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This is a report about how cities can better organize and manage their data about the property they own in order to promote transparency and advance critical policymaking. Newark, like many legacy cities, owns hundreds of parcels through tax foreclosure and abandonment that can be put to more productive use and even generate needed revenue. Because of different inputs from different departments, its property data system contained duplication and gaps that prevented policymakers and stakeholders from getting a clear picture of these public assets. In partnership with city staff, CLiME helped to resolve the data organization problem and set property management on a new, more accurate and user-friendly course. Along the way, we learned details about the nature and amount of city-owned properties, how they’re zoned and where they’re located. We concluded that much more of this significant inventory can and should be put to work advancing long-held goals of equitable development. We built three demonstrations to simulate this usage that cover three major areas of policy: affordable housing production, commercial and industrial development and green space/environmental risk mitigation. Each of these is an area in which the Baraka administration is already active in setting aggressive policies. Some of those policies already make use of the asset of city-owned land. Until recently, it was impossible to see the scope of particular uses because the data did not readily permit it. Now the data is cleaner and clearer.
Individual break-out reports from the full report are also available:
As the New Jersey Supreme Court recently noted in Malanga v. Township of West Orange, municipalities can sell or improve upon public property in a number of ways.¹ However, a redevelopment designation appears to be the best way for a municipality to maintain the greatest degree of control over the future of a given parcel, in terms of retaining ownership, choosing a developer and deciding the use to which the parcel will be put. Without such a designation, in order to facilitate non-publicly funded development of city-owned property, a city would have to auction property off to the highest bidder at an open public auction, a risky process over which the city could easily lose control.² Furthermore, though a municipality can impose conditions on the sale and restrictions on the use of property sold at auction,³ it cannot convey property for nominal consideration without a redevelopment designation, unless the property is conveyed to a very narrow set of noncommercial entities.⁴
This memorandum provides useful information regarding the management of a loved one’s affairs (estate) when they have passed. Estate matters can be laborious and emotionally charged. This memorandum will explain probate and administration in New Jersey and provides information for you to begin navigating the process of managing your loved one’s estate. However, this memorandum provides general information, and is not intended to serve as legal advice. No two estates are the same and the law on the administration of estates is extensive. It is recommended that you consult with an experienced estate attorney to answer any questions related to your particular circumstances.
The following resources are designed to help understand and navigate estate administration in New Jersey when a loved one passes with a will. A flyer is also available for when a loved one passes without a will here.
Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last June in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the country’s 12th graders now applying to selective colleges face unprecedented angst—especially if they’re black.
You face an admissions process where your understanding of race and racism has been rejected, forbidden as a factor in considering you, on no less than constitutional grounds. Forget “affirmative action” that might deliberately correct for the persistent effects of longstanding racial exclusion from majority-white institutions. Forget societal discrimination—the Court already decided there is none that matters. Now, educational “diversity” is a barely lawful interest for schools to consider. Your race and all that comes with it is in unconstitutional territory.
Except on your personal essay.