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Slanderous? Yes. Also imminently reasonable.

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Would anyone like to lay money on whether or not the third brother is named Raquan? Bonus points if he is dead or in jail.

Lovely way to instantly reduce your child's life chances from the moment you squeeze them out. Personally, I 'm planning on naming my first kid "lollygag Shitstacker."

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So that we can then swarm them and beat the crap out of them.

NIIICE!

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+1 here. I actually considered my review to be positive, in the main. The problems that they have are soluble. Their food is fantastic, when it is cooked, as I am sure it will be in the future. I will emphatically recommend it to my friends, in about two weeks.

Also, if you watn all your beer ice cold, then you aren't respecting your beer. Corona? as cold as possible. Porter? No way.

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Too many Portuguese. They Steal. Mostly American jobs, but also occasionally salted cod. I once left a salted cod on my front porch after I got back from Seabra's, and like 15 minutes later, it was gone.

They need to whip on giant hats with blazing sirens. That would clearly identify them as cops, and also, it would be awesome.

Wow. What an experience. Let me interrupt the love fest.

1st off, let me say, though a lot of the following "Review" will be negative, I will be going back to skinners loft. Not for a while though. A good deal of the problems (though not all) are probably due to the fact that it was their first day.

The Positives:

The beer list is outstanding. A lot fo microbreweries on tap, (Blue Moon, Anchor Steam, etc.) As well as some nice standards (Yuengling, Brooklyn, etc). They have Fuller's ESB on Draft. Which is sweet. The owner was very smart to invest in a draft beer setup which allows them to carry a number of different types, and has made good choices. I can't speak to the wine, I didn't have any.

The location is nice. Very pretty inside, decent amounts of space. Sort of like "edward's" in the layout, but far more publike. Although the restuarant area upstairs is very classy. Nice for a romantic dinner, I imagine, but it could be a little less dark. It's also 4 blocks from my house, so that's nice.


The food is very good, when it is properly cooked. I had the porkchop, magnificent, others at our table had the ribs (a tad dry) and the penne, whcih looked great. I would have the porkchop, it is so good that I doubt I will ever eat anything else there.

The Negatives:

Organizational skills are badly needed. The place is shambolic. I arrived at 8:20 with my friend, waiting for an eventual party of 5. They put us in the super huge table along the window. No waiter appeared. It took me 15 minutes to get the busboy to bring me a list of wines and beers. This, however, never elicited any anyone from the restuarant actually talking to me and, perhaps, taking my beer order.

15 minutes later, my friends arrive and we get to order beer.

35 minutes into the evening, we finally get the beer, and get to see a menu.

45 minutes: we place appetizer orders.

1 hour: a totally new waiter brings us 2nd round of beer.
We place food orders.

1:15 1st waiter shows up and blames everything on the kitchen, then dissapears, we attempt to order beer from him, but fail.

1:25- waiter number three asks us what we ordered for appetizers. She writes it down. Not a good sign.

1:40 from the kitchen people appear with appetizers. They are not the ones we ordered, but they are free. And good. Except for the chicken sticks, which look tasty but are actually raw. I'm not overstating this, they were not merely pink but still gelatinous. quivering raw chicken. This rawness was not noticed until someone, wondering why the chicken was cold, held it up to the candle that was on the table (this place is very dark).

1:50- It is now 10:10 We decide to give them 10 more minutes and then go to Hollywood Fried Chicken. I am dying of hunger at this point.

5 minutes before the deadline, the food arrives. It is excellent.

The owner (I think), then announces that everything is comped.


All in all, I was amazed at the fact that we had multiple waiters, only one of them (the lady) seemed to care about us at all, and the rest were nonchallant or basically never there. Towards the end, the restaurant was pretty empty, so I can't imagine why they couldn't work out some relatively simple orders. They definitely need to be proactive- If they tell me they are having problems, I can dig that. It's the 1st day. But I must, as the customer, be kept in the loop. If you don't walk by my table for 30 minutes, I am going to get pissed. Particularly if I am out of beer.

That being said, they did the right thing and we left having had a good meal without paying a cent. I would have expected to have paid for at least something, but they comped everything without us even asking or saying anything about it.

This indicates that the management has the right attitude about service, so I am sure the rest will work itself out and it will be a great restaurant. A really great one. I will give it a few weeks to shake out a bit, then I will return. I

The real problem here is that both of the parties acted reasonably, given the information that they had. (note that this is about the initial encounter, not the post facto mudslinging.)

When I got robbed a couple of years ago, I was so super pissed off that I am sure that I was radiating waves of aggression and red-hot pissedoffedness. It would be easy to mistake this for bad intent towards cops, had they showed up unsure of who I was.

It's also totally reasonable for the victim here to think that two thuggy dudes bursting in his front door shouting "did you call the cops" are intending to F him up (which, ironically, they ended up doing.)

If I had been the cops, the victim could reasonably have looked like a perp in flight, especially if he resists.

If I had been the victim, I would likely have reasonably inferred that these dudes were thugs, and responded to their query by putting my foot in their face, or shooting them. I am not going to scrutinize their bling to see if it includes a police badge.

As long as these undercover groups exist, and respond to calls like this, these sorts of things will happen. This method of policing guarantees it. Cops in uniform are:

A) visibly identifiable as cops.

and

B) reduce crime in the area, because of A).

I understand the reaction, in a stress situation, of both parties, and could see myself behaving that way. I think we need to look at how to prevent these situations from occuring.

I think the place is fast paced. Place your order, then eat your food. It ain't big, and its busy.

That being said, I do occasionally feel a tad rushed. The food is so good, it's hard to choose. I would hesitate to go so far as to say the service is bad, it's just very NYC style. It's not like their spitting in your food.


That moby guy with the glasses does make me expect them to play a constant loop of Zooropa or something. Haven't seen him around in a while.

Aaawwwww yeeeeaaah!

Still my all time favorite:

Look out HCDO, it's justice time!

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A big attraction is that you can actually buy a house, not just a shoebox, for less than the price of a kidney on the black market. Sorry to say, but these prices of $1 million for buildings in HP and VVP are just outrageous, not to mention fiscally impossible. At the moment there are no MArco and Pepe type attractions, but if a clientele moves to the area, they will follow. That's what I mean by "pop."

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How sad for you. When you are tired of Grove Street, you are tired of life, my friend.

Regardless, all sane people know that Grove street, particularly the corner of Montgomery and Grove, is the center of human civilization and all its benefits. All culture, all art, and all wealth in Jersey City spring from it, like a mystical fountain. This shining jewel of a neighborhood is often hated by Those Who Squat in Outer Darkness (by which I mean, as always, Hamilton Park), but even their feeble, venomous jealousy cannot mar the nobility, strength, and discrete bourgeois charm of my barrio.

Pacific and Lafayette actually ain't that bad of a bet. There will, of course, be claims that I am insane, but I watch the neighborhood closely. My first job back in '98 I had Columbia paint Lab as a customer, and the place was crazy scary- a lot of lifers here seem to have that image locked in their minds, and it's an out of the way place, so folks don't often go down there.

However, the storefronts are being cleaned up. It's close to the light rail (like 300 meters), it has a nice totally refurbished park (lafayette park) with super expensive condos fronting it, in the old mill, and some REALLY underpriced brickstones and townhouses directly on the park. the only thing that holds me back is the fact that I live in the coolest of all neighborhoods, 3 blocks from the Grove st. Path.

If I were you, I would buy in a place like this- its cheaper than renting in hamilton park, and its about to pop, so you could not only have a sweet pad, but a nice moneymaker as well.

Summit Ave is sketcherific.

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And therein lies both the root of the problem they ahve, and why I don't really give a crap about what happens to them, as long as it doesn't involve people who are actually socially worthwile being hurt.

So terrible, isn't it, that people feel bad because they may actually have to put forward some bare minimum of effort, or make a small sacrifice, in order to fulfill their most basic obligation as human beings, to wit- taking care of the other people they spawn. I have an idea! Why don't we law abiding productive individuals take over all thier responsiblities so they don't feel bad about themselves!

These "kids" are dangerous animals. The kind of human that casually tosses someone in traffic and then head stomps them because it is fun is the kind of human that ought to be removed from corporeal existence, and quickly.

No doubt, none of these scumbags will die in their beds. But before they get their richly deserved offing or imprisonment, one of us (and by that I mean the normal human beings) will have to pay with suffering, and perhaps even their lives.

And before somebody trounces in with the racism card, let me state that I feel the same way about Manson and the late unlamented George Lincoln Rockwell as well.

You can't reason with a rabid dog. You go all atticus finch on its ass and you shoot it down.

They must answer to Thulsa Doom.

Crucify them!

where can I get a JCMUA form?

Since when has being an expert on architecture equate with knobbing on Koolhaas?

RK is not a terribly impressive architect, IMHO. I've only seen one of his creations close up (the Casa da Musica in Porto)- it's sort of interesting now, but in 40 years when the unfinished concrete has absorbed city smog and is leaching rebar streaks, Koolhaas will look like far less of a genius.

They act surprised because if they admit there is a problem, then, since they are the MUA, they will have to deal with the problem. The one guy kept refering to "15 year floods" or something, so its clear that he is deliberately ignoring the fact that we flood 3-4 times per year. He's clearly not stupid, so he must be obfuscating.

Regardless of wether they will admit it or not- the city certified my apartment as habitable, so it has to maintain it as habitable, or pay me. Pay me a lot. My feeling is that we will have to sue them. The only way you can force any city organ to disgorge the money you pay them is to threaten them with jail or fines. Coercion is clearly the only way to go.

These guys are used to dealing with renters. Renters can leave. I'm vested in the community, and I can't just up and go away. I'm betting that more and more people in this neighborhood are like me, and more and more of them are well aware of what the words "class action lawsuit" means, and how to get one started.


As for the dudes that run the MUA, those guys have got to go. That's it. It isn' that they don't get it, its that they refuse to get it.

I'm there Steve, and I am bringing my army.

There's enough open space between his ears already.

[rim shot]

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I must find an opportunity to steal that line from you, ECH.

Storage space for my thousands of dollars worth of wine- now there is a problem I wish I had.

Prices seem to hold steady in downtown, the question is wether or not they sell. I tend to think that they don't. Inventory is very high at the moment, and when the several thousand units from grove pointe and the like come on line it will be even worse.

Overall, however, this mught not be such a bad thing. I would like more folks of my socio-economic level to have the ability to buy here, and perhaps keep some of our more sanely priced shopping options in existence. I'd hate it if every store front morphed into Zen Garage.

Regardless, the slowdown will likely be ancient history in 5 years or so. More people immigrate tot he New York area every year, and they ain't making any more land.

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Hear hear!

Just cruised over to that board to check out this lady's posts.

What's going on over there? Apparently they think that Steven Fulop is the root of all evil. It's pretty funy actually.

Is Sonia related to Junior Maldonado, that would explain a few things.

the map on Steve Fulop's site no longer seems to be working. Did too much crime blow out the system?

Steve, could you get this up again? I want to get on the speakers ist and let the city council have it during the next evening meeting, and I need to get my ducks in a row.

1. The Grove Street Crew that I hang with.
2. The MAJESTIK and the ridiculous alcohol consumption therein.
3. Chillin' on the stoop with the Fil-Mex guys.
4. My Dominican neighbors and their legendary BBQ skillz.
5. Rey Rey, the guy on my street who can fix any vehicle known to man.
6. Oscar at La Isla Nueva and his empanadas.
7. Van Vorst Park
8. No Car.
9. Hudson Camera
10. The Grove Street Pimp
11. Ibby's Falafel
12. My ridiculously hot wife who refuses to live in the suburbs.

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Too right. If you ignore every special interest group, then aren't you ignoring everyone? After all, "Everyone" is simply an amalgam of special interest groups.

In this case, "everyone" means "no one" (who is not handing out hookers, beer, or campaign funds, that is.)

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the issue isn't that people can't go there at all. The issue is that some people can't acces the road with their vehicles, and others can, and that the road is funded from the general trasury as a public access road. If it is funded that way, then that's what it should be. If it isn't that, then don't fund it that way. It seems to me that the folks down there want aprivate road, but don't want to pay for it. Aside from slinging around the word "suburbs", how is that defensible? A serious question- please address it.



If you can't take your car down a public access road, that means its not a public access road. Wether its in the city, the suburbs, or a national park is irrelevant.

I'll quote from wikipedia, its not WESTLAW, but its cheaper:

" A public road is a road that is open to common use by the general population...the majority of paved roads are public, and traffic laws apply to them, for instance:

* speed limits
* drunk driving laws
* depending on the state, bicycles and pedestrians cannot be banned unless the road is limited access"

"A private road is a road owned and maintained by a private individual, organization, or company rather than by a government. Consequently, unauthorized use of the road may be considered trespassing, and some of the usual rules of the road may not apply. The most common type of private road is a residential road maintained by a homeowners association, co-op, or other group of individual homeowners. "

If its not used by vehicles, then its a public walk, or a park. This is funded differently, and maintained differently, than a public road. Given that the state of roads in JC is a disgrace, why are we wasting resources maintainng an asphalt road that is not used as a road?


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That would be fine- a public park open to the public, not a road open to some people's vehicles but financed by all.

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Sorry JChurst, that's totally disingenious. Deciding that a street should not have vehicular access because you want your kids to play on it is essentially closing it off to the public as a street- a conduit for vehicles, which is why it was built, and why it was and is funded. I, you and Sonia, may walk there- but that's not what a street is for. That's what a sidewalk is for. Shall I lock down Grove Street or MArin and force you to find a different route to the tunnel, while justifying it by saying you can walk there? That doesn't wash. If I drag my condo association's BBQ grill onto my porch and say "I haven't confiscated it, you can all still use it set your beer on, just not for cooking" woudl that mean that I had not, in fact, appropriated it?


I also understand that the street is open for local residents who wish to park their cars in the complex, is that not correct? And if it is, then how do you define this as anything other than special interest?

The fact that its a cul-de-sac is irrelevant. Shall we bar vehicles from cul-de-sacs that abut shopping malls? These actually get more foot traffic than that park, which probably 20 people a year visit and most folks don't know exists.

I am well aware that its nice and pleasent for the folks there to have kiddie playground. I have no problem with that, if they pay for it. If you want the street, fine, pay to keep it up, or pay to turn it into a grassy field, or whatever. It irks me that we don't have the cash to install street lights, but we have the funds to maitnain the asphalt in a private road of some noisy toddler wavers.