as some one who was at the meeting last night I can relay that on the only project we were actually able to get to a vote actually had almost no comments on it - it was a 2 family that was going from 2 parking spots to only one and to be honest it was pretty smooth case with only one question about it.

I don't know that parking is really the major issue for all of these project but more the fact that there is no consideration of existing density, existing homeowners, scale and look of neighborhoods, pressure on the school, pressure on the utilities, additional traffic etc.

Please stop painting everyone who isn't happy with city hall bending to every developer demand as a crazy parking 'birther' or something (for the record I bought a home with parking cause I know I need a car for my job and I couldn't rely on street parking so not everyone who is against some of these projects is trying to "scam" the city for free parking and to be honest if they never build another place with parking in DTJC I would be more than happy cause it makes my house that much more valuable)

In sitting there for over 3 hours last night, I didn't see one actual study or piece of concrete evidence submitted with these projects (ie 3rd party air, light, traffic, run off water, etc) .... just a lot of "expert" testimony (paid for by the developer) saying oh yeah we really tried to do it right but its just soooooo expensive so we are just going to do this other sort of crappy but hey look we are going to use red bricks so it matches!

don't we deserve a little bit better than that? this town is not hurting for development - we don't need to beg people to build here. Why shouldn't the city be demanding that builders put forth the best plans for the whole city not the cheapest option they can get away with

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crescent court is not actually in the same zoning area as the rest of the village - it was a special redevelopment zone that is not R1 like the rest of the area. Crescent court is 4 stories but since that is how it is zoned - this building is considered "in-fill" between existing R1 building (1-2 family homes that are up to 3 stories/30ft tall) and therefore should have to build to that code (they are trying to get an exception for no real reason except they want a bigger building to get more money)

This building is looking to have almost 100% lot coverage (97.67% - basically to the line except on one side where they have to set back 1 ft due to windows on an adjacent lot) instead of the normal which is around 60%

currently the plans show it as 56' tall with a bulkhead on top that will be another 10' so in some spots this building will be OVER 60ft tall which is TWICE what this are is zoned for....

I just want to quickly bump this (and will do it again next week the day of the meeting)

the 1st street project will be presented next week on 10.15 and it would be great to get some support at the zoning board meeting to let the board know that we are tired of developer profits coming first

meeting is held in the city hall council chambers at 280 Grove st from 6:30 - 8:30 pm

wow sad to see this place close .... definitely one of the only real "foodie" places in the area (though I do also get that the tasting concept makes it a bit difficult for many)

I was actually just thinking about making a reservation for our anniversary this week - I guess it will be our last

from facebook
Hey Everybody! It is with both sadness and excitement that we would like to announce that Alex, Kevin & Vivian will be leaving Jersey City for the great Pacific Northwest. Thirty Acres will officially be closing it's doors Saturday November 28th. We will be taking tasting menu reservations through Wednesday 11/25 and plan on blowing it out with 2 days of OG a la carte dining and drinking for our final weekend. Thank you all for the support and love over the past (nearly) 4 years here in JC. We hope to see you all in Seattle in the future!

I think that a lot of the changes make good sense and aren't outrageous to implement (new parking signs and some paint)

I think that it would be good to see more parking enforcement and more trash collection out.... we definitely could use that regardless of what happens and if 2x a week street cleaning makes that happen I totally support it (and lets be honest those street cleaners barely do anything besides pushing the mess around)

I am one of those people who even though they love living in JC, I can not give up my car (provided and needed by my job) and I appreciate that there is actually a plan in place to help residents rather than just the call to not support parking and cars. I will admit I use my car to run errands at times because when I am coming home from work why would I drive by the store, go home and park and then walk and carry my stuff home? it just doesn't make sense and by having some type of legal parking by the downtown it makes me a lot more likely to support in town businesses than ones out in the suburbs where I go to work.

Tino -- I am trying to get clarification on the exact size since it was very hard to see the exact plans and there has been some revision (ie initially they filed for 2 parking spots but now they are saying six but the drawing only showed 4 cars...)
I believe they are looking for 5 stories (on top of a garage which is pretty much a given due to the flood zone they have to go up 6+ feet so might as well do 3 more and get the cars off the street) and it will be 6 units. I believe 4 x 2 bedroom and 2 x 3 bedroom.

And I agree developers are here to make money - I don't think that anyone would do anything different but seems like there should be some compromise between how much they make and how much our lives are affected.

I was at the VNA meeting last night and I am very concerned - there were 4 different developers there all trying to squeeze bigger buildings (mainly 5 & 6 stories) into spot where 2-3 stories now stand.

I want to be very clear - I am in no way against improving the area and I agree that there are some building that are eye sores and would benefit from a total tear down but I am worried about what this says. If every developer who asks for a variance gets one then the current neighbors will be dwarfed, our light blocked out, our neighborhoods density doubled, and our right to enjoy the homes that we have bought, invested and taken care of taken away overnight. I won't even go into the potential damage to our homes from the construction that will involve pile driving inches from our foundations.....and the release of toxic dust and debris into our air etc.

I am not sure why it should be a given that the zoning rules are ignored and exceptions are the standard. There are zoning rules for a reason and that is to preserve the character of the area and maintain a standard of living for the actual people who live here not maximize developer profits.

We aren't talking about squeezing in an extra unit here or there or a few feet of height - but in some cases 3x the number of units and more than 2x the size of the neighboring buildings... plus eliminating set backs etc

where do we draw the line?

thats too bad since there isn't any other place in the area to get La Quercia Proscuitto or Buratta but after my last two experiences there (ridiculously slow service - like standing there with no one making eye contact with me for 20 min and then a terrible job slicing the meats - all little chunks instead of nice consistent thin slices) I was really turned off from buying there anyways and swore I wouldn't go back anyway

Also Hamilton Inn has $4 brunch cocktails with no food requirement .... not as cheap as $1 but still below average (and now I have apparently come out as a sunday drunk)

I heard that Raval is doing $1 brunch cocktails on sundays... not exactly bottomless but I can't imagine having more than say 5 which is still less than the cost of one drink in most places. Their menu online seems to imply you need to get the $35 brunch special with that but when I called this weekend and specifically asked that they said as long as you ordered food but I can't be 100% about it since we got lazy and never made it out

http://ravaljc.com/menus/brunch-menu/

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Thanks for the tip....I assume coming from that direction you can right on red (assuming the train isn't actually coming)

I think the schedule is based on if I am running late for something.... the later I am the higher chance for it being closed (and that light by the LSP lightrail staying red for 5 min solid)

I haven't been able to figure it out but weekday from like 9- 2 is the highest probability times

Another vote for the house sauce - it was really good... though make sure you and your SO both eat it or else bring a toothbrush cause its a little kickin!

we had 1 lb shrimp and 2 lb clams in the house sauce - really good. Clams tasted great but they were really broken. Not sure if that is just about how they cook them or what but more than half were shattered and out of the shell. The shrimp were "real" full head on shrimp so if you aren't into that kind of thing beware! (they were great though it did take a few minutes to get into the rhythm of shelling them since they are hot and greasy and a little hard to grip)

the only eh was the king crab.... it was totally fine but for the price (almost triple the other items) I think I would skip it next time and get more shrimp or clams instead

my small complaints are
#1 the presentation... I know that its all fresh steamed and suppose to be "fun" but digging through a glorified garbage bag for my dinner was not really my style. I would rather see it all dumped into a big bowl or something than come to the table in plastic bags like that (also a little concerning that all the food is cooked in plastic like that..... but maybe that is "hippie" of me)

#2 we got 2 lbs of one item (clams) so the menu said that came with a free side of corn and potatoes ... it was literally one small red potato cut in half and one half ear of corn. I felt like for spending $100 in there they could have thrown in a few more potato/corn or just not say anything about it at all and I would have ordered a real side. I would have been fine with nothing but since it was mentioned I expected a little more

in all I would absolutely go again

I don't think that I have ever seen them at the hamilton park market.... they definitely do monday at grove st, not sure about thursday. They started coming around the fall last yr (which I think might be mushroom season in this area?) so it was great to see them first thing this yr. I believe the name is Dining Wild (or Wild Dining?) I know that Hamilton park used to have that smaller greens and flower farm that use to set up around the 12 oclock position (if you are standing on the steps of the gazebo) - they sometimes had some mushrooms and more "wild" greens

I tried the japanese knotweed (I think they said the little guys are almost done and now its on to the big ones that you use to make jam), ramps and mustard garlic (they told me I could make a horseradish type product from the root too but it got accidentally tossed during the post-dinner clean up...which just gives me an excuse to buy more!)

the guys are pretty awesome and gave me a few ideas (like the horseradish thing) on how to cook everything and I know that I got some amazing hen of the woods (maitake) mushrooms from them last yr too.

it also seemed like the last farmer (near the pickle booth) had more meat with them than before..... I was out in Cincinnati a few days ago and couldn't stop thinking about how amazing it would be if the powerhouse turned into something like findlay market (http://www.findlaymarket.org/) ... but that is another thread all together! haha

I thought the vendors so far looked pretty good!

I am excited for this wild foraging booth - some interesting stuff that I definitely wouldn't have tried otherwise (japanese knotweed - sort of like a lemony asparagus taste)

I like how the farmers seemed to have a little more space (though still light on actual veggies given the time of year - I am sure it will fill out come mid/ late june) and we still had a good selection of the semi-homemade type stuff (breads/mozz/sauce etc that you can basically put together to make a great dinner)

I still think that we should have a day for the food trucks to visit but I like the farmers market being actual farm (and "homemade") type stuff

hello - wondering if anyone could help point me towards any rules/ legislation about putting a pergola/arbor type thing in my back yard. We would like for it to be a nice wooden or metal structure that will block out the sun (and the view of our yard from the upstairs neighbors)
considering something like this http://www.homedepot.com/p/Hampton-Ba ... anopy-GFM00467F/203565376

I guess that is my question -- we had a contractor look at it and he says there is little to no insulation in areas (we are asking for photos to back this up) and he can fix it for a few thousand dollars .... but isn't that convenient for him? especially since no one in the unit has personally been up there to see it

on the other hand, given the state of the JC building dept how to we really know that it was "to code" at the time of building? (2006) or maybe the envelope with the insulation money "fell" into the wrong hands

I would love to just trust that its all ok but its hard to feel certain that either the original building didn't take short cuts or this contractor isn't just trying to rip us off and I was wondering if there is a way that we can actually tell (ie go up there and look around and check to see if there is a certain thickness/R rating)

can anyone help me find some info on how much insulation our condo crawl space/attic should have?

I looked on this site and the entry for "energy efficiency" is marked deleted http://www2.iccsafe.org/states/newjer ... ing/building_frameset.htm

this site http://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/codes ... /pdf_bulletins/b_11_1.pdf mentions R-38 for ceilings (not sure if that is the same as an attic/crawlspace) but it looks like that is for a special "energy star" home certification...

I am just looking for the required by law/code amount as we are having a unit in our building ask that we increase the insulation and the president is telling us that it is only needed to be to code and if the unit wants to insulate above the required level it will be on their dime

the donut thing was to die for! so light but not like a pastry dough - less greasy but very tender and soft

so far I really have enjoyed using them. I did use them a bit more when I was still in my free delivery promo but now I usually just wait till I get a coupon for free delivery

(I will PM you a code for your first order if you like - we both get some money off if you use it)

things I like -- more access to higher quality meat/fish, specialty veggies (like Asian mushrooms) and some good prices (ie organic beans 2/ $3 which beats most of the local options), great for if you are feeling a little lazy, good for meal planning (I like to make my plan and then shop so I make sure I get all the components), in season direct link to farmers (if you don't get home in time/mood for farmer market)

things I don't - packaging! everything comes in like 2 layers of plastic.... I just feel bad and wasteful, waiting on the delivery (seems like if I am running late they get there in the first 2 min of my window but if I have to run they get there in the last 5 min -- that being said 99% always in the window), some produce/fruit has been slightly less than what I would have picked (they do have ratings but I guess its easier to make that call when you see something IRL)

I don't think that I would ever be able to make them my one and only shopping but I can get away with only running to one of the product stores on newark once a week for that one off lemon or something I forgot/ ran out of

in the end I think that it is more expensive but you spend less? they portion out all the meats so instead of just buying 1 lb of cod I get 2 x 6 oz portions so while the per lb price is more I buy the right amount so now I eat "better" (portion control) and don't waste food (leftovers that never get eaten)
also no random "oh its on sale so let me buy 5" or I had a bad day might as well get a half gallon of ice cream type buys

had to go over to JCMC last year (around november maybe?) for my husband. Some how all the paperwork got messed up and even though we have insurance it didn't get listed....

Charity care showed up at my door about a month later (only about 3 days after I got the bill in the mail and before I could even call to have my insurance added on) trying to make a payment plan up for me

I am surprised they haven't contacted you yet

I for one am happy to hear that there will be some regulation on what is allowed in a "farmer's" market. I am not anti-food truck but what the sell generally isn't in the "spirit" of a farmer's market either and I don't think that any reasonable person can suggest that it is. It is my opinion that the purpose of the farmer's market was to make fresh, healthy, locally grown produce more readily available to city folks.

I do wonder about things like fresh mozz and baked goods? will those be lumped into prepared food?

I do think that what some of the B&M stores have to say is legit... why should food trucks get primo spot on city land for free? sounds like a parking permit "tax" would be most fair and perhaps it could be used to help improve the market for all (free/low cost stalls for local artisan foods etc) I don't think that food trucks specifically hurt B&M business though because as mentioned if I want to sit down and eat something with friends having a taco truck a block away isn't going to change that plan.

Can food truck still (legally) park on the street (assuming they can find spots) per the old regulations (like moving ever 2 hrs or something like that)? It isn't clear if they are actually banned from all the streets in the grove st path area or just the plaza itself?

I got there at 7:30 and it took me about 2 minutes to get a single seat at the bar...my husband arrived a few minutes later and it took us about 5-10 more minute to get 2 seats at the bar

people were turning over quickly but you had to really keep an eye out and be ready to move once someone got up

this is the menu (at least for now) http://static1.squarespace.com/static ... 97644397/TALDE-DINNER.pdf

I wouldn't say that it is particularly veg friendly but there are things that could be

we went last night and had a great meal - since it was a wait for a table we got some dim sum at the bar (pretzel pork dumplings and tuna spring rolls) and a few drinks
at our table we got the chicken wings, bacon and oyster pad thai and short ribs entree

loved all the dim sum we tried - it would be hard to say which was best but for me the tuna spring roll was most interesting bc it was served cold with a crisp fried spring roll skin - totally perfect!
We also really liked the short rib entree w the pumpkin curry
personally, I would probably pass on the pad thai next time - it was just too much for me but it was still very well done

I was VERY impressed with the service - probably the best I have ever had in JC especially at a place only open for 3 days! there was a small issue and it was corrected immediately and both the waitress, asst waiter and manager made sure we were happy in the end

I would be prepared for a bit of a wait- they were absolutely PACKED last night until 9:30 pm or so (when finally a few open seats at the bar opened up) - we were told about 45-60 min and probably were seated in about 35-45 (lost track of time after 2 drinks and 2 apps) but I really liked that they were willing to transfer your check to your table so it wasn't the annoying scramble to get the bartender to get you a check while the hostess is staring you down situation I have encountered in other spots

hello all - my husband, my sister and my birthdays are all thanks giving week so we will be doing a mass celebration with the family. I already have pumpkin pie, apple pie, 2 turkeys and a whole other list of things to cook so my mother is suggesting we just get a cake someplace around here.

any suggestions?
I have done an ice cream cake from Torico in the past and while it was amazing I think that fridge/ freezer room will be very limited and I would rather not HAVE to store it like that if possible

technically the car wouldn't need to be registered in JC if the nanny's legal address was someplace else (like her grandmothers house in Doylestown) but should would have to prove she works in JC (via a W2 or something like that)


but yes I agree its $780ish if you just buy a $3 parking passes every day for a year and the "best case" would be getting a $300 permit (which would be a lot of paperwork) so I think that its best to just suck it up and get the temp passes

you are likely going to have to go the way of the $3 day passes

if you don't have a JC registered car (which she doesn't) or a W2 showing work in JC (which the grandmother doesn't) you legally can't get a permit. The only option that would fit with the current rules would be for the grandmother to sell the car for $1 or something to her and you provide W2 (or another document to show that she is working in JC) but that is a bit complicated.....

That being said you might get a sympathetic ear at JCPA but I wouldn't count on it

I have a company car (that is only used by me but registered in my company name) and I own a house in JC and it took me months of fighting to get a permit (and then I still had to pay the $300 out of town prices)

it seems like there is a new building going in right across from the school (about midway on 3rd btw mersalis and colgate - I would say block 58 or 59 on that map) - they have some of the foundation and plumbing in.

I have been under the assumption that they want to build another crescent court like condo building (like on 1st/ 2nd and mersalis) but that those few remaining houses are holding out and stalling?

I would love more info on whats going on in this area but the meetings are usually when I am still working

any chance that you live in one of those 2 condo buildings with the garage for the downstairs duplex that are on 1st, 2nd & 3rd in the village area?

so if we have established that the thing that people hate about shoprite is the people in there (who presumably are from this area... I doubt people travel very far to go there) and the people who park in the lot what does it matter if its a shop rite, a whole foods, a trader joes or whatever?
if its the people who are a$$holes not the food there that is bad then what does it matter what brand store it is? I guess what "you" are really saying is that you want it to be really expensive so the poors can't shop there?

And if you honestly can't run into shoprite and grab a steak and pay for it without getting into some sort of fight then I have to wonder about you since I have done it for the almost decade I have lived here (after giving up on the bad produce/fish & meat that is found at A&P) - I agree that the store use to be dirty but I don't find it to be that way now