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Three blocks South of the old laundry building is a brand new apartment building with parking. The construction looks decen and it looks similar to what you would find in Hoboken (each unit has a PTAC for heating / cooling).

It sure beats the crappy looking 2 family homes that are being built around the neighborhood. I hate those things.. but with JC's current zoning reg's in R1, that is what you end up with.

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Where you part of the candle making operation? That what I remember what was going on there when I bought the old boxing gym building down the street back in late 2001.

I love a good ghost story.. what's the deal with the two that you mentioned?

A project similar to this was proposed years ago, but never went through:

I received notice of a public hearing on Jan 19th regarding zoning for development of the old factory building (former commercial laundry) on Oakland Ave (cross street Laidlaw). The proposal is to add three floor to the building. The property will have 95 residential units and 103 parking spaces. The increase in height has already been approved. The developer is requesting an amendment to remove the existing chimneys (which are leaning a bit more to one side every year).


This area (I live there) is a former medium industrial / commercial zone. Its not serviceable via rail or heavy trucking, so industrial / commercial is no longer a valid use.

IMO, this would be a positive project for the area, assuming the units will be market rate apartments or condos.

Resisting automation did such wonders for steel and other unionized industries. The steel plants didn't cut back on payroll.. they ended up closing as imports and mini-mills cleaned their clocks.


Fools... If Port Newark / Elizabeth doesn't keep cost competitive, the shipping can easily go to Baltimore, Philly, or ports in Canada. Its modular shipping. Trucks and trains will take it the rest of the way to its destination.

Reminds me of something that happened a couple decades back:


Some dumb-ass kid put on head phones and decided to walk down the middle of the railroad tracks. These tracks were a high speed section where trains can hit well over 100 mph. He never heard the train coming and there was no hope in hell that the train could even slow down, let alone stop.

His torso embedded into the front of the locomotive. His arms, legs, and head popped off from the force of impact.

His head was never found.

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When I first moved into Hudson Country (late 80's), much of Newport was still a no-man's land.

Just for fun.. here is a pick of what the area above the Newport/Pavonia PATH stop looked like in the 70's.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wavz13/4 ... in/set-72157622579761251/

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The State Pension system is NOT separated. The State match (taxpayer contribution) has been underfunded since Whitman's term as governor.

Unlike private pensions, there is no Federal guarantee of the pension plans. If the plans are defaulted on, the money is simply gone. All you will be left with is Medicare and Social Security. Social Security went cash flow negative last year.

Unless there is some miracle, public employees are going to get fooked on a biblical scale. The money is simply not there.

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Even with the reforms Christie put through, the pension system for police, teachers, and fire is still not solvent. If there is a major, major downturn in the stock market, the entire pension system could go up in smoke a lot sooner than expected.

This coupled with counties and municipalities filing for chapter 9 bankruptcy will leave the public unions with a whole lot of nothing as far as their labor agreements and benefit packages.

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I caught a break last spring. I sent out a whole bunch of resumes' with a customized cover letter for each job opening. I managed to get one (only one) face to face job interview which got me an offer the same day. Though my wife claims it wasn't luck, but her prayers to Buddha that did it.

My tenants have had a terrible time and in turn its hurting me financially (severely). My tenants in the past fell pretty much into two categories:

Indians here on H1B visas.
Newly hired college grads.

The former went away first, the latter has been moving back in with mom and dad (or whomever else has a spare couch). One tenant finally landed a job only to have her first (and only) paycheck bounce. I have another who is paying his rent by re-painting a vacant apartment. These were people who were reliable, on-time tenants for years.

I follow energy markets (my job relates to energy). Consumption of petroleum derived products has been dropping by double digits year over year. We are now a net exporter of products such as gasoline and diesel, something we haven't done in my lifetime. Refinery capacity hasn't increased that much. It's just are consumption has cratered.

The first thing that picks up when the economy does is energy usage. It take fuel to make things and go places. That is just not happening now. When I listen to some talking head stating how we are not in a recession, I think its smoke and mirrors. I don't see growth where it's going to impact first.

A tiny bright spot in this is that we may see commodity prices crash soon (which will include oil). China is in the process of imploding. They have already instituted currency controls to stop the flow of foreign reserves out of the country (it aint working). China is driving much of the world's commodity prices via their construction and export sector. Don't be surprised if oil drops back under $65 a bbl in the next eight months. That will make it a lot cheaper for people to commute, heat their homes. It will also drive down the costs of a lot products from plastics to animal feed.

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Well, when I dislocated and fractured my shoulder, it was nice to have an emergency room two blocks away. The care I got there was pretty good.

My wife also went there for diagnostic work (referred there by our doctor). The technician (a former doctor from Cuba) was excellent. I think we got better service there than my wife got in NYC. We couldn't find an endocrinologist in the area, so I had to get her one in NYC. My doctor warned me that would happen. Due to the high levels of obesity driven diabetes, the local specialists are overwhelmed with patients.

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Second that. The damper on the exhaust might be stuck open. If the pilot light is out and you are getting cold air blowing in, then the damper is definitely open.

Make sure any additional penalties / fees shall be charged as additional rent. If you don't have that in your lease, it gets extra difficult to collect that money should the tenant go into default.

80% of the muni budget is police and fire. The non-union workforce is a rather small part of the budget. 3% is a normal cost of living adjustment in the private sector.

There is a goof in that article:

The Keystone pipeline was for oil, not natural gas. The USA has way more in the way of natural gas reserves than Canada.

Got a call from a homeowner who has the property next to my rental on Belmont Ave:

He got a citation for using his carport out front. This carport has been in use long before the 2001. Apparently my property is being cited as well, which will stink for my tenant since she uses the parking space. I bought the place back in 1999 with the active carport.

Was their any grandfathering clause when the 2001 law was passed?

1st step... nuke the building department from orbit and just start over.

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I got the same thing. That cats love that thing. They find something special about the shape. My wife sprays it with catnip spray, which makes them move it even more.

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http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=rice%20car

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The ticket is addressed to my LLC. As the managing officer of the company, I can be held liable for non-civil judgements. Trash out at the wrong time is actually a criminal complaint (albeit a misdemeanor one).

I am not an absentee landlord. Tenants (with the exception of a 2-family I own) are instructed to put trash in the basement. I take care of putting it out so it doesn't get put out at the wrong time. My problem was having an elderly guest (tenant's mother) of a tenant with a limited mental capacity. She just kept putting trash out at random times. I kept catching it except the time I decided to sleep in a bit on a Sunday. Incinerator authority then saw it before I could grab the garbage bag off the curb.

First time it happened, I plead guilty with an explanation and the judge waived court costs, reducing the fine. The second time she did it to me, the prosecutor took pity on me and dropped the charges.

One advantage of driving a stick.. carjackers as of recent seem to not know how to use a manual transmission..

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My properties end with LLC and I can assure you.. LLC's get tickets. In my case, because tenants who decide to put out recycling on a regular trash day, at 7 in the morning...

On another note... back during the later 90's, JC had a similar problem. The mayor and council passed a law that exempted the abandoned properties from rent control, if someone would re-develop the vacant properties. In most cases, this required buying substantial liens and foreclosing.

I was buying at the time and got a list. I didn't stand a chance to get any of those properties. The ones around JSQ where snapped up by developers once the law passed. With rent control removed, you could make a decent return on investment ** on 5+ family property without having to rent to section 8 tenants.

** not so sure on the ROI after taxes have gone up 85% plus another 45% in sewer fees.

After the previous real estate crash (1988 to 1997), there was a serious lack of apartments. Back in 1997 - 1998, employment demands in the area where good (all those back offices opening up in Exchange Place and Newport), but the apartment stock was in horrible shape.

A number of prospective tenants used brokers to help them find apartments. Good apartments were often off the market the same day they went on.. If you wanted a good apartment, you had to go through someone who had a good working relationship with the landlord.

That situation doesn't exist today to the same level, but I there are still agents who broker apartments. I have found their client base falls into the following categories:

1. People who work insane hours. Searching for an apartment will cost them more than the broker fee.

2. People that are re-locating and CAN'T search for a place on their own because they are still thousands of miles away.

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Not necessarily. Some years back I had a tenant that refused to use her alarm system (she was tech-phobic) and was too lazy to lock the gate on the parking lot.

Thieves backed a truck into the lot, pried the door into her place, and pretty emptied of all its contents save a mattress and box spring.

I doubt it was an 'inside job', just thieves who got to take their sweet time in robbing the place.

The current break-in I have gotten over the past year: The thieves ignore the alarm (it takes 20+ minutes for the police to get there) and only take files and laptops. Looks like the focus is on identity theft.

This is only the beginning. I have been reading some analysis of USPS's financial situation. Its pretty dire, with a default on its pension obligations looking imminent.

here is one way:

Take the 1&9 truck route.
After crossing over the first bridge, turn right on Central Ave. in South Kearny.
Follow Central ave. to the end and turn right onto Fish House Road.
Follow Fishhouse to the end. You will be able to merge onto Rt. 7

DO NOT take this route during bad storms unless you own a truck or SUV. Fish house floods something terrible in one spot.

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You have to build a machine to beat a machine. There is no real unified opposition outside of Fulop's ward. I am sure much of the vote (for what it was..) was broken by people voting for whatever candidate was the same ethnicity as themselves... Issues taking a distant second place on the list of concerns.

Until a unified opposition forms, the current regime zombies will just vote they same clowns back into power over and over again.

the zombies are winning....
looks like Fulop will be alone on the council. Machine candidates are going to take it with less than 15% of the vote each...

Viola seems to have a very slight lead... very low turnout it seems. Would be nice to see a Ward breakdown. Curious if a lot of Ward F is being reported, which might give Viola an edge.

Their election headquarter is on the same block as the school....

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$400k per house? The cookie cutter two family homes that seem to have popped up everywhere wouldn't cost near that to build with private money. So I have a couple questions:

Does that $$ include the price of the land?

Since tax payer money was used, can I assume that the Prevailing Wage law was in effect? This can increase labor costs by as much as 400%. A Class C laborer (they guy swinging a broom and dustpan) is paid over $90k per year in salary and benefits.


You can see a full list of the wage rates for Hudson County here:

http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/forms_pdfs/lsse/hudson.pdf