The Ka-Ching In China Is Luring Mayor Jerry Fried Back Again This Month

In his second trip to China this year, Mayor Jerry Fried will travel to the city of Binzhou on August 22 for eight days of meetings that are ultimately designed, he said, to create the kind of connections that could save Montclair taxpayer dollars in the future.

In a trip paid for by the government of Binzhou, Fried will participate in an economic sustainability forum—formally titled the International Forum on Development of the Yellow River Delta Efficient Eco-Economic Zone—as well as meet with business leaders.

"What this trip is about is not only environmental sustainability but also economic sustainability," Fried told Patch on Wednesday.

Fried said China is footing the bill because "it wants to have this Yellow River zone be successful," adding that he will report on "my perspective from Montclair."

Indeed, with China poised to take America's place as the world's largest economy, Montclair is lining up to get its share of the bounty.

"China is backing our currency and its investment in the United States is a big deal," Fried said. "China is where the money is and so connections over there can help our taxpayers."

Situated in the northern part of China's Shandong Province, Binzhou is a city of 3.7 million people that lies within the Yellow River Delta, which has become a new destination for domestic and overseas investments.

Fried visited Binzhou, as well as seven other municipalities, during a two-week visit to China in May that included a tour of a five-million-square-foot wind turbine factory, a pharmaceutical plant, and various environmental businesses.

"In Binzhou they have been able to build green buildings and create a lot of smart growth," he said. "It's certainly a city that's being planned out using best practices of urban planning."

Fried said that, in Binzhou, planning is done from the top down whereas in Montclair planning is done from the bottom up.

"Montclair is not a huge city but we have a lot to offer," he said, noting Montclair's focus on the environment and its designation as New Jersey's first "Fair Trade" town.

The trip in May—Fried's first visit to China—already has reaped benefits, leading to a cultural exchange last month. Nearly two dozen students and teachers from Fuling and DeYang, two cities in Southeast China, spent a week with Montclair families as they studied English and toured the area. The idea is that Montclair students will visit China next summer.

Also traveling to Binzhou this month will be Michael Weinstein, director of the PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies at Montclair State University, as well as Adam Zellner, president and CEO of the New Brunswick-based energy investment company Greener by Design.

Fried said he will sign an agreement with Binzhou officials designed to boost collaboration between Montclair and China on sustainabiility initiatives in the future.

"It doesn't obligate us to any funding but it will only help increase communication about ways in which we can work together," he said.

Recently, Montclair learned it would receive a federal grant that amounts to $1.3 million over five years to help expand the school district's Mandarin and technology programs. Montclair also was chosen to be a Climate Showcase Community, receiving $500,000 to be shared by Montclair, Highland Park, and Cherry Hill.

Fried said that the latter is likely to result in substantial savings in energy consumption.

"I think that by talking to China about the reduction of energy consumption and by collaborating on environmental efforts we can get more bang for our buck when it comes to these grants," Fried said.

Fried added that "it's through initiatives like [the China trip] that Montclair has gotten significant funding for our schools and for the town. It's by looking for every creative source for funding that we're able to make up for some of the deep cuts we've been forced to make.

"By my estimate, Montclair has saved over $2 million by getting grants that fund valuable programs that improve quality of life in town," he asid. "Without the grants we would have had even higher taxes or deeper cuts—the very things we ccan't afford right now."

Fried pointed out that Shandong Province—with 90 million people—already does $2 billion in trade with the state of New Jersey.

"There's already a lot of strong connections in place," he said.