DeGise: County working to upgrade quality of life

Thursday, February 01, 2007
By ALI WINSTON
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Regionalization of municipal services, concentrated reinvestment in neglected communities, reducing carbon emissions and combating chronic homelessness are the four challenges Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise promised to tackle in his State of the County address last week at the County Annex.

"It's kind of like the State of the Union - only a lot bigger," DeGise joked as he took the podium in front of the Board of Freeholders.

DeGise said he wanted to push county government toward an "emphasis on quality-of-life issues."

Building on the county government's prominent role in providing economic stimulus for neighborhoods, DeGise unveiled his Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy program, or CEDS, which would provide annual grants of $50,000 for development.

A pilot program will issue one of these grants this year, with a long-term view to "develop a regular funding stream" for the program, he said.

"Greening" Hudson County also was deemed a priority: A tree-planting campaign, he said, will reduce carbon emissions and smog, as well as beautify county roads. The target is to plant 1,000 trees over the next five years, with an eye toward 10,000 trees over the next decade.

To help house the thousands of homeless in Hudson County, DeGise called on Gov. Jon Corzine to create a statewide system of county-based trust funds to develop a "housing first" approach to the problem. Similar plans have helped cities such as Baltimore and Denver halve their homeless populations, he said.

Finally, DeGise stated that county government should be a "force for reform" in driving ahead with the regionalization of municipal services. Hudson County has applied for a $300,000 state grant to formally assess the possibilities of regionalization for each municipality; he also broached the subject of creating a new Jersey City police academy that would train cadets for every law enforcement agency in the county.

The speech was delivered while 300 workers from the Department of Family Development staged a demonstration over how long contract negotiations with the county have dragged on. As he entered the building, DeGise was met by irate members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2306 waving placards and chanting "Shame on you!"