Newark, New Jersey

History

Newark was settled in 1666 by Connecticut Puritans led by Robert Treat from the New Haven Colony. It was conceived as a theocratic assembly of the faithful, though this did not last for long as new settlers came with different ideas. On October 31, 1693 it was organized as a New Jersey township based on the Newark Tract, which was first purchased on July 11, 1667. Newark was granted a Royal charter on April 27, 1713. It was incorporated on February 21, 1798 by the New Jersey Legislature's Township Act of 1798, as one of New Jersey's initial group of 104 townships. During its time as a township, portions were taken to form Springfield Township (April 14, 1794), Caldwell Township (February 16, 1798; now known as Fairfield Township), Orange Township (November 27, 1806), Bloomfield Township (March 23, 1812) and Clinton Township (April 14, 1834, remainder reabsorbed by Newark on March 5, 1902). Newark was reincorporated as a city on April 11, 1836, replacing Newark Township, based on the results of a referendum passed on March 18, 1836. The previously independent Vailsburg borough was annexed by Newark on January 1, 1905. In 1926, South Orange Township changed its name to Maplewood. As a result of this, a portion of Maplewood known as Ivy Hill was re-annexed to Newark's Vailsburg.

The name of the city is thought to derive from Newark-on-Trent, England, because of the influence by the original pastor, Abraham Pierson, who came from Yorkshire but may have ministered in Newark, Nottinghamshire. But Pierson is also supposed to have said that the community reflecting the new task at hand should be named "New Ark" for "New Ark of the Covenant and some of the colonists saw it as "New-Work", the settlers' new work with God. Whatever the origins, the name was shortened to Newark, although references to the name "New Ark" are found in preserved letters written by historical figures such as David Ogden in his claim for compensation, and James McHenry, as late as 1787.

During the American Revolutionary War British troops made several raids into the town.

The city saw tremendous industrial and population growth during the 19th century and early 20th century, and experienced racial tension and urban decline in the second half of the 20th century, culminating in the 1967 Newark riots. The city has experienced revitalization since the 1990s.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total area of 26.107 square miles (67.617 km²), including 24.187 square miles (62.644 km²) of land and 1.920 square miles (4.973 km²) of water (7.35%) was water. It has the third-smallest land area among the 100 most populous cities in the U.S., behind neighboring Jersey City and Hialeah, Florida. The city's altitude ranges from 0 (sea level) in the east to approximately 230 feet (70 m) above sea level in the western section of the city. Newark is essentially a large basin sloping towards the Passaic River, with a few valleys formed by meandering streams. Historically, Newark's high places have been its wealthier neighborhoods. In the 19th century and early 20th century, the wealthy congregated on the ridges of Forest Hill, High Street, and Weequahic.

Until the 20th century, the marshes on Newark Bay were difficult to develop, as the marshes were essentially wilderness, with a few dumps, warehouses, and cemeteries on their edges. During the 20th century, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was able to reclaim 68 acres (28 ha) of the marshland for the further expansion of Newark Airport, as well as the growth of the port lands.

Newark is surrounded by residential suburbs to the west (on the slope of the Watchung Mountains), the Passaic River and Newark Bay to the east, dense urban areas to the south and southwest, and middle-class residential suburbs and industrial areas to the north. The city is the largest in New Jersey's Gateway Region, which is said to have received its name from Newark's nickname as the "Gateway City".

Neighborhoods

Newark is New Jersey's largest and second-most racially diverse city (after neighboring Jersey City). It is divided into five political wards, which are often used by residents to identify their place of habitation. In recent years, residents have begun to identify with specific neighborhood names instead of the larger ward appellations. Nevertheless, the wards remain relatively distinct. Industrial uses, coupled with the airport and seaport lands, are concentrated in the East and South Wards, while residential neighborhoods exist primarily in the North, Central, and West Wards.

State law requires that wards be compact and contiguous and that the largest ward may not exceed the population of the smallest by more than 10% of the average ward size. Ward boundaries are redrawn, as needed, by a board of ward commissioners consisting of two Democrats and two Republicans appointed at the county level and the municipal clerk. Redrawing of ward lines in previous decades have shifted traditional boundaries, so that downtown currently occupies portions of the East and Central Wards. The boundaries of the wards are altered for various political and demographic reasons and sometimes gerrymandered, especially the northeastern portion of the West Ward.

Newark's Central Ward, formerly known as the old Third Ward, contains much of the city's history including the original squares Lincoln Park, Military Park and Washington Park. The Ward contains the University Heights, The Coast/Lincoln Park, Government Center, Springfield/Belmont and Seventh Avenue neighborhoods. Of these neighborhood designations only University Heights, a more recent designation for the area that was the subject of the 1968 novel Howard Street by Nathan Heard, is still in common usage. The Central Ward extends at one point as far north as 2nd Avenue.

In the 19th century, the Central Ward was inhabited by Germans and other white Catholic and Christian groups. The German inhabitants were later replaced by Jews, who were then replaced by Blacks. The increased academic footprint in the University Heights neighborhood has produced gentrification, with landmark buildings undergoing renovation. Located in the Central Ward is the largest health sciences university in the nation, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School. It is also home to three other universities – New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Rutgers University – Newark, and Essex County College. The Central Ward forms the present-day heart of Newark, and includes 26 public schools, two police precincts, including headquarters, four firehouses, and one branch library.

The North Ward is surrounded by Branch Brook Park. Its neighborhoods include Broadway, Mount Pleasant, Upper Roseville and the affluent Forest Hill section. Forest Hill contains the Forest Hill Historic District, which is registered on state and national historic registers, and contains many older mansions and colonial homes. A row of residential towers with security guards and secure parking line Mt. Prospect Avenue in the Forest Hill neighborhood. The North Ward has lost geographic area in recent times; its southern boundary is now significantly further north than the traditional boundary near Interstate 280. The North Ward historically had a large Italian population; demographics have transitioned to Latino in recent decades, though the ward as a whole remains ethnically diverse.

The West Ward comprises the neighborhoods of Vailsburg, Ivy Hill, West Side, Fairmount and Lower Roseville. It is home to the historic Fairmount Cemetery. The West Ward, once a predominately Irish-American, Polish, and Ukrainian neighborhood, is now home to neighborhoods composed primarily of Latinos, African Americans, and Caribbean Americans. The West Ward has struggled in recent years with elevated rates of crime, particularly violent crime.

The South Ward comprises the Weequahic, Clinton Hill, Dayton, and South Broad Valley neighborhoods. The South Ward, once home to residents of predominately Jewish descent, now has ethnic neighborhoods made up primarily of African Americans and Hispanics. The South Ward is represented by Council Member John Sharpe James. The city's second-largest hospital, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, can be found in the South Ward, as can 17 public schools, five daycare centers, three branch libraries, one police precinct, a mini precinct, and three fire houses.

The East Ward consists of much of Newark's Downtown commercial district, as well as the Ironbound neighborhood, where much of Newark's industry was located in the 19th century. Today, due to the enterprise of its immigrant population, the Ironbound (also known as "Down Neck" and "The Neck") is a destination for shopping, dining, and nightlife. A historically immigrant-dominated section of the city, the Ironbound in recent decades has been termed "Little Portugal" and "Little Brazil" due to its heavily Portuguese and Brazilian population; Newark being home to one of the largest Portuguese speaking communities in the United States. In addition, the East Ward has become home to various Latin Americans, African Americans, and commuters to Manhattan. Public education in the East Ward consists of East Side High School and six elementary schools. The ward is largely composed of densely packed housing, primarily large apartment buildings and rowhouses.

Climate

Newark lies in the humid subtropical (Köppen Cfa/Dfa), with mild, damp winters and hot, humid summers. The January daily mean is 32.6 °F (0.3 °C), and although temperatures below 10 °F (−12 °C) are to be expected in most years, sub-0 °F (−18 °C) readings are rare; conversely, some days may warm up to 50 °F (10 °C). The average seasonal snowfall is 29.5 inches (75 cm), though variations in weather patterns may bring sparse snowfall in some years and several major Nor'easters in others, with the heaviest 24-hour fall of 25.9 inches (66 cm) occurring on December 26, 1947. Spring and autumn in the area are generally unstable yet mild. The July daily mean is 77.4 °F (25.2 °C), and highs exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on an average 27 days per year, not factoring in the oft-higher heat index.

The city receives precipitation ranging from 2.9 to 4.8 inches (74 to 122 mm) per month, usually falling on 8 to 12 days per month. Extreme temperatures have ranged from −14 °F (−26 °C) on February 9, 1934 to 108 °F (42 °C) on July 22, 2011.

Demographics

The city had a population of 277,140 as of the 2010 Census, retaining its position as the largest city in the state and making it the nation's 67th most-populous municipality. After reaching a peak of 442,337 residents counted in the 1930 Census, the city's population saw a decline of nearly 40% as residents moved to surrounding suburbs, with the increase in 2010 of 3,594 (+1.3%) from the 273,546 counted in the 2000 Census marking the second census in 70 years in which the city's population had grown from the previous enumeration.

"White flight" from Newark to the suburbs, which started in the 1940s accelerated in the 1960s. The 1967 riots resulted in a significant population loss of the city's middle class, many of them Jewish, which continued from the 1970s through to the 1990s. The city lost about 130,000 residents between 1960 and 1990.

From the 1950s to 1967, white population shrank from 363,000 to 158,000, its black population grew from 70,000 to 220,000. The percentage of Non-Hispanic whites declined from 82.8% in 1950 to 11.6% by 2010. The percentage of Latinos in Newark grew between 1980 and 2010, from 18.6% to 33.8% while that of Blacks decreased from 58.2% to 52.4%.

Poverty remains a consistent problem in Newark, despite its revitalization in recent years. As of 2010, roughly one-third of the city's population was impoverished.

In advance of the 2000 United States Census, city officials made a push to get residents to respond and participate in the enumeration, citing calculations by city officials that as many as 30,000 people were not reflected in estimates from the Census Bureau, which resulted in the loss of government aid and political representation. It is believed that heavily immigrant areas of Newark were significantly undercounted in the 2010 Census, especially in the East Ward. Many households refused to participate in the census, with immigrants often reluctant to submit census forms because they believed that the information could be used to justify their deportation.

2010 Census

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 277,140 people, 94,542 households, and 61,641 families residing in the city. The population density was 11,458.3 per square mile (4,424.1/km²). There were 109,520 housing units at an average density of 4,528.1 per square mile (1,748.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 26.31% (72,914) White, 52.35% (145,085) Black or African American, 0.61% (1,697) Native American, 1.62% (4,485) Asian, 0.04% (118) Pacific Islander, 15.22% (42,181) from other races, and 3.85% (10,660) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 33.83% (93,746) of the population.

There were 94,542 households out of which 33.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 28.0% were married couples living together, 28.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.8% were non-families. 27.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.76 and the average family size was 3.36.

In the city, the population was spread out with 25.6% under the age of 18, 11.9% from 18 to 24, 31.9% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 8.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32.3 years. For every 100 females there were 97.9 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and old there were 96.3 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $35,659 (with a margin of error of +/− $1,009) and the median family income was $41,684 (+/− $1,116). Males had a median income of $34,350 (+/− $1,015) versus $32,865 (+/− $973) for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,367 (+/− $364). About 22.0% of families and 25.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34.9% of those under age 18 and 22.4% of those age 65 or over.

2000 Census

Newark was the 64th-most-populous city as of the 2000 Census.

As of the 2000 United States Census there were 273,546 people, 91,382 households, and 61,956 families residing in the city. The population density was 11,495.0 per square mile (4,437.7/km²). There were 100,141 housing units at an average density of 4,208.1 per square mile (1,624.6//km²). The racial makeup of the city as of the 2000 Census was 53.46% (146,250) African American, 26.52% (72,537) White, 1.19% (3,263) Asian, 0.37% (1,005) Native American, 0.05% (135) Pacific Islander, 14.05% (38,430) from other races, and 4.36% (11,926) from two or more races. 29.47% (80,622) of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

As of the 2000 Census, 49.2% of the city's 80,622 residents who identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino were from Puerto Rico, while 9.4% were from Ecuador and 7.8% from the Dominican Republic. There is a significant Portuguese-speaking community concentrated in the Ironbound district. 2000 Census data showed that Newark had 15,801 residents of Portuguese ancestry (5.8% of the population), while an additional 5,805 (2.1% of the total) were of Brazilian ancestry.

There were 91,382 households out of which 35.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.0% were married couples living together, 29.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.2% were non-families. 26.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.8 and the average family size was 3.40.

In the city the age distribution of the population shows 27.9% under the age of 18, 12.1% from 18 to 24, 32.0% from 25 to 44, 18.7% from 45 to 64, and 9.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.2 males. For every 100 females of age 18 and over, there were 91.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $26,913, and the median income for a family was $30,781. Males had a median income of $29,748 versus $25,734 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,009. 28.4% of the population and 25.5% of families were below the poverty line. 36.6% of those under the age of 18 and 24.1% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. The city's unemployment rate was 8.5%.

Economy

More than 100,000 people commute to Newark each workday, making it the state's largest employment center with many white-collar jobs in insurance, finance, import-export, health-care, and government. As a major courthouse venue including federal, state, and county facilities, it is home to more than 1,000 law firms. The city is also a "college town", with nearly 50,000 students attending the city's universities and medical and law schools. Its airport, maritime port, rail facilities, and highway network make Newark the busiest transshipment hub on the East Coast in terms of volume.

Though Newark is not the industrial colossus of the past, the city does have a considerable amount of industry and light manufacturing. The southern portion of the Ironbound, also known as the Industrial Meadowlands, has seen many factories built since World War II, including a large Anheuser-Busch brewery that opened in 1951 and distributed 7.5 million barrels of beer in 2007. The service industry is also growing rapidly, replacing those in the manufacturing industry, which was once Newark's primary economy. In addition, transportation has become a large business in Newark, accounting for more than 17,000 jobs in 2011.

Newark is one of nine cities in New Jersey designated as eligible for Urban Transit Hub Tax Credits by the state's Economic Development Authority. Developers who invest a minimum of $50 million within 0.5 miles of a train station are eligible for pro-rated tax credit. After the election of Cory Booker, millions of dollars of public-private partnership investment were made in Downtown development but persistent underemployment continue to characterize many of the city's neighborhoods. Poverty remains a consistent problem in Newark. As of 2010, roughly one-third of the city's population was impoverished.

Newark is the third-largest insurance center in the United States, after New York City and Hartford. The Prudential Financial, Mutual Benefit Life, Fireman's Insurance, and American Insurance Company all originated in the city. The first, one of the largest insurance companies in the world, has its "home office in Newark. Many other companies are headquartered in the city, including IDT Corporation, NJ Transit, Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), Manischewitz, Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey. and Audible.com. In 2013 Panasonic moved its North American headquarters to a new 250,000-square-foot (23,000 m²) office building.

Portions of Newark are part of an Urban Enterprise Zone. In addition to other benefits to encourage employment within the Zone, shoppers can take advantage of a reduced 3½% sales tax rate (versus the 7% rate charged statewide) at eligible merchants.

While for years Newark was a food desert with a dearth of supermarkets, several new ones have opened or are planning to open since 2000, including a ShopRite supermarket and the upscale Whole Foods.

Port Newark

Port Newark is the part of Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal and the largest cargo facility in the Port of New York and New Jersey. Located on Newark Bay, it is run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and serves as the principal container ship facility for goods entering and leaving the New York metropolitan region and the northeastern quadrant of North America. The Port moved over $100 billion in goods in 2003, making it the 15th busiest in the world at the time, but was the number one container port as recently as 1985. Plans are underway for billions of dollars of improvements – larger cranes, bigger railyard facilities, deeper channels, and expanded wharves.

Architecture and sculptures

There are several notable Beaux-Arts buildings, such as the Veterans' Administration building, the Newark Museum, the Newark Public Library, and the Cass Gilbert-designed Essex County Courthouse. Notable Art Deco buildings include several 1930s era skyscrapers, such as the National Newark Building and Eleven 80, the restored Newark Penn Station, and Arts High School. Gothic architecture can be found at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart by Branch Brook Park, which is one of the largest gothic cathedrals in the United States. It is rumored to have as much stained glass as the Cathedral of Chartres. Newark also has two public sculpture works by Gutzon Borglum—Wars of America in Military Park and Seated Lincoln in front of the Essex County Courthouse. Moorish Revival buildings include Newark Symphony Hall and the Prince Street Synagogue, one of the oldest synagogue buildings in New Jersey.

Performing arts

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center, located near Military Park opened in 1997, is the home of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and the New Jersey State Opera, The center's programs of national and international music, dance, and theater make it the nation's sixth-largest performing arts center, attracting over 400,000 visitors each year.

Prior to the opening of the performing arts center, Newark Symphony Hall was home to the New Jersey Symphony, the New Jersey State Opera, and the Garden State Ballet, which stills maintains an academy there. The 1925 neo-classic building, originally built by the Shriners, has three performance spaces, including the main concert named in honor of famous Newarker Sarah Vaughan, offering rhythm and blues, rap, hip-hop, and gospel music concerts, and is part of the modern-day Chitlin' Circuit.

The Newark Boys Chorus, founded in 1966, performs regularly in the city. The African Globe Theater Works presents a new works seasonally. The biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival took place in Newark for the first time in 2010.

Venues at the universities in the city are also used to present professional and semi-professional theater, dance, and music. Since its opening, the Prudential Center in 2007 has presented Diana Ross, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, The Eagles, Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, Spice Girls, Jonas Brothers, Metro Station, Metallica, Alicia Keys, Demi Lovato, David Archuleta, Taylor Swift and American Idol Live!, among others. Bon Jovi performed a series of ten concerts to mark the venue's opening.

Museums, libraries, and galleries

The Newark Museum is the largest in New Jersey. Highlights of its collection include American and Tibetan art. The museum also contains science galleries, a planetarium, a gallery for children's exhibits, a fire museum, a sculpture garden and an 18th-century schoolhouse. Also part of the museum is the historic John Ballantine House, a restored Victorian mansion which is a National Historic Landmark. The museum co-sponsors the Newark Black Film Festival, which has premiered numerous films since its founding in 1974.

The city is also home to the New Jersey Historical Society, which has rotating exhibits on New Jersey and Newark. The Newark Public Library, the state's largest system with 11 locations, also produces a series of historical exhibits. The library houses more than a million volumes and has frequent exhibits on a variety of topics, many featuring items from its Fine Print and Special Collections.

Since 1962, Newark has been home to the Institute of Jazz Studies, the world's foremost jazz archives and research libraries. Located in the John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgers-Newark, the Institute houses more than 200,000 jazz recordings in all commercially available formats, more than 6,000 monograph titles, including discographies, biographies, history and criticism, published music, film and video; over 600 periodicals and serials, dating back to the early 20th century; and one of the country's most comprehensive jazz oral history collections, featuring more than 150 jazz oral histories, most with typed transcripts.

In February 2004, plans were announced for a new Smithsonian Institution-affiliated Museum of African American Music to be built in the city's Coast/Lincoln Park neighborhood. The museum will be dedicated to black musical styles, from gospel to rap. The new museum will incorporate the façade of the old South Park Presbyterian Church, where Abraham Lincoln once spoke.

On December 9, 2007, the Jewish Museum of New Jersey, located at 145 Broadway in the Broadway neighborhood, held its grand opening. The museum is dedicated to the cultural heritage of New Jersey's Jewish people. The museum is housed at Ahavas Sholom, the last continually operating synagogue in Newark. By the 1950s there were 50 synagogues in Newark serving a Jewish population of 70,000 to 80,000, once the sixth-largest Jewish community in the United States.

Newark is also home to numerous art galleries including the Paul Robeson Galleries at Rutgers University–Newark, as well as Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, City Without Walls, Gallery Aferro and Sumei Arts Center.

In April 2010, plans were announced for a new Children's Museum of New Jersey to be created across from Newark Penn Station. These plans have yet to be realized. According to planners, due to a reported lack of funding and a poor economy, "the project went to sleep".

Newark Murals

Since 2009, the Newark Planning Office, in collaboration with local arts organizations, has sponsored Newark Murals, and seen the creation of 21 outdoor murals about significant people, places, and events in the city. New initiatives through private sponsorship were announced in 2014.

Festivals and parades

Festivals and parades held annually or bi-annually include the Cherry Blossom Festival (April) in Branch Brook Park, the Portugal Day Festival (June) in The Ironbound, the McDonald's Gospelfest (June) at Prudential Center, the Lincoln Park Music Festival (July) at Lincoln Park, the Newark Black Film Festival (Summer) and Paul Robeson Awards (biennial), the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival (October, biennial) at various venues and the citywide Open Doors (October).

Media and communications

Newark is within the metro New York media market.

Newspapers

The state's leading newspaper, The Star-Ledger, owned by Advance Publications, is based in Newark. The newspaper sold its headquarters in July 2014, with the offices of the publisher, the editorial board, columnists, and magazine relocating to the Gateway Center.

Radio

Pioneer radio station WOR was started by Bamberger Broadcasting Service in 1922 and broadcast from studios at its retailer's downtown department store. Today the building serves telecom, colocation, and computer support industries.

Radio station WJZ (now WABC) made its first broadcast in 1921 from the Westinghouse plant near Broad Street Station. It moved to New York City in the 1920s. Radio station WNEW-AM (now WBBR) was founded in Newark in 1934 and later moved to New York City. WBGO, a National Public Radio affiliate with a format of standard and contemporary jazz, is at 54 Park Place in downtown Newark. WNSW AM-1430 (formerly WNJR) and WQXR (which was formerly WHBI and later WCAA) 105.9 FM are also licensed to Newark.

Telephone

In 1915, the Bell System under ownership of American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) tested newly developed panel switching technology in Newark when they cutover the telephone exchanges Mulberry and Waverly to semi-mechanical operation on January 16 and June 12, respectively. The Panel system was the Bell System solution to the big city problem, where an exchange had to serve large numbers of subscribers on both manual as well as automatically switched central offices without impacting negatively established user convenience and reliability. As originally introduced in these exchanges, subscribers telephones had no dials and customers continued to make calls by asking an operator to ring their called party, at which point the operator keyed the telephone number into the panel equipment, instead of making cord connections manually.

Most Panel installations across the country were replaced by modern systems during the 1970s and the last Panel switch was decommissioned in the BIgelow central office in Newark in 1983.

Television

New Jersey's first television station, WATV Channel 13, signed-on May 15, 1948, from studios at the Mosque Theater known as the "Television Center Newark." The studios were home to WNTA-13 beginning in 1958 and WNJU-47 until 1989.

WNET, a flagship station of the Public Broadcasting Service now on channel 13, and Spanish-language WFUT-TV, a UniMás owned-and-operated station, are licensed to Newark. Tempo Networks, producing for the pan-Caribbean television market, is based in the city. NwkTV has been the city's government access channel since 2009 and broadcast on as Channel 78 on Optimum. The company has a high-tech call center in Newark, employing over 500 people. PBS network NJTV's main broadcasting studios (NJTV is also a sister station of the Newark-licensed WNET) are also located in the Gateway Center Office Complex.

Filming in the city

Numerous movies, television programs, and music videos have been shot in Newark, its period architecture and its streetscape seen as an ideal "urban setting". The Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission is located in the city. In 2011, the city created the Newark Office of Film and Television in order to promote the making of media productions. Some months earlier the Ironbound Film & Television Studios, the only, "stay and shoot" facility in the metro area opened, its first production being Bar Karma. In 2012 the city hosted the seventh season of the reality show competition America's Got Talent.

There have been several film and TV productions depicting life in Newark. Life of Crime, was originally produced in 1988 and was followed by a 1998 sequel. New Jersey Drive, a 1995 film about the city when it was considered the "car theft capital of the world". Street Fight is an Academy Award-nominated documentary film which covered the 2002 mayoral election between incumbent Sharpe James and challenger Cory Booker. In 2009, the Sundance Channel aired Brick City, a five-part television documentary about Newark, focusing on the community's attempt to become a better and safer place to live, against a history of nearly a half century of violence, poverty and official corruption. The second season premiered January 30, 2011. Revolution '67 is an award-winning documentary which examines the causes and events of the 1967 Newark riots. The HBO television series The Sopranos filmed many of its scenes in Newark, and is partially based on the life of Newark mobster Richard Boiardo. The Once and Future Newark (2006) is documentary travelogue about places of cultural, social and historical significance by Rutgers History Professor Clement Price.

Sports

Newark has hosted many teams, though much of the time without an MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL team in the city proper. Currently, the city is home to just one, the NHL's New Jersey Devils. As the second largest city in New York metropolitan area Newark is part the regional professional sports and media markets.

Two venues in the northeastern New Jersey metro region are in Downtown Newark: Prudential Center, a multi-purpose indoor arena designed by HOK Sport that opened in October 2007 with a Bon Jovi concert and a hockey game. Known as "The Rock", the arena is the home of the National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils and the NCAA's Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball team, seating 18,711 for basketball and 16,514 for hockey. Riverfront Stadium was a 6,200-seat baseball park that was home to the baseball teams of the Rutgers-Newark Scarlet Raiders, who play in the New Jersey Athletic Conference as part of NCAA Division III, and the NJIT Highlanders, who play in the Atlantic Sun Conference as part of NCAA Division I. The stadium opened in July 1999 as the home of the Newark Bears, who played in the stadium until the team folded in 2014. The site of the stadium was sold in March 2016 to a developer who plans a mixed-use residential high rise project.

Red Bull Arena, home of the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer, opened in 2010 just across the Passaic River in Harrison. The home of NFL football teams Giants and Jets MetLife Stadium is less than 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown and can be reached with the Meadowlands Rail Line via Newark Penn Station or Broad Street Station.

The New Jersey Nets played two seasons (2010–2012) at the Prudential Center until moving to the Barclays Center. The New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) also played there for three seasons (2011–2013) during renovations of Madison Square Garden. The center has hosted 2012 Stanley Cup Finals, the 2011 NBA draft, the 2011 NBA draft, the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. EliteXC: Primetime, a mixed martial arts (MMA) event which took place on May 31, 2008, was the first MMA event aired in primetime on major American network television.

Newark was a host city and its airport a gateway for Super Bowl XLVIII which was played on February 2, 2014. The game took place at MetLife Stadium, home of the hosting teams New York Giants and New York Jets. Media Day, the first event leading up to the game, took place on January 28 at the Prudential Center. The original Vince Lombardi Trophy, produced by Tiffany & Co. in Newark in 1967 and borrowed from the Green Bay Packers, was being displayed at the Newark Museum from January 8 until March 30, 2014. Ultimate Fighting Championship's annual Super Bowl weekend mixed martial arts event, UFC 169: Cruz vs. Barao, took place on February 1 at the Prudential Center.

Local government

The city is governed within the Faulkner Act, formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law, under the Mayor-Council Plan C form of local government, which became effective as of July 1, 1954, after the voters of the city of Newark passed a referendum held on November 3, 1953. There are nine council members elected on a nonpartisan basis at the regular municipal election or at the general election for terms of four years: one council member from each of five wards and four council members on an at-large basis. The mayor is also elected for a term of four years.

The Mayor of Newark is Ras Baraka, who is serving a term of office ending on June 30, 2018. After becoming acting mayor on October 31, 2013, Luis A. Quintana, born in Añasco, Puerto Rico, was sworn in as Newark's first Latino mayor on November 4, 2013, assuming the unexpired term of Cory Booker, who vacated the position to become the junior U.S. Senator from New Jersey. Quintana's term ended on June 30, 2014. He was selected unanimously at a council meeting to replace the previously elected Booker, who resigned and was sworn in on October 31, 2013 after winning the October 16 special election for U.S. Senator to replace the seat held by Frank Lautenberg until his death. The Newark mayoral election took place on May 13, 2014, and was won by Baraka, who was sworn in as Newark's 40th Mayor on July 1, 2014.

As of 2017, Newark's Municipal Council consists of the following members, all serving concurrent terms of office ending June 30, 2018:

Federal, state, and county representation

Newark is split between the 8th and 10th Congressional Districts and is part of New Jersey's 28th and 29th state legislative districts. Prior to the 2011 reapportionment following the 2010 Census, Newark had been split between the 27th, 28th and 29th state legislative districts. Prior to the 2010 Census, Newark had been split between the 10th Congressional District and the 13th Congressional District, a change made by the New Jersey Redistricting Commission that took effect in January 2013, based on the results of the November 2012 general elections. As part of the split that took effect in 2013, 123,763 residents in two non-contiguous sections in the city's north and northeast were placed in the 8th District and 153,377 in the southern and western portions of the city were placed in the 10th District.

New Jersey's Eighth Congressional District is represented by Albio Sires (D, West New York). New Jersey's Tenth Congressional District is represented by Donald Payne Jr. (D, Newark). New Jersey is represented in the United States Senate by Democrats Cory Booker (Newark, term ends 2021) and Bob Menendez (Paramus, 2019).

For the 2016–2017 session (Senate, General Assembly), the 28th Legislative District of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Ronald Rice (D, Newark) and in the General Assembly by Ralph R. Caputo (D, Nutley) and Cleopatra Tucker (D, Newark). For the 2016–2017 session (Senate, General Assembly), the 29th Legislative District of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Teresa Ruiz (D, Newark) and in the General Assembly by Eliana Pintor Marin (D, Newark) and Blonnie R. Watson (D, Newark). Watson was sworn into office on July 21, 2016, to fill the seat of L. Grace Spencer, who had resigned from office on June 30, 2016, to become a judge of the New Jersey Superior Court. The Governor of New Jersey is Chris Christie (R, Mendham Township). The Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey is Kim Guadagno (R, Monmouth Beach).

Essex County is governed by a directly-elected County Executive, with legislative functions performed by the Board of Chosen Freeholders. As of 2016, the County Executive is Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. The county's Board of Chosen Freeholders consists of nine members, four elected on an at-large basis and one from each of five wards, who serve three-year terms of office on a concurrent basis, all of which end December 31, 2018. Essex County's Freeholders are Freeholder President Britnee N. Timberlake (District 3 – East Orange, Newark's West and Central Wards, Orange and South Orange; East Orange) Freeholder Vice President Brendan W. Gill (at large; Montclair), Rufus I. Johnson (at large; Newark), Lebby C. Jones (at large; Irvington), Patricia Sebold (at large; Livingston), Rolando Bobadilla (District 1 – Newark's North and East Wards, parts of Central and West Wards; Newark), Wayne L. Richardson (District 2 – Irvington, Maplewood and Newark's South Ward and parts of West Ward; Newark), Leonard M. Luciano (District 4 – Caldwell, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Fairfield, Livingston, Millburn, North Caldwell, Roseland, Verona, West Caldwell and West Orange; West Caldwell), and Cynthia D. Toro (District 5 – Belleville, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Montclair and Nutley; Bloomfield). Constitutional elected countywide are County Clerk Christopher J. Durkin (West Caldwell, 2020), Sheriff Armando B. Fontoura (Fairfield, 2018) and Surrogate Theodore N. Stephens II (2016).

Politics

On the national level, Newark leans strongly toward the Democratic Party. As of March 23, 2011, out of a 2010 Census population of 277,140 in Newark, there were 136,785 registered voters (66.3% of the 2010 population ages 18 and over of 206,253, vs. 77.7% in all of Essex County of the 589,051 ages 18 and up) of which, 68,393 (50.0% vs. 45.9% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 3,548 (2.6% vs. 9.9% countywide) were registered as Republicans, 64,812 (47.4% vs. 44.1% countywide) were registered as Unaffiliated and there were 30 voters registered to other parties.

In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 95.0% of the vote (78,352 cast), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 4.7% (3,852 votes), and other candidates with 0.4% (298 votes), among the 82,030 ballots cast by the city's 145,059 registered voters for a turnout of 56.5%. In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 90.8% of the vote (77,112 ballots cast), ahead of Republican John McCain who received 7.0% of the vote (5,957 votes), with 84,901 of the city's 140,946 registered voters participating, for a turnout of 60.2% of registered voters. In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 85.9% of the vote (62,700 ballots), outpolling Republican George W. Bush, who received 12.8% (9,344), with 72,977 of 127,049 registered voters participating, for a turnout percentage of 57.4%.

In the 2016 presidential election, Democrat Hillary Clinton received 90.7% of the vote (69,042 cast); Republican, Donald Trump received 6.7% of the vote (5,094 cast); and other candidates received 1.5% of the vote (1,139 cast).

In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Democrat Barbara Buono received 80.8% of the vote (29,039 cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 17.9% (6,443 votes), and other candidates with 1.2% (437 votes), among the 37,114 ballots cast by the city's 149,778 registered voters (1,195 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 24.8%. In the 2009 Gubernatorial Election, Democrat Jon Corzine received 90.2% of the vote (36,637 ballots cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie who received 8.3% of the vote (5,957 votes), with 40,613 of the city's 134,195 registered voters (30.3%) participating.

Political corruption

Newark has been marred with episodes of political corruption throughout the years. Five of the previous seven mayors of Newark have been indicted on criminal charges, including the three mayors before Cory Booker: Hugh Addonizio, Kenneth Gibson and Sharpe James. As reported by Newsweek: "... every mayor since 1962 (except one, Cory Booker) has been indicted for crimes committed while in office".

Addonizio was mayor of Newark from 1962 to 1970. A son of Italian immigrants, a tailor and World War II veteran, he ran on a reform platform, defeating the incumbent, Leo Carlin, whom, ironically, Addonizio characterized as corrupt and a part of the political machine of the era. In December 1969, Addonizio and nine present or former officials of the municipal administration in Newark were indicted by a Federal grand jury; five other persons were also indicted. In July 1970, the former mayor, and four other defendants, were found guilty by a Federal jury on 64 counts each, one of conspiracy and 63 of extortion. In September 1970, Addonizio was sentenced to ten years in federal prison and fined $25,000 by Federal Judge George Herbert Barlow for his role in a plot that involved the extortion of $1.5 million in kickbacks, a crime that the judge said "tore at the very heart of our civilized society and our form of representative government".

His successor was Kenneth Gibson, the city's first African American mayor, elected in 1970. He pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion in 2002 as part of a plea agreement on fraud and bribery charges. During his tenure as mayor in 1980, Gibson was tried and acquitted of giving out no-show jobs by an Essex County jury.

Sharpe James, who defeated Gibson in 1986 and declined to run for a sixth term in 2006, was indicted on 33 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, and wire fraud by a federal grand jury sitting in Newark. The grand jury charged James with spending $58,000 on city-owned credit cards for personal gain and orchestrating a scheme to sell city-owned land at below-market prices to his companion, who immediately re-sold the land to developers and gained a profit of over $500,000. James pleaded not guilty on 25 counts at his initial court appearance on July 12, 2007. On April 17, 2008, James was found guilty for his role in the conspiring to rig land sales at nine city-owned properties for personal gain. The former mayor was sentenced to serve up to 27 months in prison, and was released on April 6, 2010, for good behavior.

Colleges and universities

Newark is the home of the multiple institutions of higher education, including: a Berkeley College campus, the main campus of Essex County College, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), the Newark Campus of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (formerly University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey), Rutgers University–Newark and Seton Hall University School of Law. Most of Newark's academic institutions are located in the city's University Heights district. The colleges and universities have worked together to help revitalize the area, which serves more than 60,000 students and faculty.

Public schools

As of the 2006–2010 American Community Survey, 16.0% of Newark residents ages 25 and over had never attended high school and 15.9% didn't graduate, while 68.1% had at least graduated from high school, including the 12.3% who had earned a bachelor's degree or higher. The total school enrollment in Newark city was 75,025 in the 2006–2010 ACS, with pre-primary school enrollment of 10,560, elementary or high school enrollment of 46,691 and college enrollment of 17,774.

The Newark Public Schools, a state-operated school district, is the largest school system in New Jersey. The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide, which are now referred to as "SDA Districts" based on the requirement that the state cover all costs for school building and renovation projects in these districts under the supervision of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority. As of the 2014-15 school year, the district and its 76 schools had an enrollment of 34,861 students and 2,815.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.4:1.

Science Park High School, which was the 69th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 322 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2010 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 50th in 2008 out of 316 schools. Technology High School has a GreatSchools rating of 9/10 was ranked 165th in New Jersey Monthly's 2010 rankings. Newark high schools ranked in the bottom 10% of the New Jersey Monthly 2010 list include Central (274th), East Side (293rd), Newark Vocational (304th), Weequahic (310th), Barringer (311th), Malcolm X Shabazz (314th) and West Side (319th). Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg donated a challenge grant of $100 million to the district in 2010, choosing Newark because he stated he believed in Mayor Cory Booker and Governor Chris Christie's abilities.

Charter schools in Newark include the Robert Treat Academy Charter School, a National Blue Ribbon School drawing students from all over Newark. It remains one of the top performing K-8 schools in New Jersey based on standardized test scores. University Heights Charter School is another charter school, serving children in grades K-5, recognized as a 2011 Epic Silver Gain School. Gray Charter School, like Robert Treat, also won a Blue Ribbon Award. Also, Newark Collegiate Academy (NCA) opened in August 2007 and currently serves 420 students in grades 9–12. It will ultimately serve over 570 students, mostly matriculating from other charter schools in the area.

Private schools

The city hosts three high schools as part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark: the coeducational Christ The King Prep, founded in 2007, is part of the Cristo Rey Community; Saint Benedict's Preparatory School is an all-boys Roman Catholic high school founded in 1868 and conducted by the Benedictine monks of Newark Abbey, whose campus has grown to encompass both sides of MLK Jr. Blvd. near Market Street and includes a dormitory for boarding students; and Saint Vincent Academy, is an all-girls Roman Catholic high school founded and sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth and operated continuously since 1869.

Link Community School is a non-denominational coeducational day school located serving approximately 128 students in seventh and eighth grades. The Newark Boys Chorus School was founded in the 1960s. University Heights Charter School, which opened in 2006, taught 614 students in grades PK-8 in 2014–2015.

Transportation

Newark is a hub of air, road, rail, and ship traffic, making it a significant gateway into the New York metropolitan area and the mid-Atlantic United States. Newark Liberty International Airport is the second-busiest airport in the New York region and the 15th-busiest in the United States (in terms of passenger traffic). Newark Airport was the New York City area's first commercial airport, opened in 1928 on land reclaimed by the Port Authority.

Just east of the airport lies Port Newark, the fifteenth-busiest port in the world and the largest container port on the East Coast of the United States. In 2003, the port moved over $100 billion in goods.

Early modes of transport

The Morris Canal, stretching 102 miles (164 km) to Newark from Phillipsburg on the Delaware River, was completed in 1831 and allowed coal and other industrial and agricultural products from Pennsylvania to be transported cheaply and efficiently to the New York metropolitan area. The canal's completion led to increased settlement in Newark, vastly increasing the population for years to come. After the canal was decommissioned, its right of way was converted into the Newark City Subway, now known as the Newark Light Rail. Many of the subway stations still portray the canal in its original state, in the form of mosaic works.

As the city became increasingly congested further means of transportation were sought, eventually leading to horse-drawn trolleys. These, in turn, were replaced by electric trolleys that traveled down the main streets of downtown Newark, including Broad Street, and up Market Street near the courthouse The trolley cars did not last long as the personal motor vehicle quickly gained popularity and slowly made the trolley system seem like a burden.

Roads and highways

As of May 2010, the city had a total of 368.21 miles (592.58 km) of roadways, of which 318.77 miles (513.01 km) were maintained by the municipality, 17.61 miles (28.34 km) by Essex County and 22.66 miles (36.47 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and 9.17 miles (14.76 km) by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

Newark is served by numerous highways including the New Jersey Turnpike (Interstate 95), Interstate 280, Interstate 78, the Garden State Parkway, U.S. Route 1/9, U.S. Route 22, and Route 21. Newark is connected to the Holland Tunnel and Lower Manhattan by the Pulaski Skyway, spanning both the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers, which was first constructed in 1938 and will be undergoing a $900 million renovation project.

Local streets in Newark conform to a quasi-grid form, with major streets radiating outward (like spokes on a wheel) from the downtown area. Some major roads in the city are named after the towns to which they lead, including South Orange Avenue, Springfield Avenue, and Bloomfield Avenue, as well as Broadway, which had been renamed from Belleville Avenue.

In a city extensively served by mass transit, 44.2% of Newark residents did not have a car as of the 2000 Census, ranked second in the U.S. to New York City in the proportion of households without an automobile among cities with more than 250,000 people.

Public transportation

Newark Penn Station, situated just east of downtown, is the city's major train station. It is served by the interurban PATH train (which links Newark to Jersey City and Manhattan), three NJ Transit (NJT) commuter rail lines, and Amtrak service. It was designed by McKim, Mead & White and completed in 1935. One mile north, the Newark Broad Street Station is served by two NJT commuter rail lines. The two train stations are linked by the Newark Light Rail system, which also provides services from Newark Penn Station to Newark's northern communities and into the neighboring towns of Belleville and Bloomfield. Built in the bed of the Morris Canal, the light rail cars run underground in Newark's downtown area. The city's third train station, Newark Liberty International Airport, connects the Northeast Corridor to the airport via AirTrain Newark. Bus service in Newark is provided by New Jersey Transit, CoachUSA contract operators and DeCamp in North Newark.

Newark is served by NJ Transit bus routes 1, 5, 11, 13, 21, 25, 27, 28, 29, 34, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 59, 62, 65, 66, 67, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78, 79, 90, 92, 93, 94, 96, 99, 107, and 108. Bus route 308 is an express bus route to Six Flags Great Adventure from Newark Penn Station while 319 is an express service to Atlantic City.

The go bus 25 and go bus 28 are bus rapid transit lines through the city to Irvington, Bloomfield and Newark Liberty International Airport.

Healthcare

Newark is home to five hospitals. University Hospital, an independent institution that is a teaching hospital of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, has been the busiest Level I trauma center in the state. Newark Beth Israel Medical Center is the largest hospital in the city and is a part of Barnabas Health, the state's largest system of hospital and health care facilities. Beth Israel is also one of the oldest hospitals in the city, dating back to 1901. This 669-bed regional facility is also home to the Children's Hospital of New Jersey. Catholic Health East operates Saint Michael's Medical Center. Columbus Hospital LTACH is a longterm acute care hospital designed to focus on patients with serious and complex medical conditions that require intense specialized treatment for an extended period of recovery time. Hospitals which have been closed in recent years include the Saint James Hospital, Mount Carmel Guild Hospital and the United Hospitals Medical Center.

Emergency Medical Services

University Hospital EMS (UH-EMS) operates the EMS system for the city. The department operates a fleet of eight BLS units staffed with two EMTs 24/7, four 12-hour power trucks, five ALS units staffed with two paramedics (one of which is stationed at Newark Airport and covers the airport and Port Newark-Elizabeth, and frequently responds into the City of Elizabeth), and a critical care unit staffed by a paramedic and an RN. With distinction they also staff the only hospital based heavy rescue truck in the country. The EMS system is the busiest system per unit in the nation. On average, a BLS unit may be sent to 20-25 dispatches in a 12-hour shift. They also provide the medical staffing for Northstar, with one of the two NJ State Police medevac helicopters, staffing one flight nurse and a flight medic around the clock. The EMS system in Newark handles upwards of 125,000 requests for service annually.

Fire department

The city is protected by more than 700 full-time, paid firefighters of the Newark Fire Department (NFD). Founded in 1863, the NFD operates out of 16 firehouses, located throughout the city, organized into 3 battalions, under the command of a deputy chief. There is also a Safety Battalion, Battalion2, and a Special Operations Battalion, Battalion 6, on duty 24/7. The NFD operates 16 engine companies, 8 ladder companies, 1 rescue company, an Urban search and rescue (USAR) Collapse Rescue Unit, 2 fire boats, a scuba diving unit, an air cascade unit, a foam unit, a mobile command unit, a HazMat unit, and numerous special, support, and reserve units. The NFD responds to approximately 45,000 emergency calls annually. In 2006, the NFD responded to 2,681 fire and hazardous condition calls.

Law enforcement

The Newark Police Department is a city-operated law enforcement agency. As of January 2014, the force had 1,006 officers in its ranks.

The Essex County Sheriff's Office, New Jersey Transit Police Department (headquartered in Penn Plaza East) and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department are also within their jurisdiction in the city, as are the New Jersey State Police. In April 2014, it was announced that the State Police would play a more prominent role in patrolling the streets of the city under the "TIDE-TAG" program. The Essex County College Police Department, New Jersey Institute of Technology Police Department and Rutgers University Police Department patrol their respective college campuses in the city.

Crime

In 1996, Money magazine ranked Newark "The Most Dangerous City in the Nation." By 2007, the city recorded a total of 99 homicides for the year, representing a significant drop from the record of 161 murders set in 1981. The number of murders in 2008 dropped to 65, a decline of 30% from the previous year and the lowest in the city since 2002 when there were also 65 murders.

In 2010, Newark recorded 90 homicides. March 2010 was the first calendar month since 1966 in which the city did not record a homicide. Overall, there was a 6% increase in crime numbers over the previous year, including a rise in carjackings for the third straight year, with the 337 incidents raising concerns that the city was returning to its status as the "car theft capital of the world". Along with the increase in crime, the Newark Police Department increased its recovery of illegally owned guns in 2011 to 696, up from 278 in 2010. The Federal Bureau of Investigation recorded 94 homicides in 2011 and 95 in 2012. In 2012 CNNMoney ranked Newark as the 6th most dangerous city in the United States based on numbers by FBI Crime in the United States 2011 report. The city had 10 murders in 10 days during the period ending September 6, 2013, a statistic largely attributed to the reduction of the police force. In 2013 Newark recorded 111 homicides, the first year ending in triple digits in seven years and the highest tally since 1990, accounting for 27% of all murders statewide. In 2014, the total number of homicides in Newark was 93, while Essex County as a whole had 117 murders. The Star-Ledger reported that there were 105 homicides in the city in 2015. Preliminary statistics as reported through December 25, 2016 showed the murders in the city totaled 93.

International relations

The Consulate-General of Ecuador in New Jersey is located at 400 Market Street. The Consulate-General of Portugal in Newark is located at the main floor of the Newark Legal Center at One Riverfront Plaza. The Consulate-General of Colombia is located at 550 Broad Street. The Vice Consulate of Italy, was located at 1 Gateway Center, until it was closed in 2014 for economic reasons.

Pope John Paul II visited the city in 1995 at which time he elevated the city's cathedral to a basilica to become the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart. In 2011, the Dalai Lama was guest of honor at the Newark Peace Education Summit.

Twin towns—sister cities

Newark has 15 sister cities, as listed by Sister Cities International: