Bradley Court Projects has been a long-time issue in the West Ward of Newark and the 3rd and 4th Wards of East Orange. These project buildings are riddled with drug dealers, drug addicts, gangs, prostitution, and violence, all of which spill over into the community of residential homes, owner-occupied mainly by long-time black and brown homeowners.

The homeowners in this community are tired of being preyed upon and victimized by theft and unsafe conditions. We often cannot let our children play outside in the front or back yards alone because addicts walk up and down the tree-lined blocks looking for items to steal.

Neighbors have had various items stolen from lawn chairs to appliances and even pets. The East Orange police department recently caught and arrested a woman who entered a home early in the morning while the residents were sleeping to steal items from their basement. The perpetrator used a childless baby carriage as a decoy and was seen pushing this carriage up and down the street to fill it with stolen items. The police are doing the best they can, but the issue is overwhelming. 

Far too long have members of this community been prisoners of poor quality of life and safety issues. Gunshots can be heard coming from the projects, and ring surveillance cameras often pick up Bradley Court residents lurking in back yards, looking for entry points to break into homes. There has even been a report of human defecation on front lawns at the hands of drug feigns. 

While we understand everyone needs a place to live, this is not an anti-affordable housing petition. We need affordable housing, but it must be reimagined differently. News reports have highlighted successful national trends where a high concentration of very low-income people in housing projects is an inhumane thing of the past. Instead, large project areas have been closed and replaced with mixed-income units, which has been proven to reduce the crime and elements that come with high concentrations of people experiencing desperate poverty.

It is essential to mention that not every resident of Bradley Court participates in heinous behavior, but the people who live there and are doing the right thing are victims too. They are victims of a system that has only afforded them this type of unsafe housing as an option to live in.

We recognize many underlying issues have caused Bradley Court to be in the condition it is, but we also acknowledge that our black lives and neighborhood matters. We have a right to live in peace, un-terrorized by gangs, drugs, and robbery. 

We, the residents of the West Ward of Newark and the 3rd and 4th Wards of East Orange, are pleading with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka to finally close these government Housing Authority owned projects; and help its residents find housing in mixed-income healthy developments, where poverty is not concentrated. 

We wish to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.