Take me to the P.I.L.O.T.

If you feel that it's real I'm on trial

And I'm here in your prison

Like a coin in your mint

I am dented and I'm spent with high treason



Through a glass eye your throne

Is the one danger zone

Take me to the pilot for control

Take me to the pilot of your soul

Okay, maybe we're not in "high treason" territory, but I'm saddened to see a project that I personally was very excited about, skip out on its fair share of property taxes. I'm talking about the Liberty Harbor North development - which was just granted a tax abatement (and will be paying Jersey City, and apparently also Hudson County a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes).

Liberty Harbor North had a lot going for it in my book (and still does). "New Urbanism" + "Transit oriented development" with a site plan from the talented folks who did CityPlace in West Palm Beach Florida. High density mixed-use, where the car takes a back seat to light rail and pedestrian friendly landscapes. Walk to work, walk to shopping, to the park, to lunch or the train. Abandoned rail yards yields to space for families and workers. What's not to love?

Maybe this view from the Jersey Ave HBLR (pronounced: hib-ler) puts the real problem intro perspective. Here you can see Liberty Harbor North construction progressing. You can also see a building going up in the background (not the hospital on the left). I'm talking about the giant new middle school, paid for by the State of New Jersey (thanks to the Abbott v. Burke NJ supreme court decision).

You see, Liberty Harbor North won't be paying any property taxes to the Jersey City school system. Normally, that would be just one factor among many for a city to consider when trying to spur development. The community runs the schools and the town - and should balance their development and education goals according to what the community wants. But Jersey City (and Hoboken and a few other places in NJ) has a unique situation. Jersey City doesn't run the Jersey City schools and Jersey City doesn't have to pay if the local property taxes don't cover the school bills - the State does.

Jersey City is playing with a stacked deck, in my opinion. It doesn't have to balance enticing developers vs. educating children because the Courts have required the State to properly educate our children. And it's pretty clear that the "balancing" act Jersey City is doing is tilted towards construction.

What's the problem then? Developers come to Jersey City. Schools get built (paid for by the State). Children get educated (again, with help from the State).

The problem is - it's not always going to work this way. Maybe Jersey City will get dropped from the Abbott list (I doubt it). Maybe the legislature will take away our local control over abatements (maybe). Whatever happens, the rest of the state - the people who are paying for our schools - is going to wake up and figure out they're subsidizing (albeit indirectly) the gold coast high-rent district. A deadweight wealth transfer that's not quite going where everything thinks it's going.