August 17, 2010
Morris businessman sparks N.J. road cleanup plan
If highway conditions aren't living up to your expectations, you might want to write to state Transportation Commissioner Jim Simpson at PO Box 600 in Trenton, NJ 08625.
That's how a Parsippany businessman got his attention. Richard Smith put his outrage in writing after enduring the filth and litter along Routes 78, 24, 287 and other state highways he travels.
"If the state is trying to attract businesses and jobs, it can't keep paying so little attention to the way it looks," said the president of Realogy Corp., a global provider of real estate and relocation services.
When Realogy recruits executives from out of town, Smith said he sometimes arranges to conduct interviews only at night "so candidates won't see how bad our highways are."
He mentioned this on the phone Monday shortly after Simpson announced "Clean Up NJ," a plan that the commissioner claims will remove more paper, plastic, food and debris than the 9 million pounds that were carted away last year. Prior Smith letters had gone unanswered. But Simpson, who took office in January, dug one up and was highly impressed.
"I talked to the governor about it," he said above the noise of traffic and leaf blowers on Route 78 in Springfield. "We both agreed the Garden State should be a 'garden' again."
Good imagery. But how does the nation's most densely populated state clean up its crowded highways when its transportation trust fund is on life support and there's no room in the budget to hire more guys with leaf blowers?
Simpson's answer: better management. "We're making clean roads a priority," he said.
Instead of sending a seven-member crew to target a specific problem, such as graffiti or litter removal or tall grass and tree cutting, Simpson said, the Department of Transportation will use a SWAT team approach by confronting all the issues at once with several crews, perhaps 50 workers at a time.
This strategy has been used since July 1 and it has yielded 170 tons of litter and brush removal along 134 acres of highway. "The idea is to make a noticeable difference," he said, although no extra money is being allocated to fund it.
A thrilled Smith likened the plan to a home sale. "If you don't improve the front of your house," said the real estate executive, "you'll never sell it for the value you want."
But not everyone was thrilled.
While backing the plan, the Sierra Club called for reinstatement of programs to plant trees along the New Jersey Turnpike and funding for municipal recycling.
"What we have is a photo op without substance," said club director Jeff Tittel. "We need resources and leadership to go after litter. We need a bottle bill. We need education and enforcement."
But Smith, who once served on a state business development panel, lauded the effort as an "important first step."
"You don't fix problems without focusing on them," he said, "and now there's a focus."
The focus so far has been along Routes, 295, 76 and 676 in Central Jersey. In the north, the program won't reach eastern Route 80 and northern Route 287 until October.
Like Smith, readers added their own suggestions.
"If DOT gives Routes 4 and 17 a good cleaning and cuts down some branches," said John Strommer of Hackensack, "we might finally see signs that have been blocked for years."
"Please include Route 3 through Clifton," said Cynthia Kester. "What a mess!"
"Accessing Route 80 East from Squirrelwood Road in Woodland Park makes me want to scream," said Wayne's Maureen Kolis. "Clean up that ramp! It's a sty!"
"Collar the litterbugs!" added Mahwah's Leo Morabito.
Simpson had his own suggestion for the press as DOT crews busily trimmed trees and filled litter bags at Exit 49B of Route 78.
"Write an article saying people who litter our highways are pigs," he said.
The best way to change the pigs' ugly ways might be to put them to work in future cleanups, perhaps by reviving the Adopt-a-Highway program. The commissioner agreed.
"Next year, we'll do community outreach," he said.
If you're interested in helping, write to him at the address above.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/100863844_Push_to_clear_roads_of_litter_a_good_first_step_or_a_photo_op_.html?page=all
