Newark is the place where the Pullman porter comes in to brush you off for New York.
— Old vaudeville joke In addition to being the butt of tired jokes, Newark (pop. 465.600) used to be a sprawling municipal Skid Row choking in its own web of rail lines, express high ways and traffic-snarled streets. The sun, rising above Manhattan's skyscrapers ten miles away, glinted off broken bottles in the ring of slums pressing in on Newark's business district. A daily flood of commuters poured in—doubling the population—then poured back into the suburbs. At night those who remained in the...