History of Newark City - Essay Example

History of Newark City Introduction Newark is one of the big metropolitan cities in New Jersey State, United States. It was originally formed as a city in 1667. The paper focuses on Newark’s history after the WWII up to date. Research shows that Newark has been undergoing slow and steady recovery in terms of economic growth, crime and violence since its decline just prior to the Second World War (Curvin, 2014). The Civil disturbances of 1967 and their repercussions are also discussed in this paper. In addition, the paper seeks to show the extent through which Newark has recovered since its decline focusing on the downtown revitalization efforts and the role of arts in reducing crime and poverty in the city. Notable contributors of the slow but steady recovery of Newark include the establishment of the New Jersey Performing Centre (NJPAC) in the 1990’s and the recent renovations of the Hahne and Company building in downtown Newark. Newark’s decline in the post WWII era In the late 1920s, many skyscrapers were built in Newark illustrating how the city was growing at a high rate. The city’s population increased rapidly with most people inhabiting most parts of the city and the neighbourhoods. In 1938, the city’s budgets fell from $57.8 million to $45 million in 1944 indicating a small and slow recovery from the 1930’s Great depression. Newarks’ decline was attributed to the wave that drove people to build massive housing and commercial projects. As a result, a lot of money was eliminated in circulation particularly in Newark’s activities. The Great Depression is believed to have caused manufacturers to leave the city with the jobs. Statistics show in the 1950’s the white population declined with high margins while the black population increased rapidly until 1967. It has been found out the white investors left the city’s commercial buildings and left the African Americans struggling with the substandard housing conditions, unemployment and poverty. The sharp decrease in industrial jobs caused the increased poverty rates in 1940s and 1950s. Crime and violence increased in downtown Newark where murder, homicide, theft and rape cases were consistently reported to the Newark Police Department. The good Newark’s image was destroyed with most curio shops, café and art collectives being closed down during the post-World War II era. Newark Riots in 1967 The Newark riots of 1967 caused significant decline in recovery of the Newark City in terms of economic growth, controlling crime and violence, as well as, the City’s image. In July 1967, a white police officer beat an African American citizen known as John Smith after he violently resisted arrest. He shot at the police, but, Newark police force successfully arrested him and detained him. As a result, a crowd gathered outside the Newark police station to riot against the police department because they thought that Smith had died in custody. The incident sparked fights between the police and the Blacks in the Fourth Ward and lead to a damage toll of $25, 000 (Wharton, 2013). The race riots rocked Newark City even the next days and left 26 people dead, 1478 wounded, 1550 arrested and $9.9 million property destroyed. Most businesses were looted including the 160 groceries that were never opened since then. The city’s reputation was destroyed and everybody thought of Newark as a “drowning city.” Many businesspeople incurred huge losses and left the city, which had started to recover since the end of WWII (Wharton, 2013). The abandoned empty buildings were a bad image of Newark, which depreciated further even after the 1967 incident. The middle class of Black and White races left the city to seek safer places in the United States. Newark continued to decline in the 1970s and 1980s with poverty and crime rates increasing rapidly. Newark was the most obvious example that illustrated urban despair that affected most American cities by then. Most state officials argued that Newark was a city that desperately needed help to recover from the increased poverty and crime rates. The private sector jobs declined steadily in the post-riot era from 196,000 jobs in 1969 to 110, 669 in 1998. The racial and ethnic struggles persisted in Newark even after 1967 and further suppressed Newark’s vitality. The public policies made by municipal officials contributed to substantial migration of people to the suburbs. The massive population shift in the subsequent years after 1967 created “pockets” of poverty and isolation areas in most parts of the city (Wharton, 2013). Newark’s Recovery Since 1967 Newark has been undergoing slow but steady recovery since the race riots that massively affected the city in 1967. In the 1970’s and 1980’s the rate of recovery was very slow with the poverty rates steadily increasing with small economic growth rates. There were slight increases in the private-sector jobs during the post-riot era (Curvin, 2014). However, in the recent years, the private, public and non-profit sectors have revived the economy by improving the physical infrastructures of the city, reforming education and investing in most parts of the city (Mahn et al., 2013). These economic-related improvements can be dated back in the 1990’s when unemployment rates also reduced from 17% in 1992 to 9% in 1998. It seems that urban economic growth rate of Newark remained low in the 1970s and 1980s and started increasing with slight higher margins in the late 1990s. Another contributor to Newark’s economic recovery is the significant real estate investments made in the recent past. Housing companies such as Fidelco and Hanini Group has built many middle-class residential homes in Newark in the past decade. The current Mayor Cory Booker has plans to establish more houses even in areas that have never been inhabited before to further revitalize downtown Newark. One of the goals in revitalization of Newark is to upgrade the city to become a commercial, retail and residential centre rather than a mere commercial centre. A report released in 2012 shows that the population increased slightly before 2000 due to the slow recovery rate. However, the ever declining Newark’s population has increased by nearly 2.5 % for the last decade (Wilwohl, 2013). However, the poverty rates have remained high since 1967 where most children live in poverty-stricken homes and families. These children have inadequate opportunities to shelter, education and health facilities and if no interventions are made Newark may not achieve the state of “good life” even in the future. In 2010, the US Census Bureau Statistics showed that more than 79, 000 people of Newark are living in poverty. The only slight improvement that lessens poverty is construction of low-class houses to accommodate the poverty-stricken Newark residents. Despite the gradual recovery in Newark’s development, poverty is getting worse because it increased from 24% in 2009 to 30.2% in 2010 (Wilwohl, 2013). There is great need to encourage people to invest in the city and create employment opportunities for the suffering population. The New Jersey Performing Arts Centre (NJPAC) for Revitalization NJPAC of 1997 is seen as an economic driver that will revitalize downtown Newark. One of the goals of the NJPAC was to build an attractive community in downtown Newark that will attract the working class, families and couples. These people will eventually invest in the city and lead to creation of job opportunities and overall growth on Newark’s image and reputation. Marc Benson, the chairman of Fidelco real estate development firm witnessed the chaos that rocked in Newark City (Johnson, 2014). He recounts that arts and cultural institutions such as NJPAC has the potential to spur economic growth and development for Newark and New Jersey State at large. The fact that Benson has now built two buildings in Newark shows that the NJPAC vision is realised in the modern world. Other Newark municipality officials NJPAC idea was originally conceived in 1986 as a catalyst for revitalizing the City (Johnson, 2014). The original ideas to establish the NJPAC was to make the downtown Newark life attractive. NJPAC is seen as an institution with tangible and intangible benefits to the city residents. First, those who live in Newark suburbs will spend time watching performances in the centre. The local economic elites will feel connected to the cultural institutions and as a result decide to invest in the city (Strom, 1999). The fact that NJPAC is a well-regarded and recognized cultural institution will spur school and learning development in the area. Consequently, the population around the institution will eventually decide to stay in the city and invest there. In this way, NJPAC will have created very high potential Newark’s economic development in the future. The visionary goals of NJPAC have been achieved because Newark’s population has increased and more private developers have invested there. Notable improvements in the image and reputation of Newark include establishment of the NJPAC in 1997, renovation of the Hahne and Co. building and the Prudential Center. A city is renovated first in order to bring back the people. The rugged empty streets and buildings lowered Newark’s reputation in the post WWII era. The race riots in 1967 worsened the image of the city where business people left their premises for safer places in New Jersey. As a result, most parts of city except the suburbs were left isolated and prone to agents of weather. The deserted shops and cafes looked ugly in the 1970s and 1980s. However, revitalization efforts in the recent past have made the city attractive to many families, couples and middle-income earners (Strom, 1999). When Newark private developers and state officials decided to build attractive centres they set the City’s journey to full recovery in the future. For example, the Prudential Center also known as “The Rock” plays a great role in improving the status of the city in terms of the arts (Read, 2010). The major higher education institutions in Newark today include Rutgers University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Essex County College and the University of Dentistry and Medicine of New Jersey. These institutions have improved the name of Newark City in the entire United States in the recent past. Also, the fact Rutgers University has planned to start a campus in the redeveloped Hahne and Company department store will make the city much attractive. In addition, the new Whole Foods supermarket, office and rental spaces of the building will create a modern building complex that resembles the Manhattan’s One Bryant Park Towers. It is important to note that the city has made significant improvements in reducing crime and violence. Notable efforts to reduce crime and violence can be dated back in the late 1990s when the Newark Police Department, community leaders, state officials and Rutgers University to form a problem-solving initiative to curb crime in Newark (Pizzaro and Sousa, 2008). The Greater Newark Safer Cities Initiative (GSCI) was aimed at solving the problem, but, not the individual crime incidents that are part of the larger problem. This initiative resembled the Boston Gun Project that successfully reduced youth homicide in Boston by targeting at the homicide-facilitating factors. GSCI proved success because it led to significant decline in crime rates in the late 1990s and early 2000s (Pizzaro and Sousa, 2008). In 2014, the Newark Police Department made substantial improvements in the way they handle crime in Newark City. The “neighbourhood walks,” and plans to form a citizen complaints review board mark a major breakthrough as far as administration of justice is concerned. The city officials and the police department conducted the “neighbourhood walks” in order to improve the visibility of police towards individual street crimes. The current plans to appoint a monitor and establish the complaints review board for citizens will improve police’s discipline and also reduce the unconstitutional practices that have been there in history such as beating suspects (Zenike, 2014). Conclusion Based on the discussion, it is evident that the Newark City has undergone slow but steady recovery since the post WWII era up to date. The race riots of 1967 caused the decline of the City significantly in terms of urban economic growth, fighting crime and the City’s reputation. After 1967, many business people left their premises where most of these premises were never reopened again. As a result, Newark experienced an economic down turn, their reputation and image was destroyed significantly and crime rate rapidly increased. However, the urban economy and status of Newark has gradually improved due the establishment of the NJPAC, renovation of buildings and police department reforms in the past. Although, there have been improvements in many aspects of the City, poverty rates have consistently increased and thus necessary measures should be put in place to curb this problem in the future. References Curvin, R. (2014). Inside Newark: Decline, rebellion, and the search for transformation. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. Johnson, M. (2014). The art of growth: NJPAC is at the Center of Newark’s redevelopment. New York: The New York Times Company. Mahn, L., Manieri, J., Kalyan-Masih, S., Sanchez, K. and Szeltner, M. (2013). A Spatial Analysis and Challenges to Human Development. Rutgers University Press: New Jersey. Pizarro, J. M. and Sousa, W. (2008). Strategic Problem Solving as Tool for Violence Prevention. Law Enforcement Executive Forum 8(2), 98-110. Read, P. (2010). Newark Hopes City Attracting Lure Visitors. New York: New Jersey.com. Strom, E. (1999). Let’s Put on a Show! Performing Arts and Urban Revitalization in Newark, New Jersey. Journal of Urban Affairs 21 (4), 423-435. Wharton, J. L. (2013). A post-racial change is gonna come: Newark elections, Cory Booker, and the transformation of urban America. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Wilwohl, J. (2013). Reports: Newarkers among New Jersey’s Poorest. New Jersey: New York Times. Zenike, K. (2014). US Naming a Monitor for the Police in Newark. New York: New York Times. Read More