Cory Booker: Mayor of Newark, Master of Twitter

Anyone considering a run for public office should read the tweets of Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker.  How else do you explain 1,060,000 “followers” of a man who runs a city of 307,000 people?

My social media hero: the Honorable Cory Booker

As you may know, twitter.com is a social network of messages of 140 characters or less.  It’s called microblogging.  Brevity makes it beautiful.  With some clever shorthand you can communicate a lot about your thoughts and activities in a tight little space.    The messages are “tweets”.  Booker gets my award for the most constructive use of twitter, and the most fascinating.  Sometimes he quotes Presidents and literary figures; most of the time he quotes the unfamilliar, at least unfamiliar to me.

Usually he tweets an announcement that he’ll be walking through a particular neighborhood and he invites residents to meet him and voice their concerns.  Or he fields the tweets of residents who report a traffic light is out or there’s some hazard on the streets.  ”I’m on it” he’ll respond in a tweet that also bears the initial inquiry.

I’ve seen Mayor Booker tweet the description of a suspect who just committed a crime, then offers a tweet of thanks for the concerned neighbors who got involved and called police.  Brilliant.  It’s a little “Dear Diary” and “Reality TV” without the TV part.

I was in Newark last week checking out my daughter’s new apartment as she pursues a Master’s Degree at nearby Seton Hall University.   On our way around town for errands, Natalie pointed out the various renewal projects underway in that gritty and enormously challenged city.  Natalie lives with her street smarts in an apartment complex where everyone places a “club” on their steering wheel to deter theft.  It’s a few blocks from a sparkling new high school and an enormous hospital complex but there are boarded up buildings and decrepit housing there too.

In the middle of the density, we saw acres upon acres of weedy fields where Natalie says Booker tore down some failed large public housing projects.  Reclaiming that land will allow developers to create something new and more appropriate for urban living in the 21st century.

Though I live in Syracuse, I’m familiar with Booker’s day, and let me tell you, Booker is booked.   His last tweet of the day yesterday was posted just before 1:00 am.  The first tweet this morning arrived just 6 1/2 hours later, at 7:24 am and he’s off on a new day again.

Here’s a sampling of some recent exchanges on twitter:

Someone with the twitter handle AlexisLovesMe wrote Halsey St. buildings R eye sores.

Within moments Booker responds: We will begin a major Halsey St. renovation project soon, starting on North end.

Then a question by RewMec: Is the old mall that’s on Halsey St. next 2 that parking lot going to be part of that reconstruction effort?

Booker: Not in the 1st phase.

Later, Booker retweeted, or forwarded,  a question from Stressboogie: Somebody tell Booker that bars on Sanford ave. r bringing down quality of life.

Booker added, U just did.  Can u DM me ur info?  Let’s discuss.  DM is short for “direct message”, meaning someone can tweet privately from one person to another and Booker asked for this individual’s contact information so he could learn more about the problem in private.

A follower called dropsidian: Wud u please get’em 2 check sewers on Norwood st. It becomes a stream when it rains

Soon after, Booker: I’m on it. Will try 2 do something.

Footstepsgroup: u need help from all of us. We all have to do our part or change won’t happen

Booker: Heck Yes!

You get the idea.   Because of Cory Booker and Twitter, I think I know more about what is happening in Newark than my own city of Syracuse, and I’m generally well informed.  I also know Booker suffers from insomnia and I worry about his health.  He often makes reference to needing sleep but having coffee instead, and one time he quoted Shakespeare with reference to lack of sleep.

Corey Booker is 41 years old, he has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Stanford University, he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and got a law degree from Yale.  His story is about as close to the people he governs as the undocumented workers who cared for Lou Dobb’s horses.  But it is the plain talking, rapid response on twitter that makes you feel Booker is a friend, only smarter, more energetic and more in charge.  He’s a 21st century Superman who uses his smart phone instead of a phone booth.  Residents may never get to study at Oxford, but they can stand face to face with their Mayor and talk about noise,  sewers and bars and what those do to the quality of life.

You probably heard that Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, just donated $100 million to Newark public schools.  Zuckerberg was another distant admirer of Booker’s tireless efforts.

Every public official should follow Cory Booker as an example of the very best kind of access and accountability.  The rest of us can just follow along like kids reading the old Marvel comics, a real life superhero in the state next door.