Newark Speaks http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/ This is a discussion forum regarding anything and everything Newark. en Thu, 23 May 2013 11:06:08 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/images/misc2/rss.jpg Newark Speaks http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/ Roseville Avenue Elementary School Closing http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13588&goto=newpost Wed, 22 May 2013 21:35:56 GMT Does anyone know why they are attempting to close Roseville Avenue ES near Orange Street? I was stuck in some minor traffic on Roseville Avenue today and there were quite a few of parents protesting the closure of the school, (t-shirts and all). The signs indicated that the children would be sent... Does anyone know why they are attempting to close Roseville Avenue ES near Orange Street? I was stuck in some minor traffic on Roseville Avenue today and there were quite a few of parents protesting the closure of the school, (t-shirts and all). The signs indicated that the children would be sent to Alma Flagg Elementary School who had less testing scores and overcrowding. Apparently, Roseville has won awards for academic excellence according to the signs. The only thing I remember about this was from February when Cami said the school had dropped from 140 to 120 students. However, the records seemed to show otherwise. Also, that the academics were slipping, even though Alma Flagg's academics were not on the same level or standard as Roseville Avenue. ]]> Newark Talk deana61 http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13588 NICE http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13587&goto=newpost Wed, 22 May 2013 19:52:24 GMT It must be nice to have representatives that fight for recreational services. The West Ward has been waiting for how long. The West Ward has been fighting for how long to restore/rebuild the BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB. I'm sure it wouldnt cost that much to rebuild another one on the same sight.

I got to shake my head on this one. No Real Fighters=No Real Solutions



http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/20..._river_default ]]> Newark Talk karimah http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13587 Poverty on rise in N.J. suburbs, report says http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13586&goto=newpost Wed, 22 May 2013 02:54:06 GMT Poverty on rise in N.J. suburbs, report says
Print By The Associated Press
on May 20, 2013 at 11:27 AM, updated May 20, 2013 at 12:03 PM

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201..._river_default


NEW YORK — There's been a slight increase in New York City area suburban poverty since 2000.
The New York Times says experts from Metropolitan Policy Program of the Brookings Institution analyzed census figures for the new report on American poverty.

It includes statistics from New York and New Jersey.

Thirty-three percent of suburban residents in the New York metropolitan area are living below the federal poverty level. In 2000, the figure was 29 percent.

Among the New Jersey municipalities mentioned in the report where poverty climbed:
Bayonne, Bergenfield, Clifton, Edison, Garfield, Hoboken, Lakewood, Linden, Mount Olive, New Brunswick, Passaic, Paterson, Perth Amboy, Raritan, Summit, Teaneck and Woodbridge. It also mentioned Hunterdon County.

The report's authors say the suburbs are now home to the "fastest growing poor population in the country."

Traditionally, the poor have been concentrated in big cities and rural America. ]]> Newark Talk J. Sharpe James, J.D. http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13586 This betrayal of so called Democrats of Barbara Buono is getting out of Hand http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13585&goto=newpost Tue, 21 May 2013 14:01:04 GMT I could care less about what Van Drew and Sweeney thinks I question their Democrat credentials on a regular however I do care about what the leaders in North Jersey do and since I have votes in their districts then it's my duty to call them out.

Speaker Oliver this can not be about your personal problem, Barbara has a right to select her Chair and of course she should select someone who like her stood for Democratic principles in the face of a Strong Governor and Weak Democrats in this State. I personally don't know Odonell, but if this is her choice then so be it. Stop being a hypocrite you are the first to play the woman card and specially the black woman card, so stand up for this Democratic Woman!

Congressman Payne until I hear this from your mouth I am going to give you a pass, I am assuming they are saying this because he did not afford you the Hudson Line, however I know you and I don't see you allowing that to stop you from standing with the Democratic nominee, but I can be wrong.



Van Drew backs Sweeney in state chair debacle

By Max Pizarro | May 20th, 2013 - 4:52pm
Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on favoritesShare on print|More Sharing ServicesMore
Like Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3), state Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-1) wanted another choice for state party chair - and remains hopeful of a change.

"You really should have a chair that unites the party," said Van Drew. "I wish we could have reached consensus."

Presumptive Democratic nominee for Governor state Sen. Barbara Buono chose Assemblyman O'Donnell (D-31) to serve as state party chair.

A firefighter married to a school teacher, O'Donnell strenuously resisted Sweeney's public worker pension and benefits overhaul championed by Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

The issue revealed the deep divisions between so-called public and private unions.

Sweeney is an ironworker by trade whose efforts to get public workers to contribute more to their pension and benefits made him infamous in the hardest core public union circles.

Van Drew said Buono's decision to pick O'Donnell unnecessarily opens that old party wound.

"It hearkens back to the days when there was more friction and factionlism in the party," said the 1st District senator, a member of the South Jersey Democratic Party family headed in the Legislature by Sweeney.

A supporter of pen/ben reform, Van Drew insisted his resistance to O'Donnell isn't personal.

"He's not able to galvanize the party," the senator said.

Van Drew doesn't want a civil war to stop O'Donnell, but he said he remains hopeful of Buono sitting down with party leaders and reconsidering her choice.

Ultimately, the senator pointed out that for him the chair is not crucial, because he acts very independently in his district.

Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-34) was another Democrat stung by Buono's selection of O'Donnell, a frontline member of a caucus coup against her.

Today, a source close to the speaker said Oliver is questioning the degree she intends to involve herself in Buono's campaign.

So is U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr., (D-10), a close ally of Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo's, whose organization helped elect Payne last year.

Over the last few weeks, Oliver in particular has been a vocal backer of Buono's, particularly in connection with women's issues.



Read more at http://www.politickernj.com/65724/va...#ixzz2Tw1sXThG
or sign up for a free trial of State Street Wire at http://www.politickernj.com/freetrial ]]> Newark Talk counterattack http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13585 <![CDATA[Cory Booker's Celebrity is to Poverty What Lottery Tickets are to Income.]]> http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13584&goto=newpost Mon, 20 May 2013 18:50:43 GMT We've been discussing celebrity in the face of inequality here for years!

Celebrating Inequality

Quote:
Our age is lousy with celebrities. They can be found in every sector of society, including ones that seem less than glamorous. We have celebrity bankers (Jamie Dimon), computer engineers (Sergey Brin), real estate developers/conspiracy theorists (Donald J. Trump), media executives (Arianna Huffington), journalists (Anderson Cooper), mayors (Cory A. Booker), economists (Jeffrey D. Sachs), biologists (J. Craig Venter) and chefs (Mario Batali).
THE Roaring ’20s was the decade when modern celebrity was invented in America. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Great Gatsby” is full of magazine spreads of tennis players and socialites, popular song lyrics, movie stars, paparazzi, gangsters and sports scandals — machine-made by technology, advertising and public relations. Gatsby, a mysterious bootlegger who makes a meteoric ascent from Midwestern obscurity to the palatial splendor of West Egg, exemplifies one part of the celebrity code: it’s inherently illicit. Fitzgerald intuited that, with the old restraining deities of the 19th century dead and his generation’s faith in man shaken by World War I, celebrities were the new household gods.

What are celebrities, after all? They dominate the landscape, like giant monuments to aspiration, fulfillment and overreach. They are as intimate as they are grand, and they offer themselves for worship by ordinary people searching for a suitable object of devotion. But in times of widespread opportunity, the distance between gods and mortals closes, the monuments shrink closer to human size and the centrality of celebrities in the culture recedes. They loom larger in times like now, when inequality is soaring and trust in institutions — governments, corporations, schools, the press — is falling.

The Depression that ended Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age yielded to a new order that might be called the Roosevelt Republic. In the quarter-century after World War II, the country established collective structures, not individual monuments, that channeled the aspirations of ordinary people: state universities, progressive taxation, interstate highways, collective bargaining, health insurance for the elderly, credible news organizations.

One virtue of those hated things called bureaucracies is that they oblige everyone to follow a common set of rules, regardless of station or background; they are inherently equalizing. Books like William H. Whyte’s “Organization Man” and C. Wright Mills’s “White Collar” warned of the loss of individual identity, but those middle-class anxieties were possible only because of the great leveling. The “stars” continued to fascinate, especially with the arrival of TV, but they were not essential. Henry Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, Jimmy Stewart, Perry Como, Joe DiMaggio, Jack Paar, Doris Day and Dick Clark rose with Americans — not from them — and their successes and screw-ups were a sideshow, not the main event.

Our age is lousy with celebrities. They can be found in every sector of society, including ones that seem less than glamorous. We have celebrity bankers (Jamie Dimon), computer engineers (Sergey Brin), real estate developers/conspiracy theorists (Donald J. Trump), media executives (Arianna Huffington), journalists (Anderson Cooper), mayors (Cory A. Booker), economists (Jeffrey D. Sachs), biologists (J. Craig Venter) and chefs (Mario Batali).

There is a quality of self-invention to their rise: Mark Zuckerberg went from awkward geek to the subject of a Hollywood hit; Shawn Carter turned into Jay-Z; Martha Kostyra became Martha Stewart, and then Martha Stewart Living. The person evolves into a persona, then a brand, then an empire, with the business imperative of grow or die — a process of expansion and commodification that transgresses boundaries by substituting celebrity for institutions. Instead of robust public education, we have Mr. Zuckerberg’s “rescue” of Newark’s schools. Instead of a vibrant literary culture, we have Oprah’s book club. Instead of investments in public health, we have the Gates Foundation. Celebrities either buy institutions, or “disrupt” them.

After all, if you are the institution, you don’t need to play by its rules. Mr. Zuckerberg’s foundation myth begins with a disciplinary proceeding at Harvard, which leads him to drop out and found a company whose motto is “Move fast and break things.” Jay-Z’s history as a crack dealer isn’t just a hard-luck story — it’s celebrated by fans (and not least himself) as an early sign of hustle and smarts. Martha Stewart’s jail time for perjury merely proved that her will to win was indomitable. These new celebrities are all more or less start-up entrepreneurs, and they live by the hacker’s code: ask forgiveness, not permission.

The obsession with celebrities goes far beyond supermarket tabloids, gossip Web sites and reality TV. It obliterates old distinctions between high and low culture, serious and trivial endeavors, profit making and philanthropy, leading to the phenomenon of being famous for being famous. An activist singer (Bono) is given a lucrative role in Facebook’s initial public offering. A patrician politician (Al Gore) becomes a plutocratic media executive and tech investor. One of America’s richest men (Michael R. Bloomberg) rules its largest city.

This jet-setting, Davos-attending crowd constitutes its own superclass, who hang out at the same TED talks, big-idea conferences and fund-raising galas, appear on the same talk shows, invest in one another’s projects, wear one another’s brand apparel, champion one another’s causes, marry and cheat on one another. “The New Digital Age,” the new guide to the future by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen of Google, carries blurbs from such technology experts as Henry A. Kissinger and Tony Blair. The inevitable next step is for Kim Kardashian to sit on the board of a tech start-up, host a global-poverty-awareness event and write a book on behavioral neuroscience.

This new kind of celebrity is the ultimate costume ball, far more exclusive and decadent than even the most potent magnates of Hollywood’s studio era could have dreamed up. Their superficial diversity dangles before us the myth that in America, anything is possible — even as the American dream quietly dies, a victim of the calcification of a class system that is nearly hereditary.

As mindless diversions from a sluggish economy and chronic malaise, the new aristocrats play a useful role. But their advent suggests that, after decades of widening income gaps, unequal distributions of opportunity and reward, and corroding public institutions, we have gone back to Gatsby’s time — or something far more perverse. The celebrity monuments of our age have grown so huge that they dwarf the aspirations of ordinary people, who are asked to yield their dreams to the gods: to flash their favorite singer’s corporate logo at concerts, to pour open their lives (and data) on Facebook, to adopt Apple as a lifestyle. We know our stars aren’t inviting us to think we can be just like them. Their success is based on leaving the rest of us behind.

George Packer, a staff writer at The New Yorker, is the author, most recently, of “The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America.” ]]> Newark Talk Make Newark Clean http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13584 North Ward Councilperson http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13583&goto=newpost Mon, 20 May 2013 16:58:17 GMT All signs, and an announcement soon, point to Ramos running for Mayor. Who is going to run for North Ward Council? All I'm hearing about is at-Large and South Ward.

Do I hear Blount, Gonzalez, Quintana, Padilla, Adubato, Rivera, Caraballo, Corchado, Camacho, Ramos Team, Jeffries Team, or Booker Team? No, just crickets.... ]]> Strictly North Ward GottfriedK http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13583 Brendan Byrne: Buono should consider dropping out http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13582&goto=newpost Sun, 19 May 2013 16:32:47 GMT Now it sounds as if the Dems are really worried that Buono, in a crushing defeat, might drag down the whole line. However, Moran points to the example of Brendan Byrne who thought about dropping out himself when he was behind in the polls in the gubernatorial race of 1977. Byrne, however, handily... Now it sounds as if the Dems are really worried that Buono, in a crushing defeat, might drag down the whole line. However, Moran points to the example of Brendan Byrne who thought about dropping out himself when he was behind in the polls in the gubernatorial race of 1977. Byrne, however, handily won the election 2 to 1. But that's where the comparison ends.

Today you have a fractured state Democratic party, with political bosses like JoeD and George Norcross, who cut deals that undermined influential Dems such as Dick Codey. One example: when Buono recently picked the new Democratic state chair some Christie-crats -- Dick Sweeney and Sheila Oliver-- had the nerve to complain that Buono's choice would divide the state party! :D And you also have a host of Dems who are openly and covertly supporting Chris Christie.

http://blog.nj.com/njv_tom_moran/201...ng-shot_c.html

:D Kumbaya :D

JoeD: "I agree with 95 -- no 99.999 -- percent of what Christie is doing."
]]> Newark Talk Miss Tam-Tam http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13582 <![CDATA[Booker made $1.3 million on speech circuit from '08 to '13]]> http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13581&goto=newpost Fri, 17 May 2013 17:46:02 GMT Booker made $1.3 million on speech circuit from '08 to '13, disclosures say

http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/20..._river_default

David Giambusso/The Star-Ledger By David Giambusso/The Star-Ledger
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on May 17, 2013 at 1:21 PM, updated May 17, 2013 at 1:38 PM

NEWARK — Newark Mayor Cory Booker made $1.3 million on the speaking circuit between 2008 and 2013, according to a list of documents and disclosures he released to media today.

Of that, Booker claims to have given roughly $620,000 to charity. The speeches have taken the Newark mayor up and down, east and west throughout the United States, but have been a source of bitter criticisms back home where he is often tagged as an "absentee mayor."

"The speaking opportunities have provided benefits for the city of Newark. They have helped the mayor connect to philanthropists and developers and attracted talented people to the city," said Booker spokesman Kevin Griffis. "Further, his talks have helped to increase and improve the city's profile, and allowed the mayor to make significant contributions to Newark non-profits and organizations hit especially hard during this difficult economic time."

The disclosure comes at least three months after Booker first told The Star-Ledger he would provide the documents, and after years of questions surrounding his travel.

In 2012 the newspaper attempted to catalog all of Booker's travel dates but the administration declined to provide details of how much the mayor was paid or the full extent of his speaking tours.

Now that Booker is running for U.S. Senate, he will have to disclose any paid speaking engagement and will be limited in how much money he can accept. ]]> Newark Talk J. Sharpe James, J.D. http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13581 Gunshots on Warm Spring Evenings -- Reporter Reflects on Shootings in Newark http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13580&goto=newpost Fri, 17 May 2013 11:01:58 GMT Very poignant story telling. Sadly, it won't make much of a difference though...


Gunshots on Warm Spring Evenings

Quote:
Police tape shouldn’t be a sign that it’s O.K. to go back outside and play.
By JONATHAN SCHUPPE

NEWARK — A FEW Saturdays ago, at the early evening hour when children linger outside to wring the last fun they can from the day, a series of gunshots split the air near the corner of Chadwick and Avon Avenues. Everyone scattered. After the cops arrived and taped off the intersection and determined that no one at the scene had been hit, the street slowly stirred back to life.

The kids re-emerged. So did their parents. Little girls did circles on pink bicycles in the driveway of a Newark Housing Authority town house complex. Someone turned up the radio of a parked car. With the cops commandeering the street, Chadwick and Avon was suddenly, temporarily, one of the safest spots in town.

Continue Reading at NYTimes.com ]]> Newark Talk Make Newark Clean http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13580 Booker Disappoints Democrats http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13579&goto=newpost Thu, 16 May 2013 17:10:14 GMT I guess the Democrats feel that Booker could do more for Buono in terms of fund-raising. But does it make sense to raise the kind of cash Buono would need to come anywhere near striking distance of Christie? It's impossible for Buono to build up the kind of popularity/approval ratings that Christie has between now and election day.

http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/sta...ints-democrats ]]> Newark Talk Miss Tam-Tam http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13579 OT: Chicago Charter Reports 100% Black Male Graduation Rate 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13578&goto=newpost Thu, 16 May 2013 16:15:33 GMT This is phenomenal! According to the Wikipedia, Urban Prep Academies are open-enrollment schools whose high-achieving students have been selected by lottery. Other than a parent taking the time to sign their child up, these scholars are but a random cross-section of Chicago's endangered black children. (Is a student able to enter the lottery himself? He should be!)

Our culture suffers because black men internalize racism at a very early age. When you're a preteen, it's maddening having to figure out the right mix of offensive (aspirational) energy and defensive (survival) energy amid economically tarnished and twisted peer pressure. Indeed, it's a challenge even for adults. (It's a shame ANY energy has to be expended forgiving ignorant slights! But alas, prejudgment is alive and well!)

My hope is that, once these young men finish college, they can get jobs that pay an adequate wage. The rules are changing yet again. Indeed, unemployment rates are much lower for college grads, but too many of them are being employed these days in the low-wage sector. But that's another day's fight. For now, and forever, Congrats! for sure!!

Why can't this success be applied to the traditional schools? (In Newark, charters -- successful or not -- reduce funding to the entire NPS system by 10% per pupil!)

Urban Prep Graduates All College-Bound For Fourth Year In A Row

Interesting article on the unintended consequences of Credentialism (degree inflation). From 1985! http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...ialism/308286/ ]]> Newark Talk Make Newark Clean http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13578 Christie warns state may not make full pension payments http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13577&goto=newpost Wed, 15 May 2013 19:49:12 GMT http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/05/christie_administration_warns.html#incart_m-rpt-1 Gov. Chris Christie has warned potential investors there is no guarantee the state will make its required pension payments in future years, an admission that underscores a looming financial crisis he... http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf...incart_m-rpt-1

Gov. Chris Christie has warned potential investors there is no guarantee the state will make its required pension payments in future years, an admission that underscores a looming financial crisis he and future governors face as retirement costs are expected to explode before the decade ends. ]]> Newark Talk Miss Tam-Tam http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13577 <![CDATA[Is Sandra Smarter than Shaniqua? Your Child's Name Substantially Impacts Her Future!]]> http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13576&goto=newpost Wed, 15 May 2013 16:27:50 GMT
Quote:
Children with names associated with low socio-economic status, and to a limited degree, with “Blackness” per se, tend to score lower on their reading and mathematics tests, relative to their siblings with less race or class-identifiable names.

[On the other hand] Asian children with racially-identifiable names apparently face higher teacher expectations and also tend to score higher on examinations.
OK, parents, instead of Jamal, Deepak Jones? Instead of Shaneeda, Su Chi Johnson! Seriously, it may not be fair, but limiting African American names is one thing parents can do to give their children an edge.

The Study: Names, Expectations and the Black-White Test Score Gap ]]> Newark Talk Make Newark Clean http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13576 First Holley, Now Fulop, Next Ramos.... http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13575&goto=newpost Wed, 15 May 2013 12:51:29 GMT three years ago Holley, Fulor and Ramos hosted an event together for each's mutual benefit to build relationships and connections to propel each into the Mayoral Chairs of their respective towns.

They got it done for holley in 2011. They got it done for fulop this year... Can they manage to pull it together for RAMOS in 2014.

Joe D, Phil ALagia and Chris Durkin all at Fulop Victory Party

Does this suggest better chances for Ramos in 2014? ]]> Newark Talk Young Hal http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13575 Pallone Accuses Booker of Withholding funds from AIDS Victims http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13574&goto=newpost Tue, 14 May 2013 22:30:17 GMT First shot across the bow in the NJ Senate race. http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2013/05/frank_pallone_accuses_cory_boo.html#incart_river First shot across the bow in the NJ Senate race.

http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/20...l#incart_river ]]> Newark Talk Miss Tam-Tam http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13574