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JC Policy Circle

@jcpolicycircle.bsky.social
295 followers 299 following 717 posts

Advocating for more effective, evidence-based policy in Jersey City, Hudson County and New Jersey

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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Really nice piece from @idothethinking.bsky.social on the dangers of the dangers of optimizing for narrow goals. open.substack.com/pub/darrello...
open.substack.com
The Fire Department vs. Traffic Safety Advocates
Street safety advocates are butting heads with fire officials. Swift fire response does not have to come at the cost of lives on the roadway. They can work together.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
“Latent demand” is usually what we really mean when we say “induced demand”.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Let’s please retire the phrase “induced demand.” Too many people think it means that demand is produced out of thin air. If 6 people want pizza, but there are only 5 slices, making 1 more slice for the last person doesn’t make new demand—it just addresses demand that was always there but unmet.
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The City Reporter @thecityreporter.nyc · 22/07/2025
The Charter Revision Commission voted to place five proposals on the November ballot — four aimed at simplifying and speeding up the development approval process for affordable housing.
buff.ly
New Yorkers to Vote on Affordable Housing Fast Track and Election Calendar This Fall
The Charter Revision Commission convened by the mayor approved four ballot measures aimed at fighting the housing crisis — and one proposal to shift elections to even-numbered years.
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Shabazz Stuart @shabazzstuart.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
YESSSSSS!!! I want to live in a world where mayors jockey to take credit for secure bike parking!
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Jarrett Walker @humantransit.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
It's time for clear eyed thinking about the potential for the large-scale destruction of public transit in American cities. It could happen in the next two years. Thread... 1/
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Open New York @opennewyork.org · 21/07/2025
The Charter Revision Commission just approved the 5 questions that will be on ballots for NYC voters this November! This includes 4 housing questions, which would collectively represent a huge step forward for affordability in New York. 🧵
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New Jersey Monitor @newjerseymonitor.com · 18/07/2025
NJ Transit approves $3.2B budget, engineer contract newjerseymonitor.com/2025/07/18/n...
newjerseymonitor.com
NJ Transit approves $3.2B budget, engineer contract • New Jersey Monitor
The new budget is the agency's first since the pandemic that does not include hundreds of millions of dollars in federal relief funds.
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Ben Ross @benrosstransit.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Long experience has shown me that in local government, the definition of "the community" is "people who own single-family houses."
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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
If anyone wants to work with us to canvass at bus stops on Ocean and MLK so that those bus riders' voices can be heard on this, let us know! It'll drastically speed up their buses, but I'm worried many of them won't even know about this survey or meeting!
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
End aldermanic privilege!
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
@njtrainsit.bsky.social: what’s Hoboken’s secret? How do you churn out these technical electeds?
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
In JC, a number of council people are happy to defer to the administration on technical matters and so don’t prioritize understanding the nuts and bolts of the city’s government. A shame, especially given the fact that JC is 5x bigger than Hoboken!
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
It’s remarkable how much more the Hoboken council emphasizes technical proficiency than does Jersey City’s. A Hoboken councilwoman, Tiffanie Fisher, put out a detailed and thoughtful breakdown of her views on the proposed budget. In JC, most council people don’t even attend most budget meetings.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
TIL! Thanks for the fascinating information.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Youth curfew in Newark? Is this real? It must kill summer house parties!
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
www.reddit.com/r/jerseycity...
reddit.com
From the jerseycity community on Reddit: Waymo on the road in Downtown
Explore this post and more from the jerseycity community
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Per r/JerseyCity, it looks like Waymo’s training fleet has arrived in Jersey City. And in Manhattan, Uber has started offering fixed route service. Large L4 AVs operating on fixed routes = abundant, cheap buses. Are we *sure* public transit as currently operated/funded has a future in NJ?
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Taxes that pay for themselves aren’t really expenses. They’re investment.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
Can we please stop measuring the size of govt by the amount of taxes? It’s wildly misleading. Like, if we didn’t have social security, most people would invest a lot more of their savings in … treasuries. The same thing the social security program does with your taxes.
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Jenny Schuetz @jennyschuetz.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
State & local govts (& unpaid civic groups) do a ton of heavy lifting on disaster planning & recovery, but they will always need backup (staff, $$, info, technical expertise) from the federal govt. by all means, let’s build more state & local capacity but not as a *substitute* for federal support.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
But people on here will insist that you can just afford everything bro.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
We can all easily understand that tradeoffs are inevitable when it comes to setting our own private budgets, but some people really struggle to understand that the same idea applies to govt. Sane adults know not to buy a cruise ticket before being sure they can afford rent.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Very sorry to hear it. For what very little it’s worth, the research fund cuts were some of the most braindead parts of the entire federal program.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Excellent question. His plan doesn’t clearly disclose the answer. Perhaps he’d shrink state aid to schools based on this quote to NJ.com?
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
It’d be better if these affordability proposals focused on identifying and slimming down underperforming (ie low demand) programs and increasing spending efficiency for high performance programs instead of just bluntly cutting budgets.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
In NJ, nearly all income taxes go to the schools. Are we sure that across-the-board income tax cuts aren’t economic self-sabotage?
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
In other words, gross taxes collected can rise while the cost of govt decreases or stays static. For example we know that in many cases, $1 of spending on schools results in a > $1 increase in property values. The taxes for spending on teachers isn’t a real cost of govt!
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
People (here, Jack C) complain NJ isn’t affordable because of its high taxes, but we’re skeptical that that’s right, at least in the sense they mean it. The economic cost of govt = (goods/services taxes fund) - (goods/services ppl want). The key thing to optimize is to shrink this difference.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Tapping the sign. A Waymo operator is doubling the size of the fleet.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
…but elected to accede to the requests from city officials to not only host but to build those facilities for them on state land. It’s certainly not a crazy use of land, but it’s not what state parks are traditionally intended for.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Do you see a practical difference, though? Like, how many people in Clifton or Secaucus are traveling to LSP to play basketball or swim? Probably not many because they can just use nearer facilities. The state could have just leased the land to the city for a fair price…
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Effective Transit Alliance @etany.org · 07/07/2025
A bill passed by the NYS Legislature requiring two-person crews for all subway trains would not only leave NY in the past—no other major transit system requires this—it would also cause service cuts wherever trains operate with one person now, including on the G and M. www.etany.org/statements/i...
Indeed, the MTA’s own operations showcase effective transitions away from TPTO. Starting in 1997, the NYC Transit Authority (NYCTA) began to transition to OPTO on most of its shuttles: the Franklin Ave Shuttle (all times, 2 75-ft cars), the Rockaway Park Shuttle (all times except for summer weekends and holidays, 4 75-ft cars or 5 60-ft cars), the Lefferts Blvd Shuttle (late nights, 4 75-ft cars or 5 60-ft cars), the Dyre Ave Shuttle (late night, 5 51-ft cars), and the now-discontinued B-West End Shuttle. All have successfully run with OPTO in the 28 years since. Then in 2018, the MTA also transitioned to OPTO on both the G (4 75-ft cars or 5 60-ft cars) and M (4 60-ft cars) on weekends and late nights, extending the practice further, again, without incident to date.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Yes! L4/5 AV technology deployed sensibly is a huge win for urbanism! Safer streets, way less need for parking subsidies, easier tolling/taxing (ht @lewislehe.bsky.social), and improved bus service, all become possible with strong AVs!
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Shabazz Stuart @shabazzstuart.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
I don't think embracing self driving tech should mean that we quit trying to have less car traffic. I just think the technology will be far, far more effective than speed cameras and red-light cameras. It will revolutionize public transit (busses especially) and reduce car ownership dependency!
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
It wasn’t even a secret. They stuffed the redevelopment task force with JC residents.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
The JC version: the state changed the parks’ usage to accommodate the planning preference of its host city. While the core function of most state parks is passive and nature-based recreation, the state agreed to effectively put city athletic facilities and performance spaces on park grounds.
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TechCrunch @techcrunch.com · 07/07/2025
Waymo starts robotaxi testing in Philadelphia and NYC
techcrunch.com
Waymo starts robotaxi testing in Philadelphia and NYC | TechCrunch
Waymo kicked off two “road trips” to Philadelphia and New York City on Monday, signaling the Alphabet-owned company’s push to expand into cities in the Northeast. 
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
This thing is over 400 pages! JPMorgan, one of the handful of the most complex conglomerates in America, has a shorter financial report than NYC’s govt does! Wouldn’t a more focused report make oversight easier and more effective? Can they really not summarize their performance in say 50 pages?
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
Honestly not sure whether this reflects good or bad performance for SF’s speed cameras?
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
Are we *sure* public transit as it is funded/operated today has a financial future? Can we please start talking about how to save public transit before it’s too late?
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
All land started off as public land. Is the point that land should be remain explicitly communally owned?
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
OP here is concerned that North Bergen will build a preschool for only North Bergen kids on county land. JC residents aren’t really in a position to complain because the state did a similar thing on a bigger scale last year in favor of the city when it all but deeded Liberty State Park to JC.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Some great observations from @ilanaglazer.com!
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
One of the great weaknesses of capitalism is that it doesn’t scale reward to effort. There are few office workers who work harder than roofers. And many CEOs don’t grind as hard as full-time stay-at-home parents.
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Umm it sounds like you actually understand the political strategy pretty well!
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
bsky.app/profile/alon...
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JC Policy Circle @jcpolicycircle.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
This is a solvable problem with cameras. And it wouldn’t take that many or that much data storage.
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