Baraka’s bus burned: Is it a street fight already?
The torching of Ras Baraka’s campaign bus is yet even more evidence of how ugly the mayoralty race will be in Newark for the next three months. Stories planted in main-stream media about Baraka’s alleged support for a gang member were just the beginning of what promises to be a bare-knuckles fight for City Hall in New Jersey’s largest city.
A lot is at stake. Throughout the country, real estate developers are turning back to the cities and seeing value in properties that were once written off as valueless ghettoes. Look at Jersey City. Look at Hoboken. Baltimore. Washington. There is gold in those ghettoes—and Newark is no different.
Some observers point out that three of the scandals threatening the political career of Gov. Chris Christie involve major real estate development projects—in Fort Lee, Hoboken, and New Brunswick. It’s as if the feverish fantasies created by Christie’s people in the US Attorney’s office to snare local Democratic politicians with phony development projects have suddenly become realities–and real opportunities to make Christie’s pals a lot of money.
Real estate developers with ties to charter school companies are buying up property in the city. Plans by Cami Anderson, the state-appointed schools superintendent, has virtually unlimited power to sell of school-owned property, as