Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker is up in arms over some billboards currently scattered throughout his city's downtown. He says that six signs, paid for by the Newark Teachers Union, are hurting Newark businesses by driving away potential consumers.
What do the billboards say? "HELP WANTED: Stop the Killings in Newark Now!"
They're anti-murder. And Booker's got a problem with them.
Not that Booker is pro-murder, of course. But he says the billboards, which are positioned so that commuters can't help but notice them, are bad for business. They perpetuate a negative image of Newark, he says.
But critics point out that it just might be the murders themselves that are keeping people away from downtown Newark. Last year, 106 people were killed in the city, the highest rate in more than a decade.
It's got to be frustrating for Booker, and it's understandable that he wouldn't like people advertising his city's high murder rate. But it really seems that the problem here isn't a half dozen billboards.
Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach has written about a range of topics, including social policy issues and urban planning and design. Originally from Tennessee, he joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism
E-mail: zpatton@governing.com 
Written and compiled by staff writers and editors, GOVERNING View is an on-the-ground, and sometimes behind-the-scenes, look at the topics we're covering in print and online. From notes on what's up in statehouses, county courthouses and city halls, to encounters with people, places and things, GOVERNING View is a window into the side of state and local government you don't always see.
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