We have come to the end of another year of news gathering in communities in Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties. Greater Media Newspapers’ staff writers have authored thousands of articles about the issues of the day and the people who contribute to the towns where we live and work.
Despite the assertions by some people that the local economy is continuing to recover from the Great Recession of several years ago, I believe that the facts in front of me tell a different story.
Vacant retail and office space dots just about every highway in our three-county coverage area. Many shopping centers throughout the region do not appear to be at 100 percent capacity. Signs offering leases on available space seem to be the primary reading material as I drive to and from work each day.
Planning Board agendas, which for most of the past three decades had been filled with applications for retail and residential development, are almost barren. That is not to say that some applications that were approved in the past are not starting to be built now, but there certainly seems to be a lack of energy, a malaise, that has overtaken our oncevibrant central New Jersey region. Perhaps the boom that carried this area from the 1960s into the early 2000s reached its natural conclusion. I cannot say when the next “up” period will commence, but I certainly do not believe we are there now.
These days, municipal officials get excited when any type of commercial enterprise comes to town. Officials continue to claim that the pursuit of ratables will have a positive impact on property taxes, but ratables have been coming to this region for decades and property taxes have only gone in one direction — up.
Is there any resident who believes anything an elected official has to say anymore?
“Ratables will make your property taxes go down.” It hasn’t happened yet.
“If you like your medical plan, you can keep it.” It doesn’t look like that promise will pan out for millions of Americans.
“Don’t worry, that development won’t make traffic worse than it is today.” Have you sat in a traffic jam on Route 9, Route 18 or Route 35 lately? Obviously, in some cases, someone miscalculated the impact of development.
At the same time, the infrastructure in the region is continuing to deteriorate. Roads and bridges are falling apart — they remain in the same sorry state for years, or until an emergency forces the hand of the state or a municipality. Planning and paying for repairs and improvements to the region’s infrastructure appears to have become a way of the past.
Not only are many people living paycheck to paycheck, so are some municipalities and counties, and perhaps the state.
This is a pessimistic outlook, I know, but I think this view needs to be put in front of our readers. People trudge on in their lives, facing their own daily challenges, trying to get from one day to the next, convinced they cannot have an impact on the big picture.
Are we in the midst of our nation’s history, with a chance to redeem ourselves and change our path? Or are we at the beginning of the end of a grand experiment in democracy and achievement?
If I could predict the future, I would have had all the correct numbers in that multimillion dollar lottery last week, and I would be writing this column from a beach in Bali. As things turned out, 21 coworkers and I will share $9 in winnings, and I will be in a New Jersey bar on Dec. 31. All in all, not too bad a place to be.
Happy New Year.
Mark Rosman is a managing editor with Greater Media Newspapers. He may be reached by email at [email protected].