One NJ town fighting back on court-ordered housing (Opinion)

Middletown Mayor Tony Perry joined me this week to discuss the battle NJ towns are having over the unelected judges who have decided who should be moving into your town regardless of the adverse impact to infrastructure. Then if you don’t embrace the plan and ignore the hardworking taxpayers who will bear the burden, they’ll call you a bigot.

The NJ Courts have long pushed towns to accommodate affordable housing, despite the fact that affordable housing of course already exists throughout the state. But there is a thought process in our state that income and financial ability should not keep you from living in the town you want. Why not?

What if the courts stayed out of the housing market? What if the do-gooders in the courts and government focused on helping make our cities safer so people who are looking for less expensive housing can help make NJ cities great again? We have it all wrong.

First there is the very real concern that adding thousands of people to local towns through court orders creates an unsustainable situation regarding law enforcement, schools, water, emergency services, roads, and the list goes on…

Thankfully, one mayor is standing up for common sense. He has embraced the very diverse community in Middletown and has shown that there are already thousands of homes that are valued at half of the average in the town. He joins other Republican leaders in NJ, Senator Kip Bateman and Assembly Leader Jon Bramnick, to begin the process of fighting back and reversing these destructive court decisions.

Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015. Tweet him @NJ1015 or @BillSpadea. The opinions expressed here are solely those of Bill Spadea.

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