The three-story public housing projects Todd Bowles called home are gone. So are the six interior courtyards that served as the battlegrounds for him and other gifted athletes in search of neighborhood bragging rights.
The epicenter of his childhood -- the Pioneer Homes in Elizabeth, New Jersey -- were a place where "everybody knew everybody,'' the Jets' coach said, and neighbors were expected to discipline each other's children. But those gritty, all-brick structures have since been gutted and replaced by rows of identical low-income housing with cream-colored siding and brick facades.
Drugs, gang activity and violence are prevalent throughout the poor, industrial section of the city, located behind Newark Liberty Airport.