For Immediate Release

EGREGIOUS AMENDMENT REQUEST WOULD BAN LOW-INCOME RESIDENTS FROM BRICK TOWERS REDEVELOPMENT AREA

Newark Municipal Council Members Fight for MLK Boulevard Residents

Newark, NJ – April 7, 2008 – Members of the Newark Municipal Council are tirelessly working to stop a rezoning ordinance that would prevent the construction of low-income or public housing within a 20-block radius along the Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard corridor.

This corridor houses the former Brick Towers complex, a low-income housing development where Mayor Cory Booker resided for nearly 10 years.
With support from the mayor’s office, developers Montgomery Street Housing LLC proposed a indefensible modification to the Old Third Ward Renewal Project at a Newark Municipal Council meeting on April 2.

The renewal project’s existing 18th Amendment includes a provision allowing low-income public housing to be a method of residential development. If approved, the proposed 19th Amendment would not provide this option; low-income public housing would no longer be an available means of developing residential sites in the area.

After initial review of the plans, the Newark Municipal Council moved to table the item. “Public housing is leaving Newark quickly and we have to make sure there is housing for low-income residents,” says Central Ward Councilwoman Dana Rone. “We are approving a lot of affordable housing projects and that is great, but in the Central Ward many of the residents have incomes that are below the poverty level. We have to ensure that affordable is affordable for Newark residents,” she maintains.

Rone emphasizes that affordable is not the same as low-income. “Affordable is about $800 per month for a one-bedroom apartment in the Central Ward. Many of our residents can not afford this amount,” Rone says. According to the last census data, the median income of the Central Ward population is roughly $15,000, which is significantly lower than the U.S. median income of approximately $40,000.

The Municipal Council received the final plans from Montgomery Street Housing late on Tuesday, April 1, and was unable to review the plans fully before the meeting on Wednesday, April 2. The council also deferred an item until April 16 that would allow Montgomery Street Housing to apply for a tax credit.

“It should take five months on average to properly review a law change of this magnitude,” Rone says. “This would be the first time in 18 years that this amendment would be changed.” On April 16, the council plans to revisit the resolutions presented by the mayor’s office on behalf of Montgomery Street Housing.

“We’re in total support of [Councilwoman Dana Rone’s] concerns,” East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador said at the April 2 meeting. “We’re deferring the issue until the next regular meeting with the understanding that we will be in support if the issues are resolved.”

Rone has formed a review committee, along with West Ward Councilman Ron Rice, North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos, Jr., and Councilman-At-Large Donald Payne, Jr. The members plan to meet this week with experts to continue reviewing the plans

///

For more information contact Sakina Cole, Cole Media, Inc. at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and (973) 609-2445