Newark Mayor Cory Booker owned a squalid building that lapsed into disrepair and was overrun by squatters, a report says.
The mayor, who boasts about his campaign for urban renewal, recently sold the decaying row house on Court Street for $1 to a nonprofit that he owns, according to The (Bergen) Record.
The Senate hopeful is famous for his rise from the gritty streets of Newark to the city’s heroic everyman.
He once tweeted the dramatic rescue of a cat stuck on a constituent’s roof, and even ran into a burning home to save his neighbor.
But residents on the Newark block where his vacant property festers said the neglected home stands in a stark contrast to Booker’s sterling public image.
“He bought it and promised to be a good neighbor, but that hasn’t occurred,” Robert El, who owns an attached row house, told the paper.
“Shortly after he bought it, the squatters started moving in.”
Other neighbors complained about the overgrown back yard and said once the building was left empty, the squatters showed up.
When one person was asked what he thought of Booker as a neighbor, the man just laughed and said, “No comment.”
Booker bought the property for $175,000 in 2009.
He called his sale of the place to the nonprofit Newark Now “an opportunity to give back to Newark.”
The mayor is hoping to take the US Senate seat left vacant by the death of Frank Lautenberg.
But as the campaign grinds on, Booker’s stellar reputation is being questioned by Republican challenger Steve Lonegan.
In a 2005 documentary about Booker’s mayoral run, the mayor claims he befriended a drug dealer named T-Bone who eventually threatened his life.
But New Jersey’s Star-Ledger has tried in vain to find the mysterious character.
Professor and historian Clement Price told the paper that Booker admitted to him that the character T-Bone was an “invention.”
Even a pastor whom the mayor considers a mentor has come out against the caricatures used in Booker’s public speeches.
“It is very unfortunate,” the Rev. William Howard told the Star Ledger. “I think he’s beginning to understand he can’t do these stereotypes without there being this kind of public uproar about what he says.”
The president of Booker’s nonprofit said he wasn’t sure what would be done with the shoddy building but noted the new owners have find out how much it will cost to repair.