Dear Editor:
Recently the New Jersey State Planning Commission passed the State Development and Redevelopment Plan, and thus began a new chapter in New Jersey’s history. The passage of this plan signifies a strong future for the State of New Jersey as it stresses revitalization, a strong economy, smart growth and fiscal responsibility, all of which are intrinsic to New Jersey’s strength in the new economy.
Two years ago, the State Planning Commission met to endorse Hudson County’s “Strategic Revitalization Plan” and establish Hudson County as New Jersey’s first and only “Urban Complex.” That designation continues in this plan and will serve Hudson well in the years ahead.
Although it is difficult to quantify exactly, I am pleased to report that this designation has paid dividends in the form of additional state funding from grants, the expediting of state permitting applications, extra attention given by state officials, as well as status conferred by state agencies. In fact, our communities have already derived substantial benefits to date both directly and indirectly. Four specific examples of these benefits include: Low Income Tax Credits which have aided in the construction of more than 4,000 affordable housing units in the past eight years; state aid for the construction and completion of the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway; aid for the County to conduct a cyber-district feasibility study and aid for the creation of a county-wide “Flood Mitigation Plan.”
New Jersey is a state with a history rooted in home rule. Fiercely protective and jealously independent, more than 500 municipalities, 21 counties, 600 school districts and thousands of boards and commissions- armed to the teeth and each defending their own battlements-greatly resisted cooperative planning and partnership for decades. Over the past 10 years, this has changed considerably as the walls of parochialism have begun to crumble. There is more evidence today of inter-governmental partnership and cooperative planning than can be found looking back some 100 years.
Hudson County, with 12 municipalities and 560,000 citizens in just 46 square miles, has been known as an area having great pride in place and being aggressive in defending home rule. Even in this landscape and in the presence of strong tradition dating all the way back to colonial times, the walls of home rule have begun to give way to the partnerships that will prove to be necessary in the 21st century.
1. Affordable housing is now planned as a joint effort between the county and our communities through a county wide Housing Consortium.
2. Our county wide Brownfields Project has attracted grant dollars from NJIDEP, USEPA and USHUD and has permitted us to inventory sites, develop remedial plans, market previously unmarketable sites and in fact add value and ratables back into our marketplace.
3. Addressing our health care needs to deal with addiction services and HIV infection is no longer attempted town-by-town but through a county-based partnership and consortium that marshals our resources more efficiently and effectively than would have otherwise been possible.
4. A Parks Partnership Program was undertaken between the county and the towns to expand open space and take better advantage of the precious green space so needed and lacking in urban New Jersey.
5. Since the adoption of the Hudson Strategic Revitalization Plan in January, 1999, Hudson County’s transformation into a new community has accelerated. In fact, the NJ Commerce Commission reported that of all business re-locations into New Jersey that took place in 1999, 46 percent located in Hudson County. I believe this outcome is in no small measure due to the planning that took place over the past 10 years and the partnerships that evolved as a result.
6. And, just over one year ago, five North Hudson communities banded together and formed a regional fire and rescue service – North Hudson Regional – that provides superior service at less cost to these communities. This action, highlighted by Governor Whitman last year could very well become a model for other regions in New Jersey to follow in the continuing effort to save and shepherd precious property tax dollars.
Taken together, both in the plan and in the process that has brought us to the Plan’s passage, the State Planning Commission has done what was thought to be impossible some 15 years ago when the authorizing legislation was adopted by the legislature. And, the differences may not be fully measurable even today . The Commission has forged a consensus centered on a vision of what New Jersey can be and should be in the 21st century. From towns and counties, businesses and labor, planning boards to main street and citizens living in our neighborhoods, you have taken a giant step into a more coherent future for our state.
The passage of the Plan reminds me of a book I read many years ago written by Alvin Toffler – “Future Shock.” Toffler warned more than 25 years ago that the pace of change was accelerating rapidly and was getting beyond our ability to manage and digest. He noted that if we were unable to grasp and manage this change, then like a train speeding down a track, the future would become an accident that happens to us, not a choice that we make as a society, a culture and a civilization. New Jersey now stands ahead of the curve thanks to the Commission’s passage of the State Plan. New Jersey’s future will no longer be an accident waiting to happen – something that happens to u s. Instead, our future has become a choice, made by us all and in the best interests of our community. On behalf of the County of Hudson, I thank the State Planning Commission for their continued assistance and cooperation. With the State Plan in effect, I am confident similar success stories will be told throughout our State, and I commend the Commissioners for their commitment to this task.
Robert C. Janiszewski
Hudson County Executive