A great article about Cory Booker, who has one of the hardest jobs in America (perhaps second only to the mayor of New Orleans).  Hopefully crime will start to really fall and he can get control of Newark's schools so he can focus his energies on fixing this disaster area...

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On the Streets and in the Police Stations, the Mayor of Newark Is on Patrol

By ANDREW JACOBS

Published: December 29, 2007

www.nytimes.com/2007/12/29/nyregion/29booker.html

NEWARK — Mayor Cory A. Booker bounded through the back door of a police station in the early-morning hours of Christmas Eve. He did not come bearing holiday gifts.

A desk sergeant stage-shouted “Good evening, Mayor,” and the half dozen officers who were preparing gear for the lobster shift looked up with a start. After a round of greetings, Mr. Booker got down to work. He grilled commanding officers about a string of car thefts and armed robberies, asked why drug dealers were brazenly hawking their wares at a nearby housing project, and then flipped through a ream of log sheets to see which patrol units were lagging in arrests and summonses.

As the officers lined up for roll call, Mr. Booker, dressed in a gray hooded sweat shirt, stood behind the front desk and delivered a pep talk subtly laced with admonition. He praised them for their hard work and bravery — and gave thanks for an 11 percent drop in overall crime — but suggested that some officers were less than industrious. “We are on the foothills of greatness, but there is still a big mountain to climb,” he said, his voice filled with urgency. “We need to show the country what Newark can do. When you are between service calls, I need you to challenge the bad guys and show them that they don’t own the streets. Be aggressive, be hungry, make me proud.”