It doesn't matter who was there first.

What matters is that everyone needs a place to live, within reasonable commuting distance to employment.

This concerns not only low wage workers, but middle class workers as well. Housing in the NYC metro area (which JC is part of) is increasingly unaffordable, so much so that even the so called middle class can't afford to live in it either.

I think gentrification would be great, if neighborhoods maintained a mixed housing quality to it. Who doesn't like a cleaner, safer place, with interesting amenities? But let's not forget everyone needs a job, and a place to live that isn't 2 hours away from it.

The Cuban blog posts for 12/17 are incredibly moving.

If you read Spanish, check these out:

http://www.chiringadecuba.com/2014/12 ... l-bloqueo-cuba/#more-8898


http://www.14ymedio.com/blogs/generac ... cambios_7_1690100974.html


The first one talks about the joy and relief, how much the Cuban people had been waiting for such a day, that it feels like a miracle and people couldn't believe it was actually happening. That this day will be historical day for Cubans, much like the fall of the Berlin wall for the Germans, or the assassination of JFK for Americans. It brought tears to my eyes.

The second one hasa little bit of that, but it is more critical of the lack of a timeline or new policies on the side of Cuban government in order to lead the country to a more democratic society.

Cuba?s Promising New Online Voices

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

A diverse and growing community of bloggers in Cuba stand to benefit from their government?s improved relations with the United States.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/opi ... ng-new-online-voices.html

The Heights is great. Don't know anything about JSQ.

When I lived in the Heights, I took the 87 bus to Hoboken PATH, which is great becuase you can get a seat 75% of the time. Or 100% if you wait for the next train. The commute from the Congress/Palisade area to SoHo was about 35-55 mins, all depending on whether you hit all the transportation at the right time, traffic, etc. You can use the NJTransit's MyBus texting system to find out when the buses are coming, they have GPS. The texts are correct about 85% of the time.

There is a fantastic community of neighbors in the Heights. Just start going to the Riverview Neighborhood Association meetings or events and you'll start meeting some awesome people.

Lots of events happening in the Heights every weekend. I used to have at least one event to go to each weekend: art galleries, music concerts, garden events, etc. You can find out about events on the RNA facebook page.

Central ave has awesome little 'ethnic' restaurants: cuban, puerto rican, peruvian, ecuadorian, thai, mexican, italian, etc. There are 4 nice bars: the corkscrew, AJ's, Trollet, and Lincoln Inn.

I always felt safe. Walked around at all hours of the night (with company) and was fine.

It does take getting used to the different, less well kept environment (when compared to DTJC or Hoboken). It is very disappointing how much trash you see on the streets, or houses that are looking run down. But, the neighborhood associations are really working on tackling the trash issue.

And a LOT of new people are moving in. The change I've seen in one year's time (more events, more bars, more business, more people) makes me think this area is a good investment.

Uber or Lyft are probably your best bets.

There are so many Latino restaurants and bakeries in JC, maybe you can contact them to see if any are interested.

Hello,

I need a security cage to protect a outdoor HVAC unit. Can anyone recommend a local business that makes these?

thanks!

Yeah, most liquor stores in JC and Hoboken delivery anyway so I don't see the added value. I suppose the convenience of an app might be nice.

You can get from the Heights to DTJC very easily using the Jitneys. They go down Palisade to the Grove St PATH Station, and beyond to the mall.

Uber is also making transportation within JC much more convenient.



Quote:

Bookstore would be lovely, but I wonder if/how bookstores survive nowadays. Word does well, but it is in a different part of town that already has a lot of foot traffic. I usually go in after dinner or brunch in the DT area. Would a bookstore on Summit get that kind of traffic?

A gym is a great idea. I I like the Lucille Roberts because of the convenience and the Zumba classes, but it is only for women, it's too crowded, and doesn't have equipment for the serious weight lifter. They only have a few weight machines, and the free weights only go up to 12 pds (seriously? people still think women don't lift more then 12pds????). They also open at 9AM, so workouts before work are not a possibility. A better gym would be fantastic!

Another idea is a restaurant serving good " new American" food. My hubby is sad about the lack of good burgers, sandwiches, meatloaf, etc in the neighborhood. Once in a while he wants something other than Latin food or pizza. I've heard AJ's is filling this void, but that's on Palisade. Maybe something like a gastropub. I remember when the Hamilton Park Ale House back when I used to live on HP. It was a perfect neighbohood gastropub without being expensive (this is back when Maggie owned it, before she opened Skinner's Loft).

It is very interesting. I'd love to see a visualization of how zip code demographics change throughout time.

Check out this website. It uses geo and big data to create profiles of the characteristics of a zip code's residents.

Very interesting what they can gather from big data!

http://www.esri.com/data/esri_data/ziptapestry

The reservoir is open every Saturday until 4pm, and Monday to Friday from 3pm until dusk. It is very nice and you can go fishing.

The Heights is a nice place to live. There are activities every weeken (galleries, music events, fundraisers,etc) there is a tight community of.involved people and it has been easy to meet new people and become part of this community.. Three nice bars: AJs, trolley bar and the corkscrew. Many fun ethnicity.restaurants. In fact, two.of.the best Puerto Rican spots are on Central Ave. Peruvian and mexican food also good.
There are two community gardens, one with excellent views of.the city.

Love living in the heights.

what is the status of whitlock mills?

Los Tres Chilitos is awesome. They have a varied, authentic menu. I love the corn masa quesadillas.

please excuse my ignorance, but this makes me wonder, if I buy a house that has been gut renovated in the past year, does this mean that the taxes I'll pay next year will be significantly higher than whatever they were before the gut reno?

thanks!

shoprite, they have a room in the back with all the boxes, ask staff and they will show you

Check on vrbo and airbnb. You might be able to work out a deal so you get charged a lower monthly rate instead a daily rate.

Quote:

Agree. There is a lot of talent, business acumen and creativity in this city, it should be harnessed and retained.

How do SBBs develop?

So, we had the soil tested with Tadco. Results came back, there is contamination, with an estimated 10k cleanup. Which I know is only an estimate since they excavate it could be more.

Then seller decided to have his inspector test the soil, results came back negative, no contamination.

Obviously we are not buying the house if they choose not to remediate.

My question is, does the State automatically get the contaminated result from the testing laboratory? As in, even if the sellers have this clean test result, would the State already have been informed of the contamination by the lab that got the dirty results?

thanks

Quote:

The difference needs to happen at the planning stage. A city committted to development without displacement; mixed neighborhoods instead of segregation. How does that happen? I'm no expert, but here are some articles with some strategies:

http://reimaginerpe.org/node/919
http://cjjc.org/images/development-without-displacement.pdf

BRT should definitely be considered an option in JC. I think we have enough side streets and avenues that parallel heavily congested ones to make it an option. BRT has been a success in many places where train development cost was prohibitive.

Here's a summary of research showing that BRT spurs development and at higher degree than light rail or streetcars: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmah ... ight-rail-and-streetcars/

This other article is interesting in that it explains, while BRT can be quite succesful, public perception is that buses suck, which makes it harder for governments to convince their cities this is something they should invest in.
http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/20 ... gument-over-brt-and-rail/

"BRT is just not sexy until you?ve experienced it. Which is why the considerable success of BRT in South America has not convinced many U.S. cities to abandon their ambitions for more rail. Articles like those in the Journal and the Globe and Mail, despite their positive assessments of the potential for BRT, nonetheless reinforce the sense that BRT is inferior to rail by putting the two in contrast to one another, rather than focusing on the relative benefits of each. By continuously describing BRT as an economical way to get something like light rail, all that comes across is that it?s cheap."

The Reservoir is a beautiful oasis in the middle of the city. I highly recommend people to visit. You can even fish in there.

I haven't gone swimming in the pool, but I went in to take a look. It looks pretty nice to me. I swim at a community rec center where I work in the city, WV, and the Pershing Field locker rooms and pool are nicer and cleaner. The pool itself is huge compared to the rec pool in the city. During the weekends they have enough space to have 3 wide swimming lanes open, and dedicate the rest of the pool to open swim. I don't think the open swim disturbs the swimming lanes much.

The park itself has always felt safe to me, but I always go during daylight, haven't been there at night. However, don't think it would be much different at night.

User - that fence looks awesome. Great style to match the brick facade.

Championsound - wth?? Strangers on the porch? I can't imagine how I would even dare to do something like that. How did you get rid of them? Did they have the grace to look embarrassed?

Maybe you should boobytrap the seats with itchy powder and fart bombs.

Yeah, we are definitely not buying the house without them getting the tank removed and making sure the soil is not contaminated.

We talked to our lawyer, he'll talk to theirs and we'll see what happens.

Our lawyer told us that the tank thing is the issue 'du jour'. Over half the deals he's working on right now are dealing with this same issue. So yes, the sellers would have to go through this whole process with another buyer in the future.

ChampionSound, how did they finally realize the consequences of not pulling the tank?

We are having our agent talk to their agent, hopefully that will work.

Thanks for sharing your story.

The dig showed what looks like an oil venting pipe.
So, the tank sweep and the dig show evidence of oil tank.

Now the sellers say they won't do anything about the oil tank and if we want the house we take it as it is. Why let us do a tank sweep in the first place then?

I'm so sad, we really love this house. We are going to see if we can negotiate, offer to pay half of the removal cost as long as no contamination is found.

I wonder if they are just thinking, well, another buyer will come up and NOT do a tank inspection and we'll sell it to those people without telling them anything. Because I doubt anyone else will buy if they tell them about the tank. It's so freaking shady.

Any recommendations for a house in JC? Agents and/or companies?

thanks!

Neighborhoods are made up. Either by development, zip codes, police districts, geography, resident characteristics, census blocks, real estate nomenclature, or people's perceptions.

It is recognized in social science that there are no clear definitions of any given neighborhood and any neighborhood boundary chosen for analysis will be flawed one way or another because of the aforementioned issues. That is, no neighborhood boundary delineation is perfect. People will use what they perceive to be correct.