Under the LaRossa bill, we are also helping municipalities convert abandoned properties into properties suitable for housing developments and job-creating enterprises. We have sped up the seizure and foreclosure process on abandoned properties, which municipalities can direct to more useful purposes. We have also lowered the cost of loans for municipalities to clean up waste sites and have provided a new bonding mechanism to make it easier for municipalities to finance redevelopment projects in urban areas. I am determined to help New Jersey's cities undergo a true renaissance. I believe in our urban residents and am committed to helping them help themselves to reclaim their neighborhoods for themselves and their families.
Every business needs the proper tools and a hospitable environment to prosper.
In New Jersey, we are competing with our neighbors and with the rest of the country for new jobs and businesses. To win that competition, we have to do everything we can to make New Jersey the most attractive state in which to start, expand, and keep a business. That's why New Jersey introduced new measures last year to provide for incentives, investments, and services to promote business retention and expansion. For the first time, the State will provide grants to businesses that create at least 25 jobs in our urban-aid communities or 75 jobs elsewhere. Only projects that the Economic Development Authority deems beneficial to the people of New Jersey will be considered for these grants.