I prefer this design a lot
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Is there more context/sources on Solomon on blocking projects?
The article states hes blocking a lot but does not give sources or concrete examples, and I think thatād be helpful for figuring out what heās doing.
I knew he was a bit NIMBY (which is ironic given NIMBYism is whats contributing to our housing crisis), but I wasnāt aware of how much heās affecting projects now that heās mayor. Iām not a single issue voter (being a NIMBY) and heās still early in his mayorship, so I havenāt formed an opinion on him.
That said its unfortunate his NIMBYism appears to be affecting things. Itās been well shown that things like rent control and cumbersome approval process worsen housing affordability. These policies look good on the surface but the reality is private companies canāt build affordable housing without government subsidies. Theres a portion of liberals (to be clear, Iām liberal) who simply arenāt aware of this and believe that the solution to housing is somehow magically freezing rents. The solution, absent the real solution of the government building housing at-cost + homes not being an appreciating asset, is building more housing.
I think this is because the ābuild more housingā thing is very recent to liberal spaces, due to the failure of rent control and blue-Nimbyism in places like California. Not everyone is privy to this yet though unfortunately. For example, Mamdani also mentioned rent control, and as much as I like the guy that was one of his worst ideas, since its well known now that rent control does the opposite. That said he does seem to be spearheading massive affordable housing projects.
All that to say I hope more politicians wake up to the fact that the only way to alleviate the housing crisis is to build more housing.
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I hope to provide more details soon, but officially the site plan application for 3000 Kennedby Blvd (1500 units, 10% inclusionary) was withdrawn after Solomon made a series of demands for 20% inclusionary and full union labor during the JCRA designation process. (No project in Jersey City has ever broken ground with more than 10% inclusionary without massive government subsidies, which Solomon said he is unwilling to provide). The 1000-unit Parcel 17 site at Liberty Harbor North appears on the same track. 414 Hoboken Ave was downscaled by a couple hundred units to avoid Solomonās JCRA demands. The, of course, Solomon sunk the 1000-unit rezoning proposal for 150 Bay St. Again, I hope to be able to share more details soon.
It is likely that he will keep blocking any projects that require JCRA designation for the foreseeable future.
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Just edited my previous post with more details, sorry
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fixed that for you 
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Very sad to hear. I donāt understand NIMBYism.
It seems like he is woefully misguided on how to actually keep rents down. Itās not a private entities responsibility to build at-cost. I suspect he will relent in a year or two, but the damage will be done. Too many people still think new construction they cant afford = increasing rents.
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This is like a mind virus. And then the people who donāt have nice new construction to move into at high prices, will just price them out of their older homes.
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