Newark Residents Plan 'Occupy' Protest

Newark resident Erika Horna is afraid she won't find a job to help her pay student loans when she graduates college in 2013. That's why the 20-year-old music-business major at Bergen Community College plans to bring an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement to her hometown.

"There's a lot of problems here (in Newark)," said Horna. "We have a lot of unemployment, housing … there's just a lot of problems."

She joined nearly 25 people Sunday afternoon in the city's Peter Francisco Park to brainstorm Occupy Newark — a demonstration that likely will be a product of what's now turned into a worldwide movement against corporate greed and economic inequality.

Since Occupy Wall Street started Sept. 17 in New York, demonstrations have sprouted up in more than 900 cities worldwide. Earlier this month, protesters marched in Jersey City and Trenton, but skipped Newark, New Jersey's largest city.

Sunday's planning group was a mix of 20-somethings and baby boomers, from Newark and other New Jersey towns, who want to raise awareness of ongoing socio-economic issues in the city. Horna said she recruited people primarily through the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.

One of the attendees was Sue Meaney, 58, of Franklin Park. She brought a makeshift sign that read, "Occupy Together."

"I'm here for my grandchild because there's a lot of things going on … in our country that it's not going to be as good a place for him as it was for me and my children," Meaney said.

During the meeting, the group seemed to agree that Occupy Newark likely would address local problems with , and , as well as the broader issues of government control and the economy seen in Occupy Wall Street.

The most recent information available by the New Jersey Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development shows Newark's unemployment rate was 14.4 percent in August — 5.3 percent above the national average. U.S. Census Bureau statistics for 2010 reveal the city's poverty rate was 30.2 percent — double the national average. And immigration has been an ongoing battle in Newark since the city's county agreed to house federal immigrant detainees in exchange for cash.

Mayor Cory Booker with the help of nonprofits. He did not return requests for comment Sunday night.

Horna said the group will meet every Sunday at 3 p.m. in the park until members develop a planned demonstration.