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Newark Complains from Above
Newark, New Jersey—Got a complaint? If so, why not rent a billboard and post it? That’s exactly what the Newark Teachers Union decided to do.
According to The Associated Press, the group rented billboards to protest the city’s high murder rate. One ad says “HELP WANTED. Stop The Killings In Newark Now!” There were 106 murders in the state’s largest city last year, the most in a decade. There have been 19 killings so far this year. Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who campaigned on a promise of driving down crime, says the signs only fuel a negative image of the city.
Joe Del Grosso, president of the teachers union, was unapologetic, and said no one from the city has ever asked him or the union to take the billboards down. He dismissed critics such as Booker who say the billboards are political, insisting that their message is moral, reported the AP. “I think we have a serious problem,” Del Grosso said. “It’s about people dying.”
Del Grosso refused to say how much the ads cost the union, but said they will remain up until the killings abate. In response to the latest skirmishing with City Hall over the billboards, Del Grosso said he renewed the lease in March on the billboards “for another several months.”
—Lori Andreozzi
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