A few weeks ago, the citizens of Paterson learned of the abrupt resignation of the Project Manager of the National Park Service’s Great Falls National Historical Park.  This is not good news.

By way of background, President Obama signed legislation in 2009 that designated the Great Falls in Paterson, already a State Park, a part of the National Park System contingent upon meeting certain conditions, including the creation of an agreement between the city and the Department of the Interior.  Making our beautiful waterfall and surrounding park a national treasure?  Priceless.  Leaving it to the hands of local policiticans to finalize?  Possible in theory, challenging in practice, frustrating to us city dwellers.

We don’t do “process” well in Paterson.

Project Manager Bill Bolger, a 28 year veteran of the National Park Service, was leading the negotiations for the past two years and did not present a public reason for his departure.  It has been suggested, by close observers of this process, that there was tension between the two sides, with a great deal of the blame for this outcome being placed at the feet of Mayor Jones and the Municipal Utilities Authority.

The Mayor’s charged reaction at a meeting with the city committee that oversees the MUA does not help his cause.  ”This is our last most precious resource,” the mayor said at one point. “We aren’t giving it away to nobody. It’s a negotiation.”

Okay, Speaker Boehner.  Let’s settle down. 

Bruce Lowry of the North Jersey Media Group said it perfectly:

“The level of arrogance, or perhaps flat out stubbornness here, is astounding, echoing perhaps the sort of resistance Bolger himself ran up against.

Silly me. I thought the issue was settled. I thought the city, and its stakeholders, from Washington to Passaic County, had decided that the Great Falls was this uniquely magnificent, important place in U.S. history, and that making it into a national park to be better enjoyed by all was a net positive for the city.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe there’s some angle here I’m missing. If the mayor or his representatives are getting in the way, though, and we’re already two years down the road, then they should move to the side and let the Park Service do its thing.”

The Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park is already confronting serious challenges.  Cuts to federal discretionary spending is going to greatly affect the already diministed budgets of the Department of the Interior and the National Parks Service.  Let’s not add to these challenges with silly squabbles and unnecessary tension over process.  We cannot afford to wait another two years to begin.

It was a big day in Paterson yesterday, and as we know about “big” things, they can cause very different reactions.

Gov. Chris Christie visited New Jersey Community Development Corporation (NJCDC) in the Historic District of Paterson to further flesh-out a plan first announced in January to create a New Jersey version of the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), the highly successful community-based organization that promotes education reform while also tackling such interconnected issues as crime, poverty, and teen pregnancy. The success of HCZ and its founder Geoffrey Canada, who was on hand for the announcement yesterday, received large-scale notoriety through last year’s movie “Waiting for Superman.”

On face value, this is a great concept for Paterson. HCZ is a proven model that looks to affect and support an entire community, which then in turn makes educational success sustainable.  When a child moves seamlessly from a day care center to a preschool to a elementary school to a high school, all in the same neighborhood, and is continuously supported by neighborhood health clinics and non-profits that improve the lives of their parents through job training and educational courses, that child is more-likely to escape the world of poverty and crime and succeed in school. 

The foundation of Harlem Children Zone’s success is that it is a community-based program, and that is where it gets tricky for Paterson.  This announcement by Gov. Christie, which comes with a woeful lack of details, demonstrates his desire to be the front man for this project.  He, however, has done no behind-the-scenes work with the many community-based organizations that are on the ground in Paterson. 

The selection of NJCDC as the lead partner in this endeavor shows just how sticky this issue is for Patersonians.  (Full disclosure, I worked for NJCDC from 2008-2009.) On the one hand, it makes perfect sense. NJCDC iis one of the largest community-based organizations working in the city, employing over 140 staff with a budget of $8 million.  It has the scale to ramp up and support the big-picture needs of such a large endeavor as a HCZ, and the Governor clearly feels comfortable enough with NJCDC’s capacity to direct state funding to the project.  It already has a neighborhood revitalization plan in place for the Greater Spruce Street area, and has proven its ability to secure corporate and foundation funding for such work. Originally focused on supportive housing programs, NJCDC branched out into the world of education in 2008 when it opened a charter school – the Community Charter School of Paterson.  It also has been supporting annual classes of AmeriCorps volunteers since the program began – an added benefit that would be a tremendous asset to a HCZ–type program.  Finally, NJCDC has been active in the creation and first year implementation of a pilot program looking to transform select public schools into “full-service community schools,” which is defined by the Federal Department of Education as schools that “provide comprehensive academic, social, and health services for students, students’ family members, and community members that will result in improved educational outcomes for children.”  Full-service community schools are based on the premise that school buildings are wasted when closed at night, on the weekends and during the summer.  HCZ is pretty much a full-service community school program on steroids.

On the other hand, many community members are disappointed with what seems to be a completely top-down approach to replicating a model that at its core is a ground-up, community-based program.  The plan lacks any sort of detail, and other community groups have not been engaged in the planning.  In fact, the Superintendent of Paterson Public Schools and the Board of Education were completely caught off guard by the Governor’s announcement in January, were not involved in any conversations since then, and were told of yesterday’s press conference only the day before.  Additionally, NJCDC’s relative inexperience in education is not helped by the fact that the test scores at its Charter School are unimpressive. As noted by The Record in January, “only 18 percent of its fourth-graders passed proficiency tests in language arts last spring and 33 percent passed in math, a problem its leaders attribute largely to growing pains. It opened 2 1/2 years ago.”  Finally, the model relies heavily on a neighborhood approach, but NJCDC’s headquarters and charter school are located in an area that is predominately full of old factories, historic buildings, and commercial property, with residential sections around the ring.   Many other neighborhoods in the city suffer from a denser residential population and higher rates of foreclosures  leading to greater challenges with violence, unemployment, and educational deficiencies.  But we have no details – maybe the program will be based in one of these neighborhoods?

Finally, during this time of fiscal austerity, what is the financial commitment from New Jersey?  How long will the State support a program which will undoubtedly take a few years to establish and a few more years until data-driven results prove its benefits?

Overall, I feel this is a fantastic step for Paterson, but the program has gotten off to a rough start.  It should not just be about the admittedly larger-than-life personalities of Geoffrey Canada, Chris Christie, and NJCDC Founder and CEO Bob Guarasci.  These partners should start by transparently sharing the framework of this program and inviting input from community members and organizations who have been active on these issues for decades.  Then the HCZ of Paterson will truly serve the needs of the children and families of our city.

After reading my blog, Gov. Christie decided on October 8 to give the ARC tunnel a two-week reprieve.  U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood traveled to Trenton to discuss the matter with the Governor and secured the reprieve.

“Gov. Christie and I had a good discussion this afternoon, during which I presented a number of options for continuing the ARC tunnel project,” LaHood said in a statement. “We agreed to put together a small working group from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the office of NJ Transit Executive Director Jim Weinstein that will review these options and provide a report to Gov. Christie within two weeks.” 

While we await the final word, I am bolsted by recent media reports that support a continuation of the ARC project.  In particular, an article in the Asbury Park Press details how the cost overrun estimates are incredibly high and still unsubstantiated, since the Federal Transit Administration’s financial analysis is not final, or public for that matter.  It also highlights the over $1 billion contigency fund that is already included in the cost estimates.

And since I quoted a notorious liberal’s comments on the tunnel in my last blog (and can link to another here), I’d like to find some balance in this one.  The Economist raises some good points on both side of this debate, but closes with this paragraph, with which I agree wholeheartedly:

“Here’s the bottom line: Every year that goes by increases New Jersey’s need for this sort of tunnel. The existing infrastructure serving rail commuters is already under heavy strain. If a natural disaster or terrorist attack knocks out the current tunnel, there’s no backup. That would be devastating for the region’s economy. Kicking the can down the road is not going to make the project any cheaper. If Mr Christie is simply trying to play hardball to convince the feds to cover more of the cost overruns, that’s one thing. But if politics is preventing America from improving infrastructure between New Jersey and New York—on perhaps the most important commuter route in the nation—it’s hard to see how it’s going to be possible to upgrade infrastructure anywhere in the country.”

When the grumblings first started about Gov. Chris Christie’s plan to halt the construction of the ARC (Access to the Region’s Core) tunnel, I waited to hear the official announcement.  The Governor was out on the campaign trail in other states, and I hoped he was sending one message for the political season - “Government spending is out of control…” - but would come to his senses upon his return to New Jersey and after his meetings with transportation officials.  This project - a second tunnel connecting the most densely populated state in the nation with its major source of jobs - is arguably America’s most important current public works project.  He can’t just shut it down, right?

Sadly, I was optimistic.

It is a rough day for those of us who have followed and supported this project.  Those interested in the environmental benefits of increased public transportation.  The planners interested in providing quicker transit lines for commuters from New Jersey to Manhattan.  Those businesses directly and indirectly involved in the construction, which would have created thousands of jobs.  The economists and financial analysts who see our historically low interest rates as essential to supporting much-needed long-term infrastructure investment.  NJ Transit, who has seen ridership quadruple since 1984 and currently provides 46 million passenger trips annually on a century-old transit system. 

It’s clear that the project would benefit the greater tri-state area in many ways.  But it’s the economic benefits that really showed such great promise.  A study by the Regional Plan Association highlighted that ARC could raise home values by an average of $19,000, and up to $29,000 for homes within one half mile of stations.  More regional economic benefits include:  

This cancellation is shortsighted, irrational, and backward thinking at its core.  Senator Frank Lautenberg fiercely opposes the cancellation, which will lead to New Jersey forfeitting $3 billion in federal support for the project.  New York Times columnist Paul Krugman does a great job of laying out the need for the tunnel and its place in the large political context of penny-pinching. 

Federal Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is in Trenton today meeting with the Governor.  He wants to resurrect the ARC Tunnel, and would have my support, and that of many New Jerseyans.

Very interesting piece in today’s New York Times, broken by Richard Perez-Pena, about Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, agreeing to donate $100 million to the Newark public schools.

Few thoughts from this observer of education and politics in New Jersey:

1)  Dynamic leadership makes a difference.  The only reason Newark is getting this money is because of Mayor Corey Booker.  Period.  As noted in the article, “Mr. Zuckerberg, 26, who grew up in Westchester County and now lives in California, has no particular connection to Newark. But in July, he and Mr. Booker met at a conference and began a continuing conversation about the mayor’s plans for the city, according to people familiar with their relationship.”  Today’s urban leader can’t just sit home but needs to connect to the greater world of ideas, best practices, and philanthropy.  Booker gets that.

2)  The timing of this is very interesting, right before the October 1 release of “The Social Network” about the founding of Facebook and the somewhat controversial figure of Zuckerberg.  This positive free media will no doubt help his image, especially with an announcement on Oprah.

3)  This money just bought Booker the power he wanted.  Since the 90s, the State has controlled the school districts of Newark, Paterson, and Camden, citing lack of student achievement for the takeover.  Since then, the schools have not improved.  Gov. Christie has already supported the elimination of state oversight of Camden early this year.  This is a big step for Newark, where Mayor Booker wants to be Mayor Bloomberg.  I’ll be excited to see the plan that he is now empowered to create.

4) Rhee for Superintendent?  As a former DC resident, I have watched Michelle Rhee’s struggles in Washington with interest and, generally, with support.  If this move happens, it’ll be another challenge for the NJEA which, in this politically charged climate, might only mean more antagonism.  I hope not.

5)  Paterson seeks millionaire.  Maybe then we’ll get some support from Trenton for our schools, including the construction of what has been promised.  Any takers?

With the naming of the Great Falls as a National Park in Spring 2009, Paterson’s natural and historic wonders briefly held center stage in the public’s eye.  Hinchliffe Stadium, which stands alongside the Falls, has reclaimed that brief stage with its appointment yesterday by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.  This designation highlights the momentum surrounding the restoration of this beloved local landmark.

The stadium, closed since 1997, earns its historic designation as one of only three remaining Negro League stadiums in the country.  A 10,000-seat, poured concrete Art Deco stadium, it was home to the New York Black Yankees and the New York Cubans.  As noted by the Hamilton Partnership for Paterson, “The Negro League’s brightest stars—including Hall of Famer Larry Doby, who became the first African American to sign with the American League—played on Hinchliffe’s hallowed field.  A beloved community landmark, Hinchliffe also played host to automobile and motorcycle racing, pro football games, and boxing matches attended by celebrities from Babe Ruth to Joe Louis and Lou Costello.”

For years Hincliffe also served as the home of the John F Kennedy High School Knights and the Eastside High School Ghosts, and the stadium is currently owned by the Paterson Public Schools.  In fact, I regularly attended games there during my high school years in the 1990s, especially as the Ghosts or Knights battled my brother school, Bergen Catholic.

More recently, various community activists, from the Hamilton Partnership for Paterson to the Friends of Hinchliffe Stadium to NJCDC, have joined forces with the Paterson Board of Education, the City Council, and the Mayor’s office to fight to restore the stadium and encourage shared use by the community and outside groups.  There is even talk of working with Congress and the Department of Interior to include it in the National Park designation. 

In any case, this designation by the National Trust for Historic Preservation helps Hinchliffe continue on its path to restoration for use as a facility for many in this third largest city in New Jersey.  It is a testament to our storied past and our vivacious present as a city whose majority of residents are people of color. As noted by the Hamilton Partnership, “Once restored, we will honor at Hinchliffe the resiliency and unparalled athletic achievement by Americans of color and immigrants. We will celebrate the demise of segregation in baseball and the growth of a national pastime inclusive of African Americans and Latinos.”

Both houses of the New Jersey State Legislature were to pass a resolution today demonstrating support of the state’s second application for up to $400 million federal “Race to the Top” education funds.  The final application is due June 1. 

According to the U.S. Department of Education, the “Race to the Top” competition is based on states’ ability to demonstrate their commitment to education reform in four main areas:

• Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy;
• Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction;
• Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most; and
• Turning around our lowest-achieving schools.

The legislature resolution, which is said to be modeled on the one supporting Delaware’s successful first-round application package, does not go so far as to endorse Governor Christie’s and Education Commissioner Bret Schundler’s vision to overhaul the education system statewide.  The Administration plan includes paying teachers based on student performance, changing tenure, introducing evaluation systems that rely on student learning, implementing a statewide data system to track student progress and creating plans to turn around or close failing schools. 

As this resolution does not specifically support linking teacher pay to student performance, it has also garnered the support of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), the state teachers’ union. Many blamed the lack of NJEA support for the failure of New Jersey’s first application, as the U.S. Department of Education asked for support from all education stakeholders in submitted applications.

It was vitally important that the NJEA and the Christie Administration were able to come together and find some common ground while continuing their very public debate on “shared sacrifice” and cuts to education funding.  As a category 2 state as defined by the U.S. Department of Education, New Jersey can gain between $200-$400 million in specialized funding, at a time when it is desperately needed. 

A lot has appeared in the media in the little over a week since Gov. Chris Christie released his budget numbers.  Each interest group has decried cuts to the budget which affect every person in the state in some manner, but the most coverage has involved budget cuts to education.

In particular, Christie continues a very public battle with teachers across the state.  Each day, there’s another story about the Governor “encouraging” the teachers union to accept a yearlong salary freeze while instituting employee contributions to health benefits.

But at the end of the day, those savings account for just a part of the overall cuts to education spending this year, after millions of dollars of cuts were already instituted last year.  At the Paterson Board of Education meeting last night, Superintendant Donnie Evans and his staff presented a draft budget that will most likely be tweaked over the next week.  It described the $81 million differential between revenues and costs, affected in part by the $23 million cut in state aid, including a 100% cut of state aid to adult programs.

While asking teachers to freeze previously negotiated salary increases would account for $13.7 million, there are a lot of cuts still left over here in Paterson. 

Here’s a sampling:

• $17,845,000 in cuts to the district’s rightsizing student-to-teacher ratio program, an essential program as Paterson schools are woefully overcrowded
• $6,870,000 in cuts to restructure/realign student support services
• $1,200,000 in reduced maintenance to our 52 schools, many of which are old
• $1,000,000 in transportation reductions

In addition, the schools have asked for $1.4 million from the City of Paterson through an increase in the local tax levy.  The State has also cut $33 million in municipal aid as compared to last year, so the School District will most likely have to find another way to make up that $1.4 million.

All this is preface to the real story - in the budget, Gov. Christie did not extend a surcharge on families making $400,000, which would bring in $900 million.  (As a reminder, the cuts to education across the state total $820 million.)

This surcharge was in place last year, so at the same time the Governor is asking many groups across the state to further tighten their belts (as everyone across the state and country has done last year with regard to government services), he is giving a tax cut to the wealthiest New Jerseyians.  A tax cut.

Gov. Christie’s reasoning is that we are pushing our wealthiest citizens out of our state with overburdensome taxes, and they are taking their businesses with them.  But what kind of workforce are we preparing when we have class sizes of 35 students in urban areas and no after-school programs in suburban areas?

Make your voice heard.  The Paterson Education Fund has a great tool for you to enter your address and it will send your message to your representatives in the New Jersey State Legislature, as they have to approve the budget.  Tell them that we want to use that $900 million to prevent further cuts to our schools.