Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In 2005 everyone said Newark was on its way to a revival. Now i hear that thats bull****. What is up there? I use to go to school in Newark but never really got to see much of it cause i was little and wasnt interested. But now it looks like it has a beautiful downtown and great architecture. And its cheap too. But are all parts bad? If not, what are the neighborhoods that arnt bad. And i know there are some Italian neighborhoods which one are those?
Newark has been up and coming every since the mid -80's when developers decided to buld townhomes on the land that was previously occupied by burned out tenanments dating back to the late 60's. Then more recently, with the addition of bears stadium and NJPAC, and soon the new arena for the Devils, it seems like Newark is coming back. But last year, there were more murders there than the previous year. Bottom line is no, Newark has a long way to go before it can begin to even come close to being "up and coming".
I'd like one person to tell me they lived in Newark, not their parents, not the "last Italian" (as if the first one was a saint), not the guy driving through etc and know anything about it. No mention of Vailsburg, Ironbound, the college area.
Hi...I lived in Newark (thought I mentioned that like 400 times). Yeah, my Italian family is from Newark and I moved out when I was little, but I spent three days a week going down there all year pretty much my whole life until a few years or so ago, and I spent 98% of my summers down there with my grandparents until I was a teenager because my parents worked (in Newark). Yeah, it was Ironbound, but I've been in every section of Newark you could imagine (places people didn't even know existed). My car was stolen and I got a lovely tour of where stolen cars end up and what's done to them AND the weirdos (I'm being nice) who steal them. Yes, you're considered "safe" in the business district but don't think there isn't crime there too. And yes, even in safe lovely little Ironbound, there's crime. My grandmother witnessed a stabbing right across the street from her house one time. Are there shootings all day long? No. Is everyone a drug addict there or a murderer or thief? No. But I bet if you remove the business commuters, the elderly and the babies and then count the decent among the undecent...you're not going to like the odds. Like I said previously, my dad was a homocide cop, if he thought it was bad enough to stay away from as the years came and went, then I'm thinking it's safe to assume it's pretty bad. Whoever wants to move there.....don't say you weren't warned......good luck whereever you choose to go.
Ps. Don't believe everything you learn on a city website either, trust people who've lived through what you're researching.
Hey Ok I didn't read the entire contents of this chat room. Let's approach it from your point of view. An outsider is laughable because only a Newark resident has the credibility to understand how hopeless their situation really is. Your right nobody but the hopeless understand hopelessness. You win, Newark sucks but by the way I'm in East Orange doing a little neighboorhood work, helping organize the neighborhood for good or bad, for poorer or richer. Eventually a person like you will be able to come in and call me a carpetbagger along with all the other people in my building. Some of them are very successful and are of various ethnicities and backgrounds. I could only imagine how they would feel if you subject them to a term created to describe white northern opportunists setting upon the poor folks of the south after the Civil War. Watch what your slingin' there hotshot. You aren't a know it all and every word I've written is fact, not fiction. I suppose your solution to a bad neighboorhood involves further education on the benefits of not living where you are and not moving to anywhere that is "bad". If you want to walk into a building, as I have, and talk to some young black people and ask them the question I asked "How come the single largest cause of death amongst black males between the ages of 18 and 25 is gunshot wounds primarily perpetrated by other young black males?". The answer is that they don't know. It's just the way it is. You try to find that answer and you go down and take a risk and try to help someone that is 100 feet from your home and then you can get all up on your pulpit and bully the people on the move.
An outsider is laughable because only a Newark resident has the credibility to understand how hopeless their situation really is. Your right nobody but the hopeless understand hopelessness.
Watch what your slingin' there hotshot. You aren't a know it all and every word I've written is fact, not fiction.
I suppose your solution to a bad neighboorhood involves further education on the benefits of not living where you are and not moving to anywhere that is "bad".
If you want to walk into a building, as I have, and talk to some young black people and ask them the question I asked "How come the single largest cause of death amongst black males between the ages of 18 and 25 is gunshot wounds primarily perpetrated by other young black males?".
The answer is that they don't know.
It's just the way it is.
Nowhere on city-data on any forum have I ever said that Newark sucks. It is home for many and not my home. One's residency in Newark is NOT synonymous with cluelessness and hopelessness- No more than it would be in Binghamton, Bridgeport, even Scranton.
I have not suggested that anyone living in Newark leave it and I have no doubt that there are people there working very hard for change on a daily basis. The improvements for average residents will only come from internal influences however-not external forces. Investors, Prospectors, Dogooders, Visionaries, or whatever else you are calling yourselves are not going to be transforming their lives.
I find it hard to believe these posts are credible because it is astounding that in 2007 anyone actually thinks of an area like Newark as simply "a bad neighborhood."
I mean nobody but the hopeless? How did you come up with that? How about more like seperate and unequal?
I'm sure the hopeless residents of Newark, New Jersey would be honored to learn more about the dire straights they are in. The efforts of the people who already live there could not possibly be accomplishing anything positive-since people from other places still don't want to make their home there. I'm sure they have never thought of organizing before and would be happy to have some instruction and direction from a visitor who is going to turn things around for poorer or richer. Since they don't know why they are killing each other, they probably can't figure out much of anything else on their own and new friends like you can walk into their buildings, lives, town and give them a great big clue.
Ironbound isn't that bad, but beyond that Newark doesn't really have any redeeming qualities/neighborhoods. Even with the Ironbound, unless you are Portuguese, Brazilian, or some other type of Lusophone you will probably not fit in.
Oh and I don't think there are any Italian neighborhoods in Newark anymore. All of North Newark (basically the part of Newark that is north of I-280) used to be an Italian neighborhood. They have pretty much all moved out though. I think there is only 1 Italian bakery left in North Newark (and that might have already closed) and only a handful of old Italian people who attend St. Lucy's.
I am hispanic and I was in the Ironbound section and I liked IT and considered buying in the area. On my way home I made a wrong turn.
Scenario: I then locked all doors and did rolling stops at all lights and stop signs, breathed a great sigh of relief when I exited Newark and have never been back.
This is coming from someone who grew up in Flatbush in the 80's STAY AWAY!
This thread has been very eye opening to say the least. I got an excellent chuckle when someone lamented "the last Roman moved out in 1999".
Later followed up by the classic "as if the first one was a saint".
The old Italians really must have had some very tight knight communities back in the day.
I also enjoyed this gem-"I would rather live in a distressed area of Newark than in the midwest mixed in with meth heads."
I have never looked at this from that vantage point. I do agree that there is nothing scarier than white trash but I think this is what is known as a back handed compliment.
Too bad Booker can't read these posts. I doubt he has the time and I seriously doubt anything being expressed here would surprise him. Even after living in Newark for more than 10 years-he is still seen as "just visiting" by most of his constituents. Only time will tell the story as far as this chapter in Newark history goes.
Might Middlewestern businessmen moonlighting as social workers be the next chapter? Stay tuned.
I got an excellent chuckle when someone lamented "the last Roman moved out in 1999".
Later followed up by the classic "as if the first one was a saint".
The old Italians really must have had some very tight knight communities back in the day.
I also enjoyed this gem-"I would rather live in a distressed area of Newark than in the midwest mixed in with meth heads."
I have never looked at this from that vantage point. I do agree that there is nothing scarier than white trash but I think this is what is known as a back handed compliment.
I think I meant to type tight-knit communities above. Bad spelling.
"I would rather live in a distressed area of Newark than in the midwest mixed in with meth heads."
On second thought maybe it's not a back handed compliment but a BLACK handed compliment.
I just moved to Newark maybe 2 years ago by Rutgers and even this so-called safe area is complete trash. I would equate the city services in Newark with that of a third world country. Plowing is a joke I don't believe they even plow and I live on a major street. Nothing and I mean nothing is ever delievered on time in this city. I called 911 a few times and NO ONE EVEN PICKED UP THE PHONE. I had to call the other police departments to get a response . I walk outside of my house in the morning and see shady characters who most likely just got of some sort of "institution" hanging on the corner. Almost everyone of our neighborhood has a car broken into usually smashing of the windows in the perferred method.
I think the biggest problem with Newark is that you have so many unemployed not interested in being employed people. Newark should just shut all of it down no more soup kitchens, no more social services, no crime-ridden projects all of it just send out notices one day and stop it all. There needs to be an exercise of tough love in this city. Don't get me started on the City Officials because if you want to know the meaning of the phrase "completely worthless" they are it personified.
This is all probably true, but the ironic thing is that the vast majority (90%+) of Newark's residents are not originally from the city or even the state. All of the black people in Newark started arriving in the 1940s/1950s. There were black folk in Newark before then, but they were by and large Northern blacks and not Southern blacks. The current residents of Newark are all transplants from Alabama/Mississippi/Georiga.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cyntmac
Too bad Booker can't read these posts. I doubt he has the time and I seriously doubt anything being expressed here would surprise him. Even after living in Newark for more than 10 years-he is still seen as "just visiting" by most of his constituents.
This is all probably true, but the ironic thing is that the vast majority (90%+) of Newark's residents are not originally from the city or even the state. All of the black people in Newark started arriving in the 1940s/1950s. There were black folk in Newark before then, but they were by and large Northern blacks and not Southern blacks. The current residents of Newark are all transplants from Alabama/Mississippi/Georiga.
The migration from the south has long been over- and that is the same for New York, Philly, Baltimore,etc. The average age of someone there is probably under 30 years old. All American blacks did come from the south originally but the transplants in Newark today would be more likely to come from NYC or other parts of Jersey. Some of the older Newarkers who were born in the south may have already returned to the south but many of the poeple today have never lived anywhere but the northeast. 90% of the current residents were definitely not born in the south.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hopeless and Clueless
