United

In those days I lived in Newark’s South Ward, on the top floor of a three-family home. One reason I picked this neighborhood—after Brick Towers closed—was because it had one of the highest rates of shootings in the city. I knew from watching the former mayor that Newark’s chief executive had twenty-four-hour protection, even at his house when he wasn’t home. I figured that if my home was going to have round-the-clock police presence, why not live in a community that could benefit from all that security? This decision sparked heated debate among my staff and police leadership, but given that I was coming off eight years of living in Brick Towers, no appeal about my safety or “quality of life” was persuasive. I insisted that I would live in the section of the city that reflected many of the urgencies that had inspired me to run for office in the first place.