Thanks Tony for laying all this out, The problem is your article is riddled with facts, which can only cause cranial explosions from the dims...........................

Very well said mayor. It always amazes me when I talk with friends and neighbors just how little they know about what is going on in this state. Unfortunately, we have a state run by liberal Democrats who are owned and run by the unions. As a result, you get programs like COAH that forces towns like Middletown to build these absurd developments, under the threat of a lawsuit that will mean an even worse fate. I would like to commend the Middletown town council for having been at the forefront of fighting this crap over the years. Now if we can only get the rest of the state to throw out these liberal Democrats, maybe we would have a chance to return to some sanity. Mayor, if you read this, could you provide the people of Middletown the number to call the appropriate legislators? I want to do everything I can to help my town fight back against this liberal lunacy.

Whats amazing to me is how voters continue to vote for Democrats with the idea that they will continue to benefit from the goodies they think they offer, then when an issue like this comes up that they clearly voted for by keeping Democrats in charge, then they want someone to shut them down. This is a Mob Rules mentality when these people want to always have their way. While I agree with the mayors statement in general, but anyone that was paying attention for the past 30 years or so, the Township made things difficult for business.

Several years ago when the economy was expanding the Township shot down many business projects at a time when business was trying to move into town. For Example; Not allowing "Big Box" stores. This was a business killer that cost us many tax revenues. Business turned away and instead housing projects were built. Don' forget the Middletown Center project. And these are just examples that were in the public eye. I think that that era of anti-business sentiment was the turning point when developers saw an opportunity to build housing. Lets face up to the fact that this is going to continue on the few pieces of real estate left along RT 35.

Riffaxe - you make some good points, but keep in mind, projects like a Home Depot or the Town Center Mall bring their own set of problems just like the low income housing. I attended a number of hearings over the years on these projects and the town council just reflected the will of the majority of Middletown residents which is - no box stores or malls and no low-income housing. The big difference with the latter is - liberal Democrat judges that force towns into COAH developments. And let's not forget what drives property taxes up - the unions who have the Democrat Party in their hip pocket. Ever notice how every state run by the unions, New Jersey, California, Michigan and New York also have the highest taxes?

The only reason why Michigan has any higher income and average taxes at this point is because of the generosity of the taxpayers of the United States. If you recall we sent them hundreds of billions of dollars! Plus we allow GM to use the discount window of the Federal Reserve. That's why Michigan's statistics are even on the map. If Michigan
were not in a depression they would have taxes just as high as NJ and California mainly because of real estate values. That is where the real revenue for the states comes from. As far as unions go it has gotten to the point where they are in collusion with the government. The idea that I cannot do business in certain sectors of the economy because my business is not unionized, is not only unfair but is Un-American and is what leads to collusion with the government. This is all a little off subject just wanted to respond to Steve to give a full perspective of our current situation.
As far as the building project go's, what is the current zoning? The project should stay within that scope so that there is no impact on the community. The government is always tinkering with these issues by making new laws, and that is why there is always confusion in these situations. It should be simple. Is it zoned for housing or is it commercial?

Can the Mayor explain how someone living in subsidized housing next to Whole Foods can afford a Lexus SUV?

Steve, I noticed you ignored Cal., NY and NJ, and I forgot to mention Connecticut and Wisconsin - other union controlled, high tax states. Unions are killing this country and if they aren't defeated soon, the country will go bankrupt.

We are already bankrupt! we just keep printing dollars to hide that fact.If we didn't bail out the unions in 2008 and 2009 maybe we would have gained some ground. Unfortunately the Republicans blew some opportunities. To many of them are more concerned about what the media thinks about them and they end up cutting bad deals over and over again. And the media still sticks it to them in the end. This behavior is turning off many supporters and are not showing up at the ballot box. At some point at the state level we will paying out so much in various union benefits that the money will not be available unless the Federal Government prints some money. If we finally get to that point then maybe voters will have had enough.

Gary, I didn't leave those out at all. I mentioned Michigan because you were saying something that wasn't true. When I said that if you want to make a correlelation between unions and taxes that you can't cherry pick data and also need to look at te fact that those states are tops in income and education I was referring to states like NY, NJ, and CT.

However I wouldn't have bothered with any of those statements if you put that last post first.

How can you say that there is no correlation between unions and high taxes? In this crazy state, where we have union leaders like Steve Sweeney actually in government, every policy is designed to benefit the unions and stomp the taxpayers on the head. Prevailing wage, binding arbitration, forced unionization - it's ridiculous. Do you know why the Democrats are so enamored with COAH? Aside from their social engineering and the hopes of getting more Democrat voters into Republican towns, the sleazeball Democrats see COAH as a way to keep union workers busy so they can pay their dues and pay for more Democrat campaigns. You're worried about densities? Well thank the liberal judges who, as the mayor said, force towns into these huge developments to come up with the housing quotas the state puts on them. Ever vote for a Democrat? Well you are reaping what you have sown.

Gary, I did not say there is no correlation between unions and high taxes. I used your example of Michigan to point out there is not a total connection between unionized states and high tax states. There are hundreds of reasons for high taxes.

If you prefer you could spend time in Mississippi. Median pay is $30,000 less a year then here and their education system is one of the worst in the country but hey, no unions and low taxes.

Now I'm the one painting with a broad brush. My only point was to say you were doing it selectively. But given your comments it appears you don't want discourse but just someone to yell at.

Steve, you sound like a good union soldier, but to try and play down the havoc that both public and private sector unions have done to this country is just plain silly. Funny how you are fixated with Michigan, which by the way, is on the brink of finally breaking the grip unions have on worker's freedoms. It were unions that pushed the American auto industry to bankruptcy. In fact, I will never buy a car from a union auto maker again after they came out to vote for Obama. If they have so little regard for their country to support an avowed socialist just because he came out in support of their thug unions, then they will not get any of my hard-earned money. And for the record, Michigan may not be AS bad as Cal, NJ or Wisc (pre-Scott Walker, that is) but it is well in the upper half and climbing.

Let me add something about the education statistics.The numbers are skewed because of population density.For instance in NJ the schools in the suburbs have good numbers where the urban schools are bad.A better measure would be to compare numbers from identical type areas.You may see a low populated state rank low on the list because the population base is low in most of the state, but the one or two cities is where the bulk of the population is that accounts for the numbers.Besides that the rankings is just a list and the difference between 1 and 50 is really not that great anyway.And on that point states where the taxes are half of what NJ taxes are still rank high with respect to the cost per student.You can use an example like Mississippi but why not use say Texas or Florida as an example? I understand how some Union members may feel because of they were committed for so many years and in the early years they served a good purpose.But now the Unions are outdated.We have worker standard (OSHA) just to name one,child labor laws,minimum wage...

Ironically the political party that the Unions are in Collusion with,have authored all of the laws and regulatory rules that are what the Unions used to advocate.So now we have all that in place so Unions are no longer needed to advocate for all of these issues.Even Obamacare in a strange way will eventually weaken Unions.Think about it if the Government is eventually going to provide these benefits it takes maybe the biggest benefit away from the Union.