newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ALAN J. STEINBERG

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

Governor Chris Christie is a fan of baseball's New York Mets. His baseball club hasn't been playing very well recently, but the Governor hit a political and governmental home run last week with his release of the report of his Advisory Commission on New Jersey Gaming, Sports, and Entertainment.

The Governor and his Advisory Commission have come forth with a bold, comprehensive plan that provides for long range solutions to problems that have been plaguing New Jersey for years. Christie's proposal to create a Clean and Safe Tourism District for Atlantic City provides an essential pathway for saving the casinos and establishing Atlantic City as a true destination resort. He wisely proposes to significantly downsize the state's role in horse racing, a dying industry which New Jersey taxpayers should no longer be subsidizing. At long last, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority will cease its costly operations of the Meadowlands and Monmouth Park Racetracks and the IZOD Center arena, enabling these properties to be sold, leased, or licensed.

For me, however, as a former Executive Director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, I am most impressed with the Governor's proposals to facilitate the redesign and successful completion of the Xanadu project. Once this project becomes operational as a retail and entertainment complex, it will become the economic engine of the Meadowlands.

When I use the term "Meadowlands", I am not just referring to the Sports Complex. Instead, I am speaking about the Meadowlands as the historic region consisting of portions of ten municipalities in Bergen County (Carlstadt, East Rutherford, Little Ferry, Lyndhurst, Moonachie, North Arlington, Ridgefield, Rutherford, South Hackensack, and Teterboro) and four municipalities in Hudson County (Jersey City, Kearny, North Bergen, and Secaucus).

The Meadowlands was for centuries an area of magnificent natural resources. Its beautiful open space, waterways, and wetlands also attracted numerous species of birds and fish, making the Meadowlands New Jersey's environmental treasure.

Developments during the first seven decades of the 20th century threatened to destroy the Meadowlands environment. The Meadowlands became New Jersey's garbage dump, with literally thousands of tons of garbage being dumped every day in unregulated landfills, resulting in extensive ruination of wetlands.

Furthermore, while development was inevitable and even to some extent desirable in the Meadowlands, there was a need for Meadowlands-wide zoning and planning to avoid over-development. Each Meadowlands municipality was seeking economic development major rateables, and this "rateable chase" threatened to devour the open space in the Meadowlands.

Accordingly, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) was established under its former name, the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission in 1969 to serve as the zoning and planning agency of the Meadowlands. The Commission was vested basically with three missions: 1) orderly development; 2) environmental protection; and 3) management of solid waste disposal. Thanks to the good work of the Commission over the past four decades, the environmental degradation of the Meadowlands has been reversed, and development has taken place in a much more orderly fashion.

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) was established later, in 1971 to build and operate the Meadowlands Sports Complex, including Giants Stadium, the Meadowlands Racetrack, and later, the arena presently known as the IZOD Center. While it was exempt from the NJMC's zoning and planning authority, the enabling legislation required the NJSEA to consult with the NJMC regarding environmental impact and site plan review of any new development on the Sports Complex.

I often get upset when journalists erroneously refer to the Sports Complex as "the Meadowlands." Perhaps the worst example I have seen in this regard was contained in Bergen Record columnist Alfred Doblin's column of July 23, 2010, in which he said the following:

"The Meadowlands is a large commercial tract. No one lives in the Meadowlands. The stadium, arena, race track and Xanadu are buildings and investments, nothing more. Fixing what is wrong in the Meadowlands is a piece of cake compared to what is wrong in Atlantic City."

No one lives in the Meadowlands?

Yet inadvertently, Doblin's blunder has shown most graphically what has been wrong with past decisions regarding the Meadowlands. In previous administrations, it was always assumed that what was good for the Sports Complex was good for the Meadowlands. That was a most erroneous assumption, and Christie and his Advisory Commission, to their credit, did not embrace this fallacious line of thinking.

Instead, the Governor and his Advisory Commission did consider the impact on the Meadowlands of future development on the Sports Complex. As Advisory Commission Chair Jon Hanson stated, once Xanadu would be finished, foreign shoppers would visit, office buildings and hotels would rise from the ground, and rapid transit would facilitate travel to this retail and entertainment complex. Thus, Xanadu will be both a major jobs creator and the economic engine that the Meadowlands has long needed.

Hanson is an outstanding individual, and he has a well-deserved reputation as one of our nation's leading real estate executives. When he discusses the potential of economic development projects, his words have total credibility. I have no doubt that Hanson's assessment of the potential of Xanadu is accurate.

One other point must be made: Nothing in the Governor's Advisory Commission report in any way implies the closure of the IZOD Center. Most people in North Jersey prefer the IZOD Center to the Prudential Center in Newark as a venue for concerts. There is no reason that the two arenas cannot successfully co-exist. In fact, as a privately owned and operated facility, the IZOD Center is likely to be more profitable than in the past.

In fact, Xanadu's retail establishments will almost certainly benefit from patrons who stop by prior to attending an event at the IZOD Center. To paraphrase the famous Tom Kean slogan, "Xanadu and the IZOD Center — Perfect Together!"

Since the Governor announced his proposal, he has been criticized by those who proposed video lottery terminals (VLTs) and/or a casino on the Sports Complex. These critics are myopic. VLTs and a Meadowlands casino would have had a most deleterious impact on Atlantic City's casinos and consequently, a major negative impact on New Jersey's economy. That certainly is not in the best interests of the citizenry of the Meadowlands.

Instead, Governor Christie and his Advisory Commission have taken an holistic, statewide approach to the issues of gaming, sports, and entertainment. The solutions they propose will be most beneficial to New Jersey's economy and especially to the citizenry of Atlantic City and the Meadowlands. At long last, thanks to Governor Christie, the citizens of the Meadowlands, and not just the Sports Complex, will emerge as big winners.

Alan J. Steinberg served as Regional Administrator of Region 2 EPA during the administration of former President George W. Bush. Region 2 EPA consists of the states of New York and New Jersey, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and seven federally recognized Indian nations. He currently serves on the political science faculty at Monmouth University.

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