Newark Enters Emergency Austerity Budget, Won't Buy Toilet Paper For Government Buildings

Newark, New Jersey is now facing the one of the worst austerity budget in America, which includes (via Drudge Report):

* no public toilet paper
* no city pools
* no gas money for non-critical emergency vehicles
* four-day work weeks
* plenty of layoffs
* still no property tax hike

The budget crisis escalated yesterday when the city council deferred action on a municipal utilities authority, which is a key part of Mayor Cory Booker's budget, according to FoxNY.

But Booker is taking budget gap seriously, just like Governor Chris Christie. Check it out the drama last night:




This story and many other stories of cuts by local Gov. across the US are just the start we need to take back out country now before the people become weak,
the Fed and TPTB will come in to save the day and take control of everything if we do not come together and live by our Constitution' our states have the power and we are groveling to the Federal reserve this is not America.

what is going to happen when they start closing down the welfare/prison system because no one can pay there taxes I dont see anyone coming to the rescue, my guess is at least 60% of the U.S. population is dependant on the Fed Gov for something in their life what happens when that all stops and even more people need help. I dont see anyone coming to the rescue.
Right now I see the fat getting fatter and ignoring everything happening to our society as in the World society.

I applaud this, though I believe that he had ulterior motives for this press conference. It seemed to me to be a way for him to try to force the City Council to accept his proposals... at least that is the impression I got from the inflections he used while talking.

My view is that all cities, counties, states, and the federal government should take a page out of this book and write their own based on it. It sure as hell wouldn't hurt our children's future to have a better situation on debt owed.

Originally posted by Y2KJMan

My view is that all cities, counties, states, and the federal government should take a page out of this book and write their own based on it. It sure as hell wouldn't hurt our children's future to have a better situation on debt owed.

I agree with you although the cuts are coming from the wrong place,these cuts of toilet paper and police/fire dept equal only pennies to the salaries paid to these corrupt Political officials we need to start from the top down and cut half from the top and 25% from the bottom (salaries).

this is not a thought out plan but its big start and will cut big money, these officials make way too much money and live well beyond their needs.

reply to post by -W1LL


Fantastic. I used to live right outside of Newark in Harrison, NJ and I can tell you first hand that the only clean thing in the city was the toilet paper.

Now thats gone.

reply to post by -W1LL


double post

[edit on 23-7-2010 by dolphinfan]

reply to post by dolphinfan


From what I understand there are plenty of douches to go around.

The TP shortage shouldn't be a problem and it might actually ease the unemployment situation.

Mayor Cory Booker, Newark, NJ, cuts toilet paper from the city budget for public offices.
The link above does not lead to a single news source, but to a Bing list of various news sources that confirm the news itself. Therefore, there isn't any single "title" for this submission. I do this so that no one can (honestly) accuse me of not providing coroborating sources to any kind of news story...Pick & choose your sources at will.

New York Daily News

Watch out, Mr. Whipple, the mayor of Newark is putting the squeeze on toilet paper.

Mayor Cory Booker threatened to stop spending city funds on toilet paper as one of a string of "savage" measures to close a $70 million budget gap.


"We're going to stop buying everything from toilet paper to printer paper," Booker said during a City Hall news conference in Newark Wednesday.

"Call me Mr. Scrooge, if you want, but there will be no Christmas decorations around the city."

Booker said the belt-tightening will commence on Aug. 2 with the closing of city pools and its popular Camp Watershed.

Ok, now I know there's a lot of people, including myself, who've been saying for a long time that most politicians are full of crap...But now our economic woes are getting bad enough that they can't even clean themselves up after any more "outbreaks" of political BS...

Ok, now that I got my own silliness out of the way, the subject matter itself is still open for a more serious discussion (although there already was & most likely will be other posters who may have some of their own silliness to get out too).

But there are a lot of serious ramifications that need to get out into the open for discussion, because toilet paper is only one of the many cutbacks that Mayor Booker is going to implement. One of the cutbacks he will be implementing includes public-use facilities, such as swimming pools & Newark's own Camp Watershed. I'm not familiar with the area, but don't facilities such as this actually bring in public funding for the city, through user-fees & such? How will the Mayor's cutbacks affect these facilities to keep drawing people in (& paying money to use)?

On the side of city employees, they'll have to start bringing their own toilet paper from home, just so they won't have to "hold it" (or risk social embarrassment) all day!

When cities themselves suffer from cutbacks, does that not also imply that the whole State must "trickle down" with the necessary cutbacks? So why should the States be having such a hard time? Personally, I would put the initial blame on the ratification of the 17th Amendment (Clause 1 excerpted below), with the situation getting worse over time since then.

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.

By turning the Senate into a popular (public) vote, does this not deprive the States from proper representation with the federal government? The States are still being taxed by the feds, but they no longer have their own State Legislature voting for Senators! Is this not "taxation without representation," one of the many faults of the English Monarchy that the American Colonists fought a war against?

According to the supporting documentation (such as congressional Journals & other sources), the 17th Amendment DID NOT clarify, alter, modify, overturn or overrule Article 4, section 4 in any way, means, shape or form...Yet that's the very same clause in the Constitution that establishes--

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

(bold emphasis is mine)
In the context & meaning of the word "Republican" used, it means "representative."
Think about it...The 17th Amendment directly violates Article 4, Section 4 by depriving the State Governments any effective representation within the level of national government! By precedent of the Law in America, any legislation that is not "in pursuance of" the Constitution is automatically null & void as if it never existed...Not lawful, not enforcable & stricken from consideration. But Nnot only are the people being taxed into poverty, but the States suffer from onerous taxation without even having the benefit of representation!

Why else do the incumbents in D.C. argue over "earmarks" for bringing money back into their States? Why else does Congress, on the whole, wind up spending so much without having any real backing for the deficit (except by borrowing against the future earnings of the nation)? It's not merely the States that should be cutting back, but the federal government must cut back too...The States should be able to keep more of their own money so as to use it for the public good on a more local basis.

Then maybe, just maybe, stories like this could be relegated to the realm of "urban myths."

reply to post by MidnightDStroyer


You raise two issues here, cities such as Newark and the issue with respect to State's representation in our federal government.

I grew up in NJ and Newark has been a pox on the state, along with Camden, Trenton and a host of other cities for 40 years. NJ government has been second (by a hair) to Chicago in corruption for decades. Leave Newark to Newark and if the folks need to bring their own wipes into work, so be it. Those are the same government union workers who have driven the city into the hole these past 50 years.

As it relates to federal representation, the system as designed was meant to protect the rights of those citizens who live in less populated areas. To carry your argument to the extreme, states like Wyoming would have little if any representation in the federal government. The population based system of representation is adequately governed by the make up of the house of representatives which is re-adjusted every 10 years via the census.

Well having a 5 day work week, gas in emergency cars, public pools, and toilet paper are not rights.

Haha, I mean really are there going to be people protesting with signs saying "It is our right to wipe".

Wake up!

Ugh. You know things are getting bad when you have to BYOTP. If cuts like this are needed to keep the essentials running, that's what they have to do. People are learning this the hard way on individual levels.

Maybe the entire nation needs to learn how to assess the REAL problems and priorities and focus on the top ones instead of being tossed around continuously like a pinball bouncing off the bumpers in a machine about non-important issues that are only meant to divert our attention.

This might be a good lesson for us all.

Originally posted by dolphinfan
To carry your argument to the extreme, states like Wyoming would have little if any representation in the federal government. The population based system of representation is adequately governed by the make up of the house of representatives which is re-adjusted every 10 years via the census.

As far as the States having representation, every State gets two Senators...That's pretty equal. As far as the House of Reps goes, even though the number of Reps is figured by population, then the People do get equal per capita representation.

You also seem to forget that, although the State Legislatures originally voted for the Senate, you also need to remember who votes in the State Legislatures! By proxy, the People also have something to say about Senators (even without the 17th Amendment) by voicing themselves to their State Governments.

If Newark is such a blight on NJ, then why not organize locally to get Special Elections going? Primary issue on the ballot being Recal? It only takes a very small percentage of voters to initiate a Special Election & can actually be completed within a matter of a couple of weeks or so. At least you don't have to wait for teh regular election cycles to get rid of corrupted incumbents.

Perhaps a better, more comprehensive explanation can be heard at YouTube, with a 7-part audio (presumably, a response from a radio broadcast that was covering a Guardians of the Republic activity that they called the Restore America Plan) entitled "Restore America Plan, Real or Not?" This will explain in much greater detail, without my taking up too much room here.

After all, it takes a bit of research in the Public Records, informs the public of specific problems that the corrupted officers cause & uses lawful & Constitutional methods that will replace corrupted government officers on any level of government, but works best if started locally & expands from there.

Get busy, Newark! the People really do have the Power!

[edit on 28-7-2010 by MidnightDStroyer]

reply to post by MidnightDStroyer


Thats a great civics lesson.

Spend some time in Newark and here are a few things you'll find:

- The people in Newark don't care about Newark.
- Other than the government and firms who supply the government and a small university there are no jobs in Newark.
- The crime rate in Newark is among the highest in the nation
- simple things like a movie theater, park, library either don't exist, are in such disrepair that they can not be used or have been taken over by gangs and are therefore unusuable
- the schools in Newark are among the worst in the country
- a significant percentage of the population have no reasonable education, no marketable skills

Nothing is going to fix these cities. They have to be torn down and the whole business restarted. The civics business is great and if the do tear them down and rebuild, I would agree with you, the folks need to get involved. In the current state however, there is simply nothing the people on the ground there can do, other than get the hell out.