East Orange, Orange, & Irvington May Follow By Walter Elliott
NEWARK – Those who live, work, worship, dine, shop and/or travel through New Jersey’s largest city will be experiencing Mayor Ras Baraka’s lockdown “advisory” Nov. 25-Dec. 4 – if some have not faced it earlier.
Those who live outside of Newark should not consider themselves “out of bounds.” The mayors of East Orange, Irvington and Orange are consulting with Mayor Baraka and may implement similar restrictions.
“We want to see how the (COVID) numbers go,” said Irvington Mayor Anthony “Tony” Vauss Nov. 18. “We don’t want Newark to have an 8 o’clock shutdown, which has people coming into Irvington, East Orange and Orange after 8. Whatever we do, we want to do it collectively.”
Baraka, in an effort to rein in recent COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus infection and death rates that are more than double New Jersey’s statewide rates, announced his latest round of temporary restrictions Nov. 18.
Newark’s 270,000 or so residents are being asked to stay off the streets after 9 p.m. daily. Police may ask individuals found outside if they are on their way home, to or from work or are engaged in essential travel like for food or medicine.
All citywide non-essential businesses are to close 8 p.m. daily, including all indoor dining. Outdoor dining and takeout are to cease at 9 p.m.
Some businesses – like barbershops, nail salons and hairdressers – are to operate by appointment only.
Newarkers are being urged to shelter-in-place through these 10 days, going out only for food, medicine and other essential travel. That includes limiting Thanksgiving dinner celebrations to 10 people, including close family members and friends – and those did not travel far.
“The Mayor of Orange and his family always travel for Thanksgiving,” said Dwayne Warren, while putting himself in the third person, Nov. 16. “This time, we’re not going to do it. Please test, quarantine and have your private Thanksgiving dinner.”
Meetings covered by the U.S. Constitution, like public government hearing and worship services, are exempt – but all must wear masks and seat no more than 25 percent of capacity.
Three East and North Ward neighborhoods, defined by their zip codes and “COVID-19 Hotspots,” are facing tighter restrictions.
People in the respective 07105, 104 and 107 zip codes are to be off the c streets 9 p.m. weekdays and 10 p.m. weekends.
Police may ask for identification proving that those found outside 9 or 10 p.m.-3 a.m. live in those zones or have proof “that an essential need is being addressed.” Those who cannot so prove will be either kept out or told to take the next car, bus or train out.
Some people have noticed and have been stopped by police whose cruisers have been stationed on key 07105 streets. 8 p.m. – 3 a.m. Nov. 20-22.
The above restrictions are atop those Baraka had placed Nov. 10 and Oct. 27 in the face of COVID-19’s global “second wave.” Essex County has been lately leading the state in infections and deaths – and Newark has been leading the county.
“The numbers are real; COVID’s still here,” said East Orange Mayor Theodore “Ted” Green Nov. 16. “We need to do everything we can to make sure that we implement policies and regulations in our communities.”
“Local Talk” has noticed people standing in lines in downtown Newark for COVID tests and/or season flu shots standing 70 to 110 deep to clinics’ front doors. Fewer people seem to be riding local transit the last week.
The mayor, indeed, had held emergency live-on-Zoom or Facebook Newark People’s Assemblies with those in the North and East Wards Nov. 13-14. He first talked about the new measures towards the end of a live Urban Mayors United Against COVID-19 Nov. 16 Facebook conference with Orange’s Warren, Irvington’s Vauss and East Orange’s Green.
“We’re going to lock the city down,” said Baraka during WBGO-FM’s “Newark Today” program Nov. 19. “We want the people to shelter-in-place for 10 days – that’s the period the CDC (U.S. Centers for Disease Control) gives us for people to isolate or quarantine themselves. We want folks to come out only for essential purposes.”
Baraka, however, had stopped short of issuing the above as an executive order. That may translate to police and health officers not issuing violation summonses like they had in April and May.
Baraka had been talking with Gov. Phil Murphy and his officers to make sure that the mayor’s directives mesh with Murphy’s executive orders.
“They’re up against it and I can’t blame them for trying to turn over every stone,” said Murphy during his own Nov. 17 Coronavirus Briefing. “We can’t have a patchwork; we continue to work with them.”
“We can’t go back to where we were in April or May,” said Baraka Nov. 20. “We urge everyone to be responsible, cautious and think of the greater good.”
The East Ward’s Ironbound orange-and-yellow “Hot Spot,” for the record, is bounded by Raymond Boulevard, Stockton Street, US 1-9, Delancy Street and Route 21-McCarter Highway. That zone, affecting 63 streets, is within the 07105 zip code that extends to the Passaic River.
The North Ward is split between the 07104 and 107 zip codes.
07104 is bounded by the Belleville border along Mill Street and the Second River, east along the Passaic River, south to Interstate 280 and back north along Lake Street and Branch Brook Park Drive.
104’s Hot Spot, encompassing 75 streets, is bounded by Second Avenue and Broadway, Broadway and Seventh Avenue, Seventh and Clifton Avenues and Clifton and Second avenues.
On its map is a second, less defined spot within Verona Avenue, Broadway, Ballentine Avenue and Degraw Avenue.
07107 is a sliver of the North Ward’s west side plus parts of the West Ward’s Roseville and Fairmount Heights sections. Its boundary runs from Franklin Avenue and Mill Street east to Branch Brook Park Drive, south on the drive and Lake Street down to 12th Avenue, west on 12th Avenue and north on South 12th Street to Central Avenue and Central to go back up along the East Orange, Bloomfield and Belleville lines.
107’s Hot Spot, including 16 streets, is bordered by Berkeley Avenue and North Third Street, North Third and North 11th Street and North 11th back north to Berkeley.
The latest restrictions are subject to review on or before Dec. 4.
