Kenneth Allen Gibson 1932–

Engineer, consultant, former politician

At a Glance…

The Daunting Task of Newark’s Mayor

Money Problems

Who Benefited?

From Politics to Consulting

Sources

In 1970 Democratic candidate Kenneth Allen Gibson was elected mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and became the first African American to head a major Northeastern city. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, Newark had become a symbol of urban decay. Its crime rate was high and its public health standards were low. Newark was also plagued by racial violence, which prompted both industry and the middle class to leave the city.

As mayor, Gibson worked to end these difficulties. He brought a reasonable problem-solving strategy and a sense of calm to a highly charged political situation. In his early years in office, Gibson concentrated on alleviating crime and improving public health in Newark. During the 1980s, he attracted huge amounts of investment money to Newark’s downtown but was faulted by some observers for failing to help the city’s most impoverished citizens. After four terms in office, he was defeated in a 1986 reelection bid. He now heads Gibson Associates, Inc., a construction management firm that advises building developers and investment bankers on public financing and other issues.

Born on May 15, 1932, in Enterprise, Alabama, Kenneth Gibson was the elder of two sons. When he was eight, his family moved north to Newark, where his father, Willie Gibson, worked as a butcher, and his mother, Daisy, toiled as a seamstress. Gibson was known a shy child growing up in Newark’s largely black South Ward. A hard worker, he was employed part time as a porter at a hotel and played saxophone with dance bands while achieving good grades in school. In 1953 he graduated with honors from Newark’s Central High School.

After high school, Gibson divided his time between study and work. Since he had to support a wife and two young daughters, he took engineering courses sporadically at the Newark College of Engineering. Between courses, he worked for the New Jersey Highway Department, spent two years laboring in a factory, and joined the U.S. Army’s 65th Engineering Battalion. In 1963, after ten years of part-time study, he was awarded a degree in structural engineering.

Gibson was hired by the Newark Housing Authority in the 1960s. Newark’s mayor at the time, Hugh J. Addonizio, promoted him quickly as part of an effort to solidify his administration’s ties with the city’s large and growing black community. As he rose in city government, Gibson also became involved in national- and community-based civil

At a Glance…

Born May 15, 1932, in Enterprise, AL; son of Willie Foy Gibson (a butcher) and Daisy Lee Gibson (a seamstress); married second wife, Muriel Cooke, July 1960; children: Cheryl, JoAnn, Joyce. Education: Newark College of Engineering, B.S., 1962. Politics: “Nominal” Democrat.

Manual labor jobs, 1952-60; Newark Housing Authority, Newark, NJ, engineer, 1960-66; City of Newark, chief structural engineer, 1966-70; mayor of Newark, 1970-86; delegate, Democratic National Midterm Conference, 1974 and 1978; president, U.S. Conference of Mayors, 1976-77; Gibson Associates, Inc. (construction management firm), Newark, president. Former head of Newark’s Business and Industry Coordinating Council and vice president of the United Community Corp. Member of board of directors, Newark Urban Coalition and Newark YMCA-YWCA. Military service: U.S. Army, 65th Engineering Battalion, 1956-58.

Member: American Society of Civil Engineers, Frontiers International.

Awards: Newark Junior Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year, 1964.

Addresses: Office —Gibson Associates, Inc., Renaissance Towers, 111 Mulberry St., Suite 1G, Newark, NJ 07102.

rights organizations. He joined the Urban League, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the YMCA and the YWCA. He headed Newark’s Business and Industry Coordinating Council, a job-finding organization, and served as vice-president of the United Community Corporation, an antipoverty agency. In 1964 Newark’s Junior Chamber of Commerce named him Man of the Year.

By 1966 Gibson had become enough of a community figure to oppose Addonizio in the mayoral election. Gibson called the campaign little more than “a civil rights demonstration,” according to the New York Times. Still, with little funding and only six weeks to campaign, he managed to tally 16,000 votes—about 20 percent of the total—and forced a run off between Addonizio and opponent Leo P. Carlin.

Newark was fast becoming an emblem for what was wrong with urban America. Stanley B. Winters, writing for the New York Times, called it “a symbol of national urban decline—housing abandonment, racial strife, loss of business and jobs, official corruption.” In 1967 riots erupted in Newark’s black community, leaving 27 dead.

With the racial situation polarized, the prospect of electing Gibson to the mayor’s office took on even more significance. He was chosen to run again in 1970. This time he was successful. In the initial election, he gained more than twice as many votes as his nearest competitor. In the run off, he beat Addonizio.

With Gibson’s election, Newark erupted in celebration and hope. The New York Times claimed that “there was dancing in the streets.” The new mayor himself, however, took a more sober view, “Wherever the cities of America are going,” he told reporters, “Newark will get there first.” By this, he meant that if urban problems were solvable, Newark would find their solutions; if not, Newark might be the first city to go up in flames.

The Daunting Task of Newark’s Mayor

Solving Newark’s problems would indeed be difficult. Its government was rife with corruption, its crime rate was among the highest in the country, its school system was broke, and its teachers would soon go on a two-month-long strike. Economically, both people and capital were leaving the city. One indication of the city’s economic ill health was the fate of the Gateway, a brand new office building complex that went bankrupt immediately after opening in 1970.

Gibson’s first contribution to the mayor’s office was a much-needed sense of calm. He didn’t let the enormity of Newark’s problems overwhelm him. Gibson jogged each morning and found time to play the saxophone. He took a pragmatic approach to problem-solving and seldom showed emotion in public. “I may be slow,” he told the New York Times at one point, “but I am awfully persistent.”

His early accomplishments were in the area of public health. He set up seven community health centers, instituting a policy of comprehensive testing that cut Newark’s infant mortality rate, reduced the incidence of tuberculosis by 50 percent, and slashed venereal disease by 80 percent. He also focused on Newark’s budget, which needed constant attention because a shrinking tax base was causing deficits.

In 1974 Gibson won his first reelection, easily defeating state senator Anthony Imperiale. During his second term, the mayor continued to focus on health care and was able to reduce the incidence of serious crimes. Between 1971 and 1977, Newark fell from first in the nation in the rate of serious crimes to 23rd.

Gibson was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors—the first black to hold that position—in 1976. As the chief spokesperson for America’s cities, he pledged to heal a rift between Republican and Democratic mayors. During his two-year term, he became an articulate voice for the needs of urban America and an effective lobbyist with Congress and then-president Jimmy Carter, to whom he was also a frequent adviser.

While growing more prominent on the national scene, Gibson faced some nasty bickering along Newark’s racial and partisan lines. In March of 1976, 75 North Ward demonstrators marched to his office, where they smashed in a locked door. The group—led by Gibson’s white political enemies, city councilman Anthony Carrino and Senator Imperiale—was protesting the appointment of a non-resident as commander of a new North Ward police precinct.

Throughout the mid-1970s, Gibson also worked to improve the economic lives of his constituents. In December of 1976, he announced an affirmative action plan aimed at ending discrimination in municipal hiring and upgrading minority employees working in “dead-end” city jobs.

Money Problems

A major roadblock to all government initiatives was Newark’s shrinking tax base. To balance the budget, Gibson was forced to lay off city workers, reorganize city government, and raise property taxes as high as ten cents on the dollar. Despite these troubled conditions, in 1981 Gibson began the first of two unsuccessful campaigns for the post of New Jersey governor. He based his campaign on a proven ability to balance Newark’s budget while maintaining essential city services. He told the New York Times: “I’m not a manager of hope, I’m a manager of resources.” Gibson’s appeal was not strong enough to win the race, but he did surprise many political observers by coming in a strong third in the 1981 Democratic gubernatorial primary.

In 1982 his reputation was tarnished when prosecutors charged him with creating a “no show” job for a former city councilman. Gibson called the indictment a “political hatchet job” and told the New York Times it was an attempt to discredit him just before his third reelection bid. Despite the indictment, he won reelection and three months later was acquitted of all charges. During Gibson’s trial, the presiding judge complained that the prosecution’s case was inadequate. “It sounds to me,” the New York Times quoted him as telling the prosecution, “that what I’ve heard in this case is that you started with a preconceived judgment and you are trying to weave everything into this.”

Gibson began to have some success in attracting private investment to Newark’s generally blighted downtown. This was partly because of a regional real estate boom in the early 1980s, as well as the institution of attractive tax incentives by the city and state.

Who Benefited?

By 1984, it was becoming clear that these investments were dramatically improving the lives of a certain segment of Newark’s population. In downtown Newark, Prudential Insurance expanded its office complex, Public Service Electric and Gas Company built a 26-story headquarters building, and developers were planning literally hundreds of new offices. The city’s seaport was bustling, its airport was expanding, and according to the New York Times, business executives were convinced that Newark was being revived after years of social and economic decay.

For Newark’s poor residents, though, life had in some ways deteriorated even further. Between 1970 and 1984, Newark’s population had dropped from 382,417 to 314,387, while its unemployment rose from 8.4 percent to 12.2 percent. The city’s police force shrank, and the number of retail stores in the city had more than halved. By 1984 Newark had only one supermarket, no movie theaters, no bowling alleys, and few recreational opportunities. At the same time, Newark officials reckoned that the city was getting only one-quarter of the federal aid it had received a decade earlier.

Gibson was losing his support among Newark voters. However, he remained popular in state and national politics. In 1985 he took a second run in the governor’s race. He was favored in the polls but tallied just 26 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary.

Since conditions for Newark’s poor were, in some ways, worse in 1986 than they had been in 1970, 1986’s mayoral election became a referendum on Gibson’s achievements and his management style. A recalcitrant city council had wrested from him the power to appoint members of the Board of Education, and it appeared as though Newark voters were ready to give someone else the city’s top job. Gibson’s poorer constituents had come to see him as an entrenched and unresponsive politician. His opponent, city councilman Sharpe James, accused the mayor of breaking campaign promises and taking a lackadaisical approach to his duties. Newark residents were frustrated by watching economic revivals occur in other Northeastern cities while Newark remained mired in poverty, dependency, and blight.

Gibson countered by reciting his management successes. He had built new housing stock, improved health services, turned a budget deficit into a surplus, and helped the business sector to revitalize downtown areas. In a letter to the New York Times, he pointed to street repaving programs, a first rate fire department, enterprise zones, a steadily increasing bond rating, reduced city payroll, an aggressive demolition program for abandoned buildings, and a 25 percent reduction in major crime between 1980 and 1986.

From Politics to Consulting

On May 13, 1986, the people of Newark decided not to reelect Gibson. The defeat caught him by surprise. He told the New York Times that he was preparing a victory speech but that “somewhere in the process between hanging my clothes and going back for the speech it became obvious I was going to lose.” Since leaving city government, Gibson has headed Gibson Associates, a consulting firm that advises building developers and investment bankers on public financing and other construction management issues. He has also become a spokesperson for privatizing government services in large urban areas.

Sources

Chicago Tribune, May 8, 1986, sec. 1A, p. 30; May 14, 1986, sec. 1, p. 3.

Ebony, December 1986, p. 36.

Jet, March 26, 1984, p. 24; June 24, 1985, p. 6; September 8, 1986, p. 34.

Life, July 4, 1970, p. 42.

New York Times, May 14, 1970, p. 41; June 16, 1970, p. 50; July 12, 1977, p. 25; January 3, 1978, p. 33; May 14, 1978, sec. 10, p. 1; July 30, 1978, sec. 11, p. 18; April 30, 1982, p. B3; October 1, 1982, p. B3; May 28, 1985, p. B2; June 2, 1985, sec. 11, p. 1; November 3, 1985,11NJ, p. 1; February 8, 1986, p. A26; May 5, 1986, p. B1; May 10, 1986, p. A30; May 14, 1986, p. A1; May 15, 1986, p. A26; May 18, 1986, sec. 4, p. 7.

Wall Street Journal, June 18, 1991, p. A18.

—Jordan Wankoff