Are PILOT agreements the cause of Jersey City's budget crisis? We dug ran the numbers. The answer is not really. City Hall will have to find more revenue as PILOT agreements expire but taxpayers might get some relief as school taxes should stabilize. betterblocksnj.org/2026/07/20/h...

Better Blocks did not have time to do an official endorsement this cycle (we've been focused on writing more policy pieces) but I did want to comment on Ali's primary challenge against Menendez. I voted Menendez, despite voting for his primary challenger last cycle, and here's why:

Better Blocks NJ@betterblocksnj.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Rob Menendez and Mussab Ali answer the Better Blocks questionnaire on how they would use their time in Congress to shape policy at the federal level to build more housing, expand public transit, make our streets safer, and support parks in this urban district. betterblocksnj.org/2026/05/04/a...

Rob Menendez and Mussab Ali answer the Better Blocks questionnaire on how they would use their time in Congress to shape policy at the federal level to build more housing, expand public transit, make our streets safer, and support parks in this urban district. betterblocksnj.org/2026/05/04/a...

Citibike is crazy good value for the city.

@jerseycitytimes.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Local officials are often looking for the best possible deal, especially now, given the state of their city’s finances. jcitytimes.com/fifa-citi-bi...

How many truly affordable units in that Taco Bell?

Stephen Jacob Smith@stephenjacobsmith.com · 4mo ago

Cutting the affordability requirement would’ve raised net operating income by around 10%. Given they went to the effort to submit a multifam planning application, the choice between the Taco Bell drive-thru and the 123-unit apartment building was probably close, and that 10% would’ve flipped it

Every time Jersey City or Hoboken proposes a pedestrian plaza or bike lane, local businesses fear it'll destroy them. The data says the opposite. 🧵 1/5

I have focused a lot on the high end of the IZO mandate because that's what Jersey City's new mayor has fixated on but we really should spend time explaining the pitfalls of mandatory unfunded IZOs at any percentage. In short, "there is NO magic number." betterblocksnj.org/2026/03/03/d...

The High Cost of Unfunded Inclusionary Zoning on Housing Affordability

Explore the challenges of unfunded inclusionary zoning efforts, where zero affordable units have been built in four years despite a promising start.

betterblocksnj.org

M. Nolan Gray 🥑@mnolangray.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Unfunded IZ presupposes a permenant housing shortage: the moment rents fall too low to cross-subsidize the unfunded mandate, development stops until rents rise again. It's housing policy pseudoscience.

There are parts of Jersey City right now where rents are at 2022 levels.

Christian Gomez wrote this great piece on why Jersey City can't reform parking and struggles to approve new housing: a political culture that mistakes endless community meetings for leadership.

Better Blocks NJ@betterblocksnj.bsky.social · 4mo ago

There's a particular kind of paralysis in Jersey City that masquerades as civic virtue. It shows up dressed in the language of "resident input," "stakeholder engagement," or "co-governance." And it ends with almost nothing getting built, fixed, or decided. betterblocksnj.org/2026/04/13/j...

Fun find this afternoon: In 1957, the Port Authority did the engineering work to link the downtown PATH to the Lexington Avenue subway local tracks.

This project is batshit insane and nobody’s paying attention. $11bn is enough to make good progress on regional rail, moving riders from slow, uncomfortable, high-operating-cost buses to trains. Instead it’s happening in isolation from Gateway/Penn planning, resulting in no major new transit service

Colleen Wilson@colleenonthescene.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The Port Authority quietly added and raised new fees and tolls to help pay for the new $11B Port Authority Bus Terminal - so quiet even its own users didn't know. Its biggest user - NJ Transit - is facing a 60% increase in costs in FY27, compared to FY25.

If we could fund better transit in NJ through a new revenue stream, how would you do it? Didn't Pompidou reveal we could be using special improvement districts for regional/localized public goods? @upzonenj.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social @mdasilva.bsky.social @eaconner.bsky.social

The World Cup is coming. So is congestion and pollution. A call from our president, Johan Andrade, on the need for getting Hudson County World-Cup-ready with quick build bus lanes, bike lanes, and pedestrian corridors before it's too late.

Op-Ed: Let’s Get Hudson County World Cup Ready Before It's Too Late - Hudson County View

Op-Ed: Hudson County Complete Streets President Johan Andrade suggests how to get Hudson County ready for the Fifa World Cup this summer.

hudsoncountyview.com

Colleen Wilson@colleenonthescene.bsky.social · 4mo ago

New York Penn Station is closing for 4 hours on World Cup match days. Why is this any different than a Jets/Giants game, Taylor Swift concert or the 2014 Super Bowl - all held at MetLife w/o closing PSNY We don’t have much info but here’s what we know

Link to article: betterblocksnj.org/2026/04/06/p...

1,517-Unit Project coming to Summit Ave

Learn about the ambitious two-phase project on Summit Ave in Jersey City, featuring 1,517 homes, retail spaces, and innovative pedestrian pathways.

betterblocksnj.org

Better Blocks NJ@betterblocksnj.bsky.social · 4mo ago

New from @3underscores.bsky.social on BBNJ: 547-555 Summit Ave would bring: -1,517 homes -A pedestrian retail street (Homestead Market) -874 bike parking spaces -0 car parking to Journal Square right across the street from the PATH -Estimated $10–12M/yr in property taxes with no PILOT.

Silverman as a housing developer is good! Silverman as a rent-seeking landlord who tries to prevent new market entrants is not good!

Upzone New Jersey 🏗️@upzonenj.bsky.social · 5mo ago

With apologies to @eaconner.bsky.social , Silverman might actually be good. www.courant.com/2026/03/20/a...

A neighbor filed a zoning complaint against a Jersey City café for baking cinnamon rolls in-house. The “evidence”? They paid a grease trap fee. (Every coffee shop does.) “The Cinny” is baked off-site. Jersey City planning confirmed it twice. The complaint is still moving forward.

It's pretty bad if Ambrossi got bodied out of primarying an extremely vulnerable county commissioner. I have nothing against Lipski, but isn't she the poster child for not campaigning? There's really value in her getting to be lazy? It's not like that race would have been full on civil war.

Jersey City's existing 15% mandatory IZO downtown has been in place since 2021. Affordable units built under it without a PILOT? Zero. The new mayor ran on the promise to expand this IZO mandate to 20% and make it citywide. Learn more about what IZOs are. betterblocksnj.org/2026/02/08/t...

New "luxury" apartments in Jersey City actually make rents cheaper for everyone nearby. Studies show new construction cuts surrounding rents by ~6%. Here's the evidence politicians ignore when they fight new housing. betterblocksnj.org/2025/12/15/w...

Boosting Jersey City: The Case for More Housing Supply

Explore Jersey City's housing policy and its impact on affordability, urban vitality, and economic opportunities in our insightful article.

betterblocksnj.org

Tax abatements, exemptions, and PILOT agreements are some of the most misunderstood tools in municipal finance. In our latest article, we explain the history and use of these agreements debunk three of the most common myths circulated on social media around tax abatements. 1/

Better Blocks NJ@betterblocksnj.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Three Myths about Tax Abatements, Exemptions, and PILOT Agreements in Jersey City As the Solomon administration works to renegotiate the agreement between Jersey City and KRE for the Pompidou project, PILOT agreements and tax abatements are once again at the forefront of local political discourse.…

The first two ordinances Better Blocks was tracking went to a vote after second reading so we finally have data for our council vote tracker and score card. Lavarro falls to last place voting against Better Blocks' supported positions. Everyone else is batting .500 raw votewise.

We are working on building a subreddit where we will share not only our posts but hope to create a repository for all the research articles that @3underscores.bsky.social and @eaconner.bsky.social end up reading and using. If folks have good econ papers on housing they want to share, post there!

One of our volunteers researched and wrote this analysis of the SciTech Scity project, which was one of then-Councilman Solomon's favorite punching bags on the campaign trail. He decried the development as a giveaway to luxury developers for $10 but the reality is much more nuanced. Worth a read!

Better Blocks NJ@betterblocksnj.bsky.social · 5mo ago

The deal between Jersey City and Liberty Science Center that sold land for "just $10" is frequently misrepresented. We looked into the project to see how this deal was actually structured to benefit Jersey City and the beloved local non-profit science center. betterblocksnj.org/2026/03/10/b...

The deal between Jersey City and Liberty Science Center that sold land for "just $10" is frequently misrepresented. We looked into the project to see how this deal was actually structured to benefit Jersey City and the beloved local non-profit science center. betterblocksnj.org/2026/03/10/b...

As a political advocacy group, we support candidates and make endorsements, but we need to keep our local electeds accountable too. We are publishing issue trackers and scorecards to see how well local officials stack up on housing, transit, safe streets, and public amenities.

Does Unfunded Inclusionary Zoning Produce Affordable Housing at Scale? Part IV in our Housing Policy Series The post discusses the challenges of… https://betterblocksnj.org/2026/03/03/does-unfunded-inclusionary-zoning-produce-affordable-housing-at-scale-part-iv-in-our-housing-policy-series/

This is one of our best articles yet. We look at how badly Boston et al messed up housing production with an unfunded IZO. Jersey City beware! The next posts will look at how you can build affordable housing through funded and voluntary IZOs using more real-world examples.

Better Blocks NJ@betterblocksnj.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Does Unfunded Inclusionary Zoning Produce Affordable Housing at Scale? Part IV in our Housing Policy Series The post discusses the challenges of… https://betterblocksnj.org/2026/03/03/does-unfunded-inclusionary-zoning-produce-affordable-housing-at-scale-part-iv-in-our-housing-policy-series/

We got the city council to recognize the bird-glass ordinance has costs. They amended to 1) lower height to 85 ft; 2) exempt projects that don’t require a site plan; and 3) exempt 100% affordable housing. More affordable housing builders should reach out to educate council on ordinance costs.

Better Blocks NJ@betterblocksnj.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Which leads us to our latest article, summarizing the problem, pointing out the contradictions in the pro-ordinance advocates' side, and calling on you to express your concerns to the City Council. This ordinance has real costs that must be recognized. 6/6 betterblocksnj.org/2026/02/23/j...

If you support transit-oriented development and want to help solve the housing crisis in Jersey City, local advocacy is one of the best things you can do. E-mail the council. Tell them you support dense, transit-oriented development downtown. Here are their emails: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Jersey City Council Contact Information

Jersey City Council Contact Information Can copy and paste this into an email to email the entire council and all aides: DRidley@jcnj.org, jbrooks@jcnj.org, TZuppa@jcnj.org, JEphros@jcnj.org, ELittle...

docs.google.com

Better Blocks NJ@betterblocksnj.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Reiterating our call to action to support more housing (including 150 income-restricted affordable units) near transit in downtown Jersey City. It is essential the city council know the public wants more housing near transit downtown. Please help. betterblocksnj.org/2026/02/13/c...

We at @betterblocksnj.bsky.social really tried our best to warn everyone. Bill O'Dea wasn't perfect by any means but he was miles ahead on housing policy and also understood the tradeoffs necessary to actually build income-restricted affordable housing. betterblocksnj.org/2025/10/16/t...

Better Blocks endorses Bill O'Dea for Jersey City Mayor

Better Blocks endorses Bill O'Dea for Jersey City Mayor and reviews the other mayoral candidates' platforms

betterblocksnj.org

Sam@samd.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Solomon governing as an unhinged NIMBY has been extremely depressing to see