I am telling you I am not going

No, I am not going to write a song heard in the Broadway show Dreamgirls. I am not going to move to New Jersey in spite of a proposed bill in the NJ State legislature. There are some people in the state governmnt who want to require state employees to live in NJ. New hires would be required to assume residency in 4 months while old timers like myself would have 2 1/2 years to make the move.

There are certain problems with this. The most important is that it would retroactively change the conditions under which people accepted employment. Also, NJIT is a state supported school. We are not state employees since much of our salaries are supported by tuition dollars. The arguments for and against this are outlined in the linked article. At this stage of my life, I just don't want to uproot my family and adjust to living in a new community. I heard that there are about 10,000 people in this situation. Relocating would be a hardhsip for most. True, the commuting can be a pain in the butt, but housing in a nice community within a short commute to Newark would be very expensive. I still can't cut my travel time to zero.

I think it is unlikely that this bill will pass since there are so many complications. People should live where they want. I think there will be much discussion on this before it is resolved.

I actually heard this over the news on WBGO this morning. My colleague Heather brought the article to my attention.