The WHOPPER waffles on COAH
Hey gang, remember when THE WHOPPER told everyone that as soon as he got to Trenton, he would GUT COAH? Well, the BIG ONE’s big plan is a wuss out. Why? Because he just announced he has formed a five member task force to “review affordable housing”.
Here is the breaking news from NJ.com: N.J. Gov. Chris Christie creates task force to review affordable housing
Now, just a little bit from that story:
“Christie signed an executive order today asking the group, which he calls the Housing Opportunity Task Force, to figure out how to provide affordable and “workforce” housing while considering the environment and open space. The order says the group should evaluate renovations of crumbling housing instead of new construction and assess the state’s current system.”
So there you have it CWA readers, THE WHOPPER had no plan to GUT COAH! Over one year of hearing that stupid phrase, and it all was a lie! I can’t wait to hear about the next promise from THE WHOPPER that will be broken.
“Make crime pay, become a lawyer.” Will Rogers
“God works wonders now and then; Behold a lawyer, an honest man.” Benjamin Franklin
“I went to Law School because I really couldn’t do math or science.” Chris Christie
Now you’re being ridiculous. Your hatred of Christie makes you less credible and an embarrassment to the other bloggers on this site, except maybe for Illions.
You failed to post that Christie issued an order to FREEZE COAH as an operating entity, which means that COAH cannot exercise or use its authority in any way, effectively gutting the agency’s ability to have any impact on municipalities.
Since COAH was established by legislative statute the Governor has no authority to fully abolish the agency without legislative approval. However, by freezing its operations he has effectively accomplished the same task.
February 9th, 2010 at 6:35 pmRichard doesn’t care about that. All he cares about is being a blatant, purposely hateful liar.
February 9th, 2010 at 7:39 pmHey Millicent Fensick Moron:
What part of “Gut COAH” don’t you understand? THE WHOPPER is gutless, just like you, you moron.
“Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.” Judge Judy
February 9th, 2010 at 8:04 pmHey Dino the Moron:
Same question for you, What part of “Gut COAH” don’t you understand, you little jerk.
By the way, Toyota left a message for you; your Prius has been recalled. Not because of the brakes, but because its owner is a little turd.
“Where were you when the wizard was handing out the brains”? Anonymous
February 9th, 2010 at 8:06 pmFirst off, Lesniak had some comments in that article that are a complete joke. The Senate bill S1 does nothing to abolish COAH. It effectively turns all power and authority to the State Planning Commission. It is a RUSE of the Nth degree.
As for the task force, the thing that bothers me is there is no indication that Christie is seeking to get rid of COAH altogether. The theme of he article is that the curent rules are ridiculous and things need to be simplified.
Moreover, Christie has it within his power to defund COAH and get rid of the staff but he is not doing that.
The premise that “affordable housing” is necessary is not being challenged here. And that is troubling – although not surprising.
I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again: no one is owed a house and no one is owed a chance to live near where they work.
If you defend that idea in any way, you most certainly aren’t a conservative.
COAH needs to be put on the ash heap of history, not tinkered with.
February 9th, 2010 at 8:32 pm“Since COAH was established by legislative statute the Governor has no authority to fully abolish the agency without legislative approval.”
This just means either that the campaign promise to “gut COAH” was a lie beyond Mr. Christie’s power to deliver, or that he has broken the promise already.
Rich (or anyone else), maybe you have the quote but I believe Mr. Christie specifically promised that he would defund COAH before the end of January, which was 12 days after inauguration. I thought that was one of the few specific promises he made. Is my memory correct on that one?
February 9th, 2010 at 8:45 pm“I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again: no one is owed a house and no one is owed a chance to live near where they work.”
Well said Mike – I could not have said it better myself!
February 9th, 2010 at 8:46 pm“I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again: no one is owed a house and no one is owed a chance to live near where they work.”
I agree. And no one has the right to tell a property owner they can only build one expensive house of a certain size on their own property if they want to build two cheap houses only half the size.
That’s if you believe in free markets which, evidently, you don’t.
BTW, in the town I live in we had a local developer who owned a tract of land who WANTED to build affordable housing on HIS property. A few residents complained to the local government and the developer, who has built numerous homes in the area, was denied permission by the local government to build on HIS own property.
Now the developer is suing the local government for denying him permission to build affordable housing on HIS own property. He will likely prevail in court which means that local taxpayers like myself will have to shell out even more tax dollars to pay the lawyers who have to defend the suit that never should have happened anyway if the government had respected the property rights of the developer who WANTED to build affordable housing on HIS own property.
February 9th, 2010 at 9:48 pm“What part of “Gut COAH” don’t you understand?”
Definition of “gut” (verb) from Merriam-Webster:
“to destroy the essential power or effectiveness of”
That is what Christie did today with his executive order.
February 9th, 2010 at 9:54 pm“That’s if you believe in free markets which, evidently, you don’t.”
What is the basis of this contention? I agree with your statements on zoning. Nobody should have to obtain permission from the government to build on their own property. But of course, that is an ideological position that does not appeal to the middle and certainly does not appeal to Democrats – so it’s puzzling why you are advocating it.
February 9th, 2010 at 9:57 pmThey know that, they simply don’t care. They know what they’re doing.
February 9th, 2010 at 10:01 pmHey Millicent Fensick Moron:
His executive order did NOTHING to stop COAH. All he did was put the stupid thing on hold for 90 days. He has had over 360 days to come up with a way to kill the damn thing. When you GUT something, you KILL IT once and for all! All THE WHOPPER did was shove it off to a committee so he can say down the road, “they told me I couldn’t do anything about it”! This guy is a wuss, with a bunch of morons for followers.
“Let’s kick this pig!” Anonymous
February 9th, 2010 at 10:29 pmAnything short of Gov. Christie waving a magic wand and making all the state’s problems disappear is a failure in Richard’s eyes and even if he did, he would still get criticized for “waving the wand the wrong way.”
Hateful liars like Richard the have one objective and that’s to tear down. He needs an outlet to validate his degenerate behavior. Unfortunately for him, his fifth grade education gives him away quite easily.
He thinks that he can be like Mark Levin by being a pretentious buffoon who hurls insults. Fact of the matter is, Mark Levin is a highly educated man with a track record and knows what he’s talking about while using insult humor to make his opinions entertaining for radio. Richard on the other hand is neither intelligent nor entertaining. He’s just a sad lowlife who thinks listening to talk radio all day and worshipping Paul Mulshine like he’s the Dalai Lama makes him educated.
Sad really. Very sad.
February 9th, 2010 at 10:50 pm“I agree with your statements on zoning. Nobody should have to obtain permission from the government to build on their own property.”
Unfortunately, before Mt. Laurel and COAH, too many municipalities were using zoning laws to exclude affordable housing from their communities, limiting developers to building more expensive homes on oversized lots. The justification for COAH was to avoid costly lawsuits from developers against exclusionary
zoning by providing a statutory requirement for towns to enable a reasonable amount of land zoned for development dedicated to affordable housing. This would have enabled developers, like the developer in my town, who wanted to build affordable housing on their own land to be able to do so without hindrance from the government.
However, while COAH was begun with good intentions it quickly became a bureaucratic nightmare stifling development instead of making it more affordable. Also politicians like Steve Lonegan and other rightwing hypocrites used the issue to scare affluent white voters into thinking that because of COAH greedy developers would build trailer parks next to their multi-million dollar estate homes.
Eliminating COAH while at the same time providing a reasonable standard for towns to follow in setting aside land for affordable housing has bipartisan support. Even libertarians, who oppose zoning of any kind, can’t complain if developers who want to build affordable housing on their land should be protected from local ordinances which would prevent them from doing so, which is exactly what happened in my own town.
February 9th, 2010 at 10:56 pmHey Dino the Moronic Cross Dressing RINO:
What is really sad is the pitiful way that people with low IQ’s, like yourself, fall in line behind phonies like THE WHOPPER. You and your cohorts are just like the children who followed the Pipe Piper, ingnorant and easily deceived by the RINO leadership masquerading as Republicans.
“Let’s kick this pig!” Anonymous
February 9th, 2010 at 10:59 pmNobody is asking Governor Christie to wave a magic wand. Richard is just asking him to keep his word. If he knew that it was not possible for him to accomplish this during the campaign, he should not have so emphatically promised that if he were to become governor, he would “put an end to COAH” by “driv[ing] a stake into COAH’s heart, bury[ing] it, and mak[ing] sure it never rises again.”
http://www.politickernj.com/max/27179/christie-all-drives-stake-through-coah-monmouth-county-remarks
Given that promise, why does he now need a taskforce to figure out how to do that? His promise was very specific and very categorical – one of the few such promises he made during the campaign. He is now governor – it’s time for him to fulfill that promise.
I hope that the Governor fulfills that promise – and even to the extent that creating this taskforce represents a step back from the promise, I hope he repairs the damage by fulfilling it later. But what’s really sad is that you guys do not have the honesty to acknowledge that this represents a broken promise, and you insist on spreading your propaganda like manure in the field.
Sad really. Very sad.
February 9th, 2010 at 11:10 pm“However, while COAH was begun with good intentions….”
What were the good intentions? To make the noose of zoning laws a little less tight for people willing to build affordable housing?
Chris Christie had it right during the campaign. COAH should just be ended, period. He doesn’t need a study to confirm that – he campaigned on it. He just needs to show everyone that he meant what he said during the campaign – if he really meant it.
February 9th, 2010 at 11:15 pmOf all people, Bob Torricelli – BOB TORRICELLI – has called for Chris Christie to bury and cremate COAH – and to start thinking about Supreme Court appointments that can deal with the “disaster” that the Mt. Laurel decision represents.
http://www.politickernj.com/torricelli/34930/torricelli-chris-christie-and-new-jerseys-future
From the article:
5) Begin thinking about vacancies on the State Supreme Court. The Mount Laurel decision is an environmental disaster. The Court’s dictum on school funding still rests on the fiction that quality education and funding have a direct correlation. Appoint justices that understand the complexity of equal educational opportunities.
7) Scrap COAH. Cremate it, bury it, and take no chances with its resurrection. We need to rethink how and where affordable housing is built and how it is funded. Housing should be near the employment and transportation centers and the State should be not encouraging construction in sensitive environmental areas (see items 8, 9, and 10!).
What is Governor Christie waiting for? He campaigned on this!
February 10th, 2010 at 12:05 amOf all people, Bob Torricelli – BOB TORRICELLI!! – has called for Chris Christie to bury and cremate COAH – and to start thinking about Supreme Court appointments that can deal with the “disaster” that the Mt. Laurel decision represents.
http://www.politickernj.com/torricelli/34930/torricelli-chris-christie-and-new-jerseys-future
From the article:
5) Begin thinking about vacancies on the State Supreme Court. The Mount Laurel decision is an environmental disaster. The Court’s dictum on school funding still rests on the fiction that quality education and funding have a direct correlation. Appoint justices that understand the complexity of equal educational opportunities.
7) Scrap COAH. Cremate it, bury it, and take no chances with its resurrection. We need to rethink how and where affordable housing is built and how it is funded. Housing should be near the employment and transportation centers and the State should be not encouraging construction in sensitive environmental areas (see items 8, 9, and 10!).
What is Governor Christie waiting for? He campaigned on this!
February 10th, 2010 at 12:08 amAll you armchair quarterbacks are ridiculous.
How can you pass judgement on Christie’s COAH plan when the full details aren’t even available yet? Three days ago you didn’t even know about the Executive Order, and now you want to criticize that because it doesn’t go far enough? You have absolutely no idea what the Governor is setting up to do, all you want to be is the perrenial gadfly to stay “relevant”. God forbid Christie turn out to be exactly what he said he was – a conservative.
And, I’d love to know what Zuendt does for a living. Or does he just collect a welfare check and sit home on the computer all day?
February 10th, 2010 at 8:50 amSnow Man – if Chris Christie turns out to be a conservative who really does abolish COAH (among other things), I promise to be the first to applaud him.
The fact that we have no idea what the Governor is setting up to do though is precisely the point. He was unequivocal during the campaign that he would end COAH when he was inaugurated. It is now almost a month since he became governor, and not only does he pretend to need a commission for something that he has said he has made up his mind about already, but he has not said anything about the monstrosity that is S-1.
Asking the Governor to live up to a very clear and specific promise that he made during the campaign does not make us Mr. Christie’s enemy. If he did not mean what he said about abolishing COAH, he should not have so forcefully promised it during the campaign.
February 10th, 2010 at 9:01 amIn #21 above, I promised to be the first to applaud Governor Christie if he turns out to be a conservative. Here is how I uphold that promise: I just read a transcript of his address this morning to the legislature in Trenton,
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/02/chris_christies_speech_on_budg.html
and it looks like an excellent starting point. Grom my reading of the transcript, it appears that the Governor has offered large and specific spending cuts for which he should be applauded – and I want to publicly acknowledge my support for his proposals. While I don’t agree with his concession that a lot of the spending cuts will be for progrms that sound/are good but which we just cannot afford – but that is a minor complaint compared to offering real anbd substantial spending cuts without any tax increases.
I particularly liked the following quote:
“In just over a month, I will come before you to lay out my plan for fiscal year 2011 and beyond. The challenge next year will be even greater. The cuts likely will be even deeper. The reforms will, of necessity, be even more dramatic.”
I hope he means it.
February 11th, 2010 at 1:38 pmWell said, Ed. Yet despite that, there is no thread here stating that or even touching the issue either way despite the fhe fact that it was a big story.
Once again, the complete and utter hypocrisy and true agenda of the sociopaths here comes to light. They care nothing about these issues, they’re merely rebels without a cause.
February 11th, 2010 at 6:38 pmUmmm…does this mean that there is now room in the Republican Party for me?
They are not sociopaths or hypocrites. They are just (properly) suspicious because the governor has been very short on specifics for over a year. There is no need to name call just because others disagree with you.
February 11th, 2010 at 10:27 pm“They care nothing about these issues, they’re merely rebels without a cause.”
They do have a cause. Making sure that RINOs are destroyed and New Jersey stays blue.
February 11th, 2010 at 10:46 pm“They do have a cause. Making sure that RINOs are destroyed and New Jersey stays blue.”
At least this time you are half right.
February 12th, 2010 at 7:04 amHey Millicent Fensick Moron:
It is always open season for hunting RINOs. That is why you should keep looking over your shoulder jerk!
“A word to the wise ain’t necessary — it’s the stupid ones that need the advice.” Bill Cosby
February 12th, 2010 at 7:54 am