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From The Director's Desk
I recently attended the 7th Annual Smart Growth National Conference in Washington D.C. The conference featured a wide range of participants from throughout the country who shared experiences related to smart growth implementation. The conference included over 96 sessions over a three-day period.
Among the more interesting sessions was one that showcased California and the steps Californians have taken to address global warming and climate change through the application of smart growth principles and techniques. Did Californians suggest that they had all the answers? No. But many of the lessons shared were at least familiar to this New Jerseyan.
The California presenters took great satisfaction in addressing climate change in the area of electric power generation. They were more skeptical when talking about transportation, which they identified as a formidable challenge. One panelist estimated that California’s population grew by 1.8% between 1975 and 2004, while the number of vehicle miles traveled (VMTs) increased by more than double that percentage during the same period. He also estimated that by 2020, VMTs will have increased by more than 15% over California’s 1990 level.
Transportation was such an intractable problem because it involved much more than just transportation. Solutions were deeply embedded in the California lifestyle, its coincidence with the automobile and as translated into California’s sprawling settlement patterns. One panelist suggested that even if California succeeded in “greening” all its construction over the next 30 years, greenhouse gas emissions generated by daily commuter traffic would dwarf those efforts.
How can California get the transportation sector right? The answers posed had little to do with transportation and more to do with transforming the nature of the state’s land use patterns. According to more than one speaker, the remedy would lie with providing incentives to produce higher densities and ensure the development of more walkable, accessible mixed-use communities.
One speaker urged the State of California to establish itself as a leader and a model to be emulated in terms of its own facilities. The state also needed to devise and disseminate meaningful metrics with targets to local jurisdictions, while simultaneously establishing a statewide registry to measure municipal progress.
In more effectively addressing land use issues, the panelists were unanimous in pointing to the work that needs to be done by local government decision-makers. Land use is the key to solving the transportation-related emissions problem.
All agreed that changing local government behaviors will not be easy. A California local government official described municipal government as “retail government.” It was the place “where politics gets personal.” Another pointed to the difficulty of managing what are frequently the contradictory demands on local government, including unfunded mandates that often come down from Federal and state policies and programs. A third talked about local government as the place where issues related to property taxes and land uses collide. Was it any mystery that local governments jealously guard their local land use decision-making powers?
All this west coast talk had a very “New Jersey” ring to it. The New Jersey State Development and Redevelopment Plan had identified the importance of these issues more than two decades ago, even before climate change was an issue thrown into this mix. All this talk reaffirmed my sense that MLUC @ TCNJ has appropriately positioned itself in working with municipalities on issues related to sustainability, global warming, transportation and land use.
Cordially,
Martin Bierbaum, Director
February 2008
MLUC@TCNJ Receives Form-based Code Grant
MLUC@TCNJ received a grant for $450,000 from NJDOT to promote municipal “form-based codes” among municipalities in New Jersey. The grant contracts were signed, and work commenced in January 2008.
What are form-based codes?
Form-based codes are a 21st century response to the modern challenges posed by continued sprawl, neighborhood deterioration, and the loss of attractive walkable communities. Although such codes have a long history, reaching back centuries, urban and suburban areas over the past 75 years have come to heavily rely on another approach, i.e., single-use zoning. This type of zoning received its U.S. Supreme Court blessing in the landmark case of Euclid v. Ambler Realty (272 U.S. 365) in 1926. In the post-World War II era, the single-use zoning approach was employed to shape successive generations of suburban development.
Yet form-based codes can be traced back to Greece and Rome, platting cities in ancient China and the Law of the Indies under the Spanish Crown. Closer to home, William Penn, when planning Philadelphia in the 17th century, used precise urban form requirements in establishing setbacks from the street for dwelling units.
The development of more modern form-based codes was initiated by architects and urban designers frustrated by the ineffectiveness of planners to curb persistent sprawl development that seemed to accommodate the automobile better than it did people. Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) ordinances were drafted in the early 1990’s as sets of development regulations to promote more traditional neighborhood forms. Rather than focusing on use, they focus on physical form and the interplay between those forms and traffic circulation.
Form-based codes commonly include a regulating plan, public space standards, building form standards, and an administration mechanism. They also sometimes include more precise architectural, landscape, signage and environmental resource standards that simple land use zoning.
MLUC@TCNJ has begun to engage professionals both in New Jersey and other states in a dialogue to draw any valuable lessons that may have been learned already with respect to form-based codes. An advisory group will have to be convened. Criteria are in the process of being developed to help in the municipal selection process. Eventually, several interested municipalities will be selected. MLUC@TCNJ will work closely with municipal planning staffs to devise and implement a suitable form-based code tailored to the needs of those selected municipalities. Work is expected to continue on this project through January 2010.
For more information about form-based codes, please contact Ms. Carmen Valentin, MLUC@TCNJ Project Manager at Cvalenti@tcnj.edu or (609) 771-2865.
MLUC@TCNJ Participates in Trenton Brownfields Program
Since July 2007, MLUC@TCNJ has been participating as a member of the Brownfields Environmental Solutions for Trenton (BEST) Advisory Council.
The Advisory Council serves to provide expert advice to City of Trenton staff with respect to contaminated site remediation and redevelopment. The Advisory Council consists of public sector representatives drawn from the various levels of government as well as private sector attorneys, planners, environmental consultants, realtors, bankers and representatives from non-profit community organizations. It provides advice and assistance on wide ranging issues from the site specific to new legislative initiatives.
The City of Trenton is recognized as a national leader with respect to its Brownfields Clean-up Program, receiving a “showcase” designation from U.S. EPA in 1998 and as the home of four “Phoenix Award” winning sites. Among its major achievements is the clean-up of numerous contaminated sites including the infamous “Magic Marker” site in 2007. That contaminated site involved a 7-acre parcel that formerly manufactured automobile storage batteries and subsequently marker pens. The community-driven effort resulted in the remediation of a 4.4 acre portion of the site for future housing, new public streets and the restoration of the stream and stream banks passing through the remainder of the site. NJ Department of Environmental Protection recently issued a “no further action” letter with respect to the site, placing its imprimatur on the clean-up project.
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"Magic Marker" Site in Trenton, as of March 2008. |
Asbury Park – MLUC@TCNJ Supports Its New Shade of Green
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Market in the Middle, Cookman Street, Asbury Park. From the Asbury Park Historical Society |
As a “comeback coastal town,” Asbury Park is sporting a new shade of green in at least a couple of ways. It has formed The Asbury Park Sustainability Committee to guide its redevelopment in more environmentally sensitive ways. The greenbacks it has recently received from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation to underwrite its continuing work provides another green dimension.
MLUC@TCNJ has been supporting the work of the Asbury Park Sustainability Committee through the direct efforts of Community Planner Donna Drewes. Ms. Drewes assisted the Committee in applying for the $50,000 grant. She will now provide continuing facilitation support to the Committee to help Asbury Park devise and implement its sustainable municipal plan.
Asbury Park was a well-planned 19th century municipality. It was founded and planned by James A. Bradley in the 1870’s. Bradley made his fortune manufacturing brushes and sought to establish an attractive and healthful community by the sea.
Bradley named the place after Francis Asbury, the first American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, also reflecting his religious intentions. The town still includes the beautiful parks with lakes, along with the ocean boulevard and widened streets as they approach the oceanfront. Along the oceanfront, Bradley installed an attractive boardwalk, an orchestra pavilion, public changing rooms and a pier. This infrastructure soon drew the grand Victorian hotels, lesser rooming houses and amusements still associated in the minds of many with Asbury Park.
Unfortunately, the city’s changing fortunes including much of its attraction as a resort combined with state policies and municipal mismanagement led to social unrest in 1970. A deal gone sour with an out-of-state developer who eventually went bankrupt in the late 1980’s, further harmed the city’s prospects.
This small coastal community of about 17,000 people promises to soon have more than just Bruce Springsteen to sing about. For despite a stumble or two in the past year, a result of the wider housing downturn, Asbury Park’s trajectory since 2002 has been upward. It is undergoing a significant economic and cultural revival. Its formerly dilapidated downtown district continues to show strength, undergoing substantial revitalization. Its ambitious redevelopment plans promise to refill the now nearly empty and previously abandoned oceanfront blocks with new and vibrant residential and commercial activity.
Cookman Street, Asbury Park. From the Asbury Park Historical Society |
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The Asbury Park Sustainability Committee presented its ideas to the Asbury Park City Council at a Council meeting on December 5, 2007. It received an endorsement from the City Council at that time.
It is now organizing taskforces to take the necessary actions it views as important to make Asbury Park more “sustainable” and to ensure that Asbury Park’s redevelopment benefits are equitably distributed. Its goal is to develop and implement a sustainable vision and action plan for the city that will address and adequately balance economic, social and environmental needs.
Delaware Township Considers TDR
Transfer Development Rights (TDR) has been a perennial topic in Delaware Township for much of the past decade. Lately, the discussion has become both more serious and focused. With a bit of help from MLUC@TCNJ it may soon become a reality.
What is TDR? TDR is a way of employing market forces to simultaneously promote land conservation, encourage smart growth in developed or developing areas of the Township and to reduce the cost to the taxpayer.
TDR has met with some success throughout the country over the past two decades. Most notably in New Jersey have been the efforts in the Pinelands. Burlington County has been experimenting with TDR, mainly in Chesterfield Township, since 1989, when the State Legislature made it possible through an amendment to the Municipal Land Use Law. (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-113 -129) In March 2004, the State enacted the State Transfer of Development Rights Act authorizing the transfer of development rights by municipalities. (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-137 et. seq.) This act made New Jersey the first state in the nation to authorize TDR on a statewide basis. In December 2005, rules were adopted to implement the Act. (N.J.A.C. 2.77.1.1 et. seq.) Since that time, eleven municipalities have received TDR planning grants of approximately $40,000 each including: Berkeley Township, Fanwood, Frankford Township, Hillsborough Township, Hopewell Township, Mannington Township, Montgomery Township, Ocean Township, Oxford Township, Prospect Park, and Woolwich Township.
In a TDR program, a municipality such as Delaware Township identifies an area within its boundaries which it would like to see protected from future development. This area becomes a “sending zone.” At the same time, it selects another area where it would like to see more urban style development occur, or its “receiving zone.” Property owners in the “sending zone” are allocated a number of development credits which can be sold to purchasers, usually developers, or the community itself. In return for selling the development credits, the landowners in the “sending zone” agree to place a permanent conservation easement on their properties. Meanwhile, the purchasers of the development credits can apply them to develop at higher densities than otherwise would be allowed on properties within the “receiving zones.”
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Green Sargeants Bridge, built in 1872. Located between Wickecheoke Creek between Sergeantsville and Rosemont.
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Delaware Township held 4 meetings between March and November 2007 to in part discuss the relevance and applicability of TDR in the Township. A Zoning Review Committee was designated to consider the prospect. Although 5,800 acres in Delaware Township are currently protected, approximately 75% of the Township could be developed. Under current zoning, 1,200 new dwelling units could be built in an A-1 zone that requires 3-acre lots; and another 600 dwelling units could be built in the A-2 zone, requiring 6-acre lots. If that situation were to occur, there would be little, if any, farmland remaining in the Township and it would be nearly built-out.
To prevent that situation, a TDR program could be adopted. MLUC@TCNJ Community Planner Donna Drewes facilitated the November 2007 meeting. She introduced Caroline Armstrong, a private planning consultant, who made a TDR presentation that included her recent experience in Woolwich Township. Ms. Armstrong outlined the steps that Delaware Township might take to implement its TDR Program. Those steps included identifying “sending” and “receiving” zones, establishing the appropriate “base zoning," designing a bank to hold TDR credits, and investigating the feasibility of wastewater treatment infrastructure for the receiving area. A subsequent phase is concerned with design and market analyses, followed by preparation of the necessary plans and ordinances. In a fourth phase, the Township will need to seek and obtain State endorsement of those instruments.
Delaware Township expects to reconvene and hold additional meetings for further discussion in March 2008. MLUC@TCNJ expects to continue to be involved to assist Delaware Township in its deliberations.
MLUC@TCNJ Supports Mayors’ Committee for a Green Future
MLUC@TCNJ supported the successful hosting of the third business meeting and workshop of the New Jersey League of Municipalities’ Mayors’ Committee for a Green Future. The combination meeting/workshop took place at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University on January 29, 2008. MLUC@TCNJ, along with the New Jersey Sustainable State Institute (NJSSI), an Institute within the Bloustein School, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection—Office of Planning and Sustainable Communities have been providing technical support to this Mayors’ Committee. The professed goal of the Committee is to “Make New Jersey green, one municipality at a time.”
William Dressel, New Jersey League of Municipalities Executive Director, welcomed over 100 participants representing municipal governing bodies, environmental commissions and municipal professional staff. Mr. Dressel urged the mayors present to become “beacons” for their respective municipalities. He asserted that, “Only by educating local elected officials will we be able to get this job done.”
Dressel then introduced the Committee’s co-chairs – Meryl Frank of Highland Park and Fred Profeta, Deputy Mayor of Maplewood. Profeta talked about “The Green Future’s Roadmap” and its three components: 1) the establishment of “green criteria” to certify municipalities as “green;” 2) the development and dissemination of a “green toolkit” to be employed by municipalities throughout the state to help attain that certification; and 3) the creation of incentives including cost-saving hints, rebates, grants and changing State funding priorities, all designed to change behaviors. The former mayor promised that despite the at times highly technical nature of this work, a fundamental guideline that would be followed was to “keep it simple.”
Co-chair Mayor Meryl Frank added that “sustainability” was not just about thinking “green.” She thought that there was a need to strike a balance on the municipal level, carefully weighing economics, the environment, and social equity. She talked about the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) recently announced rules, questioning whether they now posed a significant obstacle to municipalities achieving that appropriate balance.
Randy Solomon, NJSSI Director, provided details about the ways that this “roadmap” would be developed collaboratively with the “Sustainable Communities Working Group” (SCWG), a “brain trust” organized to assist the Mayors’ Committee by focusing on the development of the criteria, tools and incentives. The SCWG will be convening taskforces to focus on 10 different topics ranging from climate change to the built environment. The anticipated work schedule, at least in the short-term, will culminate in a roll-out of the “Green Roadmap” at a workshop planned for the New Jersey League of Municipalities' Annual Convention in November 2008. Solomon also reiterated the importance of keeping things “simple,” and just how difficult that could be.
MLUC@TCNJ’s Community Planner Donna Drewes followed by presenting the first two tools developed by the partnership. She elaborated on the Energy Audit Tool that will assist municipalities in conducting energy audits; and a “green purchasing” tool to guide municipalities in making environmentally preferable purchases. Drewes talked about Ocean City’s experience, as it has shown an exemplary commitment to “green purchase” principles in buying equipment, supplies, fuel and construction materials.
Finally, the MLUC@TCNJ Community Planner pointed to potential funding sources for municipalities including energy audit funding from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) that should be formally announced in April, and $15,000 mini- grants that MLUC@TCNJ will be distributing shortly that have been underwritten by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.
The presentations were followed by a lively question and answer session. At its conclusion, Maplewood Deputy Mayor Fred Profeta adjourned the meeting while also urging those present to enlist in this effort by signing on to work on the announced taskforces. For more information, please contact Donna Drewes, MLUC@TCNJ Community Planner at drewes@tcnj.edu or by telephone at (609) 771-2833.
Student Design Winners Announced "FOR NJ"
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First Place Winner |
Second Place Winner |
Third Place Winner |
As part of the Technology Student Association’s Fall Leadership Conference, talented middle-school and high school technology students from across New Jersey took part in a competition to design a logo and re-name the “Food Waste Recycling Initiative.” Over 60 students submitted graphic art designs for a logo and new name for the environmental organization, which is a partnership spearheaded by the Solid Waste Resource and Recovery Group at Rutgers, NJ, and which includes the Municipal Land Use Center at the College of New Jersey, as well as community partners who are both “generators” and “processors” of the food and organics.
Food and Organics Recycling for New Jersey (FOR NJ) is a trade, professional, and stakeholder organization that promotes the expansion of markets for recycled organic products, connects interested parties, and enlists public support for food and organics composting and recycling as appropriate responses to various environmental and sustainability issues. Members of FOR NJ include representatives from various sectors who share the common interest of providing leadership in addressing issues of sustainability and waste reduction through the application and promotion of appropriate technologies.
FOR NJ is also involved in research and public education, as well as the development and promotion of recycling technologies, facilities, and industry standards. FOR NJ and its members are working to promote an understanding of the importance of utilizing food residuals (also known as “food waste”) and other organic wastes, including biosolids, by promoting resource management for a cleaner and more productive economy, environment, and culture for all. FOR NJ supports the composting or recycling of these materials through various methods which generate bio-products, including energy, fuel, soil amendments, and fertilizer products. FOR NJ also provides a forum for the emerging industries which are beginning to manufacture these valuable products, produce jobs and capital, and reduce greenhouse gases locally.
Food waste is a crucial issue in New Jersey, a densely populated state with diverse and luxury food industries. Diversion of food and organic waste for recycling will significantly reduce methane gas emissions from landfills. Methane is a greenhouse gas with 20 times the potency of carbon dioxide, as its life in the atmosphere is longer. Residual diversion will also aid in reducing land and nuisance pressures from landfills. Sustainable and environmentally friendly products, including transportation fuels and soil amendments, are derived from waste materials after processing.
Creativity was shown in entries that varied from “Garden State Group for Reprocessing Organic Waste Sustainably (GROWS)” to “Organic Recycling Association.”
The winning design, a collage of New Jersey’s major agricultural products inside the image of New Jersey and surrounded by a recycled symbol, was developed by Kelly McCaskill of Kittatinny Regional High School. McCaskill explained, “The logo I have designed represents the importance of organic recycling. The outline of the state is bold so that it pops out from the surrounding recycling symbol, showing the importance of what we call our home.” McCaskill will receive a $100 savings bond, donated by MLUC@TCNJ.
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From Left to Right: Second place winner Jennifer Taboul, Whole Foods Green Mission Specialist Jennifer McDonnell, Priscilla Hayes from Rutgers SWRRG, First place winner Kelly McCaskill, and Third place winner Angela Wei. |
Second place winner, Jennifer Teboul, created a design using the words Garden State GROWS and a design of roots and recycling arrows. Teboul will receive a $50 gift card to Whole Foods Market, donated by Whole Foods. Angela Wei, the third place winner from High Technology High School, will receive a t-shirt with her logo design.
The contest was sponsored by NJ Technology Student Association (NJ-TSA) and the Municipal Land Use Center at The College of New Jersey (MLUC@TCNJ) and judges included Priscilla Hayes, Executive Director of the Solid Waste Resource Renewal Group at Rutgers University and Winnie Fatton, Project Manager of “Green Jobs for NJ: A Sustainable Career Track Initiative” for MLUC@TCNJ. Prizes were donated by MLUC@TCNJ and Whole Foods.
Awards were presented at the statewide TSA conference held at TCNJ on November 20th and students were recognized at the Mercer County Food Waste Recycling Forum December 11th in West Windsor.
MLUC@TCNJ Organizes Focus the Nation Teach-in
MLUC@TCNJ organized a TCNJ campus-wide teach-in on January 31, 2008, entitled “Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions for America.” The teach-in on the Ewing Township campus was part of a nationwide event that involved over 1,000 educational institutions, civic associations and faith-based groups. Its purpose was to serve as a catalyzing force to focus a national conversation on global warming and climate change. Approximately 150 TCNJ students participated in the event.
After screening the video “The 2% Solution” in TCNJ’s New Library Auditorium, students engaged in an interactive discussion with a panel of experts. The experts included Ralph Copleman of Sustainable Lawrence; William Gillum, Green Science Officer from Terra Cycle; Dr. Chris Sherring, Vice President of Advanced Development for WorldWater and Solar Technologies Corporation; and Bill Valocchi, City of Trenton planner. TCNJ sociology professor Diane C. Bates served as moderator for the panel discussion.
While the panelists spoke primarily about their own work related to these issues, they also shared with students what actions they thought students might take to effectively address these concerns.
Support for the TCNJ event was provided by the President’s Climate Commitment Committee, as well as by TCNJ chapters of “Water Watch,” and “Roots and Shoots” environmental club.
Following the morning event on the TCNJ campus, the panel re-convened in the afternoon at the Arthur R. Sypek campus of the Mercer County Vocational-Technical School District for another discussion on the same topic, but this time with secondary school students. MLUC@TCNJ worked with Sypek Center Principal Sharon Nemeth and Sypek Center Technology Director Gregory Putnam to produce the afternoon event.
To learn more about the “Green Democracy” component of Focus the Nation, visit http://www.focusthenation.org/; or contact Ms. Winnie Fatton, MLUC@TCNJ Project Manager at Fatton@tcnj.edu or (609) 771-2855.
MLUC@TCNJ Convenes Transit-interested Towns
However the State Legislature votes on Governor Corzine’s recently unveiled toll-based fiscal restructuring proposal, public transportation in New Jersey promises to increase its importance in the foreseeable future. Aside from the proposed toll hikes, the spike in gasoline prices over the past three years has changed the public’s calculus leading to increased NJ Transit ridership.
MLUC@TCNJ anticipated this shift when Director Martin Bierbaum and Project Consultant Herman Volk met with NJ Transit and NJDOT staff last September to explore the possibilities of MLUC@TCNJ providing support for and encouraging state-wide activities focused on advancing transit-oriented development at the local level. In talking with municipal representatives, Mr. Volk had learned that despite strong continuing State and municipal interest, a focus on transit-oriented development suffered from shortages of staff dedicated to advancing its development, as well a lack of financial incentives. Was there a role that MLUC@TCNJ might play to bolster transit-oriented development? How might municipalities, as well as various state agencies encourage additional economic and residential development within walking distance of transit stops?
MLUC@TCNJ Project Consultant Herman Volk brings nearly 20 years experience in this field, including more than a dozen years as NJ Transit’s Assistant Executive Director of Corporate Communications and Director of the Governor’s Waterfront Development Office in Hudson County. After engaging a dozen municipalities in dialogue over the past three months, MLUC@TCNJ organized a meeting with municipalities expressing an interest to explore common concerns, to identify New Jersey’s showcase transit villages and to draw the appropriate lessons learned. The meeting will take place on Thursday, February 28, 2008 on the TCNJ campus.
Municipalities that participated included Asbury Park, East Orange, Linden, and Long Branch. Speakers included representatives from NJ Transit as well as officials from two municipalities identified as “showcase” transit villages– Rahway and Cranford.
MLUC@TCNJ Interns News
- MLUC@TCNJ Intern and National Council for Undergraduate Research (NCUR) Summer Student Angel Hernandez was interviewed by City of Trenton Planner Trish Long so that she could learn more about his summer project on the relocation of the Capita Health System Mercer Campus in Trenton to Hopewell Township. Angel’s research will become the basis of a grant application that the City is making to the State of New Jersey for funding to underwrite the cost to plan for the Hospital’s relocation and to mitigate its impacts on city residents and the surrounding neighborhood. Angel Hernandez was supervised on this project over the summer 2007 by Dr. Martin Bierbaum, MLUC@TCNJ Director. Taking such measures were included among his policy recommendations in the Study.
- One of MLUC@TCNJ’s interns, Emily Stark, is working with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on the Hudson River Water Walkway project in Bergen and Hudson counties. The Walkway is meant to be open to the public along the Hudson River from the George Washington Bridge to Bayonne, NJ. Construction of this public walkway, which commenced nearly 30 years ago, is still ongoing.
Emily’s project focuses specifically on Walkway issues in Edgewater, NJ. The ultimate goal of the project is to ensure Walkway completion and maintenance according to the permits that were issued before development of sites began. Emily will be responsible for locating and reviewing permits and approved plans for waterfront properties in Edgewater to establish the grounds on which the Walkway was approved for each site. Along with other DEP Coastal and Land Use Compliance and Enforcement Bureau members, she will be conducting site visits to examine the compliance of existing Walkway segments as well as those that are currently under construction. She will assist in identifying which regions of the Walkway are currently in violation, not yet constructed, or are in need of repairs. This information will be included in her final report that will outline the progress and problems with the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway in Edgewater, NJ.
- “Einstein’s Alley” has been referred to the hi-tech economic development currently taking place along the Route 1 corridor roughly between Edison and Trenton. Rutgers University, Princeton University and The College of New Jersey fit within the corridor in addition with a significant number of firms. MLUC@TCNJ senior intern Charles Heydt has been identifying and mapping hi-tech companies that are located in “Einstein’s Alley.” Charles is also collecting valuable information about those companies, e.g., date of incorporation, number of employees, product lines, etc. The mapping will eventually be linked to company websites when available. Those websites promise to be a rich source of additional data. Once this information is collected and analyzed, a second phase of this project might include a hi-tech industry needs assessment to help determine what it might take to retain and recruit similar firms to additionally strengthen “Einstein’s Alley” as a magnet for future hi-tech enterprise.