Business View Magazine | July 2019

253 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JULY 2019 City. “We have a good-sized growing commuting community,” says Watkins, “with 2,600 units so far, and 550 in concept, now. We will have somewhere in the neighborhood of over 100,000 square feet of new retail and 5,000 parking spots. We built the parking garage that’s been in use since 2015, and have two, possibly three more parking garages that are in concept. With those new garages, we’ve also updated our parking system so that, once built, our people will know exactly where they can park in Bloomfield.” Real-time monitoring at the pay lots and garages will assist with enforcement and managing the parking. Watkins adds, “We’ll go to automation and online access in real time; that process already started in 2018, and now it’s starting to be seen on the street, as new pay stations are being put in. New smart meters will be installed over the next year. We will also deploy new license plate reader equipment in our enforcement vehicles. This will show that a valid car parked in that spot, saving on energy and time. It also provides for greater enforcement and better monitoring of who’s parking in our facilities. There are not always good people around, so these license plate reader systems also help police departments because you see cars that are reported as missing or stolen, which steps up that crime-fighting ability at the same time as monitoring our parking.” Bloomfield’s crime rates dropped 54 percent in the last three years and property values have increased, primarily due to decreased crime and excellent services. Watkins acknowledges, “Mayor Venezia and the Council have made substantial improvement in our police and fire departments. The crime rate continues to drop because we try to keep our officers out in the street to make sure they interact with the public. We have started a neighborhood watch program; community policing is very active. We’ve installed in-car video and body cams on all our police officers and vehicles. We’ve opened the first substation in the township, mostly for community policing. We have recently upgraded all our communication systems so that it New York | New Jersey | California | D.C. Scarinci Hollenbeck has decades of experience assisting clients in all aspects of acquisition, remediation, development, and management of realty assets. We have handled several of the largest transactions in the NY/NJ metropolitan region and can be your go-to legal resource to achieve your business goals. www.sh-law.com 201-896-4100 We handle all phases of complex development & redevelopment projects KNOWLEDGE EXPERIENCE TEAMWORK BLOOMF I ELD TOWNSHI P , NEW JERSEY