Liz Del Tufo, the grand dame of Newark history, tells this story of Damon Rich, the city's former urban planner, who last month received a prestigious and lucrative fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation.

Before the work got fully underway on the $93 million interchange improvement project between routes 280 and 21, Del Tufo and other concerned citizens attended many of the New Jersey Department of Transportation's public hearings and felt they weren't being heard.

"They were ignoring our concerns," said Del Tufo, the president of the Newark Preservation & Landmarks Committee, the all-volunteer, non-governmental group that watches over the city's treasured history. "When we were allowed to ask questions, we got no answers."

The concerns ranged from the heavy construction impact on the 300-year-old Plume House, which is eyeball-to-eyeball with the Route 280 overpass, and safety of pedestrians crossing work zones.

"They (NJDOT) seemed to forget they were working in a neighborhood," Del Tufo said.

Hold that thought - because it is central to Damon Rich's philosophy as a planner - as Del Tufo's story continues.

They turned to Rich, who is a trustee of the landmarks group and was then no longer working for the city.

"He was great," Del Tufo said. "He pulled together all the people who would be affected. It was a surprising amount."

Rich brought a variety of citizen's groups together in a unified voice.

That thought, too, should be held, because it is a guiding principle of Rich's work.

"There were so many," Del Tufo said. "The preservationists, the Colonnade Residents Association, the Eighth Avenue Association ... every group."

With the help of state Sen. Teresa Ruiz, Rich secured meetings with NJDOT representatives and, not only were concerns heard, but changes were made.

"They made changes in their operation," Del Tufo said. "They put up more lights in the construction area (the intersections and ramps) so people would feel safe walking from the bus stops to the Colonnade, and they put vibration measuring devices in the Plume House, so we would feel confident it wouldn't come tumbling down."

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When asked to list his achievements in the city, Rich never mentioned the Route 280 victory, but it speaks to how he views urban planning.

The 42-year-old Rich has made a career out of bringing city people to planning and city planning to the people. In the seven years he was Newark's planning director and chief of urban design, he tried to bring people "of different incomes and all walks of life" into the conversation of how Newark would be developed.

"If people with the most money and most resources take over (meaning: developers), you get the city they want, not the city the people want," said Rich, who left the job in 2015 to launch his own design studio called Hector with artist/planner Jae Shin.

"In a city, we all live close together, so we're all impacted by development," he said. "Everyone should have a say in what the city should look like and how it should function."

New Jersey Institute of Technology architecture professor Tony Schuman has partnered on several projects with Rich, including the 3-D map of the city that showed every structure, that was built in the main library and is now being installed in city hall.

"Damon has certainly led the way in bringing the community into the discussion of planning," Schuman said. "When people know how to participate, they feel more connected to the process."

The MacArthur Fellowship, best known as the "Genius" award, has been given to about 1,000 people since 1981. They include writers, scientists, educators and activists. Rich falls into several categories; urban planner, architect and artist.

There is no application process. Instead, an anonymous board takes in anonymous nominations, and out of the blue, a phone call comes from the foundation.

Rich will receive a check for $31,250 four times a year for the next five years, for a total of a no-strings-attached award of $625,000 from the foundation.

Rich was recruited into Newark by the Cory Booker administration. He had been chief of staff of capital improvements at New York City Parks, where he led a $400 million renaissance. He was also the founder of the Center for Urban Pedagogy - which basically uses art projects to teach public school students about how things work, from sewer systems and trash collection, to public safety and government. The center, started in 1997, is still operating, though Rich stepped down as executive director in 2007 and left the board in 2015.

"It was like having a teenager that goes off to college," he said. "I was sad to say goodbye, but happy it can walk on its own."

When Rich came to Newark, he spent his first years opening up the planning process to the community. He also guided the city's strategy to make the Passaic riverfront more welcoming. Working with the Ironbound Community Corp., he created a plan for several phases of redeveloping riverfront parks that changed the former brownfields of the industrial waterway to clean, inviting public spaces, which include nature trails and boat rides.

He credits the late Sister Carol Johnston, a Catholic nun, who "educated" him on the riverfront.

"My second week here she grabbed me and took me on a 'toxic tour,' " he said.

Rich designed a memorial for her, using an existing boulder, on the waterfront just south of Bridge Street.

Rich also said he was guided by the "mix and match" architectural history of the city, crediting the late poet and activist Amiri Baraka and attorney Junius Williams for fighting to maintain a city that reflected the population during the lean years of cheap real estate.

"They struggled with problems of divestment in the '60s and '70s," Rich said. "It's an interesting history."

Lessons were learned, Rich said. The Gateway buildings, championed as the beginning of the Newark rebirth during that era, were closed off to the community. Walkways brought people from the Penn Station to work without ever having to step a foot in the city.

"It's almost an insult to the rest of the city," he said. "Newark has certainly seen the negative impacts of 'clean slate' development. I advocated the strength of that mix and match approach, to keep the evidence from all kinds of eras."

Newark, unlike many cities, has a deep reverence for its architectural history. For the most part, the landmark buildings aren't torn down and replaced by cold glass and steel towers. The art-deco towers of 740 Broad St. and 1190 Raymond Blvd. were turned into luxury apartments a decade ago. The Hahne's Building followed. The Bell Telephone Building and Griffith Piano Building are undergoing restoration. They are buildings with big windows and lobbies that open up to the city streets.

"It makes for a safer, more welcoming city," he said.

For Rich, it's all about connection. To history and to people.

"When we talk about development," he said, "the question should always be, are we strengthening or weakening that connection?"

Mark Di Ionno may be reached at mdiionno@starledger.com. Follow The Star-Ledger on Twitter @StarLedger and find us on Facebook.