A quick history of the 5-day riot that sparked a 5-decade stigma.

Testimony given to an Essex County Grand Jury by friends and family members of the victims give us a picture of who the victims were and where and when they died

Who should grace an imagined tribute to Millburn's best athletes?

On Monday, Gov. Chris Christie auditioned as a replacement for radio icon Mike Francesa, during which he got into an exchange with a Montclair man.

Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy pilot and federal prosecutor, is challenging Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen.

WASHINGTON -- The former Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor seeking to take down Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen raised $245,957 in the first six weeks of her campaign.

Mikie Sherrill entered the race in May against Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.), the most powerful member of the New Jersey congressional delegation as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

She said she received 1,919 individual donations in releasing the figures in advance of Saturday's reporting deadline.

"The energy and grassroots support our campaign has received so early is incredible," Sherrill said. "It demonstrates that folks in New Jersey are ready for a representative who will listen to them and stand up to President Trump, rather than entrench themselves in Washington politics."

How lawmaker's power pays off

Sherrill is not alone in seeking to take on Frelinghuysen. Passaic County Freeholder John Bartlett entered the race for the Democratic nomination last week and Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex) is considering a run as well.

President Donald Trump carried the 11th District last year, though with less than 50 percent of the vote. Both the Cook Political Report and Inside Elections, two Washington-based publications that track congressional races, say Frelinghuysen could face a competitive contest next year.

Sherill still trails Frelinghuysen in financially -- the incumbent brought in $500,617 during the first three months of the year and had $788,390 in the bank. But Frelinghuysen's last opponent, Joseph Wenzel, didn't report raising a dime for the 2016 contest, Federal Election Commission records show.

Sherill received a financial boost in June with an endorsement by Votevets.org, a progressive group that seeks to elect military veterans to Congress and was one of the biggest spenders in the last election.

Frelinghuysen switched positions and voted in favor of House Republican legislation that the Congressional Budget Office said would leave 23 million more Americans without coverage by 2026.

He also has drawn criticism for refusing to hold in-person town hall meetings, for identifying a member of an opposition group to her employer, and for trading in health care stocks while the House was debating whether to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

Girl listed in critical condition, according to authorities.

NUTLEY -- A 12-year-old girl remained in critical condition Wednesday after she was ejected from a car in a single-vehicle crash and struck by another motorist on Route 21 in Nutley, police said.

The crash occurred around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday on the highway's southbound lanes, near Exit 8, according to authorities. The girl's mother swerved and struck a guardrail, a town official told NorthJersey.com.

Police said the 34-year-old Elizabeth woman was treated and released from an area hospital Tuesday night while her daughter suffered serious injuries. Investigators were working to determine what caused the crash.

A police spokesman did not immediately provide more information.

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc and on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Local leaders commemorated the milestone with an interfaith prayer service in Newark's Central Ward.

NEWARK -- Gripping the sides of the podium in front of her tightly, a Newark church official talked to the crowd about power.

"Who has it, and who doesn't?" Dr. Antoinette Ellis Williams asked the rows of people gathered Tuesday night to mark the 50th anniversary of the Newark riots. "And when you have it, what do you do with it?"

Newark residents' desire for power and agency over their lives, both in 1967 and today, was the theme of the interfaith prayer service that drew more than 250 people to Abyssinian Baptist Church in the city's Central Ward.

Williams, a pastoral assistant at Newark's Bethany Baptist Church, told the audience the inequality and lack of upward mobility that characterized the city at the time of the riots have not disappeared.

"If you have a sentence, you can put a period at the end of it," she said. "I would say to you that the period is not yet put at the end of the sentence."

Williams urged the crowd to study and understand the past so they could move Newark in a new direction.

"If you don't know what the beginning of the sentence was, you're ... going to keep repeating the mistakes of yesteryear," she said. "Fifty years from now, we're going to begin a new sentence."

The riots, 50 years ago Wednesday, were sparked when white police officers beat a black cab driver and rumors spread that the driver had been killed. Although the driver was actually alive, the thrashing sparked five days of violence that left 24 civilians, a police officer and a firefighter dead. 

After the first two days of looting and arson, the National Guard was called in to try to quell the uprising. Rioters damaged or burned down hundreds of properties, many of which became abandoned. 

Experts and historians have debated the extent to which Newark has been able to recover. Some buildings remain vacant, but the city has taken steps to speed development downtown in recent years. 

In a speech that drew cheers and a standing ovation Tuesday, Mayor Ras Baraka insisted the upheaval that followed the beating of cab driver John Smith was not a riot, but a rebellion. 

"Riots are what happen when folks take to the streets because their local athletic team lost a game," Baraka said. "In Newark, there was a cauldron that boiled over. It was a rebellion." 

Baraka cautioned forcefully against romanticizing the violence and blaming each other for the lack of opportunity that still plagues much of the city. Community organizers have too often rallied people to address symptoms, and not the root causes of Newark's challenges, he said. 

The city today is focusing on holding police officers' accountable for brutality, pushing for criminal justice reform that keeps black men out of prison, supporting youth employment training and promoting home ownership, Baraka told the crowd, his voice raising with enthusiasm. 

"Every institution in this city should be controlled by the people who live in this city," he said. "I don't care how many times we mess it up. We have the right to fix it as many times as we mess it up."

Phil Murphy, New Jersey's Democratic candidate for governor and a former banking executive, told the crowd he watched the 1967 riots from a distance as a 10-year-old in Boston. Life today can sometimes look eerily similar, he said.

"At some level, we've come a long way. I had the honor to serve President Barack Obama as the U.S. ambassador to Germany," Murphy said. "At another level, when you pick up the paper every morning, you realize how far we still have to travel."

Vivian Carter, a lifelong Newark resident who sat at the front of the church, after the anniversary ceremony said she came to pay her respects to those who rebelled and those who died.

"I thought it was my duty to come here tonight," she said. "We will make this city great again, like a phoenix rising from the ashes." 

Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati or on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook. 

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Official says crime was preventable.

NEWARK -- Security camera footage captured a man steal a car that was left running and unattended with a 2-year-old girl inside in Newark's Ironbound on Monday.

The driver, a 24-year-old Union woman, left her car running on Ferry Street around 2:30 p.m. while she brought groceries to a relative, police said. Her daughter was left sleeping in the car when the thief took off in the unlocked vehicle.

Surveillance camera footage obtained by NBC New York showed the suspect looking at the car while the mother unloads groceries.

Select Text

City police recovered the stolen car a short time later on Adams Street, about 400 feet from where it was taken. The child was taken to University Hospital for evaluation and not injured. The thief made off with the woman's cell phone.

Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose called the crime preventable and urged motorists to lock their cars.

"We have been cautioning the public about leaving their cars running and unattended," Ambrose said. "Approximately 32 percent of the cars stolen in Newark so far this year were left running."

"With a little common sense, many crimes like this one can be prevented. Everyone has to be thankful that this didn't end with tragic results," he said.

Authorities described the thief as a white man about 20 years old, 6-feet and 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing a red and white hat, a red, white and blue soccer shirt with "Racco" written on its front and back, with black and white Adidas track pants and blue and white Nike sneakers.

Police departments around the area have urged drivers not to leave cars unlocked. In Montclair, police issued a similar alert on Wednesday amid a spike in car burglaries.

Anyone with information was urged to contact the city's 24-hour Crime Stoppers tip line at 877 NWK-TIPS (877 695-8477) or NWK-GUNS (877 695-4867). Tipsters may remain anonymous and information could lead to a reward.

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc and on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Advocates hoped the historic ordinance would pass on the 50th anniversary of the Newark riots

NEWARK -- Touted by housing advocates as a "necessary measure" that could stop gentrification in the city, a law requiring affordable housing fell short on Wednesday.

The Newark City Council failed to adopt the inclusionary zoning ordinance that would mandate 20 percent of large residential projects be set aside for low- and moderate income residents. The vote came 50 years to the day that the city erupted in a five-day disturbance over issues that included poor housing conditions and police brutality.

The measure passed on first reading in June after months of wrangling between housing advocates, developers and political leaders over how to balance development with affordability. 

But three council members voted against it and two others abstained amid confusion over which version of the legislation they were voting on. The council agreed to defer the ordinance to the next meeting.

"I believe in the concept of inclusionary law but I do not believe that this process was the best one to take," Councilman Augusto Amador said before voting "no."

Amador said a committee was formed after advocates, city leaders and developers could not agree on earlier drafts of the law. He said he was given a different version of the legislation two weeks ago that did not take into account the committee's comments and "were ignored totally," Amador said. 

Councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield-Jenkins moved to table the ordinance but the council reconsidered and deferred it after Mayor Ras Baraka made a plea.

"To table inclusionary (zoning) is absolutely problematic. You can't table affordable housing," said Baraka, who has spearheaded the effort to ensure affordable housing amid a boom in development. "Tabling means you don't want it."

Baraka urged the council to discuss their concerns so the ordinance could be amended. He said the council cannot keep giving developers tax abatements without addressing affordability.

"There has been a stand for justice throughout this history in Newark and now this council has an opportunity to make affordable housing to make equity in our community very real," Deborah Smith-Gregory, president of the NAACP Newark branch, told the council before the vote. "The neighborhood swill have the opportunity to experience quality, affordable housing that is not necessarily the case throughout the Newark."

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook. 

The victims were shot during the Portugal Day celebration in June

NEWARK -- A 16-year-old city youth has been arrested in connection with a shooting that occurred during a popular Ironbound street festival last month, Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said Wednesday.

Shortly before midnight June 10, police found two people at Ferry and Union streets who had been shot. The wounds were non-life-threatening.

The shooting occurred as the Portugal Day festival, held largely on Ferry and surrounding streets, was winding down for the night.

The teen suspect, who was arrested by members of the Fugitive Apprehension Team and the FBI, has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and possession of a prohibited, large-capacity ammunition magazine.

"I am grateful that this suspect, who put lives at risk during the Portuguese Festival, was arrested today through the fine work of Newark Police detectives and the cooperative work of the FBI's Newark Violent Crime Task Force," Ambrose said.

"The investigation is ongoing and we continue to search for additional suspects. The alliances we maintain with our law enforcement partners are vital to identifying and arresting those who commit violent crimes and to safeguard the lives of our residents and visitors."

Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The Essex County Sheriff's Office was conducting surveillance in an area of high drug activity

NEWARK-- A city woman was arrested after purchasing drugs Tuesday from another resident, who was also arrested, Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura said in a statement.

Detectives from the sheriff's Bureau of Narcotics conducted surveillance at 6th Street and Springfield Avenue following complaints of open-air drug dealing in the area.

Detectives spotted Noren McClean, 54, enter a lot at 408 S. 6th Street where she was met by 18-year-old Rajohn D. Abney, Fontoura said. Both were arrested.

McClean was found in possession of heroin stamped "Pacuiao," while authorities also recovered a bag in the lot containing 108 "jugs" of crack and a deck of heroin.

Abney was in possession of $146 in suspected drug prioceeds.

Abney was charged with two counts each of possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of CDS with intent to distribute and possession of CDS with intent to distribute within 1000 feet of Harriet Tubman School. He was also charged with the sale and distribution of narcotics to McLean.

McClean was charged with possession of CDS.

McClean was released pending a court date later this month. Abney was being held at the Essex County Jail.

Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.  

Two large containers and a van together contained fuel, authorities said

NEWARK-- The Newark Fire Division and other city officials are investigating to determine what state and local laws may have been broken after two large, above-ground containers of gasoline were found Tuesday night near homes on S. 19th Street, Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said in a statement.

Firefighters responded to the 300 block around 10:30 p.m. after receiving reports of a strong gasoline smell in the area. Firefighters discovered the containers, which held about 550 gallons, in a residential parking area about 20 feet from an occupied home, Ambrose said. Some of the fuel had also been spilled.

About 100 gallons of diesel fuel was also found in a white van parked nearby. The van was towed after the fuel was removed.

While authorities were still on the scene, a black Chevy pickup arrived and its occupants tried to remove the containers on behalf of their employer, possibly a local business operator, Ambrose said. Authorities prohibited the removal of the containers because of several code violations.

The Fire Division's Hazardous Materials team investigated to determine whether residents were safe, while the state Department of Environmental Protection took the fuel for storage at a DEP facility.

Anyone with information about this incident or any other public safety matter to call the public safety Department's 24-hour Crime Stopper tip line at 1-877- NWK-TIPS (1-877- 695-8477) or 1-877- NWK-GUNS (1-877- 695-4867).  All anonymous Crime Stopper tips are kept confidential and could result in a reward.

Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.  

It could feel as hot as 105 degrees in some parts of the region on Thursday.

Blistering heat and high humidity are teaming up to create another summer scorcher across New Jersey on Thursday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a series of heat warnings and advisories.

An excessive heat warning goes into effect at 11 a.m. Thursday for Camden, Gloucester, Mercer and northwestern Burlington counties, where the mercury is forecast to rise into the mid-90s and the heat index could soar as high as 100 to 105 degrees.

The heat index is how hot it feels when the air temperature is combined with the relative humidity.

In addition to the heat warning for western sections of New Jersey, which remains active through 8 p.m. Thursday, heat advisories have been issued in Hudson County and eastern sections of Bergen, Essex and Union counties. Those went into effect Wednesday afternoon and will continue through 6 p.m. Thursday.

Here's a look at the expected heat index numbers Thursday afternoon. Well within dangerous territory. pic.twitter.com/R3vjYb6isk

-- Cecily Tynan (@CecilyTynan) July 12, 2017

Heat advisories are scheduled to go into effect at 11 a.m. Thursday in Atlantic, southeastern Burlington, Cape May, Cumberland, Hunterdon, Middlesex, western Monmouth, Ocean, Salem and Somerset counties. Those will be active through 8 p.m. Thursday.

The National Weather Service said the areas that are under heat advisories will see temperatures reaching the low to mid-90s, and the oppressive humidity will make it feel as hot as 99 to 103 degrees.

Stormy weather possible

With a tropical air mass lingering over the New Jersey region and areas of low pressure moving in, there's a threat of scattered rain showers and thunderstorms on Thursday. Although temperatures are expected to drop significantly on Friday -- going no higher than the upper 70s to low 80s across most of northern and central New Jersey -- the humidity will remain high and there's a strong probability of showers and thunderstorms that day too.

Some of the storms on Thursday and Friday could be severe, with powerful winds, frequent lightning and small hail, according to forecasters.

Air quality alert

On top of all the heat advisories, the state Department of Environmental Protection has issued an "air quality action day" for Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties, as well as in eastern Passaic County.

That alert, which will be in effect from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, means that ground-level ozone in those areas "may approach or exceed unhealthy standards."

Heat safety tips

The National Weather Service offers the following tips to help people avoid heat exhaustion or heat strokes:

• Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors.
• Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside.
• When possible, reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. 
• Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
• Wear light weight and loose fitting clothing when possible and drink plenty of water.

"To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments," the weather service's New York office said in its heat advisory. "Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency... call 9-1-1."

 

Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LensReality or like him on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

From dawn to dusk, all kinds of things take place in the Garden State.

Okay, we're painting with a broad brush here, but not because we've tired of finding interesting categories to cover in our vintage New Jersey photo gallery. Instead, we've compiled a broad range of photos that we hope will allow viewers to consider New Jersey -- in days gone by -- from morning 'til night.

For this gallery, we've tried to show how a "typical" day in New Jersey might have gone. We've considered work, play, prayer, school, chores, entertainment and even traffic. Some photos will conjure up memories for many, others will be remembered by only a few.

MORE: Vintage photos around New Jersey

Whether a day in your life - or in the lives of your parents or grandparents -- included collecting eggs in the morning or boarding a crowded public bus for a commute home, we hope you find something here that "speaks to you."

Here's a gallery of our take on just some of the myriad activities in a day in New Jersey.

And here are some past galleries you might enjoy:

Vintage photos of people at play in N.J.

Vintage photos of how much things have changed in N.J.

Greg Hatala may be reached at ghatala@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find Greg Hatala on Facebook.

Hahne & Company's developers say the ground-floor atrium encourages all-important pedestrian traffic in the city center

NEWARK -- The Gateway office complex in New Jersey's largest city is like a glass and steel fortress in an empty no-man's land. There are no storefronts on the sidewalks, where few pedestrians can be found. Even the entrances to the complex are hard to find.

It was built in a climate of anxiety just a few years after the 1967 Newark riots, when lives were lost, buildings burned and the governor declared a state of emergency, directing the police and National Guard "to take any and all measures" to quell the violence. The urban strife unfolded against a national backdrop of racial and political unrest from that era.

Gateway, along with its enclosed concourses, was aimed at letting office workers commute in and out of Newark without ever setting foot on city streets.

Flash-forward 50 years, a few blocks to the west, to where the atrium at the Hahne & Company mixed-used development on Broad Street opened this past January.

A street-level, block-long space that incorporates a vast skylight from the old Hahne & Company department store, the sunlit passage marking a different approach to urban renewal: one that embraces preservation of existing structures rather than demolition and new construction -- encouraging commercial and civic activity at the base of city buildings as a way of enhancing safety and security, economic activity, and overall quality of life.

Like Gateway's walkway, the Hahne's atrium is also enclosed. But rather than insulating Hahne's residents, visitors and workers from the surrounding neighborhood, the walkway provides a direct link to it, said Jon Cortell, a vice president at L+M Development Partners, the project's developer. "Ultimately, Hahne's capitalizes on the reaffirmation that the city center is Broad Street," he said.

To some, the Hahne's project is a marker as a milestone in Newark's resurgence -- not only because of its design, but because of the importance of the Hahne & Company department store to the city's self-image and its commercial and cultural life. The project was all the more significant because of the old store's presence as a highly visible an eyesore on the city's main thoroughfare for three decades, since it closed in 1987.  

 "It's taken a long time for Newark to turn a corner, but I think that corner has been turned," Junius Williams, the civil rights lawyer, author, activist and Newark native, said in a recent interview.

FOSTERING CHANGE

Indeed, Hahne's is just one of several high-profile projects fostering a feeling that Newark is at last shaking off the image of a depressed, crime-ridden city, an image the riots of 1967 helped burn into the city's own consciousness and the broader public's.

Recently, a groundbreaking was held for the conversion of a 108-year-old warehouse by Edison Properties into 456,000 square feet of retail and commercial loft space.

The redeveloped warehouse will overlook a new park known as Mulberry Commons, which will anchor a $100 million residential and commercial development of a long-vacant area just south of the Prudential Center arena, a venture involving Edison, J&L Properties and Prudential. Like other mixed-used projects, including Hahne's, the idea is to allow people to live, work and play in the same neighborhood.

Edison is receiving a 30-year property tax abatement worth $1 million for the warehouse project.

Other projects helping to change the face of Newark include:

Prudential Financial's $44 million, 20-story office tower on Broad Street, completed in 2015, reaffirmed the commitment of Prudential, Newark's best-known corporate citizen, to the city of its birth. 

Teacher's Village, a $150 million mixed- use project largely completed by the RBH Group and designed by renowned architect and Newark native Richard Meier, which includes apartments, retail space and charter school buildings, integrated into the downtown Newark street grid.

The proposed redevelopment of the Bears and Eagles Stadium site by Lotus Equity Group, which would build a 2.3-million-square-foot residential, commercial and cultural complex.

Audible.com's $100 million transformation of the Second Presbyterian Church on Washington Street into its new headquarters..

540 Broad St., a proposed redevelopment of Bell Telephone's 1929 art deco headquarters by the Hahne's project firm, L+M, into 260-unit apartment tower.

One Theater Square, a 22-story, 245-unit apartment tower by Dranoff Properties and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, across the street from NJPAC.

There were 2,000 housing units under construction in the city, with the investment in residential, commercial and public projects totaling $2 billion, the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation recently reported. 

SETTING A PRECEDENT

Kevin Riordan, executive director of the Rutgers Business School's Center for Real Estate, said that for better or worse, Gateway set a precedent for development in the surrounding area, where subsequent buildings are similarly bereft of ground-floor shops or other businesses to invite the public and generate economic activity for people other than the building's owners or the workers inside.

Those Gateway-like buildings include the PSE&G headquarters, a dark glass monolith completed in 1980 with an adjacent plaza but no shops, restaurants  or anything else on its ground-floor level; One Newark Center, a 1991 office tower whose base is partially occupied by Seton Hall Law School but no commercial uses; the Newark Legal Center, a vertical island of law offices completed in 2000 across Raymond Boulevard from Gateway and connected to the complex by its own elevated walkway; and the 12-story building completed in 2013 that houses the headquarters of Panasonic Corporation of North America.

The Gateway model of architecture is just one way the riots have had an impact on some of the city's development that persists to this day, Riordan said.

"Whether it was consciously done that way, or 'Well, look what's been done, let's continue it this way,' that's why there's no foot traffic," Riordan said, noting that foot traffic is precisely what "creates the vitality of the urban experience."

A NEW DOWNTOWN

Most of Newark's recent development has been downtown, a section of the city made attractive by publicly financed institutions and services including Newark Penn Station, NJPAC and the Prudential Center arena. Observers say the more difficult challenge for Mayor Ras Baraka and the city is development in other areas.

"So things are improving now," Williams said. "The question is, will that reach into the neighborhoods?"

There are at least some signs that it has. Of particular note in the context of the rioting's anniversary are recent projects in the Central Ward, on the very site of some of that fiery July's worst violence. 

In October 2015, a ShopRite supermarket opened as the anchor of the Springfield Marketplace shopping plaza on Springfield Avenue, between Prince and Jones streets, where stores were looted and burned 50 years ago this week. For fast foods, a Taco Bell and a McDonald's are more recent additions to Springfield Marketplace, while an Ashley Stewart store opened there in April.

Making sure that all of Newark's neighborhoods benefit from redevelopment is one of Baraka's biggest challenges.

"We've got to make sure that when we bring wealth to the city that we spread it out," the mayor said recently, carrying a sledgehammer he had used during a ceremonial wall-breaking for the Edison warehouse project. "The idea is to have wealth to spread. If you don't have anything to spread out, then you're just talking."

The mayor is a Newark native and former Central High School principal, whose late father was the poet and activist Amiri Baraka. Supporters say he has managed to align the goals of developers with those of city residents, at least in terms of job creation and economic growth.

Passion for the community, an activist spirit and the belief that you can take care of everybody are essentials for that task, he said.

"But," he added, "you also have to understand that you have to allow business the room to grow, to invest, to develop in the city."

Richard Cammarieri, a Newark native and longtime activist, who is trustee of the non-profit New Community Corporation, chaired a working group on the city's current master plan put together by the mayor.

"Ras is a mayor that gets it," Cammarieri said.

Baraka's Newark 2020 initiative, for example, enlisted some of the city's biggest employers to help provide jobs for 2,020 unemployed residents by the year 2020. The mayor's Newark 3.0 initiative seeks to create job opportunities though policies that encourage Newark's development as a tech center, and his administration is a member of the Newark Venture Partners tech incubator.

OPENING A FORTRESS

Meanwhile, CBRE, the leasing agent for the Two Gateway tower, has acknowledged the criticism that the complex hasn't exactly woven itself into the fabric of the city. But operators are now trying to bring the imposing complex into the post-riot era. 

"That's no easy task in the Gateway buildings, which are connected by pedestrian concourses and linked to Newark Penn Station, a target for critics who have long argued that its design discourages pedestrian traffic in downtown Newark," the real estate firm said in a blog posted by CBRE in November 2015.

To bring the community into the complex and the complex out to the community, CBRE said shaded tables and chairs have been set up just outside Gateway's Mulberry Street entrance. A gallery and program known as the Project for Empty Space Artist in Residence Program was also created. 

Drawn to the Gateway gallery recently was Bara Qudah, a sophomore engineering major at NJIT. He was impressed by the works of artist-in-residence Richard Hart, whose wall installations combined traditional South African blankets with working stereo speakers.

Rather than seeing Gateway as a fortress isolated from Newark, Qudah said, "It's like a connection," between his NJIT neighborhood and the broader world, via Penn Station and its trains to Manhattan.

After a year studying in Newark, Qudah was already feeling some affection for the city, and he said he could see himself living there after college, if conditions were ripe.

"There are some nice places in Newark, so I would probably consider it," he said. "It depends where I get a job."

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

After its heyday in the early 1960s, the club's membership began to sharply decline and finally hit a low of 100 cardholders four years ago.

EAST ORANGE-- A city-owned golf course that failed to turn a profit for years has recently been brought back to life following $6.5 million renovations that began in 2014. 

For years, employees at the East Orange Golf Course said its empty fields could be mistaken for a cow pasture and the accompanying club resembled a dated farmhouse.

The city originally purchased the 150-acre Short Hills land in 1903 as a water reserve, and two decades later, acclaimed golf architect Thomas Bendelow transformed it into a golf course. 

After the club's heyday in the early 1960s, its membership began to decline and finally hit a low of 100 cardholders four years ago, said city spokeswoman Connie Jackson. From 2010 to 2013, the course was losing nearly $400,000 annually. 

"They didn't put a lot of investment into maintaining it and membership dwindled," she said. "The greens and the grass were not well maintained."

Mayor Lester Taylor wanted to change the tide. He temporarily closed the course in 2014 to kickstart $6.5 million renovations that were funded through bond financing approved by the state's Local Finance Board in 2015. 

City officials say the 18-hole course will rake in around $1 million annually-- more than double its previous revenues.

It's official grand opening was held Friday at 440 Parsonage Hill Road in Short Hills to celebrate the restoration of a property owned by East Orange for more than a century.  The course reopened to players in 2015, but clubhouse renovations ended in June 2017.

Renovations included the new 6,000 square foot Par 440 Restaurant and Lounge, a driving range, and irrigation system. The restaurant is operated by Mario LaVecchia of South Orange's Above Restaurant. 

Award-winning architect Stephen Kay, who renovated numerous other New Jersey golf courses including Harbor Pines Golf Club in Egg Harbor, headed the project.

In a statement, the mayor called the revamped space a "quality and accessible course."

"We took a gamble when we decided to close the course in 2014, but our gamble has paid off," Taylor said. 

And management says the turn around is visible.

Since 2013, membership has jumped from 100 to nearly 900 cardholders.

One driving factor behind the boom could be the course's affordability in relation to clubs nearby.

Golf Superintendent Juan Casiano, a turf expert hired in 2014 to oversee the project, said a new pricing system allows cardholders to pay about half the amount of surrounding public courses. 

And on a typical Saturday afternoon, hundreds fill the fields that were once almost empty, said Karim Muhammed, an assistant manager who has been working at the course since 1982. 

"Every day membership is changing," Muhammed said. "Compared to what it used to be, that's shocking... Before, we just had senior citizens playing up here."

Avalon Zoppo may be reached at azoppo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @AvalonZoppo. Find NJ.com on Facebook. 

Neighbors of the historic Livingston house say approved renovation will spoil the house and the block

LIVINGSTON -- Good fences make good neighbors, or so goes the old proverb about a healthy respect for boundaries.

But since the buyers of the old Kean estate in Livingston got approval for changes including a fence around the 5-acre property, homeowners next door have led a legal and public relations battle that has been anything but neighborly.

Residents of the Windermere Court cul-de-sac are opposed to changes sought by the mansion's new owners, Judy and Mark Tabak, and have distributed fliers urging township residents to "Preserve the memory of one of America's great patriots and leaders," and posted signs reading, "Save the Mansion."

The patriot they're referring to is Robert Kean, a New Jersey congressman from 1939-1962, who in 1924 was bequeathed the stone manor house and surrounding 350-acre estate, where he raised his six children, including Thomas H. Kean, the state's popular Republican governor from 1982 to 1990. Robert Kean died in 1980, and the house and surrounding acreage were sold and subdivided into the upscale enclave known as Bel Air Estates.

The Tabaks bought the mansion for $6.2 million in 2015 from a couple who fell into legal and financial trouble following a lavish interior redecoration of marble and gold leaf that quickly lost its luster to neglect.

During a tour of the house this week, the basement stunk of mildew, while a dead bat collected dust on a bedroom floor. Outside, a large rodent scurried under the house through a hole in the foundation, chunks of mortar fell from between the stones, paint pealed from rotting wood trim. 

They plan to restore the house's interior and exterior as closely as possible to its original condition, as a comfortable and safe family gathering place for themselves, their children, grandchildren, and future generations.

"I'm motivated by the fact, quite simply, that we have five grandchildren under the age of six," said Mark Tabak, founder and CEO of MultiPlan Inc, a nationwide healthcare network administrator. "Unfortunately, years ago, I saw a little kid who ran out on the street and got hit by a car. So I want to contain the area for my children and grandchildren. It's an honorable thing to do."

In addition to erecting a fence, the Tabaks also plan to expand the 19,687-square-foot house by 5,000 square feet, adding a single-lane bowling ally, a pool house and a gazebo, and an attached garage topped by a two-bedroom apartment for a caretaker's family. The Livingston Board of Adjustment granted all ten of the variances they sought at its March 28 meeting.

But for several of the Tabaks' Windermere Court neighbors, the proposed changes represent a threat to the spirit and even the property values of their affluent cul-de-sac.

Leading the opposition is the real estate mogul Miles Berger, who as head of the Berger Organization is principal owner of the Robert Treat Hotel and many other properties in Newark. Berger and his wife, Suzanne, have lived for 15 years in a pale yellow contemporary house next door to the Kean place.

They and their next-door neighbor Sherry Izak filed a lawsuit against the zoning board and the Tabaks, seeking to block the variance approvals. The suit notes that the Tabaks' daughter, Lauren Tabak Fass, is a members of the board, who recused herself from the case. 

The defendants have not responded to the suit, and no hearing has been set.

"This is an open community, with an open front, that's why I and the rest of the the community objected to it," Berger said in an interview, referring to the Tabaks' proposed fence. "None of our houses in Bellaire have front gates, we have no fences in the front on Windermere court."

Berger said the variance allowing for the caretakers apartment technically makes the house a multi-family dwelling, which would lower property values in an area zoned for single-family homes. And he objected to the proposed expansion of the house, which for tax purposes, the Tabaks said, was purchased through YaYaPop LLC, an amalgam of their young grandchildren's nicknames for them.

"The house was big enough for the Kean Family, it should be big enough to the YaYa Pop family," Berger said.

The Tabaks do have at least on ally from the neighborhood. Robert W. Kean III is a grandson of congressman who grew up near the mansion and spent lots of time there. Kean, who now lives in Manhattan, told the zoning board in a letter last winter that he was all too aware of the house's decline but happy with the Tabaks' plans.

"My grandparents made their home a family home -- it was always full of grandchildren and, later, great grandchildren," wrote Kean. "I am gratified to hear that it will be again a family house after the Tabaks invest much time and money into bringing the house up to 21st Century standards."

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

ORANGE -- Arts Unbound's Elder Art Ambassadors program has made it easier for older budding artists to learn in a relaxed and comfortable setting. Eight senior art students were recruited a year ago to receive training in fundamental art techniques, creating lesson plans and classroom management. Since then, they have been managing free art classes for seniors in East Orange,...

A participant in the Elder Arts Program at Arts Unbound in Orange displays his work. 

ORANGE -- Arts Unbound's Elder Art Ambassadors program has made it easier for older budding artists to learn in a relaxed and comfortable setting.

Eight senior art students were recruited a year ago to receive training in fundamental art techniques, creating lesson plans and classroom management. Since then, they have been managing free art classes for seniors in East Orange, Montclair, South Orange and Maplewood.

"My favorite part is how proud people are of the work they create," said ambassador Joyce Farr. "I researched and created a lesson plan for a watercolor class," said fellow ambassador Sally Sheola. "I never thought I could do anything like that before."

Elder Art Ambassadors will continue offering free classes to Essex County municipalities and organizations through a Grotta Fund grant. Requests to bring an ambassador to your community can be made by calling Arts Unbound's Armisey Smith at 973-675-2787 or emailing esmith@artsunbound.org.

To submit news for the Senior Spotlight column, please call 973-836-4922 or email es-sex@starledger.com.

Greg Hatala may be reached at ghatala@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find Greg Hatala on Facebook.

One man arrested, two others fled the scene late Wednesday, according to police.

NEWARK -- A Newark man was arrested after he was caught unloading a truck full of debris behind a Central Ward building late Wednesday, the latest arrest in the city's crackdown on illegal dumping, officials said.

Officials released photos of trash they said was dumped on 300 block of 18th Avenue (Photo: Newark Dept. of Public Safety) 

Brandon G. McLean, 31, of Newark, was charged with illegal dumping and illegally transporting solid waste.

Members of the Newark Illegal Dumping Task Force saw McLean and two other men unloading wood, doors, a sofa, concrete and plastic bags to the ground from a rental truck in the 300 block of 18th Avenue around 10 p.m., officials said. Two alleged accomplices ran away while police stopped McLean.

Officials said the truck would be seized pending forfeiture proceedings.

In a statement, Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose urged anyone with information to contact the city tip line at 1-877-NWK-TIPS (1-877-695-8477) or 1-877-NWK-GUNS (1-877-695-4867).

Ambrose and Mayor Ras Baraka announced the anti-dumping task force in June. The effort includes police, sanitation and fire officials.

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc and on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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The new petition is in reaction to remarks the governor made while hosting a sports-talk radio show.

Mike in Montclair calls @GovChristie a fat-ass and a bully. Christie calls Mike in Montclair a bum and a communist. And... we're off! #WFAN pic.twitter.com/HUcLMRZPVz

-- Sports Funhouse (@SportsFunhouse) July 10, 2017

MONTCLAIR -- The 'communist' comment debate might not be over.

Residents in Montclair have started an online petition asking Gov. Chris Christie to hold a town hall meeting in the liberal township following his heated back and forth with a caller while co-hosting a WFAN sports talk radio show.

"We would like to meet Chris Christie face to face to educate him about the stereotypes he perpetuated on the air as well as hold him accountable for his last eight years in office," the Change.org petition reads.

"We would like to question him as to why he continues to alienate those who do not think as he does rather than try to understand and work with the opposing viewpoint, as any great leader has done in the past."

Christie radio insults reverberate in Montclair

The demands come after Christie, who is co-hosting for a shot to replace the retiring radio host Mike Francesca, got into a verbal spat with Mike Goldstein, who calls in as "Mike from Montclair."

In response to Goldstein's complaints about Christie visiting a beach last weekend that was closed to the public during the state government shutdown, the governor said, "I love getting calls from communists in Montclair."

Town residents have had a spirited reaction to the comments.

A Christie spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the town hall petition, which by noon had 94 digital signatures.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.