Sunday, April 04, 2010

Good news from Newark


Scene from the documentary Brick City.

A couple of years ago I had occasion to spend a few days in Manhattan's famously gritty neighboring burg and was pleasantly surprised to realize that I liked the place. It's got gorgeous old downtown buildings and a vigorous, but not-so-utterly-overwhelming, vibe as New York proper.

This past week, Newark reached a milestone: for the first time since 1966, the city went 32 days without a homicide. Good for Newark.

Not being from the place, I don't know how the city got to that milestone. I do know there is available a fascinating documentary, Brick City, that credits Mayor Cory Booker and a new police chief. Booker is up for re-election this year. The citizens of Newark will get to decide whether they like his direction.

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