NJ’s largest policy advocacy meeting in years will be held on Sunday, September 30 at the NJ Convention and Exposition Center in Edison, NJ from 4-6 PM. Confirmed attendees number over 1000 and include US Senator Bob Menendez, over a half-dozen State Assembly members and Senators and over 70 Mayors, Council members and municipal leaders arriving from every county in the state. In an unprecedented show of unity, Democrats, Republicans, and independents are convening in Edison to make the case for changes in policies and funding to help the hundreds of older suburbs that have been disproportionately hurt over several decades by federal and state policies that promote “sprawling, homogenous communities” over the diverse, more sustainable “first suburbs.”
Other confirmed attendees include State Senators Barbara Buono, Ron Rice, and Joseph Vitale, Assembly Members Joe Cryan, Reed Gusciora, John Wisniewski, Mila Jasey and Patrick Diegnan, Mayors Brian Levine, Ray McCarthy, Joe Florio, and many others (see enclosed list). Joining them are hundreds of religious leaders, school board members, council members, and others committed to making their communities stronger.
“This gathering is a remarkable sign that New Jersey is waking up to the danger that we face in continuing our march towards sprawl” says former Mayor Jerry Fried of Montclair. “Even the State’s new Strategic Plan prioritizes allocation of resources to places that have public transportation and the existing infrastructure to support people and jobs… this is a departure from years of encouraging people to live in gated communities in the middle of nowhere.”
The main issues that will be highlighted are the need to support these communities by funding that will increasing educational opportunities for all, provide a range of housing options and better public transportation to promote job creation and economic development and changing policies that make it harder to lead disadvantaged populations into the workplace.
New Jersey, which is 48 out of 50 states in unemployment and ranks dead last in getting its share of the tax dollars it sends to Washington, is also starting a bipartisan effort to increase its economic competitiveness by helping areas that are more “livable”, the types of places where people can live, work, and shop locally and where new entrepreneurial businesses thrive.
The meeting will feature testimony from communities throughout the state, reactions from Senator Menendez and other leaders, and lay out next steps in harnessing the power of older communities in making NJ a more prosperous, livable, and economically sustainable place to live.
“…to support these communities by funding that will increasing educational opportunities for all…” Hopefully includes proofreaders.
Change the property tax for education funding scheme and you’ll go a long way towards a better education system.