Jan 5, 2009 11:40 am US/Eastern
Critics: Newark Barbed Wire Ban Helps Criminals
NEWARK (AP) ―
As Newark tries to change its troubled image by aggressively courting new investment and development, it's facing criticism from city business owners.
They're angry about the recent enforcement of a decades-old ordinance prohibiting some types of barbed wire and razor wire.
They say that's making Newark more attractive to thieves, noting that burglaries are up 17 percent from 2007 through November 2008. And they feel officials are worried more about aesthetics than security in the crime-plagued city.
In some respects, the dispute is a microcosm of the changes under way in New Jersey's largest city.
Newark is a city struggling to forge ahead as it grapples with its past.
And crime remains the broad brush that colors perceptions of the city.
Despite a steep drop in homicides in the last year, robberies and aggravated assaults rose along with burglaries in 2008.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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