#2 Tell state agencies like NJ Transit to ID state-owned properties appropriate for development.
#3 Work w/ towns to redev dead office parks & malls into mixed-use.
#4 Incentivize, expedite Missing Middle housing, incl manufactured homes.
Incentivize towns to reform zoning. 👍
I'm late but here are the Sherrill transition team's housing policy recs.
Item #1: Appoint a Housing Czar, of course!
www.nj.gov/governor/lib...
Even Gottheimer read the room.
Treating highways differently is def justified because they cause negative externalities and are disamenities.
This is a cool visualization of property taxes per sq/ft in Jersey City and shows the valley around the Turnpike Extension. By @runsascoded.com
A corollary of this, then, is that the State should pay PILOTs to towns for all property they own in town, like the Federal gov't does. Unless we think the positive local externalities of, say, a public university outweigh the fiscal impact.
I’ve got a wild proposal for you. Allow localities to tax highways much as water infrastructure is allowed to be taxed. DOT would be a lot more cautious in its road building if it had to pay taxes on each lane mile.
Allow NJ towns to tax _state_ highways, too, and you've got yourself a devotee in me.
Still, these polls they commission directly contradict common NIMBY talking points about "neighborhood character" & call for housing of all types, so that's nice. www.roi-nj.com/2025/10/06/r...
Their Zoning Reform Priorities doc at least says "housing" instead of just AH in one item, but I still no mention of missing middle, single-family zoning, or what exactly IZO should look like.
@betterblocksnj.bsky.social showed us IZO design matters.
www.njfuture.org/wp-content/u...
Their policy proposals are a bit lukewarm, depending on which document you read.
Their 2025 Action Agenda calls for parking reform, ADUs, & TOD, but mostly mentions affordable housing prod, not missing middle or making it easier to build ALL housing.
www.njfuture.org/wp-content/u...
Whoever decided to put this report on Scribd is bad.
Jersey City similarly stands to increase prop tax revenues by at least 25%.
The report has not been formally peer reviewed, though Kennedy says he welcomes feedback on his methods. Erick Guerra, a professor of urban planning at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Overbuilt: The High Costs and Low Rewards of U.S. Highway Building, had a chance to read over the report and said that its methodology for calculating economic development potential passes the “sniff test.” But he also offered a caution. “Any type of exercise like this, there’s going to be an element of back-of-the envelope to it,” Guerra said.
BUT these calculations are rough.
Guess which city devotes the most land to highways.
Newark.
But bcs Newark's prop values aren't as high as, say, Oakland's, it doesn't rank among cities w/ the most to gain from redeving its freeways--in terms of total $.
But Nwk prop tax revs could ⬆️ at least 32%, more than Manhattan or Oakland.
If they actually generated new investment. I would think NJ's abundance of immigrants from India is more responsible for any investments from there.
Wait, not only is the Newark Bay Bridge not getting widened, but they also aren't widening the NJ Turnpike at the Holland Tunnel anymore?! @turnpiketrap.org
That's a pretty bad spot for a traffic light.
Hey that’s about the cost of the SSI Restoration Act, which would cut recipient poverty by 60%, eliminate marriage penalties, and modernize draconian asset limits.
New pro-housing group in NJ just dropped. Follow them.
Bsky! We're doing our presentation this evening for 'A Better Billion'. We'll have the video up shortly thereafter. As a teaser/treat, here is the federal government's very own Transit Costs Project report from the 1970s!
www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...
Although, "NJ for All" is shorter. Just sayin.
From NJ Sierra Club's website: "Smart Growth We love Smart Growth and Urban Infill Fact Sheet: https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/default/files/blog/UrbanInfill_FactSheet.pdf Choosing smart growth over sprawl is one of the most powerful decisions cities and other local governments can make to reduce climate emissions and air pollution, conserve local habitats, and improve the health of their communities. Urban infill, which involves increasing density through adding new housing, commercial, retail, and public facilities to already developed neighborhoods, is a key strategy for minimizing sprawl and vehicle miles traveled. Check out sc.org/infill for more information on Sierra Club’s infill policy, guidance, examples of good land use, webinars, and more. Interested in learning how to get more involved? Email Rebekah.Whilden@sierraclub.org, Deputy Director of the Clean Transportation for All Campaign "
So is NJ Sierra Club NIMBY or YIMBY?
missed this last month - Uber is getting into parking investor.uber.com/news-events/...
MAGA diehards pivoted from "The President has a button under his desk that makes prices go down" under Biden to "Wow, the world is just so much more expensive these days. Can't be helped." under Trump reeeeeeal quick.
Perhaps it wasn't this group, specifically, but this deserves a look: bsky.app/profile/glas...
cc @princetonyimby.bsky.social @upzonenj.bsky.social @reginageorgebush.bsky.social
Looks like @newjerseyfuture.bsky.social started a pro-housing advocacy group affiliated with @welcomingneighbors.us.
Perhaps you should sign up: www.njfuture.org/collaborativ...
It's nice that these guys have a book club, but "my self-selected group of fellow male novel-readers don't find novel-reading to be a waste of time" doesn't exactly refute the standard takes about the gender reading gap.
lithub.com/what-i-learn...
The progressive housing activist @katiebrennan.bsky.social, who defeated the machine last year, co-sponsored the Assembly bill to legalize single exit stairwells.
That's good.
