I’m looking forward to when the DC v Heller case comes to New Jersey. Should be interesting.

H/T @ammueller

http://news.yahoo.com/…

Some business owners in this crime-plagued city say recent enforcement of a decades-old ordinance prohibiting some types of barbed wire and razor wire is making Newark more attractive — to thieves.

Burglaries are up 17 percent from 2007 through November in Newark, which has a young, charismatic mayor who has vowed to help the city rebound from decades of official inaction, incompetence and outright criminality.

The city is aggressively courting new investment and development, but people who have been ordered to downgrade their fences say officials are worried more about aesthetics than security.

John DeSantis, owner of a lot used by an auto repair business in Newark’s West Ward, says his property has been the site of more than a dozen burglaries since the summer, when the city forced him to remove razor wire on top of the 7-foot-tall fence that surrounds the lot.

“The bottom line was, they said, ‘It doesn’t look good and we want to create a new image for the city of Newark,’” DeSantis said.

The order was backed up by a previously little-used 1966 ordinance that states: “No barbed wire fence or other fence or wall having barbed or sharp projections facing outward, or otherwise endangering the traveling public, shall be permitted adjacent to or along the line of any street or public place.”

The Rev. C.H. Thomas of the Church of Christ, which sits across the street from DeSantis’ lot, told The Star-Ledger of Newark that thieves have broken into several cars in the church’s lot since barbed wire was removed from a fence over the summer at the city’s behest.

At least when King James was instigating crime they allowed individuals to put up some level of protection.

http://www.bethechangeinc.org/…

ServiceNation Summit Co-chairs:

• Vartan Gregorian, President, Carnegie Corporation of New York
  
• Caroline Kennedy, Vice-Chair, New York City Fund For Public Schools
  
• Bill Novelli, CEO, AARP
  
• Alma Powell, Chair, America’s Promise Alliance
  
• Rick Stengel, Managing Editor, TIME Magazine

ServiceNation Leadership Council:

• Andi Bernstein
• Tom A. Bernstein, President and Co-founder, Chelsea Piers
• Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor, New York, NY; Chairman, National September 11 Memorial and Museum
• Cory Booker, Mayor, Newark, NJ
• Richard H. Brodhead, President, Duke University
• Neil Bush, CEO, Global XS
• Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO, Harlem Children’s Zone
• Mortimer Caplin, Former Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service
• Vice Admiral Richard Carmona, Former U.S. Surgeon General
• Jean Case, CEO, The Case Foundation
• Richard Celeste, President, Colorado College
• Ray Chambers, Amelior Foundation
• Richard Cizik, Vice President, National Association of Evangelicals
• Glenn Close, Actress
• William Cohen, Former Secretary of Defense; Former U.S. Senator
• Janet Langhart Cohen, Author; Founder, Citizen Patriot Organization
• Scott Cowen, President, Tulane University
• Tom Daschle, Former U.S. Senator
• John J. DeGioia, President, Georgetown University
• Manny Diaz, Mayor, Miami, FL
• John Dilulio, Former Director, Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives; Author, The Godly Republic
• Melinda Doolittle, Recording Artist
• Paul Fireman, Founder, Reebok
• Al From, Founder and CEO, Democratic Leadership Council
• Susan Fuhrman, President, Teachers College, Columbia University
• Mark Gearan, President, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
• David Gergen, Professor of Public Service and Director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard University
• Michael Gerson, Columnist, The Washington Post
• Stephen Goldsmith, Former Mayor, Indianapolis, IN
• Jennifer Granholm, Governor, Michigan
• Rabbi Irving Greenberg, Theologian; Author, The Jewish Way; Founding President, Jewish Life Network
• Amy Gutmann, President, University of Pennsylvania
• Lee Hamilton, Former Congressman; Former Co-chair, 9/11 Commission and Iraq Study Group
• Jenny Chin Hansen, President, AARP
• Gary Hart, Former U.S. Senator
• Admiral James R. Hogg, USN (Ret), Director, Strategic Studies Group, Naval War College
• James J. Jensen
• Martin Luther King, III, Chairman, Realizing the Dream
• Joel Klein, Chancellor, New York City Public Schools
• Sherry Lansing, Founder, The Sherry Lansing Foundation
• Jim Leach, Former Congressman; John L. Weinberg Professor of Public and International Affairs, Woodrow   Wilson School, Princeton University
• Anthony Marx, President, Amherst College
• Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, Chairman, American Red Cross
• Sam Nunn, Former U.S. Senator
• Michael Nutter, Mayor, Philadelphia, PA
• Martin O’Malley, Governor, Maryland
• Lt. General Dave R. Palmer, USA (Ret), Former Superintendent, U.S. Military Academy at West Point; Author
• David Paterson, Governor, New York
• Kal Penn, Actor
• Gregg Petersmeyer, Former Assistant to the President; Director, Office of National Service under George H.W. Bush
• Peter G. Peterson, Founder and Chairman, Peter G. Peterson Foundation; Co-founder, Blackstone Group Management
• Rob Portman, Former Congressman; Former Director, Office of Management and Budget
• Samantha Power, Anna Lindh Professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy, Harvard University; Author
• Marc Racicot, Former Governor, Montana
• Susan Rice, Foreign Policy Advisor, Obama for America
• Bill Richardson, Governor, New Mexico
• David Shaw, Managing Partner, Black Point Group
• Rodney Slater, Former Secretary of Transportation; Chair, United Way of America
• Laurie M. Tisch, President, Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund
• Paul Vallas, Superintendent, New Orleans Recovery School District
• David Walker, President and CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation
• Silda Wall, Founder, Children For Children
• Rick Warren, Senior Pastor, Saddleback Church; Author, A Purpose Driven Life
• Harris Wofford, Former U.S. Senator; Former CEO, Corporation for National & Community Service

Is it surprising that a large portion of those in support are directly or indirectly government bureaucrats?