I love how everyone has a number in their head and feels that, that is more than enough for an entire new sprinkler system in an old house that was built way before a sprinkler system was ever thought of....I have enough knowledge in rehabbing older homes that I can say this:
Don't buy one if you don't have enough money to make it "modern" unless you do what another person said and just live like the previous owner lived and just maintain the house as is.....I have been through many rehabs and each time I learn something new about old homes. You never know what you might get.
I can say that installing sprinklers in a gutted home without having to break walls and plan where the piping is going is much easier. Not to mention the coordination and ensuring that it is leak proof.
Dealing with the city agencies and building department could be very difficult for a person that is not in the construction field. I have never had a problem dealing with them and If I have a problem it gets resolved without having to pay someone off. Its called having full knowledge of your profession and of the Uniform Construction Code.
Sorry you are going through a hard time, but not all contractors are out to get the homeowner. Its very hard to keep prices low when materials, gas, and labor costs have risen exponentially and the highest Quality is expected.
Good Luck.

If you had a bad experience I'm sure they would help you out at delforno..i use them and i have never had a problem.
Mike at Harsimus is also wonderful. I do biz with him too.

You must of had an underlying problem that you are not sharing...Property management is tricky because you have to deal with People. And People are not easy when it come to money.

By the way: my car got broken into in downtown 3 times and never in Bergen-Lafayette. Ironic.

I definitely respect your decision linky. Everyone has to choose what is best for them. For whomever is moving please contact commblock@msn.com. This is the mailbox for the communipaw ave block association. The Morris Canal coalition meets at St. John's the first thursday of every month at 6:45 pm except next month it will be pushed since its July 4th.

I have waited about 25 years for change in our neighborhood , I will participate in making it better than downtown or the heights, but I feel that people need to unite and know their neighbors. It's not an easy thing. Believe it or not we have a huge problem with Absentee owners...and have battled this for years. When homeowners make money on their rentals but don't bother to know who they are renting to its a big problem. We have people from all over NY and NJ who are the biggest culprits in not being a part of our neighborhood.
We have a 10 pm curfew that was enforced briefly because the community group got on the JCPD's and JC admin case.

I will post all the meetings this weekend and hopefully some of you can come out and get to know your neighbors. We would love to have more participants.

Also before we start bad mouthing certain streets please be aware that there are good people on all the lafayette blocks.

Thanks

Sorry to hear about your bad experience Linky. Again, we have been battling issues like this in Greenville and lafayette for a long time. We have the police come to the CABA meetings every month with very little turnout from the community. We have cleanups with no turn out from community members. We have meetings to ask for support when our post office closed , when our bus lines were trying to be canceled.
Unlike groups in downtown we work on ZERO funding, no contributions just personal monies from people who care. We can't hire a lawyer when JC administration changes our REdevelopment plan for incoming new developers and we see a constant effort on some people to divide and conquer. Again if people don't work together it will take longer to make improvements and entice those nice establishments to come to our neighborhood. The city rather let building rot empty than to sell to a local. and we all know that blighted areas attract scum. I can go on and on...If you're going to be part of a neighborhood, get involved.

I've lived here all my life and I have seen many changes. It's certainly not downtown or hoboken (yet) but there are many good people in the area. A few bad apples spoil it for everyone else but we have 2 strong community groups (Communipaw Ave. Block Association and Morris Canal Coalition) that struggle to get people involved in pushing for quality of life and encourage involvement from both newcomers and those who have seen that changes and have lived here through all the bad times.
PM me for more info. These 2 groups are credited with pushing for improvments to Webb park and for trying to get rid of abandoned and derelict buildings.
Unfortunately the franchises don't think we deserve to have nice stores in our neighborhood like starbucks or a panera bread. They are wrong.

Question:
Has anyone tried to contact the owner of Latin Lounge and get to know his position first? He might be so busy trying to keep the bar running with increasing costs etc that he's not aware that you all in that area are very unhappy with his business. I have no clue who he is but I do know he's been there for a long time and in defense of a possible oblivious business owner I think that attacking without talking first will only cause a rift between the newbies moving in and those who have live there a long time.
Obviously I am from Lafayette and I find that when all these new neighborhood groups get together they leave out those who have been in the neighborhood a long time. That's when the problems get worse and people get angry.
Not everyone that has lived through the rough times in JC and still living it is "uncaring about their neighborhood". It doesn't matter what color you are JC is a mixed community and every neighborhood should be abiding by laws and JC codes. Whether they get enforced depends on the unity of the community. Just my 2 cents......

Please join us tomorrow at Webb Park ( Lafayette Street/ Van Horne Street).......12 pm-3pm.

Wow I am not the only one ! thanks for the recommendations! i will try them out!

I usually don't like to give a negative comment about a business but I have to say that Broadway Haircare in Newport Mall is extremely expensive for the services they offer. I walked in to get a wash and blow dry for regular wavy hair and they charged $60.00....I wouldn't have minded if they would of used quality products instead of using Citre Shine, hair oil from Walgreens and non salon conditioners and spray. The girl used a flat iron which is not ceramic but the ones that are $25.00 in the beauty supply store and she definitely had any experience blow drying properly. I will never go there again. Horrible! I have to find a quality place here in downtown that knows how to deal with something other than straight short hair!

I believe some of this housing is offered to those that have been displaced by the demolition of the projects..they also are supposed to post them in the jersey journal. I would speak to Viola richardson about this if you are interested in knowing. For example, if you look in JJournal this week they got apts on bergen ave and are taking applications. It would be interesting what kind of screening process they have.

I am glad that I am not the only one that is at least reading this thread ! Jhurst and the others have very good points. The fact is that there are too many underhanded deals here and most JC residents are letting it happen without ever questioning it.

the council meeting tonight should be very interesting.

I do not understand why the affordable housing has to be built elsewhere in the city. Why can't each developer keep some of their units in their own buildings? They keep dumping them all over the city with these cheap looking houses...they are splitting the city up....no one is speaking up about it. Then award it to more outside developers which in turn hire outside contractors...The pattern creates rising costs for the JC residents while everyone else cashes in. Its wrong.

Please support the Lafeyette Community and Communipaw Avenue Block Association today at 12 pm at the main post office in downtown.....It is important for all to know that we can't accept vital services to be taken away from us.! Thank you!

i've use Bobs on jersey ave near newark..small lil place but i they have done a great job and for very cheap....i have my Charles David high heels soles redone ...did a good job and they are right here in JC!Quote:

Can we expect some more commercials like these? I thought it was pretty funny and true....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfB5GKqX34Y

if you 're doing a rehab or renovations on your property it is a good investment...its pricey now but with all new homes and even older ones being remodeled converting to HVAC (Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning), your home resale value will increase...just a thought...I am currently my home and throwing out the old monster heaters......it will def be worth it in the end.

Yes I agree..they should bring the dollar vans to greenville and lafayette.......I will try to find more info on this...I am sure they are regulated...I am not sure how they were brought to northern hudson county....

I just read the Jersey Journal and am very upset about finding out that as of January the No 16 and 99 buses are being cancelled....once again Bergen Lafayette is hit with another low blow....If our neighborhoods do not get involved we will remain ignored...this is very disappointing..
Maybe we should gather people to go to a City council meeting? any thoughts...?

How about the 1.5 million dollars going to a contractor that is not based in Jersey City. They should be ashamed that they didn't try to get local contractors to restore.....what a shame. There are articles in the Journal about supporting local vendors ...how about supporting the local tradesmen? How embarassing that our city government doesn't support local businesses!

Not to mention more cars! If anyone has noticed every street is jam packed with traffic every morning and afternoon. Downtown is not the only neighborhood affected. Lafayette is getting hit hard with people either leaving downtown or going into Downtown. More development in Jersey City doesn't improve the quality of life for the people already living here. We deal with the aftermath of the poor planning of the "Planning Board and others"! Not everyone that moves into these developments jump on a path train they also commute on Bus or cars!

Does anyone know if there are any local dance schools or classes in Jersey City? A few of us are looking into schools who have a wide variety of classes such as Salsa, Mambo, Cha-Cha, Samba, ballroom dancing etc. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Bravo Earl Morgan! I commend Earl for reporting facts that no one is brave enough to report to the general public of Jersey City. If more people got involved and questioned Jersey City administration maybe it would be a better place to live for the working lower middle class.

The project in my opinion is a disaster. They have been working on it for the last 3 years. The same company got approved to do a senior building in downtown and promised they would build with minimal problems. Whitlock is going to be a mix of market rate and low income units with priority consideration given to Jersey City residents. The number they used to have to get info is disconnected. I t hink any questions should be directed to their lawyer from Connell Foley - McCann or call planning board and ask Bob Cotter what is going on with applications. If you are from the area the traffice nightmare will only get worse when this project is complete in the Lafayette area.