NEWARK YOUTH OFFER VISION OF passaic RIVERFRONT IN THE YEAR 3000;

ARTWORK WILL BE ON VIEW IN CITY HALL FROM NOW UNTIL END OF APRIL

Mayor Booker unveils youth design and encourages residents to join planning process

Newark, NJ - March 27, 2009 - Mayor Cory Booker and a group of Newark dignitaries yesterday unveiled an exhibition at Newark City Hall titled “Newark Riverfront 3000,” a vision of Newark’s riverfront in the year 3000, at a Rotunda press conference today. The exhibition will be on view in City Hall from March 30 until the end of April 2009.
 

Mayor Booker was joined at the event by State Assemblyman Alberto Coutinho, Councilmember-at-Large Carlos Gonzalez, Deputy Mayor of Economic and Housing Development Stefan Pryor, Director of Community Development Toni L. Griffin, Riverfront Planner Damon Rich, and Ironbound Community Corporation Director Joseph Della Fave.
 

The Mayor congratulated the young designers, saying, “To create this exhibition, these students explored and documented the Newark riverfront, interviewed decision-makers and community advocates about the history of the riverfront, and then created a series of drawings and models to explain their vision of the year 3000. Working with the Division of Planning & Community Development’s Riverfront Planner, they have become Young Riverfront Planners. I would like to see all of Newark’s residents become as enthused and as excited about the development of our Passaic Riverfront as the students who created this exhibit.”
 

The exhibition is the work of Kyrese Mason, Shay-La Maxwell, Allen Williams, Aquilah Williams, Shonte Williams, and Karribe Wynne, a group of students between the ages of 13 and 19, living in the City’s East Ward. Working out of the East Ironbound Family Success Center, four blocks from the Passaic Riverfront, the students explored the current state of the riverfront, making maps of what they found. They then interviewed community advocates and decision-makers about what it would take to transform the riverfront. Finally, they crafted their own vision for the future of the riverfront, which features a large water bottle-shaped fountain / water testing center, a boardwalk in the form of a roller coaster, an elevated golf course, and a candy factory.
 

The project is a partnership between the City of Newark Division of Planning and Community Development, the East Ironbound Family Success Center, and the Ironbound Community Corporation. Students worked with Damon Rich, Newark’s Waterfront Planner; Luciana Lyde, the East Ironbound Family Success Center Manager, and volunteer architects and engineers to develop their vision. Mr. Rich, founder of the Brooklyn-based nonprofit Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), specializes in using innovative techniques to involve residents in the planning and design of their communities. Mr. Rich and the Ironbound Community Corporation have won a grant from the American Architectural Foundation to continue this project, dubbed “Brick City Young Architects,” through the summer.
 

“Our City is strongest when its future is shaped by the dreams of its residents,” said Mr. Rich, Newark’s Waterfront Planner and the organizer of the project. “Visionary planning projects with students like Newark Riverfront 3000 are a great way both to engage young people and raise awareness among all Newarkers. I hope everyone in Newark takes the time to see what these students have dreamed, and then participate themselves in shaping the future of our city.”
 

“The lofty visions presented by these students represent what can happen in Newark when you get our youth actively engaged in charting their futures and giving back to their city. We hope to get more young people involved as we continue to revitalize the Newark Riverfront,” Ms. Griffin said.
 

“Working directly with this group of youth from Newark’s East ward has been a priceless experience. Often times when we engage youth, we approach them with preconceived notions, that they don't have anything substantial to contribute. This project definitely should be an ‘eye opener’ for the individuals who have given up on our city’s youth,” said Ms. Lyde. “This project is evidence that youth in Newark have the capacity to contribute to their community and to their city.”
 

Kyrese Mason, one of the student architects, said: “We hope Newark 3000 makes people curious about the riverfront. It is definitely a curious place.”
 

“This project meant a lot to me and it was great to come together with other students to work on this model which is part of my vision for what the Newark Riverfront could look like in the year 3000.   At the time it seemed like this 6-month project was taking forever but it’s finally done. It’s our project, our riverfront and now this model will be on display for Newark’s residents to enjoy,” said Shay-La Maxwell, an Arts High School Senior who worked on the art project.
 

“I’m very proud of my daughter who volunteered her time to participate in this project.  She’s following in her mother’s footsteps in being a community activist. I’m so proud of her and the other students who are concerned about the environment and the future of our city’s riverfront,” said Gloria Maxwell, Shay-La’s mother.
 

The exhibition is in the basement rotunda of City Hall, open to the public from 8:30 pm-4:30 pm, and will remain on view starting on March 30, and continuing through April 30. Learn more about this and other Newark Riverfront events and initiatives at www.newarksriver.wordpress.com.

-NEWARK-
 

Contact:        Newark Press Information Office (973) 733-8004
Email:            PressOffice@ci.newark.nj.us