Posted on 03/27/2007 5:35:16 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
NEWARK, N.J. (March 27) - The head of the city's teachers union said it won't take down "Stop the killings" billboards despite complaints from business owners and the new mayor that they're driving away business.
Mayor Cory Booker, who campaigned last year on a promise of reducing crime, says the signs fuel a negative image of the city, where a record 106 people were killed last year - the highest number in a decade.
"I know if I had tens of thousands of dollars, I wouldn't use them on billboards," Booker said. "I would use them for after-school programs. I would use them to help teachers get supplies."
The six billboards in the downtown area were put up about two months ago. They scream, "HELP WANTED: Stop the Killings in Newark Now!" Joe Del Grosso, president of the Newark Teachers Union, wouldn't say how much the signs cost.
"I think we have a serious problem," said Del Grosso, whose union endorsed Booker's opponent and is at odds with Booker over school vouchers. "It's about people dying."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.aol.com ...
I guess they figure that it worked with the war in Iraq. The very idea of vouchers drives teacher union leaders wild. It goes against their incessant claims that all the public schools need is more and more money.
I used to have to go to one of our offices there a couple of times a year. Once there was a shoot-out in the street in front of the building.
I can think of a billion things people would do better than spend their money on than some of the foolishness I see in the media, but that is their right, assuming there is nothing graphic about the billboards.
I think if I was the Mayor I would do exactly what has been done. If you think it is greasy partisanship then point it out in public. It would also help a good deal to actually be doing something about a ridiculous number like 106.
If you ask me, I don't think the billboards bring a particularly clear message.
We're supposed to stop the killings by supporting the teachers' union?
The logic escapes me.
D
I also think if I were the Mayor. LOL
®Alabammer
I think you are right - it is a freedom of speech issue. The mayor should be buying billboards attacking the teachers.
Teachers don't like vouchers. They don't like much.
Maybe they ought to worry more about the crime and less about the sign.
Like I mentioned it is perfectly OK for the Mayor to call a skunk a skunk.
The National Education Association has been communist for many decades. It has asked it's members to read the Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci.
Call 'em what they are - communists tools, not teachers.
My only question:
Who helped the Newark Teachers Union spell the billboard correctly?
The Mayor of Newark should turn this against the teachers...i.e.; If our children were better educated, the crime rates would fall. He should also point out the terrible price all the citizens are paying for a crappy school system that doesn't work because of unions, and hammer home his voucher program as a way to achieve higher levels of education. In other words, use the unions' words to beat the snot out of them and their useless union!
Newark has a negative image? What, like that's something new?
I gree. If the schools taught kids to read and count, they would get jobs after school.
No the killings fuel a negative image of the city. The bilboards just remind the rest of the world like a megaphone what a rat-infested death trap it is?
The first time I saw one of those buildings I was wondering what the hell the underlying message was supposed to be. I actually thought it was an ad campaign against drunk driving.
I wonder if the Teacher's Union would support a "Stop the Killing" billboard campaing focused on Planned Parenthood...
Good question.
Remember the old joke about the restaurant conglomerate's motto, "Nobody has better food than us!", and an enterprising entrepenuer opened up a hot dog stand across the street from their main offices and put up a big neon sign saying, 'NOBODY'S Hot Dogs'?
Should work here:
""HELP WANTED: Stop the Killings in Newark Now!""
and next to it, another sign saying,
'Join Us In Our Pro-Life Campaign!'
I live in Newark and it's definitely turning around. Far from 180 degrees but still turning. The first time I saw these signs I thought it was a good message (getting the community together, etc.). But then about 1/2 a second later I realized no one is going to NOT kill someone because a billboard asked them not to. The money would definitely be better spent on just about anything else.
Unfortunately, a lot of people in Newark just don't want the city to improve. Sharpe James, Marion Barry, Ralph Nagin.... Some people would rather keep their cities rat infested and crime ridden because they're afraid of rents going up (as well as a bit of us vs. them victim mentality).
When you turn on the light the cockroaches scatter...
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