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Newark: The Slow Road Back
About this film
"For the last two decades, Newark, New Jersey has been a national symbol of urban decay. But now Newark officials like to claim that the city has 'turned around,' that the old stigma is out of date, that Newark is 'coming back.' In NEWARK: THE SLOW ROAD BACK , both the old image and new claims come under scrutiny. "Using riot footage never aired before, Producer/Director Sandra King begins the one-hour documentary with then-Gov. Richard Hughes and his harsh appraisal of a city rocked by riot. As we hear Hughes tell it: 'This City is Dying.' By the end of the hour, we know that Newark managed to survive. As one Central Ward resident explains: 'When the land in the Central Ward is worth $250,000 an acre, ain't no way you're dead.' But the documentary also makes clear that Newark is still a city with more problems than it [can] handle. "Yes, there is renewal downtown -- the new office buildings look like progress, the yuppies rush off the trains each morning as the business climate continues to look up and there are even new luxury condos on what was once one of Newark's roughest corners. "But THE SLOW ROAD BACK show the other side, too: the low income housing crisis that just gets mo…
Directors & creators
New Jersey Network
Subjects
public broadcasting, AAPB, Newark, New Jersey, Richard Hughes, Sandra King, 1967 Newark riots, urban renewal, urban decay, gentrification, Central Ward, Newark, public housing, housing crisis, inner city, community development, urban planning, New Jersey politics
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