Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.

Runner’s diary Friday

My right ankle was acting up today, evidence perhaps of age and the extra weight I've been carrying lately.

But I got my three miles in, a slow three but it makes three days in a row out there. So, it's all good.

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Where have you gone, Tom Terrific?

On the 40th anniversary of Tom Seaver’s near-perfect game against the Cubs — the most dominant pitching performance in Met history — Livan Hernandez managed to go just four putrid innings,

Hernandez (5-5) allowed hits to his first three batters and was hammered for four innings while dropping his fourth straight start. Serving up his usual array of soft stuff, the right-hander yielded eight runs and 11 hits — both season highs — while walking four.

Three of the 12 outs made by the Dodgers while he was on the mound came when runners were thrown out on the bases, including a pickoff play. Another out came on a sacrifice bunt.

Three other pitchers followed, culminating by a two-inning stint from Tim Redding, who gave up six hits and three runs.

Tom Seaver these guys weren’t. Hell, they weren’t even Craig Swan.

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Green incentives

We are in a down economy, especially on the real estate end, and there is vacant warehouse space available in the region. What to do?

The Middlesex County freeholders have a pretty decent idea: Seek out firms in the environmental field.

A new county committee has been formed to match manufacturers of energy-efficient and sustainable products with vacant warehouses, which could bring business into South Brunswick.

”Our goal is to actively pursue as many economic opportunities as we can by creating green jobs and boosting the economy,” said Freeholder H. James Polos. “Middlesex County is in position right now to take the lead and help our communities attract new business opportunities.”

The Middlesex County Green Economic Development Zone Committee was established to study the economic value in creating “green” zones, with hopes of bringing burgeoning green technology companies into the county, according to Mr. Polos.

A team of local, county and state officials and representatives from the corporate and academic sectors met in late May to lay the groundwork for attracting these companies to the area in order to boost economic growth and create jobs.

This makes sense on a number of levels. First, we need to generate jobs and green jobs are likely to have more staying power than the service-sector stuff we’ve focused on in the United States for the last couple of decades.

Second, we need property tax revenue. The state is unlikely — regardless of who wins the Statehouse in November — to make the kind of drastic changes in the tax system needed in New Jersey. So, we need businesses to occupy empty buildings and there is some demand out there for light-assembly work (solar panels) and distribution of eco-products.

Third, creation of a green zone in Middlesex County could trigger other green zones — creating the incentives necessary to move away from our carbon-based lifestyle. The more cheaply we can produce environmentally friendly products, the cheaper they will be for consumers. And if we can lower the cost on the consumer end, we are more likely to see consumers make green choices. The Middlesex County green zone could, under this reasoning, serve as a model for other counties in the state and other regions in the country.

As the president’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board wrote in a draft report (quoted from Thomas Friedman’s column in Sunday’s Times:

“Sustainable technologies in solar, wind, electric vehicles, nuclear and other innovations will drive the future global economy. We can either invest in policies to build U.S. leadership in these new industries and jobs today, or we can continue with business as usual and buy windmills from Europe, batteries from Japan and solar panels from Asia.”

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Using local food to help locals in need

This is such an obvious idea, you have to wonder why it took the state so long to do it:

Low-income families looking to eat healthier may now use their food stamp cards at more than 80 farmers’ markets around the state, according to a joint announcement today from Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Velez and Agriculture Secretary Douglas Fisher.

The new program provided the farmers’ market operators to the scanning equipment so people on food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, may use their Electronic Benefits Transfer cards to buy fresh produce, officials said.

The benefits of the program are myriad, including:

  • Access to better quality fresh fruit and vegetables for food-stamp recipients, helping them stay healthier.
  • Tax revenue generated by the farmers’ added income.
  • Continued farming, which keeps development at bay.

Seven Central Jersey farms are participating:

  • Asprocolas Acres in Millstone.
  • Farmer Al’s in Monroe.
  • K&S Farms in Cream Ridge.
  • Naturally Grown Gardens in Hopewell.
  • R&K Farm in Monroe.
  • Stillwell Farms in Robbinsville.
  • Von Thun’s Country Farm Market in South Brunswick
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