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AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CHANGE OF THE NAME OF BROAD STREET, IN ITS ENTIRETY TO MAYOR KENNETH A. GIBSON BOULEVARD, PURSUANT TO N.J.S.A. 40A: 67-1(k).
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WHEREAS, the Honorable Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson, was born Kenneth Allen Gibson on May 15, 1932, in Enterprise, Alabama; and
WHEREAS, the Honorable Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson's family moved to the Central Ward of Newark, New Jersey, when he was eight (8) years old, and the Honorable Mayor Gibson, went on to graduate from Newark's Central High School; and
WHEREAS, the Honorable Mayor Gibson, studied civil engineering at the Newark College of Engineering, which is now the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and subsequently worked as an engineer at the State of New Jersey, Highway Department; and
WHEREAS, the Honorable Mayor Gibson, served in the United States Army as a civil engineer; and
WHEREAS, the Honorable Mayor Gibson, served in an engineering position at the Newark Housing Authority from 1960 to 1966 and as Chief Structural Engineer for the City of Newark from 1966 to 1970; and
WHEREAS, the Honorable Mayor Gibson, was elected as Mayor of the City of Newark in 1970, becoming the first African-American Mayor in Newark's history and the first African-American Mayor of any major city in the Northeastern United States; and
WHEREAS, the Honorable Mayor Gibson, was re-elected three (3) times as Mayor of the City of Newark and served in office from 1970 to 1986; and
WHEREAS, the Honorable Mayor Gibson, became the first African-American President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 1976; and
WHEREAS, the Honorable Mayor Gibson, was credited with stabilizing the City of Newark's finances during difficult economic times and improving the City of Newark's health services, leading to reductions in the rates of tuberculosis and infant and maternal mortality; and
WHEREAS, his rise to power is well chronicled as he led New Jersey's la...
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