Suburban Sprawl

"Suburban Sprawl" is defined by the Sierra Club as "irresponsible, often poorly-planned development that destroys green space, increases traffic and air pollution, crowds schools and drives up taxes".

People move to the suburbs for many reasons in New Jersey, whether it is to have a larger home, put their children into better schools, or be closer to better golf courses. When they make that move, they prefer to preserve open space in the suburbs as much as possible. However, the tendency is to continue to develop suburban areas and for population to increase in these areas. As population increases, more business move there, more roads must be built there, more water and sewer services must be developed, traffic increases and travel slows. The cycle is seemingly endless and the issue of sustainable growth and maintaining the lifestyle that caused one to move to the suburbs is apparent.

One potential solution to the problem of traffic increase if to build more and better public transportation. The National Governors' Association has a document on this subject for those who are interested.

Another solution to one of the problems of suburban sprawl can be found in Open Space laws that some municipalities have enacted. In these laws, municipalities agree to spend some amount to preserve open space in their communities by purchasing property that comes onto the market and might otherwise be developed. The municipality then leaves the property undeveloped or develops it as parkland and playgrounds for the use of the community. Franklin Township provides an example of how open space preservation can work through its Franklin Township Open Space, Recreation and Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund. Into the Autumn of 2005, over 32% of the township's land base had been permanently preserved as open space, parkland, or farmland. The voters themselves generally agree to such laws as public questions on the ballot.

Urban Issues

Urban environments lend themselves to two prominent issues.

Education

(coming soon)

Crime

(coming soon)

Pay-to-Play

How Pay-to-Play works (from Asbury Park Press)

You can use the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission's website to search for contributions to candidates or committees as well as to parties and political action committees (PAC's).

Home Rule

States are generally governed either by "Home Rule" giving municipalities autonomy or "Dillon's Rule" which gives states more power.

New Jersey, governed by Home Rule, has 566 municipalities, each with a separate administration and government. The causes of home rule are rooted in history and are entrenched because each municipal government would have to cede some control in order to change.

The League of Municipalities web page describing Home Rule portrays attempts to weaken it in negative terms:

We have recently seen support grow for an epidemic of initiatives designed to weaken local democracy. These include bills promoting home-based businesses, airports, quarries and mines. Legislation has been introduced which would strip local elected officials in certain towns of the ability to make government decisions, and another bill would permit non-residents to vote in local elections.

Therefore, the public policy pendulum may be swinging away from "Creative Home Rule" and toward "Destructive Constraints" on local self-government. We are aware of the trend and we are fighting it.

On the other hand, as the late State Senator Alan Karcher writes in his book, New Jersey's Municipal Madness, "The system is complex, counterproductive, wasteful of land resources and more -- and virtually fossilized" (206).

Property Taxes

In polls New Jerseyans often list property taxes among their biggest concerns. New Jersey has the highest per capita property taxes in the nation; second highest as a percentage of income. However, the State itself does not receive nor does it levy the local property taxes. Each of New Jersey's 566 municipalities must determine and collect its own property taxes. (When local and state taxes are combined, New Jersey's burden ranks 14th in the country for 2005.)

The three main fiscal components of residential property taxes in New Jersey are school district budgets, municipal budgets, and county government expenses. Property taxes are levied based on market value of real property, called an "ad valorem" tax. Each municipality figures its total need amount (after state aid and other sources of income,) then divides it by the total assessed value of its property to determine the tax rate. The value of each property is then multiplied by this rate to establish the amount of tax due by each property owner.

When a statewide income tax was instituted in 1976, a property tax rebate was included in the package. Rebate programs have changed scope and value over the years but have come to be expected by many homeowners as an offset to rising property taxes. New Jersey's current property tax rebate program is the FAIR (Fair And Immediate Relief) Program, which combined the Homestead rebate and the SAVER rebate programs in 2004.

Besides the high cost, concerns about property taxes include:

• Reliance on property taxes are viewed as a reason for increasing sprawl, as towns try to increase the ratables in their tax base through development. Commercial and industrial development are viewed as more desirable than residential, particularly low-density housing; residential development adds people who require services which the school district and municipality must finance.
  
  
• Property taxes are seen as a regressive tax, as opposed to income taxes which are progressive.
  
  
• Property valuations are perceived as inconsistent within and between municipalities. Values are often not kept current, causing further disparity between property tax bills.
  
  
• Rebates feel gimmicky to many, are of insufficient value to provide real relief, and do not solve the problems with the system.

Verified Voting

"Verified voting" refers to auditing the results of an election to determine if the votes counted by electronic voting machines were cast accurately and counted properly. The commonest form of verification is a paper printout for each vote; the voter can consult the document to verify that the vote he or she cast was recorded accurately and the document can also be used in recounts should the vote count be challenged. In addition, verified voting should also include random audits at some percentage of the polling places to ensure that no mischief is taking place.

The issue of verified voting is a consequence of the development of electronic voting machines. The current versions of these machines provide no means for recounting votes. In addition, they have been found by independent tests to be subject to security flaws and errors. This means there is the potential for unscrupulous persons to alter the results of elections.

New Jersey Congressman Rush Holt (12th Congressional District) has presented HR 550, titled "The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act", to Congress as a means of securing verified voting. The bill is currently referred to the House Administration Committee.

On the state level, New Jersey has passed bill A33, which "Requires that voting machines produce voter-verified paper record; provides that results of audit become official tally; provides for waiver if paper record not commercially available; provides for State funding for paper record." For additional information on A33, go here and search for the bill by number (A33).

The Black Box Voting web site provides a great deal of information on the problems and issues with the current generation of electronic voting machines.

Women in Government

In 2005, New Jersey ranked in the bottom ten of the fifty states for women in elective office and women's political participation. The ranking is based on two annual reports on women in politics. The Rutgers University based Center for American Women and Politics, part of the Eagleton Institute for Politics, compiles data on women in office throughout the country and ranks states by the number of women in the state legislature. The most recent report preceding the 2005 election ranks NJ 41st. Since Loretta Weinberg became state senator from the 37th district, and her assembly seat will be filled by Valerie Huttle, New Jersey will move up in the rankings next year. The Washington DC based Institute for Women's Policy Research ranks states for women in elective office from assembly seats up to governor, giving different weights for example, to state executive office versus an assembly or state senator seat and gives NJ a ranking of 48 out of 50 based on data from 2004. The recent expansion of the number of women in the state legislature will not significantly improve this ranking.

New Jersey has had one woman governor - Christine Todd Whitman (R). She served from 1994 to 2001, when she resigned to become commissioner of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. New Jersey has never sent a woman to the United States Senate, and currently there are no U.S. congresswomen from New Jersey. The state has had five U.S. congresswomen going back to 1925, most recently Marge Roukema (R-NJ 5), who retired after 11 terms in 2002. In January 2006, there will be 13 women in the assembly and 7 women in the state senate, bringing the percentage to 17.5%. The 2005 national average is 22.6%. The Assembly Majority Leader beginning in 2006 will be Bonnie Watson Coleman and the President pro tempore of the State Senate will continue to be Shirley K. Turner. In 2005, 26% of 138 county freeholders were women, and 12.7% of the 566 mayors were women. There are 42 county party chairs for the two major parties, five of them are women, two Democrats and three Republicans.

According to the Women's Project of New Jersey, women had the right to vote in the state as early as 1776 (along with African-Americans, but not the poor). In 1807, the state legislature passed a law allowing only white men to vote. New Jersey was the last state to revoke the women's right. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the US constitution allowed women to vote again in New Jersey. Currently, women register and turn out to vote in greater numbers than men both in the state and nationally.

Stem Cell Research

Embryonic Stem Cells were first discovered in 1998 by scientists at the University of Wisconsin. A stem cell is a primitive type of cell that can be coaxed into developing into most of the 220 types of cells found in the human body (e.g. blood cells, heart cells, brain cells, etc). Some researchers regard Stem Cells as offering the greatest potential for the alleviation of human suffering since the development of antibiotics.

Along with Embryonic, stem cells can also be extracted from adult tissues, without harm to the subject. Unfortunately, adult stem cells are more difficult to remove and are severely limited in quantity. There has been a consensus among researchers that adult stem cells are limited in usefulness -- that they can be used to produce only a few of the 220 types of cells in the human body. However, some evidence is emerging that indicates that adult cells may be more flexible than has previously been believed.

Scientists, patient groups and a wide majority of Americans embrace the research because of the potential the cells hold for morphing into any type of cell or tissue in the human body. Early work suggests that the regrown cells could enable patients with cancer, Parkinson's disease, diabetes and spinal cord injuries to be treated with their own natural materials.

Although this issue has been caught up in the political arena, it has support from members of all walks of life including Fmr. First Lady Nancy Reagan (R), Christopher and Dana Reeves, U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrbacher (R), NJ Governor Richard Codey (D), Michael J Fox, U.S Senator Bill Frist (R), U.S. Senator/Gov. Elect Jon Corzine (D) and U.S. Senator Orin Hatch (R)

New Jersey is trying to become national leader in stem cell research. Last year, New Jersey took a historic step for medical research by creating the nation?s first state-supported institute dedicated to stem cell research and medical treatment.

This year, Governor Richard J. Codey announced a $380 million investment ? the second largest state investment in the nation -- to build the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey and to finance promising stem cell research.

New Jersey was only the second state to legalize stem cell research and already has earmarked $11.5 million for the Stem Cell Institute, with the FY 05 State Budget including $9.5 million for the Institute, as well as $1 million each from UMDNJ and Rutgers.

Domestic Partners

Effective July of 2004, New Jersey established domestic partnerships for same sex couples or opposite sex couples over the age of 62. The requirements include having joint responsibility for each other's welfare including living expenses, some financial interdependence, and being in a committed relationship of mutual caring. Couples wishing to register as domestic partners must appear together at a Local Registrar's office and file an affidavit of Domestic Partnership (sample.)

Domestic partnership does not provide identical benefits as marriage. For example, unlike marriage, property acquired by one partner during the partnership is not treated as jointly owned, no rights or responsibilities are conferred toward either partner's children, and domestic partners are not automatically considered as inheritors if there is no will upon death of a partner. Rights afforded to registered domestic partners include hospital visitation and medical care decision-making, an inheritance tax exemption and other tax benefits, and possible availability of health insurance benefits.

Employees of the State are eligible to receive certain health care and retirement benefits for domestic partners. Private employers and other municipal employers such as counties may choose to offer benefits. Counties offering benefits to domestic partners of their employees include Hudson, Mercer, Union, Essex and Bergen.