United, by Cory Booker: on Welfare & Poverty


Newark got disproportionate share of dumps & jails

When I was growing up in the 1980s, Newark was a place often maligned or feared in the suburbs. Mentions of the city inspired concern or even pity expressed in a way that was often insulting.

New Jersey was happy to place in Newark a state prison, a county jail, waste disposal sites, sewage treatment facilities, halfway houses, drug treatment centers. A grossly disproportionate share of public and low- income housing, and other necessary public goods that wouldn't be located in surrounding suburban towns. Despite this, Newark still boasted New Jersey's finest cultural institutions, including the state's largest public library and museum. It was the state's largest college town and it was home to massive job generators such as Newark Liberty International Airport.

There was a tenacious resolve in Newark to show the world a truth that would upset shallow assertions that Newark was dead. There was a vast communal will to demonstrate that this once great city would rise again.

Source: United, by Senator Cory Booker, p. 29-30 Feb 16, 2016

Post-WWII policy of redlining forced racially-biased housing

After World War II, racially focused housing policies were set in place at every level of government--and many of them are still on the books. These policies included local restrictive covenants that banned the transfer of property to blacks, real-estate agents steering minorities away from white towns, zoning rules that allowed towns to avoid having low- income housing, overtly discriminatory mortgage lending, redlining that effectively walled minority communities off from opportunity and investment, and FHA policies that rewarded financial institutions and builders who invested in white communities.

HUD polices were put in place that directed the building of densely clustered low-income and public housing into urban spaces. Newark's nickname, "Brick City," is derived from the federal policy to pack low-income housing into Newark and not diffusely throughout the state of New Jersey, where the impact of poverty on families would have been mitigated.

Source: United, by Senator Cory Booker, p.105-6 Feb 16, 2016

Post-WWII policy of redlining forced racially-biased housing

After World War II, racially focused housing policies were set in place at every level of government--and many of them are still on the books. These policies included local restrictive covenants that banned the transfer of property to blacks, real-estate agents steering minorities away from white towns, zoning rules that allowed towns to avoid having low- income housing, overtly discriminatory mortgage lending, redlining that effectively walled minority communities off from opportunity and investment, and FHA policies that rewarded financial institutions and builders who invested in white communities.

HUD polices were put in place that directed the building of densely clustered low-income and public housing into urban spaces. Newark's nickname, "Brick City," is derived from the federal policy to pack low-income housing into Newark and not diffusely throughout the state of New Jersey, where the impact of poverty on families would have been mitigated.

Source: United, by Senator Cory Booker, p.105-6 Feb 16, 2016

  • The above quotations are from United
    Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good
    by Cory Booker    .
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Candidates and political leaders on Welfare & Poverty:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Feb 26, 2019