Op-Ed Articles
- In Targeting State Incentives, Location Matters
Jan. 13, 2013 -- Two of the most successful and popular economic incentive programs – the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit and the Economic Redevelopment and Growth program – are proposed to change. One of the strongest themes that run through these two programs is that they have powerful smart-growth location-based criteria that provide incentives for businesses to grow in places with the appropriate infrastructure and not in places with important environmental features or that will be more costly for the state.
- Planning Where the State Will Grow Must Take Into Account the Weather
Nov. 20, 2012: The State Strategic Plan is a framework, a guiding document of only 41 pages that promotes sound planning but doesn’t attempt to do the actual planning work. Any changes in it to address the need for resiliency should remain high-level and provide the parameters within which to make changes, but not prescribe the actual changes.
- Up on a Rooftop: Aligning Solar Subsidies with Good Public Policy
May 31, 2012 -- Over the past decade, solar power has become increasingly popular in New Jersey, for a host of good reasons. Solar energy is clean and renewable. It reduces our carbon footprint and our dependence on foreign sources of petroleum. Solar has the potential to meet an ever-larger percentage of New Jersey’s energy needs far into the future.
- Consolidating county’s school districts would yield benefits beyond cost savings
February 9, 2012 - Hunterdon County leaders are looking into the idea of consolidating the county’s more than two dozen school districts into a single, countywide district.
- Christie Administration Can Support Growth and Reduce Environmental Damage … If It Commits to Updating Wastewater Plans
January 20, 2012 -- Press coverage of S3156, the recently signed law to change New Jersey’s water quality rule, has been dominated by two opposing positions. The building community has insisted that the existing rule be scaled back and delayed to allow more opportunities for development projects on open lands in order to create jobs and jump-start the economy. Environmentalists, meanwhile, have focused on the bill’s adverse impact on the state’s drinking water supplies.
- How Will the Garden State Grow?
December 27, 2011 -- New Jersey has grown and developed during the past quarter-century in much the same way as it did during the half-century that preceded it—ever outward, from established places where infrastructure already exists to sprawling suburbs that encroach on environmentally sensitive areas.
- Plan for population growth in our cities rather than suburban, rural towns
November 16, 2011 -- New Jersey is well-positioned to enter a period of vigorous economic growth built around redevelopment of our cities and towns, taking maximum advantage of our superior location, our skilled workforce, our comprehensive transit network and our commitment to a healthy, sustainable environment.
- Corner Office: A strategic plan to help N.J. capitalize on its assets
November 7, 2011 -- New Jersey has many assets, the Governor’s Institute noted — an educated and skilled work force, access to large markets, elite universities, medical and research facilities, and cultural and natural amenities that make the state a desirable place to establish or grow a business.
- New State Strategic Plan Reflects New Jersey Residents’ Wishes
Oct. 28, 2011 -- The new State Strategic Plan can succeed where the earlier State Development and Redevelopment Plan failed -- but only if Gov. Christie stands strongly behind it.
- New Jersey Must Stop Growing Out—and Start Growing Up
October 21, 2011 -- According to a recent Monmouth University poll, New Jerseyans want to live in walkable communities with access to amenities and transportation choices besides cars. It's time we turned our resources toward inward-bound redevelopment instead of outward-bound sprawl.
- Large-Lot Zoning Responsible for Rapid Loss of Open Lands
July 31, 2011 -- The Rowan report found that the majority of land developed for residential uses over the study period occurred outside of the “smart growth areas” that the State Plan indicates as being most appropriate for development.
- Energy Master Plan Falls Short on Transportation
June 16, 2011 -- Transportation is by far the largest consumer of energy in New Jersey, as well as the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Yet the draft Energy Master Plan released by the Christie administration last week—a plan whose stated purpose is to lay out a strategy for meeting the state’s future energy needs—barely mentions transportation.
- Price Incentives Based on Proximity to Urban Areas
April 25, 2011 -- The state should establish a hierarchy of business location incentives based on conformance with its smart-growth goals.
- Keep Commitment to Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
April 8, 2011 -- If Gov. Christie withdraws New Jersey from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), it will be virtually impossible for the state to be a national leader in the green economy.
- Another Link to Affordable Housing
March 3, 2011 -- We agree with Gov. Christie that the current concentration of poverty justifies requiring less lower-income housing in weak-market urban areas than in strong-market growth areas and job centers.
- ARC Tunnel: The Best Solution in an Imperfect World
Sept. 25, 2010 -- Given the transportation needs of the region, and the physical constraints within which this tunnel must be built, the choice is not between the ARC project and some perfectly crafted alternative, it is between this project and no project — and that is really no choice at all.
- Cutting Red Tape Will Aid Planning Efforts
April 29, 2010 -- Gov. Christie deserves praise for Red Tape Review Group proposal to streamline and strengthen state planning, smart growth functions.
- State's Tax Structure Warps Land-Use Decisions
Oct. 12, 2009 -- A recent Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey Poll offers some surprising insights into what New Jersey residents are willing to do to address the problem of high property taxes—including taking some significant steps that would improve the way land-use decisions are made, and allow for more regional governance and cost-sharing.
- What's the Future of Affordable Housing?
Aug. 30, 2009 -- New Jersey is a national leader in providing housing opportunities for all income levels, but there is no consensus on how these opportunities should be provided.
- Where Jobs Have Gone, Affordable Housing Hasn't
May 4, 2009 -- Job growth has been moving out of urban centers, but affordable housing hasn't followed. Municipalities that are growing jobs will need to find ways to supply more affordable housing units for those workers.
- Trains Can Revitalize, Not Just Move Passengers
March 29, 2009 -- Only one of the Delaware River Port Authority's three proposed plans for extension of its PATCO rail line into Gloucester County would serve both to relieve congestion and to revitalize historic town centers.
