Newark Mayor Throws MTV Party , Residents Not Invited

Newark NJ hosted MTV’s Video Music Awards on Monday night and it appears the entire fiasco bombed miserably.

Not only did the awards show endure its lowest broadcast ratings ever, about 200 of Newark's citizens gathered outside with signs protesting the urgent situation of lead in their water.
As posh guests milled about outside the Prudential Center in Newark waiting for a glimpse of a celebrity – the protesters were chanting: “We want our water free, we don’t need no MTV!,” according to published Tweets by several observers.

As seen in the Tweet photos, the protester's picket signs read things such as: “Governor Murphy Fix Our Pipes,” and, “Get the Lead Out.”

In addition to calling out Gov. Murphy, locals also yelled out the Mayor's name, Ra Bar aka, whom they say hasn't done zip about the ongoing water-safety issue.

With very interesting timing – earlier on Monday – Essex County Executive Joseph Divergence Jr., announced a $120 million loan for Newark to expedite the replacement of 18,000 lead service-lines that are causing lead to leach into the water.

The recent distribution of bottled water as a stop-gap fix – requested by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) -- has brought national attention to the issue and helped to drive public pressure to resolve it.

It appears that overall – the elected officials responsible for the public safety in Newark – are not held in high esteem by residents.

MTV No Longer Relative

While MTV was a big deal in the 1980s, the program has lost much of its original luster. For the past three years, it has seen a steep drop-off in viewers, and the MTV Awards ratings reflect exactly that.
Newark residents are questioning exact what would convince the city to host a dying – if not dead – music and entertainment medium. Many residents think that MTV was offered a sweet deal by Newark officials to

use the resources of Newark to host their lame party that few care about.
It is notable that State and Federal Police were clearly present with helicopters, bomb-sniffing dogs, mounted officers and other costly resources. And the taxpayers footed the bill.

The residents have stiff reasons to be angered as they wonder what happened to the $100 million dollar donation that Newark received to update and upgrade Newark schools. They also wonder what is being done about rampant and unabated crime, the charter school situation, and other pressing matters of public concern.

All-in-all, the MTV event was a failure. Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrosia said five protesters were arrested after they tried to crash secure areas of the concert but overall disruptions were minimal given the crowd.

Perhaps the protesters attracted enough celebrity attention that one of the glorified Hip-Hopsters will write a song about “lead in the water,” and push the agenda forward. But likely not.

It appears that Cory Booker doesn’t look that bad after all.

And to Newark we say – your city deserves better .

Jersey PrimeTime News Team

@Jersey_tv