We mourn the passing of a true champion of smart growth in the Garden State.
Transit
Frank Lautenberg, Champion of Smart Growth
Monday, June 3rd, 2013New Jersey Future Receives Housing Award
Tuesday, May 7th, 2013The Central Jersey Housing Resource Center honored New Jersey Future with its Outstanding Achievement in Affordable Housing Award.
The Coming Boom in White Elephants
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013A new Rutgers report highlights the coming problem of aging and abandoned suburban office parks. Those facilities that cannot be repurposed to meet the market demand for mixed-use, transit-accessible employment centers should not be the recipients of state job-creation incentives.
Planning to Build on Light Rail Success
Thursday, November 1st, 2012The Federal Transit Administration’s awarding of a $400,000 grant to examine the possibility of building a new light-rail station in Jersey City demonstrates tangible commitment to advancing economic development through transit-oriented development.
Safe Routes to School: Small Steps for Healthy Kids
Thursday, October 11th, 2012During National Walk and Bike to School month, we look at some compelling reasons to make it easier for schoolchildren to walk or bike to school – most notably increased physical activity and reduced traffic. The new federal transportation legislation includes funding for cycling and walking programs and infrastructure, but also enough flexibility that those funds might get diverted for other uses. We urge the New Jersey state DOT to keep bicycle and pedestrian funding, and we encourage the development of more communities where housing and schools are within walking distance of each other.
Comprehensive Transit Inventory Allows for More Strategic Investment Decisions
Monday, September 24th, 2012The transit station inventory provides policy makers, municipal officials and development professionals with a systematic way to identify the highest-potential opportunities for various kinds of development around transit stations.
Johnson & Johnson To Establish Innovation Centers
Wednesday, September 19th, 2012Johnson & Johnson is establishing four life-sciences innovation centers but none in New Jersey, even though the state has many of the key assets that can make innovation districts successful. New Jersey needs ways to put an innovation district strategy to work here.
Targeting Industry and Geography Together to Foster Job Growth
Wednesday, September 12th, 2012New Jersey has recently been losing jobs in several of the key industries highlighted in the draft State Strategic Plan. An examination of innovation districts as an economic growth strategy suggests state investments in key industries should be strongly linked to the kinds of smart-growth places where they can flourish.
Dunellen and East Orange as Transit Villages: One Designation, Two Strategies
Wednesday, August 29th, 2012Dunellen and East Orange can each use the Transit Village designation in a way that best serves residents – to increase residential growth (and, presumably, residential values) near a station that should be starting to see higher ridership rates, or to expand employment opportunities and building its commercial tax base.
Does Traffic Congestion Make You More Productive?
Friday, June 1st, 2012Traffic congestion and per-capita GDP both rise in desirable urban areas. Smart-growth development policies could enhance productivity further by helping to reduce congestion.
