|
Jersey City's Economic Renaissance
By Mayor Bret Schundler
Now's a great time to do business in Jersey City!
I am proud that Jersey City has returned to financial health. The city's property tax collection rate has increased from 82 percent five years ago to a full 100 percent today. In addition, Standard & Poor's has just upgraded our credit rating.
The city's quality of life has also improved dramatically. We have reduced violent crime in the city by nearly 40 percent since I took office. In 1995, we introduced business and neighborhood improvement districts to Jersey City. Our streets are now cleaner and safer, and our parks are all being rehabilitated.
In response to these improvements, I am happy to report that residential and commercial development in Jersey City is absolutely booming. Just the other day, plans were unveiled for the American Financial Exchange in downtown Jersey City which, when completed, will become the tallest building in New Jersey at 900 feet with an estimated 1.8 million square feet of space. That is in addition to a 420,000-square-foot building Hartz Mountain Industries
is erecting and a 560,000-square-foot Newport Office Tower 3 that the Lefrak Organization is building. These two latter projects have already broken ground.
Mirroring this construction boom, total employment has increased 20 percent in the last three years. A Rutgers University study found of all the jobs created in New Jersey's six largest cities during this period, 91 percent were created in Jersey City alone! Another recent survey found that in 1997, Jersey City had the third largest increase in property values in the entire nation.
There are also tremendous tax advantages to being located in Jersey City. We have no payroll tax; no city sales tax; no city income tax; no corporate tax; no personal property tax; no tax on unincorporated businesses; and no tax on commercial rent. Plus, in Jersey City's Urban Enterprise Zones, the state sales tax is only 3 percent. We believe that lower taxes not only make for a more conducive business environment, but strengthen the fiscal health of the city by freeing up investment dollars to help local businesses grow.
The second project, still only in the planning phase, is our proposed Bergen Arches plan. Presently, many of the roads leading to Jersey City from the west are heavily traveled. Many of
those driving into Jersey City get funneled into traffic headed for
the Holland Tunnel, which backs up during rush hour. I have proposed that an abandoned east-west railroad cut through the Jersey City Palisades be re-surfaced as an expressway to bring drivers from the west straight to the Jersey City Waterfront without
their having to deal with rush-hour traffic headed towards the Holland Tunnel. This will make Jersey City an even more attractive and convenient place to do business. These projects will only add to our already significant transportation network, including PATH trains and ferries taking commuters back and forth from Manhattan, and easy access to the New Jersey Turnpike and Newark Airport.
For the future, I foresee Jersey City becoming a miniature Silicon Valley, capitalizing on the regional brainpower and the economic benefits that we can offer small firms.
Visionics, Inc., a company specializing in face-recognition technology, is an example of the type of high-tech company that we attract. I also foresee downtown Jersey City becoming another Soho, with creative people attracted by our cheaper cost of living and cultural diversity.
The combination of the economic renaissance in and my administration's pro-growth policies have brought fiscal stability to Jersey City and made our city a wise and economical location, whether for a large corporation, a small entrepreneur, or an individual looking for a home.
I look forward to continuing to work with you to improve Jersey City.
|
I am proud to report on two projects -- one just beginning and the other in the planning stage - that will significantly improve our transportation network. The first project is 
