The following is a release sent by The FIST:
TOTAL RECALL – NOTICE OF INTENTION TO RECALL THE BARAKA ADMINISTRATION
Newark, NJ (August 24, 2023)
We, The People, are tired of being oppressed with no redress of our issues. We are tired of being rejected, neglected, and being refused our Quality of Life in the City of Newark. This mayor and his corrupt council have made it a point to make deals that do not include We, The People, the residents. Our seniors are not cared for, they are bullied, harassed and threatened to fall in line with his policies; or they will be left out in the cold. They are afraid where they are living with no protection from the drug dealing and nefarious activities that they live with on a daily basis. They are afraid to speak up for fear of being beaten up or murdered. And this is no longer how we want to live. We, The People, no longer will tolerate corruption nor ignorance.
We the people have initiated a TOTAL RECALL of The Baraka Administration:
Mayor Ras J. Baraka
Michael J. Silva, East Ward Council Member
Dupre L. Kelly, West Ward Council Member
Louise Scott-Roundtree, Council Member at Large
Luis A. Quintana, Council Member at Large
C. Lawrence Crump, Council Member at Large
LaMonica McIver, Central Ward Council Member
Patrick O. Council, South Ward Council Member
Anibal Ramos Jr., North Ward Council Member
Carlos M. Gonzalez, Council Member at Large
Our reasons for recalling the Mayor and the entire Newark Municipal City Council are as follows:
Ras J. Baraka – His political agenda has exterminated the quality of life for the average Newarker. He is the mayor for the outsiders. (Where is the money?)
McIver – The council president is unprofessional, shows the residents no respect, and is always in a rush to do the City’s business. What about We, The People? And like the mayor, she weaponizes the police for her personal gain. When someone says something that she doesn’t like, she yells “Officers, officers……”!
Crump – Does NOT contribute value to the people in the City of Newark. He stole a seat that was supposed to be decided with a special election that We, The People were denied. He also said that he was only going to fulfill the time left in his mother, Mildred Crump’s term, and that he would not run for the seat in ‘22. So he came in lying, and has continued lying.
Quintana – Has made a career as a councilman, twenty-seven years to be exact. Too long to have no results that benefit the residents of the City of Newark.
Gonzalez – Has also made a career as a councilman and has stood by while everything has been designed for the newcomers and developers to benefit. Twenty-five years is too long to have no results, nor legislation passed to benefit We, The People.
Ramos- Seventeen years, no presence in the Black community, unless to gain support of the seniors.
Council, Rountree, and with great disappointment, Silva, all bow, and bend to the will of Ras J Baraka.
Multiple lawsuits for sexual harassment, wrongful termination, and a hosts of other things; Why? Because it is not their money that they are spending. We, The People are paying for the top notch lawyers for their criminal activity.
There is no substantial difference for the people. How has life gotten better since they have been in office? Our quality of life has deteriorated. This is why term limits are needed. They have made this a business for themselves, their friends, and their families.
TERM LIMITS ARE NECESSARY!!!
List of Grievances We, The People have against the mayor and city council:
Ras J Baraka and his brothers have fired credentialed, qualified people for critical positions in this City and have hired their friends and family with no knowledge of the positions that they have been placed in.
There has been theft in several departments in the City, yet not one person has been prosecuted. The women seen on camera stealing from the water department, not prosecuted; part of the group calling themselves, “Middy’s Angels!”
During our “Water Crisis”, the mayor called We, Newarkers liars and haters. He went around telling everyone that we were crazy and that the water was fine. He and the council gave themselves a 38% raise. This while we were told that the City did not have any money. So who are the liars and haters?
Children’s lead levels were through the roof and yet he lied about the water being safe! We, The People had to sue before he would attempt to do anything to remediate the situation. The Judge had to threaten Ras J Baraka with contempt of court if he did not stop telling us that the water was safe!
We have No REAL “AFFORDABLE” housing! The AMI for the average Newarker is $36,000 tops, but the AMI that they are building for is $110,000. This new 360 Plan that they have is for the “OUTSIDERS!”
We have No Jobs!
Where is the 190 million for the Penn station revitalization that went missing? Where is the 11 million dollars that was taken from the Police budget, around the time that the mayor formed the Office of Violence Prevention? Nine Hundred Thousand Dollars ( $900,000 ) was spent for homeless containers for ninety days, along with Bloomberg money that was contributed. The plan for those eight containers after the ninety days, according to the “Homeless Czar” at the time, was fundraising!
The containers, which now need repair.
At the time, we owned all of the land which the containers reside on. If we were going to do more “Hope Villages”, we had the land to put 1, 2, 3,and 4 on the same land. Instead, they have sold or given the land to Gomez for parking and the club, ENVY at the corner! And now the council has approved another Four Million Dollars ($4,000,000) for more containers instead of building sustainable housing. Water rates are going up, again, yet our water is still contaminated. Our taxes are going up and the mayor gave himself another raise.
The Council, at the behest of the mayor, gave away, TO DEVELOPERS, a 2.7 million dollar building for $23,000, gave them a 30 year tax abatement along with our 5 Million dollar CBDG funds, and at the end of the project was to walk away with $3 million dollars having put up no money! We are now in litigation for millions over this very same project due to their malfeasance!
Our schools are failing with a superintendent who has a renewed contract for $290,000 per year, and a school board filled with the mayor’s people! Our children and teachers are experiencing racism in our schools but the mayor canceled the meeting because it conflicted with what the WuTang was doing at Symphony Hall!
Our children as a whole are not equipped to be competitive with the other schools in society.
Seventy – eight percent of Newarkers are renters, who are being pushed out of the City, made homeless by slumlords and blood sucking developers.
We have no “Public Safety!” There is no regular police presence in the much needed areas in our City.
Our Firefighters Are Not Safe, and have no real leadership with their quality of life nor best interest at heart!
“When I become Mayor, You become Mayor!” Baraka was essentially telling us that we were on our own, and the people missed it! While he has spent over $2,000,000 in overtime, and over 25 ,000,000 per year for his own personal protection,we are left to ourselves to figure it out! Yet Ras J. Baraka always says, “Newark is Safe!” Well, We, Newarkers guess it is for him and his family!
Has life improved in this city for the average Newarker and our Seniors since Baraka and his administration took office July 1, 2022, and years prior?
The Cries of the People say that, “He is the Worst Mayor in the history of the City of Newark!”
Are you safer? Are your children safer? Do you feel protected, or NEGLECTED AND REJECTED?!?
We had a stronger “Pay to Play” ordinance than the State of NJ. The Newark City Council rescinded it right before the last election. They are continually amending the ordinances designed to protect residents to now protect the developers and newcomers to the City!
Mayor Ras J Baraka and his Newark municipal council has created and are continuing to create homelessness in the largest city in the State of New Jersey for their own wealth and Greed with NO regards for the residents of Newark!
This mayor, Ras J. Baraka, has blamed the single mothers of Newark for the crime in this city. He has told them that it is their sons who have the guns under their beds, committing the violence. He also told them to not be mad at him because they don’t know where their baby daddies are!
The “Single Mothers” in Newark, New Jersey feel SLANDERED and Disrespected. The “Single Mothers” ask the question, “How many single baby mamas has he and his brothers created out here in these streets? Do they know who and where their daddies are?”
He that oppresses the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want. Proverbs 22:16
For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord: Therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered. Jeremiah 10:21
