Falling property values threaten fairness of tax system

This is an amazing time in our nation's history, and an amazing time to be working in the media. We are all witnesses to what appears to be a complete meltdown in so many facets of our society, and every day the media reports more bad news.

As our nation continues on what seems to be a road to nowhere, one begins to wonder if and when the downward spiral will ever end.

For a person like me who is generally optimistic, the daily drumbeat of negative media reports weighs heavily on my thoughts about the future of New Jersey and the United States.

An April 22 report in a local newspaper carried details of a New Jersey builders convention that has seen its attendance drop from prior years. Some of the builders who were quoted in the article painted a grim picture of future growth and development.

Evidence of that grim picture can be found in the fact that since I started covering Manalapan in January, there has not been one residential development application heard by the Manalapan Planning Board. The also has not been a specific commercial application presented.

The only development application that has been heard by the board is for The Village at Manalapan retail and commercial center and the application is for a General Development Plan. It is not a site plan for specific stores. The representatives of the applicant acknowledge that they do not have any potential tenants at this time and say The Village could take a decade to complete.

It was easy to criticize developers during all of the years they were bringing their plans for more homes and shopping centers before local planning boards. Now there are no plans for any construction, and it certainly does not seem like this is a better situation.

Through a combination of factors that prompted municipal officials to zone for larger lot sizes and homes, developers built homes of ridiculous sizes that are now unaffordable to many people who made the questionable decision to pay $500,000, $600,000, $700,000 and more to buy them.

Will these developments turn into ghost towns? Whatever happened to building "normal" homes on half-acre lots? They seem to have gone the way of the dinosaurs.

I was driving through Howell on a recent weekend and the stretch of Route 9 I was on between Casino Drive and Interstate 195 was so depressing that I could not wait to get out of there. Empty stores in one shopping center after another, real estate signs all over the place trying to drum up tenants. The best thing I can report to you about the part of Howell I observed is that Kentucky Fried Chicken is building a restaurant there.

No knock on KFC, which I enjoy very much, but when that's the best you've got to offer in this economy, things are not good.

Another depressing sign of the times is the deplorable condition of many roads throughout the areas in which our Greater Media newspapers circulate. I am talking about local, county and state roads, up to and including Route 9 and the Garden State Parkway. Our cars and our nerves are taking a beating as we try to get from point A to point B.

I give credit to officials in Ocean County, who have kept us well informed about road projects they are undertaking in an attempt to fix some of the trouble spots in their jurisdiction. Financial times are tough, municipal employees are losing their jobs, state workers may be the next to go, and the Garden State's infrastructure is crumbling.

I covered a Manalapan Township Committee meeting on April 22 and noted that municipal officials announced they have some road improvement projects planned for 2009. Freehold Township is currently working to repair Schanck Road, and I hope officials in other towns are able to find some money to take care of their roads.

I cannot be the only person who has noticed the terrible conditions of the streets on which we drive every day.

We are, I suppose, reaping what we have sowed. Our elected leaders are a reflection of whom we are — a citizenry that for years has not taken the trouble to look past our own backyard. We each take our handouts from the local, state and federal governments and remain insulated from solving the problems that all of us share.

Here in New Jersey, for now, we continue to march along on what appears to be our road to ruin.

Mark Rosman is a managing editor of Greater Media Newspapers.