Kevin McArdle's article today finally started to touch on the next shoe that will be dropping.

We need to find a way to invest in capital in our transportation infrastructure and the truckers are going to bear part of that cost, says Brad Abelow

I'm going to assume that statement is referring to the up and coming Transit Villages.

NEW JERSEY FLOATS DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES ON CLEAN WATER FUNDS — Golf Courses, Transit Villages and Transferable Building Rights Are Eligible Projects

Trenton —The State of New Jersey is using its Clean Water State Revolving Fund to subsidize an array of developer schemes, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) which is asking the federal government to intervene. At the same time, the state claims it has lacked the resources to enforce toxic landfill standards that would force cleanup of the most dangerous sites, according to correspondence released today by PEER.

Although New Jersey faces more than $12 billion in unfunded capital needs to meet minimum federal Clean Water Act standards, the Corzine administration has adopted new policies to divert scarce clean water financing to support a myriad of seemingly unrelated projects – most prominently a controversial luxury golf course resort slated for toxic marshes in the Meadowlands. Other eligible projects include –

* “Transit Villages”; * “Brownfields Development Areas”; and * “Transfer of Development Rights (TDR)” programs.

“What do luxury golf course condos, transit villages or a new market for trading development rights have to do with clean water?” asked New Jersey PEER Director Bill Wolfe, who has sent a request to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asking for a review to see if the state plan violates federal Clean Water Act rules. “If anything, subsidizing more sprawling development is precisely the opposite of what New Jersey needs to reverse its steadily declining water quality.”

These projects are outlined in the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) “Clean Water Financing: Proposed Federal Fiscal Year 2007 Priority System, Intended Use Plan, and Project Priority List.” While the document acknowledges that threats posed by landfills are a “major concern” it then proposes to use up to $25 million per project for “conduit financings” of developers to build “Solid Waste/Brownfield Remediation Projects.” By pursuing these high ticket items, the Division of Water Quality anticipates that as early as 2010, the Clean Water Revolving Fund will have insufficient funds remaining to fund the entire pool of projects that it has traditionally funded.

“These limited state funds should be targeted to give us the biggest bang for the buck in terms of reducing water pollution—not more bangs for those with the biggest bucks,” Wolfe added, noting that the state DEP has deflected PEER’s call to enforce its own landfill closure and cleanup laws which require no subsidies, citing lack of staff. “This is New Jersey’s field of schemes, where instead of Florida swampland we are peddling toxic brownfields.”

By law, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must approve the New Jersey revolving fund spending plan to ensure that the monies are used consistent with the requirements of the federal Clean Water Act.


More on Transit Villages

A good candidate should strive to minimize automobile use by maximizing the appeal of transit.

Designated Transit Villages:

There are currently 17 designated Transit Villages. They are Pleasantville (1999), Morristown (1999), Rutherford (1999), South Amboy (1999), South Orange (1999), Riverside (2001), Rahway (2002), Metuchen (2003), Belmar (2003), Bloomfield (2003), Bound Brook (2003), Collingswood (2003), Cranford (2003) Matawan (2003), New Brunswick (2005), Journal Square/Jersey City (2005) and Netcong (2005).


State agencies that make up the Transit Village Task Force:

Along with NJDOT and NJ TRANSIT, there are nine other state agencies partners that make up the Transit Village Task Force. They are the Commerce and Economic Growth Commission, the Council on the Arts, the Department of Community Affairs, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Economic Development Authority, the Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, the Office of Smart Growth, Main Street New Jersey and the Redevelopment Authority.

The Transit Village Task Force meets quarterly. The Task Force members work together to direct state funding into the designated Transit Villages to help achieve the redevelopment goals of the municipality.


NJDOT's Transit Village funding:

Up to $1 million grants annually

New Urban Livable Communities

TRANSIT VILLAGES are dense urban communities well served by transit and high quality train systems. They make it easy to live without a car - by riding transit and walking through pleasant urban environments. Transit Villages have active, vibrant, and strong neighborhood centers focused around transit.

(snip)

Transit Villages are the coming trend in community planning, and are welcomed by everyone as offering a higher quality of life for all.

(snip)

TRANSIT VILLAGES are a major solution to the serious and growing problems of peak oil and global warming by creating dense, walkable communities connected to a train line that greatly reduces the need for driving and the burning of fossil fuels.

(snip)(snip)

The transit village is a compact, mixed-use, walkable community, centered around the transit station that, by design, invites residents, workers, visitors, and shoppers to drive their cars less and ride mass transit more. Bernick and Cervero set forth certain criteria that should be followed when planning a transit village:

• The transit village extends roughly a quarter mile from a transit station, a distance that can be covered in about 5 minutes by foot.
• The centerpiece of the transit village is the transit station itself and the civic and public spaces that surround it.
• The transit station is what connects village residents and workers to the rest of the region, providing convenient and ready access to downtown, major activity centers like a sports stadium, and other popular destinations.
• The surrounding public spaces or open grounds serve the important function of being a community gathering spot, a site for special events, and a place for celebrations.

This is New Urbanism on a train line. (snip)




What is our Future in NJ?


I like the thought, "someone else's Utopia on your dime". 

These may look like Monopoly houses, but they are part of a 10,000-unit housing project in Ixtapaluca, Mexico. The picture was shot from the air, and is real, or so says the helicopter pilot who took them. Still, it looks so surreal, you’d swear it was a digital rendering.

Don'tcha just love the socialists vision of your future?