Sierra Club jumps the shark
January 3rd 2008 05:01 pm
Back in March 2007, the New Jersey Sierra Club said restoration of train service on the Lackawanna Cut-Off was intended to promote sprawl:
In a public-comment letter on the rail plan sent Thursday to NJ Transit, New Jersey Sierra Club Director, Jeff Tittel, opposed NJ Transit’s request for $21 million in federal funds in fiscal year 2007 to advance the cutoff project and the 133-mile line. “We believe that this project will not enhance mass transit, but that its real intention is to promote sprawl and overdevelopment in environmentally sensitive and rural areas,” Tittel said. “We believe that NJ Transit’s time and money should not be subsidizing sprawl in the Poconos.”
– Star-Ledger, March 11, 2007
Now the New Jersey Sierra Club is saying that giving incentives to companies to locate in cities with transit, like Newark and Camden, is a bad idea:
Jeff Tittel, executive director of the Sierra Club, questioned whether the tax credits would lure any corporation to an urban area or create any new jobs. “This is dumb growth for cities,” Tittel said. “This is the antithesis of what you do to spur urban development and economic growth… Corporations are attracted by low rents, not tax breaks.”
– Star-Ledger, January 3, 2008
Can these guys be taken seriously anymore?
Bob Scheurle responded on 03 Jan 2008 at 8:31 pm #
For those of you unfamiliar with the term: Definition of jump the shark.
Joe Versaggi responded on 04 Jan 2008 at 8:21 am #
So taken together, that NJT should not go to the Poconos (while it runs up to Port Jervis), and corporations should not go to older, smaller, depressed cities in New Jersey, is that we should widen Route 80 to drive to corporations in the Poconos or maybe do nothing.
The New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club is a national embarrassment.
Eine Kleine Multi-level responded on 22 Jan 2008 at 1:48 am #
One would have thought that the Sierra Club’s NJ chapter jumped the shark when they first proposed widening any road artery versus reopening an existing railroad.
Any other chapters of the Sierra Club hold similar opinions?