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January 5, 2009 Contact: John Gorman / (609) 292-5199
Senator Kevin J. O’Toole (R-40) Local Democrats Oppose Unfolding COAH NightmareTrenton
Democrat Leadership Silent as Chorus of Opposition Grows
Senator Kevin O’Toole (R-Bergen) called upon Trenton Democrats to reverse course and abandon their new subsidized housing law as the groups of officials calling for a change in policy has grown to include local Bergen County Democratic officials.
“Republicans have been saying for months that the new Democrat subsidized housing law would wreak economic disaster in our State,” said O’Toole. “Now local Bergen County Democrats are using terms like ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘disaster’ to describe the impact of the COAH housing law that was rushed through the Legislature with little debate or deliberation. If the Trenton Democrats cannot listen to Republicans and work to repair the debacle they have created, maybe they should listen to the members of their own party who are ridiculing this incoherent and unworkable law.”
Media reports have indicated that the elimination of “regional contribution agreements” in the Council on Affordable Housing law has placed a home-improvement program that has helped 98 individuals and families in Garfield since 2004 in jeopardy.
“The Trenton Democrats must finally come to grips with the fact that members of their own party have concluded that the COAH law is now hurting the very middle class communities that it purports to help,” said O’Toole. “When a former member of the Assembly Democratic caucus calls the law a ‘disaster, ‘ you would think that somebody in the present legislative leadership would take notice.”
Under the newly adopted COAH law, municipalities such as Wallington would need to create 147 new affordable housing units, Woodridge 171 and Fort Lee 569.
“To use the words of one of my Democratic colleagues, the COAH law is pushing New Jersey into an ‘economic abyss’ at the worst possible time. Reasonable Democrats must tell their leadership to come to the table and work with Republicans to scrap this disastrous law before even more damage is done.”
Link to Post:
https://www.senatenj.com/index.php/otoole/local-democrats-oppose-unfolding-coah-nightmare/1953