Rob Menendez and Mussab Ali answer the Better Blocks questionnaire on how they would use their time in Congress to shape policy at the federal level to build more housing, expand public transit, make our streets safer, and support parks in this urban district. betterblocksnj.org/2026/05/04/a...

Citibike is crazy good value for the city.

How many truly affordable units in that Taco Bell?

Every time Jersey City or Hoboken proposes a pedestrian plaza or bike lane, local businesses fear it'll destroy them. The data says the opposite. 🧵 1/5

I have focused a lot on the high end of the IZO mandate because that's what Jersey City's new mayor has fixated on but we really should spend time explaining the pitfalls of mandatory unfunded IZOs at any percentage. In short, "there is NO magic number." betterblocksnj.org/2026/03/03/d...

There are parts of Jersey City right now where rents are at 2022 levels.

Christian Gomez wrote this great piece on why Jersey City can't reform parking and struggles to approve new housing: a political culture that mistakes endless community meetings for leadership.

Fun find this afternoon: In 1957, the Port Authority did the engineering work to link the downtown PATH to the Lexington Avenue subway local tracks.

This project is batshit insane and nobody’s paying attention. $11bn is enough to make good progress on regional rail, moving riders from slow, uncomfortable, high-operating-cost buses to trains. Instead it’s happening in isolation from Gateway/Penn planning, resulting in no major new transit service

If we could fund better transit in NJ through a new revenue stream, how would you do it? Didn't Pompidou reveal we could be using special improvement districts for regional/localized public goods? @upzonenj.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social @mdasilva.bsky.social @eaconner.bsky.social

The World Cup is coming. So is congestion and pollution. A call from our president, Johan Andrade, on the need for getting Hudson County World-Cup-ready with quick build bus lanes, bike lanes, and pedestrian corridors before it's too late.

Link to article: betterblocksnj.org/2026/04/06/p...

Silverman as a housing developer is good! Silverman as a rent-seeking landlord who tries to prevent new market entrants is not good!

A neighbor filed a zoning complaint against a Jersey City café for baking cinnamon rolls in-house. The “evidence”? They paid a grease trap fee. (Every coffee shop does.) “The Cinny” is baked off-site. Jersey City planning confirmed it twice. The complaint is still moving forward.

It's pretty bad if Ambrossi got bodied out of primarying an extremely vulnerable county commissioner. I have nothing against Lipski, but isn't she the poster child for not campaigning? There's really value in her getting to be lazy? It's not like that race would have been full on civil war.

Jersey City's existing 15% mandatory IZO downtown has been in place since 2021. Affordable units built under it without a PILOT? Zero. The new mayor ran on the promise to expand this IZO mandate to 20% and make it citywide. Learn more about what IZOs are. betterblocksnj.org/2026/02/08/t...

New "luxury" apartments in Jersey City actually make rents cheaper for everyone nearby. Studies show new construction cuts surrounding rents by ~6%. Here's the evidence politicians ignore when they fight new housing. betterblocksnj.org/2025/12/15/w...

Tax abatements, exemptions, and PILOT agreements are some of the most misunderstood tools in municipal finance. In our latest article, we explain the history and use of these agreements debunk three of the most common myths circulated on social media around tax abatements. 1/

The first two ordinances Better Blocks was tracking went to a vote after second reading so we finally have data for our council vote tracker and score card. Lavarro falls to last place voting against Better Blocks' supported positions. Everyone else is batting .500 raw votewise.

We are working on building a subreddit where we will share not only our posts but hope to create a repository for all the research articles that @3underscores.bsky.social and @eaconner.bsky.social end up reading and using. If folks have good econ papers on housing they want to share, post there!

One of our volunteers researched and wrote this analysis of the SciTech Scity project, which was one of then-Councilman Solomon's favorite punching bags on the campaign trail. He decried the development as a giveaway to luxury developers for $10 but the reality is much more nuanced. Worth a read!

The deal between Jersey City and Liberty Science Center that sold land for "just $10" is frequently misrepresented. We looked into the project to see how this deal was actually structured to benefit Jersey City and the beloved local non-profit science center. betterblocksnj.org/2026/03/10/b...

As a political advocacy group, we support candidates and make endorsements, but we need to keep our local electeds accountable too. We are publishing issue trackers and scorecards to see how well local officials stack up on housing, transit, safe streets, and public amenities.

Does Unfunded Inclusionary Zoning Produce Affordable Housing at Scale? Part IV in our Housing Policy Series The post discusses the challenges of… https://betterblocksnj.org/2026/03/03/does-unfunded-inclusionary-zoning-produce-affordable-housing-at-scale-part-iv-in-our-housing-policy-series/

This is one of our best articles yet. We look at how badly Boston et al messed up housing production with an unfunded IZO. Jersey City beware! The next posts will look at how you can build affordable housing through funded and voluntary IZOs using more real-world examples.

We got the city council to recognize the bird-glass ordinance has costs. They amended to 1) lower height to 85 ft; 2) exempt projects that don’t require a site plan; and 3) exempt 100% affordable housing. More affordable housing builders should reach out to educate council on ordinance costs.

If you support transit-oriented development and want to help solve the housing crisis in Jersey City, local advocacy is one of the best things you can do. E-mail the council. Tell them you support dense, transit-oriented development downtown. Here are their emails: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

We at @betterblocksnj.bsky.social really tried our best to warn everyone. Bill O'Dea wasn't perfect by any means but he was miles ahead on housing policy and also understood the tradeoffs necessary to actually build income-restricted affordable housing. betterblocksnj.org/2025/10/16/t...

You can read all our previous commentary on the great Jersey City bird-glass debate in this thread: 1/6

Good news! While Jersey City needs to do more to regulate parking demand, it is encouraging to see the Council President take steps to expand permit parking zones to Communipaw near the light rail station. Hopefully, one day soon, that parking lot is turned into dense, mixed-use, high-rise housing.

My anxiety level cannot handle watching people trying to dig out and drive down our unplowed street. Our neighbor literally drives a fire truck for a living and this is a challenging feat for him today.

Amazing. NYC NIMBY populist councilmember is voting FOR an upzoning in her district—because if she didn't, the mayor and borough president would approve something even bigger and with poorer tenants. This is thanks to the charter revision amendments Eric Adams sponsored last November.

This debate has shown me how little due diligence the city council does on the ordinances that come before it and how much the activists for it remind me of the lobbyists against nuclear and wind energy. Working to make all new construction in a city more expensive is climate (and fiscal) suicide.

This is very good. Exasperated yet playful. Don't let the seemingly niche topic drive you away.

Better Blocks NJ is putting out a call to action asking all Jersey City pro-housing advocates to email the city council as soon as possible! The potential to build 1,000 apartments on a parking lot downtown is at risk unless planning starts to amend zoning near transit in downtown Jersey City.

That's pretty interesting

@eaconner and @3underscores have been working on a series of articles to explain housing affordability and Affordable housing policy. You can read Part I, explaining the role of supply and demand in creating broad-based affordability, here: betterblocksnj.org/2025/12/15/w...

JC's new mayor 😭 🤡 Call me when throwing a parade involves getting over a dozen permits and approvals, hiring an attorney and a traffic engineer, and paying 6 figures in permit fees.

Here’s the best link for more information and how to get involved: bikejc.org/ebike-bill

The bill on Hochul's desk mandating 2PTO on the MTA, Assembly Bill A4873, still hasn't been vetoed. If it's not by the end of the day it will automatically be law and worsen service on small shuttle trains and off-peak services as a result Call her office at (518) 474-8390 and demand she veto this

This is a big reason I support projects like the Albion Hotel right on the pedestrian plaza in Jersey City. It’s a good way to expand our tax base, support local businesses, and take advantage of New York’s failures. Instead we’re letting an old bank building rot away because of NIMBY opposition.

Want more affordability? Build more housing! Housing markets are complex. There are many confounding factors at play beyond simple supply and demand, but the research is clear. More supply is needed to make housing more affordable in the midst of our regional housing shortage. 1/4

I don't own an e-bike. I have never even ridden an e-bike. But, good Lord, I feel much safer around e-bikes than I do the average car or truck driver here in Jersey City.

Legislators in Trenton should vote against the e-bike bill because it: 1) is a de facto ban on Citibike and other popular bike share programs in NJ; 2) puts the livelihoods of many restaurants at risk; and 3) makes low-cost transportation unaffordable and inaccessible.

Interesting to illustrate the math of how you get to 20% affordable units in Newark. 30-year PILOT by Newark AND $90m in ASPIRE tax credits. www.roi-nj.com/2025/12/10/r...

My very first week working for Jersey City in June 2023, this project was thrown to me by my boss as a bit of a baptism by fire. Exciting to see it ready to break ground. 360 homes (including 90 affordable) a pedestrian gateway to the PATH 0 parking spots jerseydigs.com/homestead-ga...

In advance of tomorrow’s run-off election in Jersey City, @upzonenj.bsky.social provided an analytical look at the results of last month’s general election. betterblocksnj.org/2025/12/01/a...

This is astounding given the number of ambulances I saw on the road last night. Passing a law to ensure more people die.

The key is to be honest with the electorate about the costs and not promising that someone else will pay for affordable housing.

Isn’t Cuomo the one who said he himself was “Italian” to justify his predatory behavior?