News & Events
Bar part-time officials from full-time perks, incoming N.J. lawmaker says
“That doesn’t excuse individuals who have consciously abused the system,” said Pfeiffer, now a professor at Rutgers University. “But there are probably any number of cases where elected officials can spend 30, 35 hours a week in their job as an unpaid or low-paid elected official.”
While most towns have gone back to in-person meetings, Lakewood remains virtual
Pfeiffer said holding meetings online also risks technical problems, as well as online infiltration: “You should carefully consider the risks of meeting disruptions and make sure you balance the interests of people.”
N.J. town catching heat for plan to ban abortion clinics, tattoo parlors
A municipality in Union County has attracted some controversy on social media for a proposed ordinance prohibiting abortion clinics, tattoo shops, massage parlors and animal hospitals, among other businesses.
Marc Pfeiffer Uses Claude AI to Help Write Article: AI in Local Government, Helpful or Harmful?
For local governments, chatbots create exciting opportunities to improve customer service, automate tasks and cut costs. Marc Pfeiffer, Assistant Director of Bloustein Local, Center for Urban Policy Research, uses Claude AI to help write two articles on how to best incorporate this new technology.
Pfeiffer – TECH UPDATES: What Municipal CAOs Need to Know, Part 1: Tech Fitness and Cyber Hygiene
There are two basic elements of technology that every municipality must have. Most places already do this, but it doesn’t hurt to highlight them. The first is an expert to advise you and your governing body on technology issues. As with other experts you hire—a police chief to advise you on law enforcement concerns or an engineer to advise you on...
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...
Recent Products
Transition Plan for the Return of Local Control to Jersey City Public Schools, Third Annual Report
This report is the third and potentially final report of the Department of Education’s (department) Comprehensive Accountability Office (CAO) concerning the final phase of the transition of the Jersey City Public Schools (district) from being a state supervised school...
Behaving or not? Explaining energy conservation via identity, values, and awareness in U.S. suburban homes
In this study, we compare electricity consumption of the suburban households with similar socio-economic, demographic, and geographic profiles to assess possible roles of social-psychological and behavioral factors. We examine the extent to which these factors...
AI in Planning: Opportunities and Challenges and How to Prepare
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been in development since the 1950s. However, due to the availability of big data and increased computing power, the AI market has grown substantially over the last decade and is expected to grow more than 20 percent annually over the...
Planning the Built Environment and Land Use Towards Deep Decarbonization of the United States
Many governments, businesses, and institutions are committing to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a goal and process known as deep decarbonization. Achieving this goal in the United States requires a national, economy-wide transformation in energy production...