Thursday, April 21, 2005

...but hopefully growing intellegently.

There's a call in the state house to appeal the "fast track" law for developers. Under this law, the state gets 45 days to answer development applications; if they don't respond, they're automatically approved.

Not surprisingly, the environmentalists hate this law. Acting Gov. Codey doesn't want to see it washed away, but the legislators who saw their districts flooded twice within the last year due to overdevelopment sure do. Apparently, those who do want the law repealed are "wisdom-resistant, no-growth zealots," according to State Sen. Stephen Sweeny (D-Deptford.) Sorry Sweeny, I just want my kids to recognize a tree when they grow up. Throwing another Wall-Mart and some McMansions up on every cornfield hasn't helped Our Fair State so far (see the state of property taxes and the $4bil deficit for examples), what makes you think it will in the future?

The best thing to do is always to write a letter to your legislators with your opinions clearly outlined. The repeal bill is S2157/A3650. If you're not sure who your legislators are, look at the links on the right, there's a place to find out. 58 of 'em are co-sponsors, so you may not even have to write if yours is already on board. SaveNJ.net is a local organization who are against this law also; they have some sample letters if you'd like.

1 comment:

Sharon GR said...

Catching up on my letter writing today- I wrote the vice chair of the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee, and the chair of the Senate environment committee, since that's where the bills are currently stuck.