In his fourth State of the City address, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka both outlined the direction of the state's largest city and underscored what he says are his achievements with the 2018 municipal election less than two months away.

"The headlines about Newark are changing, and anyone that tries to tell you other than that is trying to tell you lies," said Baraka before the crowd at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), noting that the narrative about the city has changed. "Ours is an indefatigable journey forward, not a perfect one, just a persistent one."

Standing under a projected slogan that read, "Forward Ever, Backward Never," Baraka was numerically focused as he pointed to the city's progress in the past four years. He touted billions of dollars in new development in the city's downtown, accompanied by new restaurants, housing, and the opening of the upscale Whole Foods market. According to Baraka, the city's unemployment rate declined from 12 percent to 8 percent.

Sign Up for Newark Newsletter Our newsletter delivers the local news that you can trust. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. You have successfully signed up for the TAPinto Newark Newsletter.

While acknowledging that crime is still too high in the city, Baraka noted that his administration has tried to address previous police layoffs and retirements, hiring 500 police officers since his election in 2014, then deploying them to high-crime areas.

A former teacher and high school principal, Baraka noted the return of the Newark school system to local control in February, which had been under state control since 1995.

"Many more of our students are defying expectations and are surpassing state benchmarks," Baraka said, singling out Jordan Thomas, a 2014 graduate of Newark’s University High School who was recently selected to receive a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University, the first Newark public school graduate to win such an honor.

"One day, he may be on this stage, delivering the State of the City address," Baraka said. "We are not returning the schools back to the state, not now, not ever."

The effects of Newark's ongoing redevelopment and anticipated gentrification were also touched on by Baraka. He pointed to the recently passed inclusionary housing ordinance as a way to try to ensure that the benefit of Newark's regrowth doesn't exclude many long-term residents of the city.





"We can build the city that grows economically, and provides for its residents at the same time," Baraka said. "We can welcome market-rate housing while preserving affordability."

The announcement in January that Newark is one of 20 finalists to host Amazon’s new secondary corporate headquarters, or HQ2, has caused considerable excitement in the city. Supporters of the move of the Seattle-based retail giant to Newark are hoping for what could prove to be the biggest business boost in the city's 350-year history. Some economic analysts have said Amazon could create more than 50,000 jobs.

Whether on not Newark wins Amazon over, Baraka said that the city's ongoing makeover as a Silicon Valley-like tech hub must continue.

"We prepare for Amazon, whether we agree with them or not," Baraka said. "And if they don't come, we prepare anyway for a new tech economy."

Baraka acknowledged early in this speech that he knew that the content of Tuesday's speech was especially anticipated because of the looming May 8 municipal election. However, he did praise his mayoral race rival, Central Ward Councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins, despite the political tension that exists between them, for sponsoring an ordinance that will codify state law and affirmative action practices in the city.

But in the end, Baraka was unafraid to sing his own praises less than 60 days before the election that will decide if he gets four more years in office.

"Why in our right mind would we want to turn back now?" Baraka said, adding that the time for "scapegoating America's cities" is over. "We have a right to fall down, and we have a right to get back up. And whether we're getting it right or not, the point is that we're doing it ourselves."