with the Democratic caucus.”
Sessions of the Senate and Assembly are set for Monday, March 18.
TAPinto Newark Editor Mark J. Bonamo contributed to this report.
]]>TRENTON — Advocates for transparency and open government testified Monday, March 11, against an overhaul to the state’s Open Public Records Act as government interests lauded the measure.
The bill (S-2930), which if passed would be the first major update to the state’s public records law in over two decades, would make controversial changes to how legal fees are awarded in OPRA disputes, broaden the types of records a public entity can deny access to and provide funding to the state Government Records Council, which decides certain OPRA disputes.
“I look at this as a modernization of OPRA,” said Sen. Paul A. Sarlo, D-Bergen, who chairs the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. “We want to stop people from profiteering off of OPRA on the backs of taxpayers. There’s a lot of that going on. We know that.”
“People have made some really creepy, creepy requests,” Sarlo said.
After hearing over four hours of testimony, the committee moved the measure forward. The vote was 9-4, legislative records show. Sarlo said that potential amendments to the bill would be discussed at another hearing on Thursday, March 14.
Thomas Cafferty, general counsel for the New Jersey Press Association, said the language of the proposed law does not line up with the objectives Sarlo outlined at the outset of the hearing.
“Many records that are currently available to the public will be cloaked in secrecy as a result of this bill, or otherwise made difficult to obtain,” Cafferty said. “And wrongful denials will be impossible for many to challenge.”
The existing OPRA law, he said, already speaks to the rights of privacy. “It talks about an individual’s “reasonable expectation to privacy” — something that is more specifically defined in case law.
Krystal Knapp, founder of The Jersey Vindicator and Planet Princeton, read a statement on behalf of the New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists, which opposes the measure because it allows the withholding of public records “under the broadest of circumstances.”
“Ironically, this is Sunshine Week, the time when we shine the light on the importance of public records and open government, Knapp said on behalf of the SPJ. “We find it shameful that the Legislature is rushing to consider this bill this week ... a bill that will have the same effect as light-blocking curtains. We urge you to table this bill.”
Speaking for herself, Knapp said, the bill includes “vague and subjective language” that leaves the doors open “for broad denials of access.” She asked what is considered “a draft” and how does the Legislature define “harassment.”
Lori Buckelew, the director of government affairs for the New Jersey League of Municipalities, however, said there has been a great deal of “misinformation” about the proposed law.
“What changes under the bill is protection of the citizen’s current information that currently does not exist but was recommended by the Privacy Study Commission in 2004,” Buckelew said. “When OPRA was enacted, the then-sponsors recognized the importance of a resident’s privacy. It was in the legislative intent.”
She added, however, the law, “Did not truly address this concern.”
Representatives for the New Jersey School Boards Association and the New Jersey Association of Counties joined the League in their support for the bill.
Public records attorney CJ Griffin, who has litigated numerous OPRA cases, told the panel that abuses when it comes to the awarding of legal fees largely fall on the side of public entities.
Griffin cited as an example an OPRA case she argued for TAPinto Newark in which the news outlet appealed the Newark school board’s heavy redactions of a contract detailing an agreement between the schools and a developer. The redactions included covering up the $4.5 million “contract price” of the deal.
“I billed 62 hours on that case. I had to draft a complaint and three briefs, go to court,” Griffin said. “They billed 106 hours, and they drafted one brief that was much shorter than my brief and went to court. So, if there are abuses, I don’t think it’s on our side.”
Public records attorney Walter M. Luers, president of the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government, said that any change to the “fee shifting” provision of OPRA requiring that the government pay the attorney fees for a prevailing party, would be “highly regressive.”
“Without fee shifting, most of my clients would not have access to any OPRA legal services,” Luers said. “These include parents with children with disabilities. These include poor people. These include working class people.”
Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh also testified against the bill. Walsh, who in 2021 commissioned a report critical of the Government Records Council, cautioned against the measure.
“I fear that if documents are harder to get, we will get less transparency and that will lead to more corruption,” he said, adding that, “If your goal is to save money, be careful. A less-transparent government is more than likely a more expensive one.”
What else is in the bill?
The bill would allow a records custodian to deny access to records if, “the public agency has reason to believe that disclosure of such personal information may result in harassment, unwanted solicitation, identity theft, or opportunities for other criminal acts.”
The proposed law allows a records custodian to deny access to portions of a record that include, “information related to strategies or negotiating positions that would unfairly prejudice or impair contract negotiations.”
The bill would permit the denial of the portion of any document, “that discloses the personal identifying information of any person provided to a public agency for the sole purpose of receiving official notifications.”
The legislation states the “request shall not be considered submitted until it is received by the custodian of records.” The measure also extends the time frame for producing certain records from seven days to 14 days.
The proposed legislation “prohibits records requests made by or for data brokers who take the information they gather and use it for a commercial purpose.”
Requestors determined to be “data brokers,” and who fail to certify that they are data brokers, would be subject to fines ranging from $1,000 for an initial violation to $5,000 for a third violation that occurs within 10 years of the first violation.
Another portion of the bill would change the composition of the Government Records Council, “adding more public members, establishing staggered five-year terms, and annual salaries.”
In addition, the bill would establish “a Police Record Access Improvement Task Force” to investigate the existing laws governing public access to police records and develop recommendations for necessary changes to the law.
]]>The average “active shooter” attack lasts three to five minutes, Newark Capt. Richard Casale told a gathering of mostly religious leaders at the Nia Masjid Community Center on Tuesday, March 5.
“So, if we can either get out or secure ourselves really good, right — barricade ourselves really securely — and we can get through that 180- to 240-second time frame, our chances of survival have gone up very, very much,” said Casale, who leads the police division’s SWAT unit, advising the religious leaders on what the best options are in that situation.
The training given by Casale and Sgt. Damaris Febus, who translated to Spanish, followed the fatal shooting of Imam Hassan Sharif, of Masjid Muhammad-Newark, outside his mosque just before morning prayers on Jan. 3. About 70 people attended the event this week, organizers said.
Imam Daud Haqq, leader of the Nia Masjid Community Center, said that following the slaying, city and law enforcement officials — including the mayor, public safety director, county prosecutor and state attorney general — spoke with him and other religious leaders about what they can do to improve security.
“We wanted the community to have a discussion about what are the security concerns. What is happening? What can we do?” said Haqq, president of the Imam’s Council of Newark. “We are soft targets. How do you help us?”
While police offered active shooter training at the Masjid several years ago, the recent training, Haqq said, was an outgrowth of the recent talk with law enforcement.
MORE: Thousands Turn Out for Funeral of Slain Newark Imam
Councilwoman Louise Scott-Roundtree, who is also a reverend, said the plan is to hold training sessions at other religious institutions in the coming months.
“There are 13 masjids, there are 23 churches in the archdiocese,” Scott-Roundtree said, adding that the most important thing is for people to be aware of who is coming into their buildings.
One training is not going to be enough, she said, “We just had an Imam lose his life.”
The approximately two-hour-long session included discussions of how to secure buildings, including limiting the places in which people can enter, best methods for bringing in security personnel, and — as a last resort — how to take down a shooter.
Casale told the gathering that during a shooting people should crouch low to the ground but be ready to move.
“If you don’t move and get away, what happens? If you stay static, you die,” he said. “That’s what they always tell you. You’ve got to try to move. You’ve got to try to get out.”
He also discussed the difference between “concealment,” hiding oneself, and finding “cover,” which is hiding behind an object that protects from bullets.
“We want to look for cover. If we don’t have cover, concealment is the next best thing,” Casale said. “If I’m not seen, can I be shot? If he gets lucky, he sprays you.”
If forced to take down a shooter, there are some key spots to target. “We hit him the groin. We hit him in the head. He falls down. The gun falls out. We want to secure him,” he said.
Casale also advised houses of worship to conduct a security assessment every three to five years, have written plans for situations including bomb threats, fires, medical emergencies and evacuations, and to train and drill on those plans.
The Rev. Dr. Ronald Slaughter, the Newark Police Division deputy director of community relations, recognized that not every situation could be addressed or all questions answered in one session.
“We are going to offer more in various areas of the city,” Slaughter said. “So, we invite you to continue to come out and spread the word for those that weren’t here tonight.”
Many of the religious leaders in attendance represent houses of worship with few resources. Among them was Bishop Ronald Jones, who said he found the training helpful.
“A lot of churches are operating in fear, not knowing when it might happen if it might happen,” Jones said. “A lot of churches don’t have the finances to employ armed security.”
]]>Newark’s boom in real estate development also means the growth of its schools, something discussed at a meeting of the City Council’s Education Committee on Tuesday, March 5.
School and municipal officials focused on the rising enrollment and the shortage of public school buildings, as well as the process for registering students. While nationwide, federal figures show an enrollment decline when compared to 2019, Superintendent Roger León said Newark’s public schools have seen increases.
“Two years after the pandemic, there are four million less students in school districts all across America,” León said, citing data from the Council of Great City Schools, which represents the largest urban districts in the U.S. “There are seven school districts where that is not true. Newark is the one that’s leading on enrollment trends.”
The enrollment increase described by León, who did not provide specific figures at the meeting, did not match up with the state DOE school performance reports, which show spring 2019-20 enrollment at 41,997 students and 2021-22 enrollment at 41,160 students, a decrease of nearly 2%. School performance reports for 2022-23 have yet to be released.
The charter schools, which are in their second year of enrolling students through the Newark Common App, have seen enrollment increases, Barbara Martinez, executive director of the New Jersey Children’s Foundation, said.
“We received many more applications than there were seats for in charter schools, which of course reflects the demand for charter seats in Newark,” Martinez said.
“Families are choosing different schools,” Martinez said. “District families are moving to charters. Charter families are moving to district. There is an enormous amount of movement that is happening in Newark. Parents are making choices and those choices include a lot of different schools."
Of the applications received through the Newark Common App in the past year, 1,352 students were from charter schools and 1,186 were from students coming from district schools, she said.
Martinez said that what’s most important is that the charter schools’ enrollment system has resulted in increases for charter schools of the percentage of students who receive free lunch, students with disabilities and students who are learning English. Those increases “really told us we’re on the right track and ensuring that there is equity.”
The total enrollment in Newark’s public charter schools, she said, stands around 20,000 students — most of whom are city residents.
North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos Jr., who chairs the Education Committee, said he believes there should be one enrollment system, as there had been in the past, because that is what is best for families.
“I know it can be a little cumbersome for families to navigate these two systems,” he said. “They’re looking to access good educational options for their kids, whether it’s traditional or charter, and we should figure out a way to make life easy for them.”
Neither education leader addressed whether the district and the charters were working on re-uniting the two systems.
With the rising enrollment also comes a discussion about where to put those new students.
León said the district intends to open a new building at University High School in the South Ward, and the district intends to reopen Branch Brook School, which is in the North Ward.
Originally opened in 1925, Branch Brook School is located on Ridge Street, according to the Newark Public Schools Historical Preservation Committee. León told the Education Committee he plans on opening eight more schools in the coming years.
Ramos asked for data as it relates to both enrollment and costs. He specifically asked about the district’s plans to convert the former Saint James Hospital in the East Ward into a trades school, citing news reports concerning the owner of the site and the long-term costs for the district.
Last week, the school board hired a new law firm to represent it in real estate matters, a measure that prompted a public discussion of the plans for the trade school, which includes a $160 million, 20-year lease with the developer, 155 Jefferson St. Urban Renewal LLC. On Tuesday, León said the district will begin paying that lease once it “has the keys.”
“Has the district done a cost analysis of what is the projected cost of opening up all these new high school programs?” Ramos asked.
“Do we have enrollment data at all our high schools that show there is substantial interest in these new high school programs and some of the traditional high schools? What kind of data can you share with us as it relates to costs,” Ramos asked.
León said that with the growth of housing in Newark also comes the growth of schools. Across the high schools, the district enrolls about 13,000 students, he said.
Enrollment at Barringer High School, he said, is about 1,900 students, Weequahic High School has about 600 students, Malcolm X Shabazz High School has about 500 students and East Side High School is about 2,300 students, León said.
In fact-checking Leon’s comments, TAPinto Newark found that Leon was off by a couple of hundred students for Malcolm X Shabazz. According to the state DOE website, Shabazz only has 272 students registered, not the 500 that Leon quoted.
Shabazz is one of the most underutilized school buildings in Newark, with only 30% of its seats being used. Meanwhile, East Side High School is at about 200% capacity.
In addition, while Leon boasted he has opened 9 schools in the past few years, an analysis of the enrollment at the newest schools by TAPinto Newark last year showed enrollment declining at nearly every new school that has most recently opened.
When Councilman Ramos pressed Leon about the overcrowding in some wards, Leon pushed back to say that the city is approving new residences but not accounting for the need for new schools.
“It appears as though no one is keeping their eye on schools,” he said. “So, when you are building … and approving all of those properties, I think it would be very wise to include, how about school buildings?”
“In a lot of our schools, we have a lot of overcrowding,” León added.
Funding, he said, follows the students. State aid to public schools is based on enrollment.
“As it relates to the cost of it, because it is costly, we know that wherever the students go, the money follows, so the increasing enrollment is really what’s helping us to be able to address that issue,” León said. “The Schools Development Authority, as you are aware, is the one who controls any of our new buildings.”
]]>A social justice activist for more than 50 years, Newark native Lawrence Hamm, chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress (POP), is living history.
Hamm, 70, witnessed first-hand Newark’s 1967 uprising, first protested as a high school student in 1971, and he continues to rally against police brutality. On Saturday, March 9, he will release a book detailing his life of activism, POP announced.
“I thought it was important to tell the story of some of the struggles I have been involved in during the past half century and some of the lessons I have learned from them,” Hamm said in a news release. “This is not just my story. It is the story of many, many people with whom I have worked with side by side to try to bring about change at local, state, national and international levels.”
Hamm, who is running for the U.S. Senate, will release the book, “Lawrence Hamm: A Life In The Struggle,” written with Annette Alston, during an event on Saturday, March 9, at the Newark Public Library, organizers said.
Besides Hamm and Alston, the program will include other speakers who contributed to the book, including the Rev. Dr. William Howard, former pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Newark, Dr. Norman Finklestein, author and activist, and Zayid Muhammad, a community organizer, poet and author, organizers said. Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka has also been invited to deliver remarks, organizers said.
The book explores Hamm’s participation in the Black Power movement after his appointment at age 17 to the Newark Board of Education by the city’s first Black mayor, Kenneth A. Gibson, making him the youngest school board member in the nation, and looks at the three tumultuous years he spent on the school board, according to the announcement.
The book also discusses the influence of writer and activist Amiri Baraka on Hamm’s political development and the struggles in which they both participated. Hamm was the youngest elected delegate to the 1972 National Black Political Convention held in Gary, Indiana, and spearheaded by Baraka, organizers said.
The book talks about his role in the campus anti-apartheid movement to get Princeton to divest its stock holdings in companies doing business with the racist apartheid regime in South Africa, organizers said. It also delves into the struggle to build POP, an all-volunteer grassroots organization working for racial, social and economic justice.
POP will observe its 42nd anniversary this year, organizers said. POP has been active over the past 40 years around a wide range of issues affecting the Black community, and working and poor people. POP has been especially active on the issue of police brutality.
The book examines other movements in which Hamm participated, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 presidential campaign efforts in New Jersey, organizers said. It will also discuss the organizing and mobilizing efforts for the Rainbow Coalition and the Million-Man March in New Jersey, the announcement said.
It will also explore his involvement and that of POP in police brutality struggles, especially that of Earl Faison, a young Black man who was killed by police in Orange. This was the only time in the state’s history where five police officers were simultaneously convicted in connection with a police brutality case.
“I owe an immense debt of gratitude to Annette Alston for this book,” Hamm said. “It would not have happened without her. She urged me to write the book and volunteered to work on it with me. She saw it through from an idea to actual publication.”
Even though publicity around the U.S. Senate race has largely focused on New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy and U.S. Rep. Any Kim, Hamm is in the running for the 2024 New Jersey Democratic primary.
His policy aims include the expansion of affordable housing, laws to stop police brutality and an increase in the federal minimum wage.
“We need to immediately raise the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour,” Hamm told TAPinto Newark recently. “We used to say $15, but inflation has moved that dial up, and we need a living wage.”
If you go
The book launch for “Lawrence Hamm: A Life In The Struggle” by Lawrence Hamm with Annette Alston will take place on Saturday, March 9, at 2 p.m. at the Newark Public Library, James Brown African American Room, 2nd Floor, 5 Washington St. in Newark. To pre-register for the event, visit the Newark Public Library website.
TAPinto Newark Editor Mark J. Bonamo contributed to this article.
]]>The Center for Politics and Race in America at Rutgers-Newark is now the Sheila Y. Oliver Center for Race in Politics in America.
University officials, along with state and local officials, renamed the school at a ceremony attended by family members of the late lieutenant governor on Friday, March 1, the first day of Women’s History Month.
“This is another milestone in cementing her legacy and her mission,” said Renee Oliver, 28, niece to Sheila Oliver, in an interview. “Her essence will live on through the Sheila Y. Oliver Center for Race and Politics in America along with the scholarship from Johnson & Johnson.”
Lt. Gov. Tahesha L. Way, who was among the dignitaries to speak at the ceremony in honor of Oliver, said that she knew she had some big shoes to fill.
“Sheila cared deeply about social justice, racial justice and looking out for the underserved,” Way said. “She was a formally trained social worker and brought that perspective to her policymaking. Every day of her career, Sheila showed up to work as an authentic and passionate advocate for the great people of New Jersey, especially those who are vulnerable.”
Way said Oliver understood the challenges urban communities face, from her experience growing up in Newark and that she remained an advocate for expanding opportunity, affordable housing and education throughout her career.
Oliver was the first Black woman speaker of the state Assembly and the first Black woman to serve as lieutenant governor.
“She has shown us how to be fearless, how to break barriers and how to lead,” Way said.
The Center for Politics and Race in America, established last year with state funding, is a “fact tank” for research on the nation’s political life and a resource for underrepresented students seeking careers in government and public service, officials said.
Johnson & Johnson announced at the ceremony that it has made a charitable donation to fund the Lt. Gov. Sheila Y. Oliver Leadership Scholarship, part of the center’s Public Service Leadership Program at Rutgers School of Arts & Sciences–Newark. The scholarship will provide four Rutgers-Newark students with stipends to participate in public service internships over the next five years, officials said.
“We’re proud to be your purpose partner and to continue to create opportunities for our state and our nation’s future leaders, scientists researchers and innovators,” said Vanessa Broadhurst, Johnson & Johnson’s executive vice president of Global Corporate Affairs.
Among the students who intend to apply for the scholarship is sophomore Safanya Searcy, the student representative to the Board of Governors at Rutgers. Searcy said the scholarship would allow her the opportunity to get experience in Washington.
“It would allow me to take what I have been able to work on over the last 20 years of my life in politics and race and be able to leverage that knowledge and acquire more knowledge from within Capitol Hill, as I’ve never worked on the Hill before,” said Searcy, who is an undergraduate majoring in justice studies and political science.
“All of my work has been in local, state and municipal government, so this would be an opportunity for me to get a sense of how lawmakers at the federal level are making their decisions while at the same time make a contribution to the way in which they’re considering the perspectives of communities like mine,” she said.
]]>Ten candidates will vie for the four open seats on the Newark Board of Education in the upcoming April election.
As of the Monday, March 4, deadline to withdraw from the race, four incumbents and six newcomers had filed to run for terms on the school board.
The candidates are the following, according to school district spokesperson Nancy Deering:
The school board secretary is scheduled to draw ballot positions on Wednesday, March 6, and the election is to be held on April 16, according to an election timeline.
The ballot drawing is set to take place at 4 p.m. on the sixth floor of the school district administration building at 765 Broad St. The proceeding is scheduled to be livestreamed.
The Newark Branch of the NAACP is scheduled to hold a candidates’ forum from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 14, at the Clubhouse Community Center, 205 Spruce St., Newark.
There will be no school budget on the ballot, Deering said. This follows the approval of a state law that eliminates the vote on school budgets for certain districts except for separate proposals to spend above the state’s property tax levy cap.
A city law extending the right to vote to residents 16- and 17-year-olds is scheduled to take effect for the 2025 election.
The election is scheduled for Tuesday, April 16.
To check your voter registration and/or register to vote, visit the state Division of Elections website.
]]>The groundbreaking on Monday, March 4, for the first phase of the Millard E. Terrell Homes redevelopment in Newark's East Ward was bitter-sweet for Newark native Rosemary Horsley.
The 75-year-old raised in the since-closed Terrell Homes low-income housing development had been one of the last to leave when the Newark Housing Authority complex shut two years ago. Horsely said she was forced out and remained homeless for the six months that followed. “I’m here out of happiness and sorrow,” she said.
“We were basically put out,” Horsely said. “That’s why I’m so sad because I came here as a 3-year-old apartment brat at the time, and when I left, it was two years ago. I was 73.”
Horsely, who was wearing a shirt that said, “Help Wanted/Save Terrell Homes,” served as the secretary of the Terrell Homes Tenants Association, which advocated keeping the 275-unit Newark Housing Authority development open, a battle they eventually lost.
ARCHIVE: ‘Gentrification at its worst’: Residents, Advocacy Groups Fight to Save Terrell Homes
As workers hammered away at partially completed buildings, officials announced the first phase of the project at 97 Chapel St. will consist of 69 affordable housing units for people aged 55 and up.
“This has been a labor of love four to five years in the making,” said Newark Housing Authority Executive Director Leonard J. Spicer, who started in the role in September. “As you can see, behind us there are actually buildings going up.”
It marks a contrast from a similar news conference held at Terrell Homes in 2022, under the leadership of then NHA Executive Director Victor Cirilo, at which officials also held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the same project. Cirilo then laid out his case for fully replacing the low-income housing units, which he said would have cost $25 million to repair and rehabilitate.
NHA Commissioner Alif Muhammad, having seen the groundbreaking two years ago, said he was disappointed not to see more progress.
“We did this already,” Muhammad told TAPinto Newark. “This was the first deal that we did when I came on five years ago.”
The latest iteration of the project, which is being constructed by the real estate firm Alpert Group, benefits from an $8.9 million grant award from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s Aspire program, which supports mixed-use, transit-oriented projects, including affordable housing initiatives, officials said on Monday.
Mayor Ras J. Baraka, addressing dignitaries at the groundbreaking, said the progress at Terrell Homes represents what needs to be done at many of the aging public housing properties in Newark. Baraka, who recently announced his gubernatorial bid, described the path for Terrell Homes as one marked by contention.
“You have the tension between the people who have lived here all of their lives, and the idea that there needs to be change, that we need to transform our city into things that look like this, because I think we all deserve a beautiful place and a beautiful community that’s safe and wonderful and a place that we can raise our children in,” Baraka said.
The 69 age-restricted affordable units to be constructed on .78 acres at the entrance to the property are slated to be completed in the first four months of 2025, NHA communications director Terrell McCoy Jr. said. The surrounding brick buildings, the remnants of the former development, will not be demolished in that time, according to McCoy.
The second phase, the details of which are still being negotiated, “will be a family housing development,” he said. Once built, the new units will come to a housing authority that, according to its draft 2024 annual plan, has a waitlist of 10,488 people — of whom 2,278 are considered “elderly/disabled.”
Carleton Lewis, the acting director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Newark Field Office, which oversees public housing statewide, was in attendance.
“This is the beginning of something great,” Lewis said. “The last time I was here, I met with some of the people who lived in this development, and I heard the promises that we were going to build something great here. This is definitely something great.”
Among the people who may return to Terrell Homes is Betty Brazell, whose mother, Dorothy, served as the vice president of the homes’ tenants’ association before her death.
Brazell, 62, lives in the West Ward, but for most of her life, her home was Terrell Homes on an upper floor of what is now a boarded-up brick building not far from the new structures, she said, pointing it out.
“My place is nice, but my mother fought for this and, so, I’m coming back,” Brazell said. “My mother was sick, so she couldn’t fight anymore. Of course, I’m coming back.”
]]>One person placed a teddy bear on the doorknob of the Newark family’s apartment and another laid candles following the death of a 2-year-old boy at the building on Saturday, March 2, a tenant leader said.
The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and Newark police announced they are investigating the death of the child on the 100 block of South Orange Avenue.
Authorities pronounced the toddler dead at 2:32 p.m., Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II and Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Fragé said in a statement.
“The cause and manner of death are pending an autopsy,” and police have made no arrests, the prosecutor’s office said.
Tyrone Gadson, a floor captain at the New Community Corporation’s senior apartments, said the family had recently moved into the 15-story building. Gadson, 66, said the mother, who left her child with the grandmother, arrived home to find her child deceased.
“When the daughter came home and saw the baby dead, she immediately went in the hallway and started screaming for help,” he said.
The mother cried for over three hours as neighbors attempted to console her, Gadson said.
“All the tenants were the ones that were holding her down and trying to nurture her the best they could for 3 ½ hours,” he said.
The tenant leader described a chaotic scene that unfolded as up to 20 family members arrived and police blocked off Newton Street, which is off South Orange Avenue.
MORE: Officials Court Mom Vote at Newark Maternal Health Conference
At one point, officers called for backup, but Gadson told a sergeant in charge not to bring additional law enforcement onto the floor.
“He did acknowledge that,” Gadson said. “He told most of the officers to go back downstairs.”
As authorities took out the child, Gadson said, neighbors formed a line to protect the family member’s view of the deceased child.
“We felt as though if they see their grandson come out in the body bag they’re going to snap, especially the females, so we tried to line up, so they wouldn’t see,” he said.
Gadson said the family had moved in just over two weeks ago, and neighbors frequently heard noise indicating commotion.
“There was always hollering going on in that apartment,” he said. “There was always a fight.”
Gadson said the neighbors are working out a way to memorialize the child, but he did not know the child’s name.
“We might do it in the day room, or we might do it on the 14th floor,” he said.
A spokesperson for New Community Corporation, which operates the building, offered sympathy on behalf of the organization.
“New Community sends its deepest condolences to the family for their loss,” the spokesperson, Michelle Lang, said.
Anyone with information on this fatality is asked to contact the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office tips line at 1-877-TIPS-4EC or 1-877-847-7432.
Note: This article was updated with a quote from New Community Corporation.
]]>NEWARK — The Board of Education on Thursday, Feb. 29 approved a one-year contract with outside legal counsel — a measure that raised questions about both the spending and a redevelopment project with a history of issues.
The school board’s 5-1 approval of the measure retaining the law firm Lasser Hochman LLC, of Roseland, drew the dissent of board member Crystal Williams, while member Allison James-Frison and co-vice president Dawn Haynes abstained. In a committee report, officials said, the new firm will “represent the board in real estate matters.”
Williams connected the legal spending to the project converting the former St. James Hospital in the East Ward into a trades school. The district in 2021 entered into a $160 million, 20-year lease with 155 Jefferson St. Urban Renewal LLC for the work. The planned school, originally scheduled to open in 2022, has a history of public concerns.
“We need to be transparent with families about when and if this school will be built to alleviate the overcrowding in the East,” Williams said. “This has become a money pit now, and you want us to approve a law firm to be paid more than what our policy currently allows, to pump more money into a high school that may never come to fruition.”
The school board’s approval sets the rate of pay for the firm’s attorneys at $350 per hour. The resolution does not list a specific case for which the outside counsel is assigned. Services listed on the firm’s website, however, include “property acquisition and disposition” as well as “leasing” and “financing.”
Citing state law, the resolution says that the board is awarding the services "without advertising for bids or public bidding." The rate of pay is higher than what the district has paid previously for similar services, documents show.
In recent legal matters concerning the schools' efforts to reclaim real estate, the district's attorneys billed hourly rates of $175 and $200 in a related public records lawsuit, according to the legal bills.
School district spokesperson Nancy Deering did not respond to TAPinto Newark’s requests for additional information on Friday, March 1. Daniel Bibergal, an associate at Lasser Hochman LLC, referred TAPinto Newark to Deering for comment.
Newark Public Schools General Counsel Brenda Liss, who typically attends school board meetings, was not seen on the dais Thursday night and no explanation was given for her absence.
Williams urged her fellow board members to vote against the measure. Co-Vice President Vereliz Santana, who chairs the board’s legal committee, defended the district’s legal spending on the project.
“As of now, there has only been $18,000 expensed as it relates to the property at 155 Jefferson,” Santana said. “It is not a property that belongs to us. We do not own it.”
Santana's reference to the legal fees alone expended on the property does not include additional project costs for 155 Jefferson, approved by the board in 2022, which amount to another $857,000 for architectural and construction management services.
The issues the developer faces, Santana said, do “not pertain to us or the district.” The state Department of Labor has been called to rectify the issues at the site, she said.
The developer, Albert Nigri, of the New York-based Summit Assets, did not respond to requests for comment sent by email and left with his office on Friday, March 1. Nigri's projects in Newark also include the conversion of the former Indigo Hotel into luxury apartments — a project that saw claims of unpaid workers, which were resolved in 2023.
At a business meeting earlier in the week, Santana reported that the landlord for the project at 155 Jefferson St., who is Nigri, had proposed a “modification” of the lease terms. It was not made clear what the proposed modification was or the district’s position regarding it.
School board members were advised in a committee briefing not to discuss legal matters publicly.
“Board members are reminded that information relating to matters in pending or threatened litigation is confidential,” the report said. “No individual is authorized to waive the attorney-client privilege.”
]]>NEWARK — Free classes being offered to Newark women aim to improve their financial literacy in a place where wide economic disparities persist.
First Lady Linda J. Baraka announced the “Newark Women Moving Forward” initiative during a news conference with city leaders at the Krueger-Scott Mansion on Thursday, Feb. 29. The initiative with the nonprofit Dfree Global Foundation Inc. is funded by private donors, including Audible and RWJ Barnabas Health, officials said.
“This program is for women in Newark designed specifically for you to get hold of your finances, establish a clear path to financial freedom for those who want to invest, for those who want to pay down debt, or prepare estate planning,” Baraka said. “No matter where you fall on this spectrum, there’s a space for you here.”
With community partners, she said, the program aims to sign up 1,000 women and, as of the press event, had signed up 250 women for the 12-week course.
The financial education program, which, Baraka noted, they were announcing on the last day of Black History Month and one day before Women’s History Month, was an outgrowth of discussions held at the city’s women’s meetings.
Baraka is familiar with the consequences of an unsound personal financial decision.
The First Lady’s leadership of the financial empowerment programming follows her completion in 2022 of a four-year probation in connection to her 2017 guilty plea to federal tax evasion charges, according to court records. She addressed that history in an email to TAPinto Newark.
“I’ve had financial issues and that is why this initiative is so important,” Baraka said. “I want to make sure that no other women have to go through what I went through. My personal experience is part of my motivation to be involved with this great group. This effort is happening because we worked to lift up women, and we listened to them over a two-year period.”
The workshops for residents of New Jersey’s largest city come to a county where the gap between White and Black households’ median income is over $70,400, with the median income for Black households at $54,700, something the NJ Institute of Social Justice in a report this month called “troubling.”
The wage gap between the two races in Essex County is the largest of New Jersey’s counties, where the statewide median income difference is $43,700, the report says. And the median income for White households in Essex County, $125,100, is more than twice that of the median income, $60,200 for Latina/o households, the NJISJ report says.
There is also an earnings gap between men and women. U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics data shows that in 2022, New Jersey women’s earnings amounted to 83.5% of what their male counterparts made.
Mayor Ras J. Baraka — who last week announced his candidacy for governor — said that since the pandemic, the city has been hit hard by inflation, underscoring the importance of the financial literacy program.
“This is not only important as we lift women up out of poverty, it’s important because of this huge wealth gap that we have in the state of New Jersey,” Ras Baraka said. “It is an opportunity for us to address it straight ahead. So, I’m happy and proud to stand here today with my wife Linda Baraka and all of the women who designed and organized this opportunity for the rest of the women of our city.”
The Rev. Shaunda Sutton, strategic partnerships manager at Dfree Global Foundation, said the goal is for participants to have “full control” over their finances. And she described the nonprofit’s goal as a civil rights initiative.
“It is a mission inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy of financial wellness for all,” Sutton said. “This billion-dollar program aims to empower individuals to break free from the shackles of consumer debt, provide a pathway to education, entrepreneurship and wealth creation.”
The program includes an online tool that helps users to set budgets and create savings plans, she said. It assists in paying off debt and increasing savings, Sutton said.
“This is for everyone, those wanting to get a better handle on their finances and understand their spending habits and those wanting to understand investments, savings and living a debt-free life,” she said.
The classes, Sutton said, will be held in all five of the city’s wards, and will be conducted in small groups.
Personal financial information, she said, will not be shared. Both a workbook and DeForest B. Soaries Jr.’s book, “Say Yes to No Debt: 12 Steps to Financial Freedom,” will be used as a guide, Sutton said.
“It really is about their personal accountability, them going through this book and workbook and changing their lifestyles so they can leave a legacy for those behind them,” she said. “And there is no financial barrier because there is no cost.”
To learn more about the program and participate, visit Newark Women Moving Forward.
]]>A Newark Board of Education member is pushing school officials for an explanation about what she said was the district’s failure to publicly bid out a contract to convert a defunct school building into a museum of the school district’s history.
It follows the revelation earlier this month that the “contract price” of the project for the conversion of what was the district’s first school for children of color is $4.5 million — a figure that became publicly known after a judge, ruling on a lawsuit filed by TAPinto Newark, ordered the district to remove significant redactions made to the settlement agreement of a lawsuit in which the district sought to reclaim the building. A prior administration had sold the school for $650,000 over six years ago.
“If it’s part of the settlement, were we not supposed to put out bids for a person to redo this building?” member Crystal Williams asked at the school board’s Tuesday, Feb. 27, meeting. “So, I would like clarification on that.”
No answer to that question was provided at the public meeting. State law requires public school districts with a qualified purchasing agent to put out to public bid any contract above $44,000.
Approached by a reporter following the meeting, Superintendent Roger León acknowledged the journalist, then walked away, exiting through a door behind the dais. Board President Hasani Council declined to answer questions concerning the agreement with the real estate developer Hanini Group over the school building at 15 State St.
Addressing León during the meeting, Williams said, she was also surprised to read in the press about the multi-million cost of the project after León had at a school board meeting in June indicated the cost as being $10.
León’s response: “I don’t guide myself by what some in the blog world that pretend to be reporters write. That’s not where I live. I actually live in black and white as it relates to the documents.”
The school board members, he said, saw the settlement agreement before voting on it and so knew its contents.
“The reference I made about $10 is that after everything is done and the State Street building opens, that it is going to be sold to us for $10,” León said. “The specifics with regards to the entire matter now is … available to the public.”
Those specifics became available because of a seven-month-long litigation initiated by Skyway Publishing, the publisher of TAPinto Newark, after the school district denied three records requests and then provided a significantly redacted version of the settlement agree ment between the developer and school district.
The agreement shows the $4.5 million contract price in the third paragraph, details a payment schedule for construction, and stipulates that litigation with the developer over the district’s intent to reclaim the building after selling it off through the Newark Housing Authority be dismissed.
The $10 figure, which was referenced by León, is shown in the agreement under the heading, “Conveyance of Property for Nominal Consideration.”
“Within 10 days of Substantial Completion of the project, and on the same day as payment of the Final Payment (defined above), Hanini shall transfer the title to the Property,” the agreement states.
The district’s online records show the Board of Education approved the settlement agreement with Hanini Group by a vote of 8-1 on March 30, 2023. Williams was the lone school board member to vote against the measure.
As reported, the school district has applied to the state’s Historic Preservation Office for funds for the State Street School project.
While district officials have not commented on the bidding process, the district in response to a July 2023 records request failed to provide documents that show “request for proposals, proposals received and/or selected” concerning the project.
A search of New Jersey Public notices online reveals no notices about the State Street School project.
Michael Yaple, a spokesperson for the state Department of Education, acknowledged a request for comment from TAPinto Newark on Wednesday, Feb. 28, concerning adherence to the public bidding process. A response was not provided by the publication of this article.
]]>
NEWARK — For some residents of a 236-unit Newark Housing Authority complex in the East Ward, rats have been a nagging concern.
Linda Grimsley is one of several Pennington Court residents who told a reporter about the rodents on Tuesday, Feb. 27, following a briefing the NHA’s new executive director gave to the City Council that morning.
“Rats. They’re coming from over there,” Grimsley, 69, said as she looked across the courtyard. “They will come in the building if people leave the door open. They are big-ass rats.”
Even if the door is closed, she said, “They can squeeze up under there.”
The issue of pest control at Pennington Court was not directly raised during the meeting of the City Council, at which elected officials heard from NHA Executive Director Leonard J. Spicer, a former federal housing official, who started in his new role nearly four months ago. But the issue of the property's maintenance was discussed.
East Ward Councilman Michael Silva asked about friction between the management of Pennington and Hyatt courts and tenants. Silva called for NHA officials to better communicate with the residents.
“They’re never notified of anything,” Silva said. “They have a poor relationship with the manager. The manager at times in both locations is not that friendly, is not that courteous.”
Spicer said the NHA is working to address that issue.
It was one of several concerns raised by council members, who also discussed a need for better building security and improved elevator maintenance as Spicer told them that annual physical inspections of apartments — something that has been on hold since the pandemic — would resume beginning March 1.
Tenants’ requests for repairs, Spicer said, are also being centralized and sent to the NHA’s headquarters, instead of having those work orders handled by a building manager.
“If there is a rub with that manager or someone in maintenance, they feel as if that work order isn’t being generated, or the work doesn’t get completed,” Spicer said. “I’m not trying to relitigate things that happened five years ago or try to understand what the relationship is between those individuals. I just want to get the job done.”
The best way to do that, he said, is to funnel the work orders through the NHA’s offices at 500 Broad St., where a team of workers can ensure the work gets completed.
“There’s an objective individual that doesn’t know you, that’s going to take your work order, that’s now going to ensure that the work is completed,” Spicer said.
The new system is among a series of changes Spicer, who agency records show earns an annual salary of $325,000, is rolling out at the entity that the federal government in a recent ranking said is failing in key measures.
In a report published on Nov. 8, 2023, HUD designated the NHA as “troubled” with a score of 39 out of 100. The score, which is for the fiscal year ending in 2022, gives the NHA a 22 out of 40 in the category of physical conditions; a zero out of 25 in the financial category; a 12 out of 25 for management; and a five out of 10 in the category of capital funds.
“It means there are areas the Housing Authority has to improve on,” Spicer said. “There is an independent assessment the U.S. Department of Housing Urban Development conducts.”
Last week, federal officials visited and are coming up with a “corrective action plan,” under which the NHA has two years to turn the agency around, he said.
“We have 12 months to complete 50% of those milestones,” Spicer said. “We have another 12 months to complete another 50% to bring our score above 60. If we fail to do so, the federal government can come in and take possession of the agency.”
Spicer said the NHA can meet the timeline and avoid falling into receivership. In the spring, he said, the NHA intends to conduct a capital needs assessment of its properties.
“We have close to 600 vacant units, which means that at least 600 families that could be received in our system, that could have housing that do not have housing, that are living check-to-check,” he said.
According to the NHA’s 2024 annual plan, the waiting list for housing numbers 10,448 people, including 8,367 who identify as Black/African American, 1,255 who identify as Hispanic and 1,157 who identify as White.
North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos Jr. asked about patronage jobs at the NHA.
“Recognizing that housing authorities sometimes become kind of like dumping grounds for political hires and that type of patronage, how do you plan on addressing some of those challenges as far as your organization is concerned?” Ramos asked.
Spicer’s answer: “There cannot be patronage positions. There cannot be no-show jobs. Period. Full stop. It’s an honest day’s wage for an honest day’s work. Simple as that. We are custodians of federal tax dollars.”
Change at the NHA has largely been welcomed by the public, including by Munirah El Bomani, a local housing advocate who was prohibited from attending the council meeting in person, but watched a livestream of the presentation.
El Bomani said Spicer appears to have a plan of action for bringing in more professional staff and better maintaining properties.
“It’s time to end nepotism, e.g., the friends and family plan,” El Bomani added. “All Newark agencies and departments need professional qualified and honest leadership.”
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