Marcia Karrow's reward: $148,000 / year

by: Jeff Doshna

Thu Dec 02, 2010 at 01:13:01 PM EST

Let me be up-front on this one:  I don't care for Marcia Karrow.  The most recent reason is that she was the campaign manager for my opponent for Mayor of Flemington, and printed outright lies about my record.  She's also working hard right now to use her influence to regulate-away her next-door neighbor's kids chicken coop.  But that's not what I'm writing about today...

Yesterday, she was named Executive Director of the NJ Meadowlands Commission.  The $148,000 annual salary is her reward for being a loyal Christie supporter.

The simple fact is that she has no experience directing an agency of this size, and a clear agenda to dismantle signfiicant state environmental regulations.  She was, folks should also recall, Christie's campaign coordinator in Hunterdon County. She was tapped to chair his transition committee about the DEP, and was later tapped by Christie to lead the effort to dismantle COAH.  She has long been an opponent of the Highlands Protection Act, dating to her time as a member of the NJ Assembly.

{more after the fold}

The NJ Meadowlands Commission was established in 1969 to oversee planning and zoning across 14 different municipalities -- the idea being that coordination was key across the 30 square mile area around the Hackensack River.  Over the years, they've cleaned up the river, transitioned away from landfills, established a nature reserve, and become an example of good planning.  As a planning educator, these are the examples I point to to show my students the real impacts of long-term comprehensive planning.

The Highlands Commission was created with similar goals in mind -- to recognize that leaving land use controls at the municipal level would lead to outcomes that compromise vital natural resources.  The State needed to use its authority under the Municipal Land Use Law and protect these resources for all New Jerseans -- now and in the future.   Given Marcia's open opposition to the Highlands Act, its very concerning that she will be taking over the Meadowlands Commission.

But the willingness of the environmental community to take these appointments sitting down is my greatest concern.
There's a fairly good examination at WolfeNotes.com on Karrow's record.  I don't want to repeat all of what Bill Wolfe goes through here, but take a look if you want more detail.   But the evidence is clear as to which half of 'sustainable development' she leans on.  

What really got me was the account on NorthJersey.com this morning.  In it, both Jeff Tittel of the NJ Sierra Club and  Bill Sheehan, head of the Hackensack Riverkeeper organization, are both quoted as being favor of Karrow.

Tittel is as happy as he was when came out for Nancy Wittenberg, before he was against her appointment to the Pinelands Commission  

"Preserving natural areas fits her skill set," said Jeff Tittel, head of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "As a legislator she was good on a lot of open space issues and sprawl issues. She beat up on some of the bad projects."

What Marcia most recently beat up on was the Highlands Act.  I don't know where Tittel is coming from.  Marcia worked hard on farmland preservation -- that's for sure -- while in the NJ Assembly.  And what the Meadowlands needs is someone who wants to spend the money to restore the river, not preserve it as a dump.  That's what's been done for the past 40 years, and why there are hundreds of birds and fish who have returned to the river.

Even more confusing are the comments of Bill Sheehan of Riverkeeper.  He's someone who's been vocal in opposition to Karrow's DEP-transition report -- in fact they issued an 18-page response that is clear enough, calling it "misguided and destructive; their effect, if not their intent, will be to make the DEP significantly less effective and make New Jersey's environment significantly worse."

So why is he quoted saying this about Karrow's appointment:

One of the report's most vocal critics, Bill Sheehan, head of the Hackensack Riverkeeper organization, met with Karrow for two hours on Monday.

"I walked out of there pretty well assured that no major changes are going to take place in the Meadowlands," said Sheehan, who has worked closely with Ceberio. "I was worried that they would come in guns a-blazing and change everything. I'm happy to give her the benefit of the doubt."

Have we just given up?  Are we just throwing in the towel on the environment?  Where's the outrage?

With these two appointment - Karrow and Wittenberg - we have placed two pro-business anti-enviroment women in positions of leadership of our state's flagship regional planning organizations.  And it's time for the progressive community to realize what's happening.