Airline and other travel in this area has yet to get back to pre-pandemic levels. The Port Authority has released data on passenger volumes at the airports, bridges and tunnels and on the PATH system. As of last month, passenger volume at Newark and New York City’s airports was still down 40% compared to two years ago, before COVID-19. Bridge and tunnel volume was nearly back to normal levels, but PATH ridership has plummeted; it’s down 56% compared to September 2019. Meantime, the seaport is handling record-setting volumes of cargo.
New Jersey’s efforts to grow its film and production industry may get a major boost. Netflix plans to bid on a parcel of land at Fort Monmouth, in the hope of building production facilities there. Bids for the site are due in mid-January to the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority, but it’s not clear when a decision will be made. Netflix stated that Gov. Phil Murphy and state lawmakers have created a business environment that has welcomed film and television production back to New Jersey. The state offers tax credits for production companies.
In another step in the ongoing redevelopment of Newark, as the owner and developer of the Gateway Center, Onyx Equities gave an update on its renovation work of the office complex. Eight new restaurants have signed leases to operate at Gateway and are set to open early next year. Jonathan Schultz, co-founder and managing partner at Onyx Equities, sees this as a key step in making sure Gateway is a hub in the community.
Finally, in Washington on Wednesday a proposal was formally introduced to tax billionaires to pay for some of the proposed spending in the “Build Back Better” plan. Billionaires would be taxed on the growth of their assets — like stocks and bonds — but the proposal is already facing hurdles.
