Glassbro
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glassbro.bsky.social
Glassbro
@glassbro.bsky.social
220 followers 85 following 1.9K posts
Posting Czar for the State of NJ, Small Business Owner (you're welcome for my service), Homeowner (yw4ms), Parent (yw4ms).

I write about local news: https://glassborogaffer.substack.com/
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glassbro.bsky.social
Local Dems have learned from national Republicans: ALWAYS be campaigning'

GlouCo Dems are already promoting their incumbents up for reelection next year.
November 10, 2025 at 2:00 AM
glassbro.bsky.social
Republicans obscure correlation & causation. You can't just look at funding go up & test scores not go up, & just decide that funding not cause test scores go up.

Correlation is not causation, & lack of correlation is not lack of causation! E.g., the fucking global pandemic might've had an impact.
Supporters of Ciattarelli’s plan point to what they say is wasted spending in Newark on travel to conferences in sunny places or projects that have nothing to do with improving academic performance, and the fact that the majority of kids in the district still can’t read or do math on grade level. “We’ve increased our school spending during the Murphy administration by 50 percent, from 8 billion to 12 billion,” said state Sen. Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth). “We have almost nothing to show for it. We haven’t seen any great strides in the schools that got obscene amounts of money.”
November 3, 2025 at 4:46 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
NJ Republicans want to destroy our progressive school funding formula, replace it w/ a flat amount of state aid per pupil. Rich suburbs win. The poor lose.

Great article that emphasizes why S1 is good: districts that got richer &/or smaller since the 90s should get less state aid. EZ.
Superintendents in some suburbs, like Toms River, are up in arms over recent adjustments to the funding formula: Over many years, the Legislature didn’t adjust state aid based on factors like declining student population, so now those cuts are being phased in.
November 3, 2025 at 4:46 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
Books Behind Bars, based in Wildwood, isn't doing a holiday card drive this year bcs the NJ DOC now requires all mail to inmates must be b&w photocopies, not original cards.

Instead, donate money to send books to inmates.
November 3, 2025 at 1:40 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
I need to keep a list of programs NJ cut this summer. Add childcare subsidies to it.

IIRR it needed an extra $30M to accept new families this year. Legislators promised that amount, then settled on $2M.

In this case, I don't mind the article pointing out that we spent $X00M on district projects.
Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration has invested more than $1 billion in childcare subsidies and raising childcare provider rates in New Jersey since the governor took office in 2018, state Human Services Commissioner Sarah Adelman said during state budget hearings in the spring. The recently adopted state budget contains $79.5 million to keep subsidies flowing, but closed new admissions and raised copays after projected expenses would require $30 million more to meet increasing enrollment and unfunded federal policy changes, Adelman said. Seeing the crisis coming months ago, Advocates for Children helped organize meetings with budget committee members to explain what was at stake, Coogan said. They were assured by lawmakers that a $30 million resolution was submitted to allow the program to continue to grow, she said. But when the budget was signed on June 30, the request was ultimately cut to $2 million — far short of what the commissioner said was needed. The Democratic-controlled state Legislature did, however, add to the budget about $500 million in last-minute pet or “pork” projects in communities that are Democratic strongholds.
October 31, 2025 at 7:11 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
This guy's evil but the lessons we should learn:

- state Supreme Court races are v important
- if u don't like their rules, change them

I can't blame GOP for using their majority to pursue their agenda. That's their job. The norm of doing so kinda slowly in the past is an anomaly of US history.
In January — once two newly elected Republican justices were sworn in, giving the party a 5-2 majority — GOP lawmakers quickly filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to rehear the gerrymandering case. Such do-overs are rare. Since 1993, the court had granted only two out of 214 petitions for rehearings, both to redress narrow errors, not differences in interpreting North Carolina’s constitution. The lawyers who’d won the gerrymandering case were incredulous. “We were like, they can’t possibly do this,” said Jeff Loperfido, the chief counsel for voting rights at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. “Can they revisit their opinions when the ink is barely dry?” Under Newby’s leadership, they did. Behind the closed doors of the courthouse, he set aside decades of institutional precedent by not gathering the court’s seven justices to debate the legislature’s request in person, as chief justices had historically done for important matters. Instead, in early February, Justice Phil Berger Jr., Newby’s right-hand man and presumed heir on the court, circulated a draft of a special order agreeing to the rehearing, sources familiar with the matter said. Berger’s accompanying message made clear there would be no debate; rather, he instructed his colleagues to vote by email, giving them just over 24 hours to respond.
October 30, 2025 at 4:25 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
Gutting.
Were we still on disparate sides of the political spectrum? Yes. Would we be able to somewhat companionably spend more time together, discussing things beyond our political viewpoints? Probably. Would I ever choose to get romantically involved with him? No. Just because I now got where he was coming from, at least in part, didn’t mean I wanted to make out with him. On our last date, we were walking through a park when I told him we couldn’t keep seeing each other, that I disagreed with most of his beliefs and didn’t align with the future he wanted. Confused, he replied that from his point of view, we actually agreed on most things. No, I said, we didn’t, which he would know if he’d asked me any questions about myself. He still leaned in and tried to kiss me. We never saw each other again.
October 30, 2025 at 1:04 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
Would it kill Fulop to endorse someone? It's not like he's running for office soon.

newjerseymonitor.com/2025/10/30/s...
October 30, 2025 at 12:18 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
Reminder that we have a state library, and they're running this cool event next week. I'll "see" you there (on zoom, so not at all but in spirit). www.njstatelib.org/event/virtua...

If you can't make it, check out the book:
October 29, 2025 at 6:51 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
Oof.
We have no endorsement for the November 4, 2025 election in Hoboken. We would, however, prefer to see Councilwoman Emily Jabbour and Councilman Ruben Ramos as the two candidates a December run-off race (if nobody wins more than 50% of the vote). Read why below.
October 29, 2025 at 6:28 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
Fuck Chris Christie overall, but at the very least he did bail reform & is sticking to his guns to this day.
Former Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who signed the 2014 bail reform law, said arguments against cashless bail often are rooted in “ignorance.” Christie spoke at a forum on Friday in Princeton on how policymakers and advocates could use bail reform as a model for sentencing reform. “This is not some unusual, lenient way of dealing with people who have been charged with crimes. In fact, it’s been done in the federal system in every federal district, all 93 of them across the country, for a very long time,” said Christie, a former U.S. attorney for New Jersey.
October 29, 2025 at 12:31 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
Oh no.

(Hopefully just placating from Sherrill, but Dems have lurched right on crime before, & NJ Dems recently.)
[T]he two front-runners in the race to replace Gov. Phil Murphy (D) both want to change the risk-based system of pretrial incarceration that replaced cash bail. Democrat Mikie Sherrill says she supports the current system conceptually but has concerns about defendants not showing up for court and those accused of violent crimes not being detained before trial. Republican Jack Ciattarelli blames bail reform for repeat offenders, saying he would appoint conservative judges and prosecutors and fix “loopholes” to ensure more defendants are jailed pretrial. Neither candidate offered data to back up their concerns or specific plans for change. Supporters of cashless bail say that’s because the system works. Former Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who signed the 2014 bail reform law, said arguments against cashless bail often are rooted in “ignorance.” Christie spoke at a forum on Friday in Princeton on how policymakers and advocates could use bail reform as a model for sentencing reform.
October 29, 2025 at 12:29 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
This is the good shit.
6. The High Cost of “Affordability” The worst possible outcome is that the Solomon affordable housing plan will provide neither housing nor affordability; unfortunately, this is also an extremely probable outcome. In the best case scenario, property taxes go up 22% (or city services get cut) to support hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies to developers to fund his universal 20% inclusionary zoning ordinance. More likely, however, no affordable housing is built under the Solomon plan in the short run, while in the long run, housing development grinds to a halt and rents and taxes rise even more dramatically as new supply dries up. Mandated “affordability” will price out thousands of working and middle-class families to reward a few hundred with a golden ticket to the affordable housing lottery. Jersey City deserves a mayor who can actually deliver, not just make promises that fall apart under scrutiny. Look to mayoral candidates who know how to strategically use PILOTs to unlock state support instead because Jersey City cannot afford to elect Mayor Solomon.
October 28, 2025 at 1:03 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
OK but really it's dumb that we outlaw pumping your own gas.
From Terrence McDonald's newsletter for NJ Monitor: Max Raskin at the Free Press looks at one issue where our leading gubernatorial candidates agree: keeping New Jersey from becoming a pump-your-own state. The Garden State is now the only state in the nation where it’s illegal to pump your own gas, which Raskin dubs “gas station socialism.” Raskin said when New Jerseyans venture outside the state and have to pump their own gas for the first time, it’s a “small humiliation.” “While the trend of allowing self-service began with legal challenges in the 1960s, major reforms occurred on the state level as Americans became more price-sensitive during the embargo. Only New Jersey has refused to adapt, disguising labor regulations and entrenched interests as cultural heritage,” he writes. And to that I say [NJ flag].
October 28, 2025 at 12:12 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
If I'm reading right, NJ's healthcare system will lose > $3 billion due to Medicaid changes + whatever it costs to enforce new eligibility restrictions, yet Jack Ciatareli insists NJ has enough money to cover this bcs we spent $700 million on district projects. newjerseymonitor.com/2025/10/27/m...
October 27, 2025 at 12:39 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
I missed this.
October 27, 2025 at 12:28 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
If NYC switched to a 100% LVT & 0% improvement tax, kept the same budget, taxed all property at the same rate, & kept current exemptions:
The intent of the LVT system is that by taxing only the land values, residents are not penalized for adding new housing. However, this introduces a new issue. Implementing a land tax would “turn up the heat” on those holding under-utilized land. However, New York’s zoning codes prohibit this redevelopment. By our estimate, nearly half of the residential buildings are either above the allowable floor area or within 33% of it. In other words, densification is prohibited by law or severely restricted for half the residential lots in the Big Apple! Thus, if New York really wants to make housing affordable, hand in hand with making the property tax system fairer, it needs to substantially reform its zoning to allow for greater densities in the outer boroughs. Based on our analysis, this would mean allowing low- and mid-rise apartments near transit hubs and allowing for garden apartments and denser housing types, like “triple deckers,” in the most suburban neighborhoods. While the recently passed City of Yes Housing Opportunity upzonings are a good start, more needs to be done.
October 27, 2025 at 12:37 AM
glassbro.bsky.social
This election is tearing Moorestown duplex neighbors apart.
October 26, 2025 at 12:32 AM
glassbro.bsky.social
Wow, so a guy running in NYC, who the avg American didn't know about until a few months ago, & who's still unknown by the plurality, doesn't have as much approval as national figures who've been in the spotlight longer like AOC (tho almost as much as Schumer lol)?

Wow.
A poll from The Argument showing Zohran Mamdani with the lowest approval rating and the lowest disapproval rating (because 44% say they haven't heard enough about him to say) among himself, Newsom, AOC, Harris, and Schumer. From The Argument: "But there’s just one awkward problem for those seeking to copy the Mamdani magic: Outside of NYC, Zohran Mamdani is not popular."
October 24, 2025 at 4:25 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
I'm sticking with this definition.
October 22, 2025 at 2:30 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
If you oppose housing for people who are poorer than you because it isn't neo-Gothic, you are evil. You are a demon from Hell. I will proudly demonize your views.
October 21, 2025 at 3:47 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
lol
One more bit on the election. The Election Law Enforcement Commission on Friday rejected a bid by David Wildstein, editor at the New Jersey Globe, to have a third state-sponsored debate between Sherrill and Ciattarelli. Wildstein noted that state law requires these debates to be 60 minutes and the last one feel short by a few minutes, but the commission said Wildstein (who lives in Florida) has no standing here. It also said the last debate, even if a few minutes short of the required 60, fulfilled the statutory requirement. A Ciattarelli campaign spokesman testified during that meeting that Ciattarelli would happily agree to a third debate. Wildstein said he's appealing.
October 20, 2025 at 1:17 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
As best as I can tell, the "extreme" part seems to be Murphy possibly shuttering perfectly functional & competitive natural gas plants early. It says that, but I'd like numbers & a deeper dive.

Bcs he also opened new gas plants!
October 17, 2025 at 4:25 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
Beyond OSW, it seems Murphy didn't pursue his own extreme energy agenda.
October 17, 2025 at 4:23 PM
glassbro.bsky.social
As for Solomon, Better Blocks is concerned he'll defer to his councilmember running mate who is unfriendly to safe streets.
Yet, Solomon also got mixed reviews from our graders. Some gave him high marks for his commitment to Vision Zero where others panned his reasons for not supporting the ambitious city-owned bus lanes proposal as political blame-shifting. Abstracting away from the context of the Better Blocks survey, many of us are concerned that if councilman-turned-mayor Solomon governs the city like he has campaigned for it, then there will be a lot of deference given to local councilpersons including his running mate, Ward F Councilman Frank Gilmore. Councilman Gilmore hosted a community meeting over the summer that saw city staff threatened by attendees over proposed one-way conversions to add bus lanes, car parking, and street safety improvements. The disparities in the quantity and quality of infrastructure improvements between wards would continue to mount.
October 17, 2025 at 4:05 PM