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When Cory Booker was elected mayor of Newark in 2006 the overwhelming reaction was this is a perfect match. Here is a proud city, battered but never beaten, now being led by a brilliant, motivated and highly educated public servant. Their ambitions and aspirations appeared to be in sync.

Newark has renamed itself the “Renaissance City”, and Cory Booker, the 36-year-old Rhodes Scholar and Yale Law School graduate, calls cities: “the last frontier to make real the promise of America.” His often-repeated mantra could be taken as his mission and his vision.

Newark’s problems were upfront and obvious and Mayor Booker offered solutions. What to do about rising crime? “Increase the number of police on the streets and take a harder line on crime.”
The failing schools? “We believe our city can lead the nation in showing what a district and community can do when it pulls together and puts our children at the center of our community focus.” That was the mayor’s proclamation just before he, Governor Chris Christie and Mark Zuckerberg went on The Oprah Winfrey Show announcing the Facebook founder’s $100 million challenge grant for Newark’s schools.
Reviving the city? Last November, the University of Tennessee proudly announced the mayor of Newark would lecture “about the revitalization of Newark.” He would “focus on the turnaround of Newark and its implications for Chattanooga.”
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SOURCE: The Grio
Vivian Glover

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