Newark Council Approves 'Save our Water' Ordinance

More than a hundred spectators burst into applause following a Newark Municipal Council vote Tuesday for a citizen-initiated ordinance prohibiting the formation of a utility authority without voter approval. That ordinance, however, is now being reviewed by the courts and may yet be defeated.

“It is my honor to move in favor of the people’s ordinance,” Councilwoman-at-Large Mildred Crump said moments before the vote was taken.

Thousands of residents signed a petition this summer calling on the council to vote for the ordinance, which was written by a citizens organization, the Newark Water Group, after Mayor Cory Booker proposed creating an authority to oversee the city’s water and sewer system.

Under state law, the ordinance would have gone on the ballot for a special election had the council failed to approve it Tuesday. Given the large number of signatures gathered -- about  5,000, thousands more than legally required to force a council vote -- it appears likely the ordinance would have been approved in a general election.

The ordinance also calls for the abolition of the Newark Watershed and Development Corp., which manages thousands of acres of land in northwest Jersey. The Newark Water Group has charged that the agency is a patronage mill with little public oversight.

Earlier Tuesday, the Booker administration asked a judge in Essex County Superior Court to invalidate the ordinance before it went to the council for a vote, arguing in part that the proposed local law exceeds what would be allowed under state law.

Those proceedings are scheduled to continue Sept. 19, said Julien Neals, the city’s business administrator.

“Certain provisions of the ordinance meet the mayor’s mandate that any potential water solution remain public. However, it falls far short as to providing for the significant infrastructure investment needed for a sustainable solution.  The administration remains committed to working with the municipal council and the citizens of Newark toward a solution that will benefit all,” Neals said in a statement.  

Booker had proposed an authority as a way to finance a half-billion in repairs and upgrades his  administration said is desperately needed by the system, which has hundreds of thousands of customers in Newark, Elizabeth, Belleville, Bloomfield and other communities.

But opponents said creating an authority, which would be in government hands but whose appointed management would not be directly answerable to elected officials, is merely a layover on the way to privatization of the city’s water supply.

Resident Myles Zhang, 16, echoed a point made by others that utility authorities elsewhere in the nation, such as Harrisburg, Pa., have racked up massive debt before being taken over by financial speculators, who then squeeze ratepayers in order to realize a profit.

“Harrisburg is in debtor’s prison for life, but don’t worry, Harrisburg, Newark can become your cellmate for life,” Zhang said.

Other speakers said Newark residents have been fighting attempts to remove water and sewer service from direct city government control since the early 1970s. Among those who attended the ordinance hearing Tuesday was former Mayor Ken Gibson, who helped defeat a similar takeover effort four decades ago.

Booker’s predecessor, Sharpe James, also unsuccessfully tried to create an autonomous water and sewer utility. When Booker first suggested an authority two years ago it was immediately met with residents’ disapproval.

“It is really pathetic in a way that this issue has been going on for years and years when the public has so strongly and decidedly said they want the city to run and manage its water system assets,” said longtime South Ward resident Robert Turvin.