The Rev. Charles F. Boyer wants "fair-share" affordable housing obligations put back on track.
To the Editor:
Dozens of towns across New Jersey, including some in Gloucester County, have reached agreements to finally do their fair share to address our state's pressing housing affordability crisis following a 2015 legal decision.
These municipalities have agreed to develop thousands of new homes in safe neighborhoods that provide working families - especially African Americans and Latinos - ladders into the middle class by increasing access to good schools and better-paying jobs.
That progress is threatened by a recent state appellate court ruling rewarding towns that have stonewalled affordable housing. (The court in July threw out a formula that about half of New Jersey's towns had been using to calculate the number of affordable housing units needed to meet state mandates.) If it stands, the ruling could allow these municipalities to avoid their constitutional and moral obligation to foster inclusive communities over a 15-year period.
The New Jersey Supreme Court is currently considering an appeal to this case. It must overturn this flawed ruling to get our fair-housing process back on track, or these towns will lock in discriminatory practices that have made our state one of the most segregated in the country.
The Rev. Charles F. Boyer
Pastor
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
of Woodbury
Editor's note: The letter above was submitted through the Fair Share Housing Center of Cherry Hill, the advocacy group that is appealing the July appellate decision at the state Supreme Court.
Solve N.J. road fund crisis responsibly
To the Editor:
Government has a responsibility to keep roads and bridges in a state of good repair, and that can't be done in New Jersey until the state Transportation Trust Fund is replenished.
Political leaders need to come to the table and work something out -- but that's not what Gov. Chris Christie has been doing. Instead of working to solve the problem so that construction projects can be ongoing during these last weeks of summer, Christie chose to shut down many projects due to a lack of funding. That means our infrastructure suffers while people at these sites are without work and unable to provide for their families.
Christie puts his personal political interests over what is best for New Jersey. That's exactly what he did by proposing, with state Assembly leaders, a 1-cent cut in the general state sales tax rate in exchange for a 23-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax increase to replenish the transportation fund.
Christie doesn't seem to care that the loss of revenue from the sales tax cut would blow a hole in the state budget. State Senate President Stephen Sweeney did the responsible thing to reject the Christie-Assembly plan.
Government needs to be responsible and think long-term in order to prevent crises like these. Sweeney supports a much more reasonable plan to increase the gasoline tax -- which, unfortunately needs to happen -- while increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor, and cutting some other taxes that yield less than the general sales tax.That's what actual fiscal responsibility looks like.
New Jersey has major problems because politicians like Christie have been pushing through these short-sighted, self-serving gimmicks for years. We always pay for them in the long run. Sweeney is demonstrating that he doesn't play those games and that's the kind of thinking that can finally bring stability to New Jersey.
Dawn Lippincott
Franklinville
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