News & Events
Lakewood schools borrowed millions from New Jersey and still can’t pay its bills
The Lakewood School District in New Jersey is facing severe financial distress, having borrowed $165 million since 2014 and now seeking an additional $93 million loan from the state to stay afloat. This mounting debt has been primarily attributed to the district's unique circumstances, including a vast private school student population, high transportation...
American Dream lawsuits are stacking up. Here’s why — and how they compare to other malls
The American Dream entertainment complex has faced an onslaught of 82 lawsuits since 2018, encompassing issues such as unpaid construction bills, injuries at its attractions, and defaults on loans, significantly surpassing neighboring malls in legal troubles. The legal battles involve different parties, including the mall itself, developer Ameream, and...
Rutgers Team to Receive $1 Million in Federal Funding for Smart Kids and Cool Seniors Project
A team of researchers at Rutgers University–New Brunswick has been selected to receive a $1 million Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC) award for a community-university partnership that combats climate change and improves access to essential resources and services. CIVIC is organized by the National Science Foundation in two stages. First, teams utilized...
Big retirement payouts for top cops, fire chiefs and school brass cost $76M. Why can’t N.J. stop them?
Despite attempts to cap significant retirement payouts to high-ranking officials in New Jersey, such as police chiefs, fire chiefs, and school administrators since 2010, generous payouts continue, impacting the state’s highest property taxes and diverting funds from other essential services. Since 2020, 780 of the highest-paid government employees in New...
New Report from Marc Pfeiffer – First, Do No Harm: Algorithms, AI, and Digital Product Liability
The relatively recent introduction of publicly accessible artificial intelligence-driven chatbots (e.g., Bard, Bing, ChatGPT, Claude) have focused public attention on the broader individual and societal harms that can result from algorithms that are embedded in digital technology goods and services. The potential for algorithmic harm(s) are commonly...
Atlantic City Housing Authority spent nearly $500K on leadership consultants
ATLANTIC CITY — The Atlantic City Housing Authority spent nearly a half-million dollars on two administrative consultants over the past year and continued to keep them on the payroll through the summer despite the addition of new permanent staff in the same roles... Marc Pfeiffer, a procurement expert and senior policy fellow with Rutgers University’s...
CUPR staff and students meet with Senator Booker to discuss new EPA-funded air quality initiative
CUPR green building colleagues Jen Senick, Clint Andrews, and Gedi Mainelis are part of a new EPA-funded project in Elizabeth, NJ, to install air quality sensors near public housing. US Senator Cory Booker, US Representative Robert Menendez , Union County Commissioner Bette Jane Kowalski, Elizabeth Mayor J. Christian Bolwage, EPA Region 2 Director Lisa...
Event: A Conversation with New Jersey’s Flood Experts
A Conversation with New Jersey’s Flood Experts Friday, September 15, 2023, 2pm The New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center and the Rutgers University Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy’s Environmental Analysis and Communications Group hosted a discussion with flood hazard experts from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. ...
Pfeiffer Op-Ed: What state and local governments should do about generative AI
How can we take advantage of the technology without harming the public? Society is often slow to appreciate that technological innovations have both positive and negative outcomes. Splitting the atom led to weapons that can destroy the planet, but also provided a source of carbon-free energy and health care advances. Social media apps have connected people...
‘Not a perfect process’: How did the two versions of NJ’s budget differ?
As the process to craft New Jersey's state budget came to a chaotic close last month, rumors swirled about what needed to be done to ensure that the spending plan was final and complete by the time it made it to the governor’s desk. In each chamber of the Legislature, late-night committee meetings saw budget bills introduced and read into the record with a...
Recent Products
First, Do No Harm: Algorithms, AI, and Digital Product Liability
The ethical imperative for technology should be "first, do no harm." But digital innovations like AI and social media increasingly enable societal harms, from bias to misinformation. As these technologies grow ubiquitous, we need solutions to address unintended...
Focus Group Synthesis for Increasing Access to Nature for People with Disabilities
This project is a component of a research-informed white paper focused on the challenges and opportunities associated with access to outdoor recreation for people with disabilities in New Jersey. This report shares the key findings from three focus groups with people...
Research Summary of State Policies for Increasing Access to Nature for People with Disabilities
First, we discuss federal policies that increase public recreation access to the outdoors, in order to understand how states have used this context to inform their own efforts to increase outdoor access. Using policy examples from twelve states (Alaska, California,...
Access to Nature for People with Disabilities: Barriers, Challenges, and Opportunities
This white paper explores the physical and mental health benefits of outdoor recreation and nature, focusing on those with disabilities. The paper has four sections. Section 1 examines the physical health benefits of access to outdoor recreation and nature, such as...