I remember reading somewhere that the former Mayor of Jersey City Frank Hague, back in the 1920's and 1930's, had an agreement with the Catholic church, where public schools were delibratly underfunded, so that parents would get fed up and send their kids to Catholic school instead.
Also, lots of poor working class Jersey City kids go onto to College look at Jersey City University...

Please Stop Cutting Down Trees in JC

This is a plea to all residents and property owners in Hamilton Park and Downtown, particularly those in the region of the park and the block bordered by Erie, Jersey, and Sixth and Seventh Streets. Folks ? please stop cutting down trees in our neighborhood.

This interior of this block alone has lost four major trees (all at least three floors high) and several minor ones, mainly from the properties in the vicinity of 238 Sixth Street. Yes, one of these trees was ailing, but the rest were not. A decent sized tree was lost from the backyard of the Jasco-operated building on Erie Street (and then the yard was paved over ? classy!). And the Polish community center at the corner of Jersey and Sixth trimmed the trees on its lot so that they look like branchless sticks. Last year Erie Street lost one of its major trees from the sidewalk in front of that property that is constantly under renovation (you know, the one with the makeshift wooden staircase). Then, before winter, the trees of Hamilton Park were all trimmed in such an amateurish manner it looks like a joke ? some of those trees are more than four floors high but they only have two branches. St. Mary?s Church on Third Street took down the large trees in front of its building, and has yet to replace them. And there are countless empty or paved-over tree pits that the J.C. Division of Parks and Deforestry is, of course, doing nothing about.

I don?t know what it is that makes people dislike trees so much. But if you?d like to know what the city would look or feel like without them, take the PATH to Newark ? they got rid of their trees a long time ago.

In the meantime, please remember that aside from being the only cure for global warming, trees offer us some direct economic benefits:

- Trees lower the water table when their roots suck water out of the ground, and they lessen flood risk because their leaves slow, or stop, water from reaching the ground in heavy rain. (Given that we live on a flood plain at sea level less than a mile from the river, those two points are something we should think seriously about.)
- Trees provide shade in our increasingly hot summers.
- Trees actually cool the air around them in hot weather because the water inside their branches and leaves remains cooler than the air around them ? thus sucking heat out of the air and lowering the AC bills of any building in their shade.
- Trees are good for real estate prices ? ever wondered why upscale neighborhoods are often described as ?leafy?? It isn?t a coincidence.
- Trees just look good.

Thanks.

In case you're wondering, SOUP SWAP is totally going to kick Soup Club's a$$.

Soup Club tries to trick you into thinking "Oh, they're vegetarian, they must be caring... and nice..."

But SOUP SWAP actually benefits a food pantry. AND you can get soups with meat or seafood or whatever you want.

(Now we need a choreographer so we can have a Soup Gang dance-off in the middle of the Jersey City streets.)

I am really troubled by this project. Reading the article in today's NYTimes - posted previously - I love the program of the building - multi-use, artist space, sculture, blah, blah... However, if nothing else the building commits a terrible social blunder - it detracts from the bride's glory and beauty. The bride being the Powerhouse. In my elitist opinion JC has three great aesthetic attractions: The Powerhouse, the old Medical Center and the views from LSP. The Medical Center seems to have been entrusted to good hands - all indications that are that it is being respectfully restored and will add to JC's continued growth. Community opposition stopped the monstrous sculpture proposed for LSP, and for now views of the harbor,NYC skyline and SoL are safe. But now the Powerhouse is threatened with defilement. I am an architectural consertative - I prefer that the making of monuments be reserved for public buildings - museums, concert halls, courthouses, etc. Not condos and offices. Not in an area with a real architectural focal point in place. That three gigantic cubes have never been stacked in the way proposed does not mean they should be so stacked. Architecture differs from art - it cannot be easily ignored - put in a vault or sold off to a private collector. This building is essentially forever. While I do not believe that this building will be built as shown, I think even moderate change would be insufficient to make it acceptable.

BTW - anyone know which other architects were asked to compete for this commission?

today there was a rather frustrated customer jabbing his remote at the garage over near duane reade

he gets out of his car jabbing closer and closer to the stubborn gate that refused to budge

he left his car awkwardly angled into traffic looking for assistance inside

perfect system

lol

A price decrease would be nice. I doubt it'll happen though.

But it is amusing to watch the entrance gate. It has a mind of its own and just randomly opens and closes (almost closed on my car a couple of days ago!)

we now have locked gates

no personel inside the garage most of the time

especially late at night and weekends

decreased costs for lefrak

decreased service for us

decreased safety for us

decrease price to park?

The Jersey Avenue entrance to Liberty State Park will be discussed at this month's HPNA meeting. See:

http://www.hamiltonpark.org/newsletter.html

Stompbox
The Tris McCall Report


Is Rem Koolhaas an a$$hole?

Who knows? But AP?s Janet Frankston Lorin sure makes him sound like one. Here?s Koolhaas on why Jersey City, and New Jersey, needs his 52-story contribution:

We are creating something slightly more memorable and slightly more energetic,? he said. ?What New Jersey lacks is some visible evidence of a new beginning.?

Okay, first of all, dude: a new beginning of what, exactly? What?s this new beginning that?s going to happen in 2011, once his tower is complete and units in it are selling for 750K-1M? That sounds like the same old beginning to me. Visible evidence of *that* new beginning is now playing all over the waterfront.

What he?s really saying here is that New Jersey used to be declasse, and now it isn?t, sort of, because *The New York Times* said so, and what we now need is a signature building that those who read *The New York Times* can pretend to appreciate. Rem: New Jersey is going to be fine with or without your stupid tower. We don?t feel the need to be authenticated by your rock-star architectural signature. Perhaps your big-money paymasters across the river ? and their lackeys here at home ? require that authentication before they start pouring in more green, but Newport 7 doesn?t seem to have slowed down their real-estate speculation any.

Rem goes on to say:

I am putting together familiar elements in an unfamiliar way.?

In other words, he?s taking the standard overpriced condo components and stacking them crooked. Call me a philistine, but I fail to see what makes his 52-story tax-abated monstrosity any different than the all the others. Just as I don?t break the bank for designer t-shirts, I do not believe a name-brand condominium complex is anything to celebrate. Real Jersey buys off the racks.

Lorin?s crappy newswire article writes the Tenants Association out of the story of 111 First Street, and perpetuates the myth that the struggle was over an ?arts district? rather than the Arts Center. The dispute, Janet Franklin Lorin, wasn?t between the city and BLDG ? it was between the tenants, and those who appreciated them and wanted to keep them here, and Lloyd Goldman and his small nation of attorneys. The city did bupkis for those tenants and for the Arts Center, so let?s not pretend they were involved in some titanic struggle on behalf of local creativity. Bailing out was their prerogative, and I don?t blame them for it. But, again, it wasn?t a settlement, it was a capitulation.

I dig Bill Matsikoudis; he?s a nice guy. But Lorin?s article makes him sound like a stooge:

It?s a piece of art in and of itself, a 600-foot tall sculpture.?

No, it?s not; it?s not even 3D yet. It?s a design on a piece of paper. The contractors haven?t even finished wasting the Arts Center yet. Let?s wait until something actually gets built before we start praising its artfulness, okay? We?ve been baited and switched too many times to count.

Ooh, I am in a feisty mood today. Once more with feeling: if I?m sticking around here, you folks are going to hear it from this desk. Quoth Jayceon Taylor: i?m sick, you can?t get rid of me/ I?m HIV. I don?t regret what I spit/ ?cuz I know what I say.

This was written by tris mccall. Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007, at 3:13 pm. Filed under Jersey City. Bookmark the permalink. Follow comments here with the RSS feed. Post a comment or leave a trackback.

The obligatory NYT article here

The Hanging Tower of Jersey City

Royal Heating (ask for Don or his son Chris)
10 MLK Drive
201-434-0315

These guys get my highest recommendation -- great work, fair price, and they respond quickly to any issues, even years after I last paid them. But I can't comment on their work in brownstones. I'm not sure if they even deal with the high-velocity flex-tube stuff which you might need in such a system. My job was a 2 story wood framed house with non-finished attic and basement, so running standard ductwork was relatively easy.

Quote:The UNICO system is a high-speed forced air system that has to be installed properly or you get a high-pitched whistle instead of a smooth flow of air. It?s a small caliber flexible tubing system that is that can be run through the plaster walls of older homes.

The Sanyo unit is a low profile, internal mount system that lets you have AC without going through the walls of your home. The compressor is outside, either on the ground level or on the roof. The condensation tube and wiring is the only parts that are run through the walls. The profile of the unit in the house measures about 3' wide, 5? deep, and 12? high.

i can not recommend air aton...

when they attended to maintenance of
my hvac system (for 2 years) all appeared
fine. but when issues other then the usual
maintenance came up they stopped being attentative.

eric promised to do research
to resolve the problems. that was the last i heard from
him _ poof _ would not return calls.

Escaped convicts on loose
State corrections officials are seeking the public?s help in tracking down two Hudson County convicts who escaped from a Newark halfway house this week, officials told The Jersey Journal this morning.

Famar McGoy, 27, of Lexington Avenue in Jersey City, was last seen at the Kintock halfway house in Newark on Tuesday, and Jermaine Mitchell, 26, of Stegman Street in Jersey City, was last seen there Monday, state corrections officials said.

McGoy was in custody from March 22, 2002, to Jan. 9, 2003, and March 11, 2005, to Tuesday on three convictions for drug distribution and one for theft, officials said.

Mitchell was in custody from Sept. 15, 2005, to Monday on a convictions for dealing drugs, officials said.

If charged with the escape, the men may find themselves spending an extra five years behind bars, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.

Anyone with information on either fugitive?s whereabouts is asked to call the State Department of Corrections Special Investigation Unit -- Fugitive Unit at 1-800-523-3829.

Quote:As I pointed out initially, I had the same reliability problems as djh101. However, the two systems I mentioned are still the way to go for a brownstone. If you can get Eric, Ovidio, and Victor to do the instillation you will be pleased with the outcome, otherwise see if you can find another certified company to do the work.

Perhaps, djh101 would provide the name of the alternate source.

Parkman is partially right as far as Air-A-Ton is concerned.

Only Eric and his father (the co-proprietors) and maybe Victor (their lead installer) go to certification programs. The rest of the guys --- many of which are simply employed there by virtue of being their relatives --- are dimwits.

I have used Air-A-Ton on two different (and pretty big) projects, and they are outright unreliable on honoring appointments and doing things in the proper pecking order. On one job, my wife and I had to actually do some of the HVAC work ourselves because they were more than a week overdue in showing up to do it as promised, and thus my drywallers were being held up from closing the walls as a result.

Before that debacle, I had regrettably already referred Air-A-Ton to my next door neighbor (who is an accomplished architect and thus more knowledgable than most on HVAC systems), and he had a worse time than I.

The problem is that Unico (and maybe Luxaire too) offers exclusive territories, and so Air-A-Ton was the "only game in town" if you wanted that particular system. My neighbor ultimately pitched a fit directly with Unico HQ and basically said "your territory rep sucks.....give me the name of the next closest installer or you can yank your partially-installed system out of here." He got the result he wanted, because some other designated outfit completed the job that Air-A-Ton started.

I never want them on any of my properties or projects again --- so much so that I GLADLY paid a little more for a service plan from another designated dealer of those same HVAC systems, just to not have to deal with Air-A-Ton again.

You can try Raul at Roof Doctor 201-798-0991. He did a small flat roof for me (from scratch), maybe 12' x 14'. He does torch down roofing.

Parkman,

Thank you for your post. It is very, very helpful.
I will give Air-Aton a call.

The two contractors mentioned in my original post came to give me an estimate and told me that UNICO was going to be a difficult installation (one said he probably couldn?t do it at all). I think the best I might hope for is a UNICO on the top 2 floors and a Sanyo-type split system on the ground floor (which is where my kitchen/dining area is), as there is really no channel for even the most limited ductwork from top to bottom. Perhaps Air-Aton will have better ideas.

Again, thank you.

Anyone else with thoughts or advice?
Parkman set the bar pretty high, but feel free to chime in.

Tim

Quote:Two years ago I installed the UNICO system in my brownstone for the top two floors and the year before a Sanyo tri-unit for the parlor floor. Both systems work beautifully and are the least messy way to install AC when you?re not doing a full renovation or if this system is the only work you want done.

That said, even with the ducts being only 3? in diameter, installation is still messy and dusty; these old brownstone walls are not easy to get into. The advantages of both units are that you don?t have to drop your ceiling to accommodate large ductwork and the flexible tubing for the airflow does not have to be fabricated. Both units are quite, with the Sanyo being almost silent.

I used Air-Aton out of Union City for both instillations; they attend classes at the manufactures plant to get certification. The only problem I had with them was lack of consistency in being on time; you need to stay on top of their scheduling.
Their phone number is 201 792-9205.

If you need more info, PM me with your phone number.

Ps. The Unico can also be used for heating.

Don't usually speak up up, but this is a quiet and trashy corner of JC that those of us who bike or walk like alot. The canal is sweetly slimey green and peaceful on many times I have visited. No personal need for a roadway when walking will do. Nuff said.

I am considering putting central air in an old townhouse this year. The house has been recently rennovated, but they did not install AC. The house is 3 floors and has no ductwork.

I am interested if anyone has any experience (good or bad) with Integrate Comfort Systems, Inc. (ICS) in Belleville and/or All Seasons Mechanical.

Also - does anyone have a UNICO system in thier house, and, if so, who installed it and would you recommend them?

Many thanks,
Tim

I tend to think it doesn't much matter if they do or don't connect Jersey Avenue to Philip road now; its not as if anyone is suggesting the route be permanently sealed shut. Eventually Jersey Avenue will probably need to be connected over the canal, probably when the final phase of Liberty Harbor is completed. Whether its done now or in 10 or 20 years, it will eventually happen. Not making the connection is not going to slow the current rate of development. Constructing the road might hasten development in Lafayette, but eventually the downtown will be built out and development will move into Lafayette anyway.

As far as the turnpike connecting to Columbus, the project was completed rather prematurely. Development on Columbus has seriously impaired traffic flow over the last year, especially traffic at the Marin - Columbus intersection. Meanwhile, the projects along Washington have caused a serious problem there as well. And the best part is late last year when Washington and Marin were closed because of construction. Shows some real brilliant leadership. Long term this might actually make a lot of sense, but for another 18 months or so, it really isn't too bright.

Long term, the city's growth needs to be matched by the expansion of public transportation, particularly high capacity rail and subway lines. When the Beacon comes online, the flow of traffic down Montgomery is going to mitigate any effect shunting traffic from the Turnpike onto Columbus has had. The same is true of development in the Squares.

i use servicemagic.com. call those with good reviews.

Any suggestions for a roofer who will undertake small jobs? I have a leak in a flat roof...but I'm not sure which of the seams is bad. Probably will just the whole roof re-sealed.

You could easily build a bike lane on Jersey Avenue by eliminating the street parking on either side of the street. This would have the added benefit of providing better line of site for the streets between Newark and 8th street; most of the near traffic accidents I've seen on Jersey Avenue come from cars inching forward so they can see around the parked cars, thereby blocking on coming traffic. The downside, or the biggest obstacle, would be local delivery trucks blocking the bike lanes. UPS, USPS, beer trucks, oil delivery trucks-- they'd probably all just end up parking in the bike lane and usually delivery drivers accept parking tickets as a cost of doing business.

One thing that really needs to be addressed immediately is the pedestrian situation at Grand and Jersey Avenue. With the turning signals and the wide width of Grand Street at that point, its pedestrian suicide. This should be addressed before Liberty Harbor residents start moving in, and definitely before any retail goes in on the southeast corner of Grand and Jersey where the LHN sales office is.

As far as Liberty Harbor pressuring the city to expand road access, I doubt they really care. They already have approvals for their projects, and they seem to be selling well as it is. Also, the retail project planned for Grand and Jersey is supposed to include a grocery store. Rumor has it the sales agents are promising LHN buyers it will be a whole foods. I'm skeptical of that, but regardless, a grocery store, especially a whole foods, will generate a ton of traffic whether or not the Jersey Ave connector is built. Obviously another grocery store has its own benefits for the community, which is sort of the compromise for the added traffic. But in either case, if a grocery store goes in, the traffic is going to show up anyway.

Quote:


Absolutely true and here's how the city will squander this opportunity: The developers of Liberty Harbor North will pressure city hall for better road access to the shopping area they are planning there, the city will fold, and then sell it to the public by saying that the real reason is that better emergency access to the medical center is required. It's probably a done deal already.

Jeez I've only been here 5 years and am becoming a total cynic already.

Residents of Lafayette need not drive west on Johnston if they want to get to the waterfront. They can instead get on the light rail and take it to Essex St., Exchange Place, Harborside, Harsimus Cove, or Pavonia Newport and get to the waterfront in a matter of minutes.

This is reminding me of another debate on another forum where a certain resident of Newport insisted that she was being "excluded" from the Morris Canal section of Liberty State Park because she could not park in the cul de sac section of Washington Street.

I am not completely unsympathetic to the traffic concerns of Lafayette residents. But I've said it before and I'll say it again, trying to address congestion and traffic by building more roads is like dealing with obesity by purchasing a larger suit. And although Lafayette is somewhat cut off from the downtown neighborhoods, creating another auto route that cuts through the park is not going to meaningfully link the neighborhoods.

The city has a unique opportunity with Jersey Avenue, because it can serve as a connector for the various parks. The street connects Hamilton Park, the 6th Street Embankment, Van Vorst Park, and Liberty State Park. Make it a pedestrian friendly streetscape with a bike lane and turn that corridor into a "string of pearls" that city residents can enjoy, not a heavily driven auto route.

Lest anyone accuse me of being a NIMBY, I would actually benefit quite a bit from creating the "expressway." I live on Monmouth Street, and a lot of that traffic is coming off the turnpike or down Pacific Avenue, then turning on to Grand, then Monmouth. With the Jersey Avenue extension, most of that traffic would avoid my block. I also often visit friends in Bayonne or family in Brooklyn and go via Bayonne and Staten Island. With the extension I could drive through Jersey Avenue, through the Park, and on to Route 440. Right now I have to drive to Pacific and then Johnston to get there. The delay is all of 2 to 4 minutes. Despite this, life is still worth living.

There really is no reason for residents of Lafayette should have to drive west on Johnson to go East to the waterfront. A Jersey Avenue connector over the canal between Grand and Philip road would give that area better access to the waterfront. There are a number of large scale projects planned or currently under construction in that area of Jersey City, and no doubt as the gentrification marches west, more dense developments will be built there. Some of those residents will inevitably drive, either in a circuitous route involving Pacific and Grand, or more directly via a Jersey Avenue Connector.

Further, the Jersey Avenue Connector would also give the downtown, particularly the new Liberty Harbor development a better westward exit route, rather than driving north on Jersey, looping around to either Montgomery or Columbus. This might be the greatest benefit, as cars would not have to line up on Jersey to make left turns onto Montgomery and Columbus, and it would mean fewer people queuing up on Montgomery to turn left onto the Turnpike West.

As for people "cutting through" the downtown, the best solution to prevent this would be limiting our own access to the tunnel. But I'm sure the folks who drive to Manhattan from Jersey city don't want to have to go to the back of the queue, just like people coming off the turnpike don't want to be there either. If you don't want outsiders driving down Montgomery or Columbus to get to Marin, then prohibit right hand turns from Marin into the tunnel. Its a trade off.

Circulating on the internet is a report about the Holland Tunnel:
http://www.cait.rutgers.edu/finalreports/Holland-RU4474.pdf

The end result of this proposal is elevating the Turnpike from its current position to the entrance of the Holland Tunnel, rather than sending traffic through the existing urban grid. This is a remarkably bad idea because historically elevated highways have only ever segregated urban neighborhoods. Part of the disconnect between downtown and areas west is the fact that there is a highway looming 100 feet over head. Meanwhile this does nothing to address the fact that there is a tiny little hole underneath the Hudson river that 6 or 8 lanes of traffic are trying to feed through.

In the years after September 11th, the Holland Tunnel was restricted to HOV vehicles. This brought significant reduction in traffic headed through the Tunnel. At the time I drive by the Turnpike at exit 14ABC, where 78 meets the Newark Bay extension. The month after the ban on HOV vehicles was lifted, the traffic heading off the Turnpike at 14ABC headed towards the tunnel went from a trickle of cars to a backup several miles long. Every day. While I don't drive down that way anymore, I assume its the same condition now. The bottom line is there are too many cars headed for the Holland Tunnel, a very small hole in the ground. HOV restrictions went a very long way in reducing the traffic headed for the tunnel and bringing those restrictions back would mean less cars "cutting through" the downtown.

Another solution would be congestion toll pricing. Higher tolls would mean fewer cars headed for the tunnel, and that would mean less traffic and by extension, fewer cars cutting through the downtown.

In addition to all the traffic going to the tunnel, let's not forget that Jersey city has expanded and will probably continue to expand its downtown office space. Many people are driving to these offices, not just to the tunnel, for which it makes no sense to "keep them on the turnpike."

18 months or so ago, the "Grand Street" exit became the "Christopher Columbus Street" exit. Suddenly cars coming from Grand street via Center St could only go straight onto Columbus, not turn left directly onto the turnpike, or left onto Montgomery. Now cars coming off of center street have to merge over three lanes of traffic to turn around and head in the opposite direction on the turnpike or to make a left on Montgomery. Meanwhile, cars coming off the turnpike cannot make the right onto Montgomery Street, and all the traffic is being directed down Columbus. Now with all the traffic headed downtown being shunted past the PATH station, where there is a cab stand, bus stops, jitney stops and people getting dropped off, the whole area is a big cluster-French Connection U.K. And living on Montgomery street, I can attest there really isn't an improvement in my "quality of life" having fewer morning commuters coming down Montgomery. But it sure makes navigating around the grove street PATH more difficult at all times of the day, because of the increased traffic there.

The bottom line is we all live in a city, most of us by choice. If you want a cul-de-sac without any cars driving on by, there are a number of lovely suburbs west of here.

As far as the 6th Street embankment light rail proposal, someone on the wired forums pointed out that it used to hold 5 freight rail lines. I followed up by saying that if Sixth Street were made one way headed west from Marin to Newark, there would be plenty of room for an Essex Street style light rail - roadway combo AND a large open greenway. That would be a compromise, which is what living in a civil society is all about.

And one final note on today's traffic problems. Nearly every road in the city is flooded. I turned around about 5 times before finally getting to the west side of the city. So while there may be a lot of traffic today, its probably the result of flooded portions of the roadway rather than all the "cut throughs."

If you want to see what will happen to the traffic flow if Jersey is opened to the park, look at the backup this morning going from Grand, Jersey, CC, and Marin; it?s one solid line of cars. These people found the ?short cut? through downtown when the turnpike is backed up.

Expressway is a bad term.A simple two way street like the rest of jersey ave is what it should be.The road running into downtown should be closed during morning rush hour and the road leaving downtown should be closed during the evening rush hour.

You go out of your way a few times and have to turn around and even the most adventurous motorist will get the message.