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Newark renaissance? — 21 Comments

1. Well, I suppose that miracles can happen. I flew for People Express Airlines based in Newark for its fairly short life. While driving around one day, I stumbled into downtown Newark; once was more than enough.
   Prudential Insurance opened a major office complex in my Jacksonville hometown as I was finishing high school. It drew a large number of young women from local and distant areas, who chose to work rather than college. They all went to Newark for training; so I suppose it was civilized back in the ’50s.

2. I am not going to argue with someone who spent time there. This article reminds me of one I read in the 1970- 80’s titled Rebirth of Detroit.

3. SENNACHERIB:

   But Detroit is indeed doing better than it was. The bar is very low, but it’s been improving at least.

4. Newark was a relative gem in the 50s and early 60s.

   I’ve heard conflicting reports regarding the direction Detroit’s been going over the past 10-to-15 years.

   Seems that when the politicians foster hopelessness, things go south pretty quickly. Then—possibly— when a place hits rock bottom, all the good people have gone and prices are low, good people seeking opportunity return, and if they’re left alone by the politicians, use their initiative and dreams to rebuild.

   NYC’s citizenry has been warned.

5. Neo,
   I don’t want to live there.

6. Detroit is doing much better. Property values more than doubled since the lows 15 or so years ago. (I know this because we recently sold my late mother’s house.) A city with an 80% black population elected a moderate white as mayor in 2012 and reelected him twice. He decided not to run for a fourth term. I don’t know much about the new mayor but she also seems to be moderate (as Democrats go) and wants to continue what the previous mayor accomplished.

7. Yes, although still under the radar Detroit is actually doing much better. My wife and I and most of our friends feel perfectly safe now going into the city to restaurants, cultural events, etc. and many of the previously blighted neighborhoods are undergoing something of a renaissance.

   I get what SENNACHERIB is saying though, we’ve heard this before. I’ve lived in and around Detroit most of my life (I was even a Detroit cop for a while in the early ‘70’s) but I’m convinced that this time it’s different.

8. Went to HS in New Jersey and then Army Basic Training at Fort Dix, NJ

   Double Yuck

   You can “Fuhgeddaboudit”

9. ChrisB
   I hope so.

10. I suspect a good bit of the reason that Newark is looking better, is because next-door NYC is looking generally worse, by comparison. It would be nice to see Newark go through its own renaissance, but again, I think this is NYC’s influence: People see Newark as a way to be close to the city, maybe for employment or the attraction, but not in NYC or NY state. I wish them well, hope things improve, but I wouldn’t live there for the world.

11. There are about a dozen municipalities in New Jersey which account for 13% of the population but about 75% of the murders in the state. On the whole, New Jersey is an affluent state with low crime rates. The dynamics of neighborhood formation have left most of the slum population in the New York – New Jersey metropolis in New York City. Ditto in re Greater Philadelphia.
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    New Jersey might benefit from merger of it’s postage stamp municipalities leaving about 470 or so with a minimum non-institutional population of about 2,400. It might also assemble its municipalities into about 260 school districts in order to see to it that you have a critical mass of school-age youth (about 1,600) resident in each.
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    Within such a scheme, the state government would operate the prison system and allied and a state police force with specialized divisions which undertake activities which transcend county boundaries and / or partake of expertise which is not prevalent. Any municipality encompassing a discrete small towns surrounded by countryside might have a franchise to set up a municipal police force to supplement other forces. Your primary institutions of police would be the departments of county governments. Disorderly municipalities with deficient income levels would not be responsible for their own police services. The counties would provide police services and (one hopes) deploy their manpower optimally.

12. Newark has one insurmountable obstacle: It’s in New Jersey.

    I’d bet that much of its recent resurrection is people who can’t afford to live in NYC, but work there. New Jersey wouldn’t seem so bad to them because New York is just as bad.

    As far as the airport…I travel a lot and I’ve had connections through there a few times. To be avoided if possible. Terrible layout and way too small for the numbers of passengers that pass through.

13. I remember you writing about this, actually. It’s hard to see from the outside, but when you’re really there, it’s easier to see that Newark isn’t “that bad” – or at least has its good sections. I spent a considerable amount of the summer of 2017 there, and it wasn’t horrible. Newark is home to several universities or branches of universities, the U.S. District Court, and Prudential. Essentially, there are a lot of legitimate reasons people go there. The main street is bustling with businesspeople mingling at lunchtime, and there are up-and-coming neighborhoods to live in. Also, its proximity to New York City – which is still where millions of people want to live, work, and play, no matter what anyone says – is extremely convenient.

    As someone who’s very familiar with New Jersey, I’ll die on the hill of “Newark isn’t the worst.”

14. “Also, its proximity to New York City – which is still where millions of people want to live, work, and play, no matter what anyone says – is extremely convenient.”

    Yes, but it’s the type of people who want to “live work and play” in a city where people are crammed together elbow to elbow (or nuts to butts as we used to say in the military) that’s the problem for me.

    I have enough trouble tolerating living with neighbors on both sides and behind my back yard. Living in a city with people stacked on top of each other would be the death of me (or a bunch of them, and then me).

    Can’t wait until we finally get to the point where we can move to the rural, mountainous emergency escape and retirement property we bought a few years ago.

    The nearest neighbor is 300 yards away from our house site (still too close…hoping that acre comes up for sale at some point so I can buy it; it would be the perfect site for a barn). next nearest is 1/2 mile away.

15. As someone who’s very familiar with New Jersey, I’ll die on the hill of “Newark isn’t the worst.”

    Jersey City (22%) and Newark (14%) have both had substantial population increases since 2010. If both cities can attract population, they must be doing something right. Definitely not the worst. Compare w Camden, whose population has been steadily declining for decades.

16. Suggestions which might help loci like Newark and Camden above and beyond vigorous law enforcement.
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    A. Finance of local government by federal authorities would be limited to disaster relief and payment-in-lieu-of-taxes on federal real estate. The latter would be deposited in a locality’s general revenues to be used per the discretion of the local authorities.
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    B. The federal government would discontinue special-purpose grants to state and territorial government other than those for which the federal government was acting as a collector (e.g. that for unemployment compensation). It would distribute a general grant to each according to a distribution formula. The total value of the general grant might be about 3% of gross domestic product. The size of the grant to each would be directly correlated with resident population and inversely correlated with personal income per capita. The most affluent jurisdictions (e.g. DC, Connecticut, and New Jersey) would receive no grant.
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    C. State governments would distribute two general grants. The total value of each would be discretionary, but the formula would be inflexible and delineated in the state constitution. You’d have one for county governments in re the grant to each would be directly correlated with resident population and inversely correlated with personal income per capita in the county. You’d have another to school districts in which the grant to each was directly correlated with resident population and with the ratio of school age youth to others resident in the district and inversely correlated with per capita income. The most affluent jurisdictions would be entirely reliant on their own local revenue.
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    D. Local authorities would receive from state governments episodic disaster relief and also payment-in-lieu of taxes on state government real estate; the latter would be deposited in a local governments general revenue and available for any purpose within the enabling legislation of the authority in question. There would be no special-purpose grants to local authorities other than disaster relief.
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    E. Municipalities would receive from county governments a general grant structured like those delineated above.
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    F. Local authorities would have obligations in regard to payment in lieu of taxes on their real estate located within the domain of other local authorities. Municipalities, counties, school districts, and other special district authorities would end up owing money to each other. Their obligations could be netted out with some obliged to make a transfer payment to others.
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    G. Philanthropic bodies would take out loans to satisfy property tax obligations to local governments, then receive full re-imbursement from the state government.
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    H. Property assessment would be undertaken by county governments or state government, not more particular authorities. Ideally, town property is assessed biennially according to the posited re-sale value of the property. Country property is assessed at least once every six years. Each such property is partitioned for assessment purposes with the different components assessed according to different principles. One component would be the residence or business; another would be woodland, another would be arable land, another would be pasture, and another would be trash land. Woodland would be assigned a conventional value which would be a function of the ratio of timber revenue to the total woodland acreage in the state. Arable land would be assessed similarly per the ratio of crop revenue (hay, dairy, and livestock excepted) to the total acreage of arable land in the state; pasture would be assessed similar per the ratio of total revenue from dairy, hay, and livestock to the sum of arable and pasture land in the state. Trash land would be given a conventional value of $0. The utility of this is that assessed valuation of property utile for agriculture can be set at a modest level which does not grow faster than farm revenues in the state.
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    I. In exurban, small town, and rural areas, any local authority enfranchised to impose property taxes would be compelled to use a common levy rate on the assessed valuation of the property in their jurisdiction. Metropolitan urban areas would be divided into three tax zones. Local authorities might be entirely in one zone or they might have territory in multiple zones. If they were entirely in one zone, they would be obligated to have a common levy rate on all real property. If they were in multiple zones, they would have to impose a levy rate of x% on zone A property, 0.5x% on zone B property, and 0% on zone C property. Every ten years, each census block group within an urban metropolitan settlement would be assigned to a zone according to it’s per capita personal income in relation to that of the whole settlement. The least affluent block groups would be in zone C, those one ratchet more affluent in zone B, and the remainder in zone A. In a given metropolitan settlement, about 80% would be in zone A, 5% in zone B, and 15% in zone C. In core cities, a much higher share would be in zone B and zone C.
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    J. Property owners in zone B and zone C would face a special dispensation in re land use law and building codes. Low priority strictures in building codes would not apply in these zones and the substantive and procedural avenues for neighbors to object to building projects and property use would be much narrower. OTOH, municipal strictures on graffiti, broken windows, and trash on lots would be vigorously and harshly enforced.
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    K. If we posit a situation where municipalities and school districts are expected ordinarily to rely on property taxes supplemented with permitted toll, fare, and fee income; and we posit a situation where value added taxes are ordinarily the province of state and county government, we might allow a selection of municipalities and school districts to impose value-added taxes as well. They would be permitted a capped rate which would be a function of the share of their assessed valuation accounted for by zone B and zone C property.
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    L. Ideally, the imposition of price controls on any good or service other than that supplied by a government agency, a government corporation, or a private natural monopoly would be debarred by the state constitution and controlled prices would have to be adjusted at least annually per the dynamics of supplier markets.
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    M. Ideally also, the delineation of greenbelts would be debarred, as would arbitrary minimum lot sizes on property, as would restrictions on renting out ones property or placing ordinary rental apartments in a given structure. (NB, emergency shelters, flop houses, SRO hotels, boarding houses, group homes, halfway houses, and apartments with shared bathrooms and kitchens are not ordinary rental apartments). Height limits on residential and commercial property would have to be a function of the distance of a property from a metropolitan settlement’s peak land value intersection.
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    N. Ideally also, under state law government agencies and corporations, private natural monopolies, medical service providers, and those providing services specifically for travelers would have a custom determined by legislation and regulation. Everyone else would (in reference to state law) have plenary discretion over with whom they do business and with whom they associate.
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    O. Ideally also, municipal courts and local sheriff’s departments implement evictions with dispatch, typically within 70 days of the initial service of process.
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    P. Ideally, governments provide housing only as a conduit to providing some other service (e.g. barracks and other garrison housing, school dormitories, government long-term care centers, prisons and jails) and they do not subsidize housing through public expenditure, tax preferences, or voucher issuance.
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    Q. Ideally, governments do not subsidize any mundane expenditure, and limit sectoral subsidies to medical care, long-term care, schooling, legal services, and shipping-and-transportaion. (With exceptions in re disaster relief).

17. Posit a system where local school districts all have a school age youth population above a certain threshold (say 1,600), where local districts provide common-and-garden schooling and only that, where consortia of districts provide schooling for those not proficient in English, high overhead schooling for those with severe perceptual or processing deficits (adapted to any students’ specific deficits), and secondary vocational-technical schooling. Posit also a system where local sheriff’s departments provide armed deputies for school security (charging a capitation) and provide day detention centers for incorrigibles so remanded by school principles (again charging a capitation). The consortia could be financed by assessments on member districts according to resident population to provide fixed costs and capitations imposed on member districts for each of their residents enrolled in consortial programs to cover variable costs.
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    Posit also a situation where exurban, small town, and rural districts all maintain brick-and-mortar schools, where suburban districts can choose between maintaining brick-and-mortar schools and issuing vouchers, and core city districts just issue vouchers.
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    Posit that private schools are subject to a bevy of regulatory controls, but maintain plenary discretion over their admissions and retention policies and plenary discretion over their hiring and retention policies. They maintain discretion over their curriculum as well, with the proviso that their students must like public school students and home schooled students sit for annual regents examinations in particular subjects and the school on league tables where performance metrics are reported.
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    Among the regulatory controls would be that they are debarred from instituting mandatory ancillary charges (whether or not these are formal or constructive) and debarred from providing quid-pro-quo in return for donations or bequests. Violating these two strictures can lead to prosecution of the corporation and the errant officials (as well as civil liability). As philanthropic corporations, they are also properly subject to regulations in re the ratio of mean employee compensation to that of the economy as a whole and to the maximal permissible compensation as a function of mean employee compensation in the economy as a whole.
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    Tuition-funded private schools would be permitted to charge their clients tuition and (in some cases) room-and-board. They might be subject to required disclosure of mean discounts on tuition and room-and-board and the % of enrollees who received discounts.
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    Voucher-funded private schools would all be day schools. The presentation of the voucher, if the school accepted it, would clear their financial obligation to the school. The school would present the vouchers for cash redemption to the issuing district. If the district in question was issued by a district with its own brick-and-mortar schools, the school would also submit a claim to a dedicated state fund for a capitation. The capitation’s value would be the same for all those in the state who enrolled in private schools financed by vouchers issued by districts with brick-and-mortar schools. The dedicated state fund would be financed out of a supplementary value-added tax imposed only in those school districts where brick-and-mortar schools were maintained.
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    School districts which simply issued vouchers would have a school fund financed out of state grants, local property taxes, and local VAT taxes. The redemption value of the vouchers they issued would be the projected revenue in the fund divided by the estimated number of school-age youth in the district. School district operating brick-and-mortar schools would issue vouchers equal in value to the total variable costs incorporated into the school budget divided by the estimated population of school-age youth in the district.
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    School districts which operated brick-and-mortar schools could also enroll students from outside the district. They would have nearly plenary discretion over whom to enroll. They would be due a capitation from the state fund if the voucher in question was issued by a district with brick-and-mortar school.
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    Those enrolling their children in tuition-funded private schools or engaged in home schooling would be due a refund on a fragment of their property taxes. The fragment for each child enrolled would be that proportion of their school district property taxes devoted to financing the district’s variable costs divided by the number of school-age children in their household (pro-rating in the case of support obligations or joint custody), with the proviso that the cash back for any one child could not exceed the value of the district’s variable costs divided by the estimated school-age youth population in the district.
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    Every parent would be presumed competent to home school. Permission would be withdrawn only in case of poor performance on state regents examinations.
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    Students in districts without brick-and-mortar schools could if they qualify enroll f/t in consortial programs financing their attendance with the voucher issued their family. Private schools accepting such vouchers would in so doing assume the obligation to pay the capitations due for students they enroll who qualify for enrollment in one or another consortial prgram which they would attend p/t. Any public school who enrolls a student (no matter how financed) or in whose district a student is a resident would be obligated to pay the capitations for such student to be enrolled in consortial programs for which they qualify.

18. You can work on the quality of life in places like Newark, Camden, and Trenton if you improve the level of public order therein, contain economic factors which promote property neglect and property abandonment, allow ordinary parents broad and effective discretion over where and how their children are educated, and warehouse youths no one can abide in detention centers run by the sheriff’s department.

19. “I have enough trouble tolerating living with neighbors on both sides and behind my back yard. Living in a city with people stacked on top of each other would be the death of me (or a bunch of them, and then me).”

    I get that, which is why I personally don’t live in New York City anymore, and why I even moved out of lower Westchester County last year to live somewhere more rural.

    But I still have occasion to go to the city often enough, and I have to admit there’s an energy to the place that’s rare. It’s “alive” in a way most towns, even many other large cities, are not. It truly never sleeps – something that can’t be said of a lot of places. I’ve risen early in other cities and thought, Where is everybody? as I wandered the streets looking for a cafe. Not so in New York! New York is also in such a strategic location geographically that it will always be populated, I think, no matter how bad its governance gets. It’s an eternal city, like Rome. I can only handle its energy in small doses, but every time I’m there, I understand why some people stay their whole lives.

20. Our son and his bride live in the city near the north west corner of Central Park. We can make it there from our semi – rural retreat in the mid Hudson valley in just over an hour. Works out great for enjoying a day/ evening event in The City and still sleeping in our own bed.

21. Clemenceau: “Wilson has fourteen points. God himself had only ten!”

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