It is Thursday and I am walking toward the Rutgers campus via Market Street near the intersection at Broad Street. A middle-aged gentleman tries to stop me as he first asks if I would like a Daily Newspaper which is distributed free at many PATH train entrances. I remember him from several weeks before and quickly responds politely, "no thank you." He quickly responds by asking for change and I politely tell him I am out while continuing at the same pace. I will probably be asked a few more times by other people as I make my way through the middle of downtown Newark and I begin to ponder the problem of poverty in this city.
How bad are poverty levels in a city which is many times described on billboards and advertisement as a center of culture and arts, development and renaissance? How has this culture helped or hindered poverty levels, from immigration to the migration of populations to suburbs to artists' contributions to the change in the city's leadership? What other factors are or has been present, perhaps in the form of some hegemony, in the shaping of the way of life and the standard of living of this city's citizens.
How bad are poverty levels in a city which is many times described on billboards and advertisement as a center of culture and arts, development and renaissance? How has this culture helped or hindered poverty levels, from immigration to the migration of populations to suburbs to artists' contributions to the change in the city's leadership? What other factors are or has been present, perhaps in the form of some hegemony, in the shaping of the way of life and the standard of living of this city's citizens.
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