British Leader Visits Newark Today

In between visits to Washington, DC and New York City, Britain’s prime minister David Cameron made one other stop this morning -- a brief jaunt to Newark.

The 45-year-old head of Britain’s Conservative Party arrived in a motorcade escorted by Newark and New Jersey State Police at city hall on Broad Street, where he was greeted by Mayor Cory Booker on the front steps. The two then briefly exchanged pleasantries before heading to Booker’s office for a short meeting, followed by a walking tour of two businesses located near the Prudential Center Arena.

Cameron did not take questions from the media during the public portions of his visit, which lasted about 90 minutes.

Referring to the “special relationship” between Britain and the United States, Cameron told Booker during their meeting that he admired Newark’s efforts to combat criminal recidivism, kick-start economic development as well as the city’s experiments with education reform, such as charter schools, which Cameron mentioned specifically.

“We greatly admire what you’ve done.... we want to learn from you,” Cameron said to Booker as they sat in Booker’s office with Samuel DeMaio, director of the Newark Police Department, and Chief of Police Sheilah Coley.

Later, while surrounded by a phalanx of security people and handlers, Cameron and Booker chatted as they walked north on Broad Street from city hall to Edison Place, where they stopped at a local bistro, Loft 47. Shortly afterwards, they went around the corner to the Brick City Coffee Company on Lafayette Street, where the prime minister was seen sipping a cup of joe. The two businesses are among the newer establishments in the downtown area, which has been the focus of an intense economic redevelopment effort during the last few years.

Cameron’s entourage then left the coffee shop for a visit to Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan.

Booker later said that Cameron believed the methods used to reinvigorate Newark could also be applied to British cities like Manchester and Liverpool, towns that, like Newark, have struggled as the local industrial base withered. The prime minister was also interested in Newark’s system of governance, where the mayor has more power than his counterpart in Liverpool
and other British cities.

“It was a tremendous honor for our city,” Booker said of Cameron’s visit, adding that the prime minister had heard of Newark’s revitalization efforts “from across the pond.”

“He and his staff had been hearing about what we’ve done in Newark for a long time,” Booker said. “Newark is a great example of what is possible.”

Booker, who studied at Britain’s Oxford University through a Rhodes scholarship, also said he owed “two years of his education” to the country and described the prime minister -- a wealthy descendant of British royalty -- as “a regular guy”.

Curious onlookers were largely unaware that the city was hosting a visit from the head of government of one of the nation’s most important allies. 

“Well that’s good. I’m glad they’re using Newark for something around the world,” said Alzumar Rasul Jenkins, owner of the Stilos photography studio on Broad Street. “That’s flattering.” 

Andrea Kosa, who has worked at Brick City Coffee Company for about a year, replied “absolutely, for sure” when asked whether Cameron was the most famous patron she’d ever seen at the shop.

Kosa, like Booker, unabashedly let her Newark pride show this morning. Speaking of the attention surrounding Cameron’s visit, Kosa said, “I hope the exposure can shed more light on the attributes of the city.”