Re: P O W E R H O U S E
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Well, I guess the alternative is that nothing happens until it collapses upon itself or someone with a different (and almost certainly more objectionable) plan comes along.
This is a beautiful building but the last plan to save it that I heard involved spending $40M of taxpayer dollers. Frankly, that is too much and I find the eagerness of some people to spend tax money in the service of their aesthetics very objectionable. If the idea of signage is indeed a threat I suspect you (and however many people agree with you) would be free to buy the signage and put nothing there. Myself, I really like the Colgate Clock... Quote:
Posted on: 2006/7/24 1:10
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Re: Corzine and property tax reform
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He'd get a lot more support if he cut spending rather than increasing taxes. He points out waste but only enables it. Like other local plutocrat/politicians (eg. Bloomberg) he is happy to make it harder for everyone else if it preserves his own celebrity.
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Posted on: 2006/7/21 3:23
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Re: Positive things I like about JC
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1) 35 minute door to door easy commute to Manhattan
2) Rent about ? of what the same place in Manhattan would be 3) Not having to pay the 4% NYC income tax 4) Not supporting the agenda of the NYC city govt. or being subject to their gun laws 5) Being car-free without it being an impairment 6) Diversity without too much overt animosity 7) The waterfront walkway 8) How the development will keep things more affordable than it would be without it (doubtless, despite the developers? intentions) 9) The normal benefits of gentrification, such as better restaurants 10) Views of the Statue of Liberty and NYC and lots of trees on my street 11) The blissful quiet of my place and its sundeck 12) The folks I?ve met here 13) That the Golden Cicada owner won his eminent domain fight with help from a few others ? even in NJ politics fairness can win if a few people stand up. 14) Easy access to EWR and points north and south. Ha, ha, I bitch enough about living in this metropolitan area and JC so it?s nice to think about why I do live here. For me JC is still the best place to live if you work in Manhattan.
Posted on: 2006/7/17 0:40
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Re: Star-Ledger: Developers plan to bolster Jersey City waterfront
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What a lot of people (ironically this is especially the case with historic preservationist types) is an historic perspective. In the 70s and early 80s no one wanted to invest in JC. LeFrak did so and by the standards of the time Newport was a big risky improvement and way upscale for JC. They made a lot of money off a place that I wouldn't want to live in then or now - so what?
Now that JC is in a real estate craze many have their bitch about how this or that should have been done better. Where were they when no one else was willing to invest? [quote] Skadave wrote: I am not that much of a newport hater. Yes, it doesn't have any soul but it is clean, safe, and it does have some larger chain type stores which I find useful. Just think, Newport could have looked like Lefrak city in queens. At least most of these buildings are not atrocious looking. Could it have been done better to reflect more of a community atmosphere? Yes. But it could also still be a dilapidated rail yard if it were up to local community groups to decide what to do with the land. You would have the one little league guy with too much power who would want all of the land to become baseball fields, you would have the dog run people, the anti dog run people, the park people, the wallmart people, the don't block my view people, and the historical preservation society people who would try to get the rail yards classified as a historic site.[/quote ]
Posted on: 2006/6/8 3:47
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Re: The New York Times: LeFraks Envision Even Bigger Skyline Across Hudson
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I don't see what's so laughable about this. On aesthetic grounds I don't like Newport at all but downtown JC beats the outer boroughs. No 4% NYC income tax, slightly less intrusive government, lower costs all around, easier commuting in most cases, and generally easier access to getting out of town. In terms of what you get for your rent/mortgage; downtown JC is much better.
For what it's worth, what I've seen of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn looks like a nicer but much more expensive version of Newport. Quote:
Posted on: 2006/6/2 0:24
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Re: EARL MORGAN -- Healy's 3 ordinances would help the city curb gun violence
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a) I encourage you to type in "does gun control work" to the search engine of your choice, obtain results, read a bunch of them and make your own mind up. I suspect that you would find any list of scholarship from the criminology literature that I might provide as suspect, so this an unbiased way for you to self educate. One thing that is worth knowing is that many people who were publically opposed to law abiding people owning and carrying firearms haved changed their minds and no one I know of has gone the other way.
b) It is illegal to do what you described; that is buy a firearm out of state. So, as I said, this latest nonsense only screws law abiding citizens. Quote:
Posted on: 2006/5/30 1:26
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Re: EARL MORGAN -- Healy's 3 ordinances would help the city curb gun violence
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Let me just pose a different approach. How about New Jersey does what 40 other states have done and allow law abiding citizens their right to effective self-defense. That is, the right to own and carry a firearm after passing a background check. A considerable amount of scholarship has shown that violent crime goes down when such laws are enacted. The proposed ordinances only place a burden on the law abiding - how does that solve gun crime?
Most tellingly: "The mayor said he realizes that the measures he's proposing would have a limited effect on the city's gun problem." Regardless of whether you agree with me - the mayor himself is admitting that it will have no impact on gun crime! So why do it? My take on it is that rather than doing something positive like empowering law abiding citizens to defend themselves the big city mayors in the Northeast (NYC, JC, Boston) are trying to lay their failure at the feet of other states. Quote:
Posted on: 2006/5/26 0:51
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Re: Advice to a 'soon to be' resident of downtown JC
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Welcome (soon) to JC. I've lived here for 6 years, have never owned a car, work in Manhattan and live in Paulus Hook. So those are a few things that influence my point of view. As to the pros and cons:
Cons: 1) Obviously you can't walk to work or in general walk to everything you want to do (first you have to take the PATH). 2) As someone else mentioned, Uncle Joes closed a while ago and it was the only interesting (to me of course, but many would agree) music venue in JC. Like work, you'll have to take the PATH to whatever you like culturally, which is no big deal for an event but it's hard to make such a place your regular hangout. 3) Crime is a big issue for many but to me it's a bit like Brooklyn and probably better. JC is big in terms of land mass and, like everywhere, crime is concentrated in certain areas. 4) JC politics and governance have a deservedly bad reputation. Nevertheless, as a smaller city there probably is more opportunity to change things than in NYC. Still, I wouldn't get my hopes up (nor would I in NYC). Pros: 1) Just about everything here is less expensive. Primarily housing, of course, but also everything you open your wallet for here will probably cost less. There are real grocery stores, Target, sales taxes are way lower, etc. 2) I really love the residential nature of my neighborhood and Hamilton Park is probably almost as good. There are no tourists all around and if you make an effort you will get to know your neighbors. 3) You will not have to pay the NYC income tax and will get to keep about another 4% of your income. This is huge over time. 4) It's really quiet unless you are on a big street. It always amazes me just how loud NYC is when I open my window at work. What I hear in JC is: birds, the occassional passing car, the wind, and the occassional siren in the distance. 5) JC is more diverse than Manhattan yet people mostly just get along with each other. Obviously this is subjective but I definately feel people are cooler here with people unlike themselves. 6) The PATH is so much better than the subway. This alone would make JC preferrable to the outer boroughs. 7) I feel the JC is in general more free than NYC. The lack of coops being the dominant means of ownership is a good example of this. For whatever reason people are less invested in each telling others what to do via private or government means. Quote:
Posted on: 2006/5/1 0:29
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Re: Residential Projects Dominate Landscape - 15,000 Residential Units are Coming to Downtown Jersey
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I was amazed at how much is being built south of Grand between the highway and west of Paulus Hook, not from the map but from walking by there. The market is indeed cooling and 15,000 unsold units coming on the market now really makes one wonder. I think a lot of the development will happen but I doubt that the developers will get the prices that they expected.
Nevertheless, access to NYC jobs from JC is great and JC is rapidly being "discovered" by those who work there. Not having to pay the NYC 4% income tax makes JC very inviting to those who would otherwise consider the outer boroughs. I suspect that to the extent that development in the NYC metro area continues it will tend to be concentrated in JC. Quote:
Posted on: 2006/4/28 3:13
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Re: Residential Projects Dominate Landscape - 15,000 Residential Units are Coming to Downtown Jersey
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One thing that I think may help is that the exchange place station has been expanded to handle another 2 cars. I suspect that the Grove street renovation also will allow for bigger trains if the platform is made longer due to the recent renovation. Compared to the NYC subway the PATH is uncrowded.
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Posted on: 2006/4/28 2:31
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Re: Amid the Glitter, JC's Growing Pains
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At the risk of further moving this thread away from its original point, I wonder about this. Would it really be worth it for a developer to give away essentially all of his condos "at below-market rates". It seems much more likely that we are seeing is the end of a bubble, as typically characterized by flipping overvalued assets. Good for a savvy developer but bad for those left holding the bag...
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Posted on: 2006/3/15 2:48
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Re: Very negative article, almost made me want to move!
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Just to clarify something - "Very negative article, almost made me want to move!" is not a quote from me. It was the title of a post that I replied to. I actually found the article more informative than negative.
To further clarify; the increase in crime while crime all around JC has gone down is disturbing but has never made me consider moving. What does make me inclined to move is how the powers that be in JC and NJ deny citizens the right to effective self defense. Quote:
Posted on: 2006/3/15 0:38
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Re: Very negative article, almost made me want to move!
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Here is a link to the NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/05/nyr ... ER.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
What I found odd about the article is that there is no evidence or even speculation about why crime has recently escalated in JC; unlike the rest of the NYC metropolitan area. It is mere speculation to assume that gentrification is the cause and a very questionable one given how crime has decreased in gentrified NYC. I wonder if cheap meth is creating a 1990s crack-like wave of crime. That, unlike gentrification, seems at least plausible. I think it is great that the Guardian Angels are trying to help out. It would be so much better if NJ respected law abiding citizen's right to effective self defense. Quote:
Posted on: 2006/3/10 2:58
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Re: Goldman Sachs Move?
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The new building near the WTC site will be their headquarters and JC will be mostly support functions. It makes sense, at least in a 2000 reality, as they are a short ferry ride from each other. I suspect neither building will be partially occupied by GS because that would be a pain in the ass that they probably don't want to deal with. Just to make a counterpoint to what a lot of people seem to believe, I know that GS is very committed (too much so, in my opinion) to NYC and by extension, JC.
I encourage everyone to read this article http://www.city-journal.org/html/16_1_wall_street.html if you want to understand what the NYC region is up against and the thinking of a place like GS; which is, and hopes to remain, an elite institution. Quote:
Posted on: 2006/1/31 4:03
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Re: Healy's Handler gets $76,500 per year
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My first reaction is that it's money well spent if I never see Healy's drunk and corpulant body naked again. On top of the aesthetic offense, it gives drunken Irishmen a bad name. If the "consultant" is paid from private funds (I'd give that about a 0.01% chance), I will happily toss in a month's worth of coffee money.
Yea, assuming that he's learned his lesson, $75K to fix that embarassment in front of NOL shipping would be a start in terms of better ways to spend our money to beautify JC. Quote:
Posted on: 2005/12/21 2:54
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Re: Golden Cicada Help from ACLU
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Check out this thread:
http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/viewt ... 17&forum=9#forumpost36258 So, yes there has been public opposition. The taking of the Flamingo was at least defensible, as it was for a road. The city tried to screw the owner by not paying what the property is worth but backed down. I hope that the ACLU helps. It will be nice if they have expanded their conception of rights to property rights. If only they could make the stretch to 2nd amendment rights. Quote:
Posted on: 2005/10/11 1:48
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