Prudential Center To Block Off Nearby Streets As Safety Measure

Newark To Block Off Streets Around Prudential Center During Events

Newark city officials said that the Prudential Center, which is scheduled to open for a Bon Jovi concert on October 25, is not “far enough from traffic to protect it from a potential terrorist attack,” according to Mays & Schuppe of the Newark STAR-LEDGER. The city will close streets outside the arena during events and also erect "concrete barriers to keep cars and trucks from the entrance at the corner of Edison Place and Mulberry Street.” Newark Police Department Dir Garry McCarthy said, “You can’t construct an arena and put it right against a street in a post 9/11 world. So we’re playing catch-up and taking measures to make sure it’s safe. It will be safe on opening day.”  Former Newark Business Administrator Richard Monteilh, who helped negotiate the arena deal, said that there “has always been talk of closing the streets around the arena during events.” Devils Owner Jeff Vanderbeek said Prudential Center will be the “safest arena in the country.” Vanderbeek: “There have been constant assessments. This is a state of the art security system” (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 10/11).

PARKING DILEMMA: In Newark, Joe Malinconico reported parking plans at Prudential Center “remain a work in progress,” as 56 lots are spread across a 1.5-mile section of the city. The lots would provide 9,000 parking spots, and most would require fans “to navigate [several] unfamiliar city blocks to the arena” as opposed to the “wide-open lots” at the Meadowlands (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 10/10).