Mayor Ras J. Baraka answered audience questions moderated by NJPAC CEO John Schreiber in September at NJPAC’s Business Partners Roundtable.
SCHREIBER: So, Dodge Poetry and Dodge Foundation have moved to Newark. Dodge Poetry is now a year-round activity in the city of Newark. Talk a little bit about Newark as a city of poetry.
MAYOR BARAKA: I’m excited about Dodge Poetry moving to Newark and the Poetry Festival. It gives more local poets opportunities and a stage, and it brings the international poetry scene to the city of Newark. It’s just amazing! Amazing! Amazing! There are a lot of poets in this town. When I first ran for mayor, when I was 24 years old, we raised some of the (campaign) dollars off poetry readings at a place in the basement next to Symphony Hall. So, poetry in Newark has long been (around), and, I’m excited about us revisiting that and leaning on the fact that art is our salvation.
SCHREIBER: Are there any special opportunities for business owners, who are native Newarkers and hire Newarkers, looking to start a small business (in Newark)? — Debra Howell and Dr. Suffiyah Webb, Brilliant Smiles Dentistry
MAYOR BARAKA: I would say Invest Newark is the go-to (resource) for people who are trying to start a business, whether you are trying to get classes or training, the right advice, or access to grants. That’s why the Newark Retail Reactivation Initiative was important:, to provide money and opportunity for businesses that wanted to find their place in the footprint of downtown. Visit www.investnewark.org.
SCHREIBER: How is the city planning to address shuttered residential buildings that are condemned? What is the overall plan for residential development outside of the downtown district? — Amir Washington, Boys and Girls Club
MAYOR BARAKA: There is development happening all over the city right now. Years ago, we began the West Ward Model Neighborhood initiative where a lot of Black and brown, women-led business developers began to develop single-family, two-family, and three-family homes in areas across the city of Newark, so that’s been happening quietly, and people have not even seen that. See, the thing that happens downtown is that you have these big, giant buildings that go up and you get a giant press release. When somebody builds a two family or three-family home, there is no press release. No media. You just get it done.
