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Re: Steve Fulop
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Home away from home
 
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Quote:
Unfortunately the "old boys" here make Karl Rove look like mild mannered pussy, and the nonpartisan electoral system overwhelmingly favors the incumbent. Steve might win a runoff against Healy but will have a hard time getting there past all the vote splitting of his "reform" constituency in a large field of challengers. I hope he can, but I'm a pessimist at heart. (I had nothing in the stock market)
Posted on: 2008/10/21 3:10
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Re: Rear Addition - Neighbors Windows?
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There's lots of existing things around here that you couldn't do today. If your purchase depends on the addition, you should put in your contract that you will hire a local architect to consult on the feasibility of the addition, similar to an engineers report. Make closing contingent on approval. The seller may not go for this however.
If you do go through with it, you better tell your contractor that the slightest violation will be reported by the pissed off neighbor!
Posted on: 2008/10/21 1:00
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Re: New York Times: New Jersey Offers a Preview of Possible Economic Woes to Come
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Quote:
You're wrong on both counts The economy expanded, but the not so secret class war let the top tier abscond with all the gains, leaving everyone else worse off. As for the second, the only fatalities will be people who have a short timeline, but they should never have bought RE to begin with. There are real demographic changes to Downtown and even other areas like the Heights, that though they will lose some value will not fall to previous levels. People rent and buy where there are the services they want and people economically and demographically like them, and that has changed here. The only people surprised by the downturn are those who forget or never knew a previous cycle. It moves slowly, the recovery is likely to be 10 years away, it took the last one that long.
Posted on: 2008/10/13 16:29
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Re: Apartment theft on 7th and Coles
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Home away from home
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This happened to us a couple of years ago, same block, same MO. Got into the building and our door was unlocked. I was upstairs of our duplex eating lunch and he made off with a laptop and Ipod.
My solution was a keypad lock on the door that slams shut and locks. It's always locked, and no trouble to get back in, just a couple of seconds of pushing 4 buttons on a 12 button keypad. Takes the laziness and "oops' out of the equation. Oh, yeah, I also embedded a 2 foot piece of 1/8" steel into the door frame to discourage any kickin attempts. The real nice thing is that combining that lock with the entry code I programmed into the intercom, we're virtually keyless. My kids love it, when someone drops them off they can just stroll right in on their own, even my 6 year old can do the combo.
Posted on: 2008/10/13 3:33
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Re: Frank, the pizza man is running for city council ( Frank's Famous Italian Pizzeria on Monmouth )
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Quote:
So that means...what? All the gringo yuppies here are pro Latino and anti-italian? FWIW, I hate ALL sounds trucks, but I don't think Rivera had them out 9 months before the election!
Posted on: 2008/10/9 19:35
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Re: Is it me or is an elevator missing at Grove Path??
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Quote:
BM, smooth your fur, I think that was just "alb-ese" for "having an additional group interested in the service being added can't hurt". "Selfish" was just poorly chosen way saying the disabled are "stakeholders". Thanks Steve, that's good new. I will say I look forward to the elevator, in that I'd certainly take my heavy bike into NY more often if I didn't have to schlep it down the those stairs.
Posted on: 2008/10/9 1:17
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Re: New rules to address noise complaints for restaurants and nightclubs
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What I'd love to know is how bad a bar has to be for it's license to be turned down for renewal. Is there any level of litter, noise and 3am streetfights that will do this, or "once you're in, you're in"?
Posted on: 2008/10/8 20:00
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Re: Is it me or is an elevator missing at Grove Path??
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It's clear someone high up made a decision when they built a huge new entrance with no elevator. Maybe they thought it would set a precedent that they'd have to put elevators in all the non-terminal stops, or maybe they thought (probably correctly given the state of the escalators) that the maintenance of it would be too costly for the benefit.
Basically the PA hates the PATH, hates being saddled it's maintenance and resists any attempts to expand or modernize it.
Posted on: 2008/10/7 20:28
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Re: average rent for studios and 1 bedrooms
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Home away from home
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Sally: Sent you a PM
Posted on: 2008/10/5 19:42
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Re: Journal Square: off-duty Jersey City cop and his K-9 get their man
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Quote:
+1 I just don't completely buy the idea that in a city of 250k you can't find a few dozen qualified people a year who want to be cops. This hero would never respond to a citizen "what do you expect living in JC?"
Posted on: 2008/10/2 16:12
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Re: What does everyone think of the Bailout?
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Quote:
I agree that outlawing shorts is the pinnacle of free market denial. It's like saying at the roulette table you can only bet on black but not red. Failure of regulation is such a GOP trademark, now to pass new regulation because you've failed to enforce what you have is like criminalizing driving because you've failed to enforce the speed limits.
Posted on: 2008/9/27 16:06
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Re: JPMorgan Chase buys WaMu
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Quote:
You're onto something, maybe Starbucks should have bought Wamu! Cash & Cappuccino! Checking & chai!
Posted on: 2008/9/26 17:02
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Re: JPMorgan Chase buys WaMu
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It's funny how life brings you in circles.
When I moved to Manhattan in the early 80's I opened accounts at Manufacturers Hanover, which was bought by Chemical, which then merged with Chase. When I moved here in 97 there were no Chase branches, so I went with PNC (Pretty Nearly Clueless) as the only Quicken affiliated bank downtown, switching to the new Wachovia when PNC lost their convenient parking lot. Last year I opened online accounts with Wamu, as they gave great rates, and Wachovia gave squat. Now, apparently, I'm back with Chase. Weird. Edit: Closing the Newark branch sucks for the Newark improvement plan. Banks are the bedrock of shopping districts. And having 2 branches on the waterfront and at the skanky Old Colony center doesn't replace it.
Posted on: 2008/9/26 16:15
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Re: Urban Farming Isn't Just for Foodies - Jersey City woman grows lots of crops
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Quote:
Of course not, do you think those guys with $100k sportfishing boats get their money's worth by the pound of striped bass? We're talking sport AND vengeance here...priceless!
Posted on: 2008/9/26 5:44
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Re: Urban Farming Isn't Just for Foodies - Jersey City woman grows lots of crops
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Quote:
You're on the way! I can suggest you try ordering some Ozark Beauty strawberry plants, I thought my troubles with strawberries was me, but these are amazing day neutrals that bear all summer, they're still flowering! Discover trellises. All you need to do is get some 8' 1x2 pressure treated battens at Lowe's for $1.30 each and screw verticals to your boxes and then at least 2 horizontals, and string wire or cord vertically. The you're set for beans, cukes or climbing zukes. I built a trellised 20" square box of 2x10's for my mom and planted 25 bean vines in it for Mothers Day, they've been eating beans all summer.
Posted on: 2008/9/26 3:52
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Re: Urban Farming Isn't Just for Foodies - Jersey City woman grows lots of crops
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Quote:
Yeah, I did the googling when we were swimming in kirbies from the cuke barrel in August. There's no single recipe, mostly salt, garlic spices, but variations abound. Real sours have no vinegar. I never did it though, my wife and son can easily eat a cuke a day each! I buy the Ba-Tampte half sours too, and let them sit on the counter a day or 2 to get a little riper, but still crispy. I hate dills. Just the other day I noticed BJ's has half sours, I may give them a try, but I can be particular about my pickles, sometimes the villains try and slip some dill into the sour recipe.
Posted on: 2008/9/25 23:50
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Re: Urban Farming Isn't Just for Foodies - Jersey City woman grows lots of crops
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Quote:
The link says no firearms, but nothing about slingshots or arrows! In my youth I once shot a squirrel out of tree with a bow. I was planning on eating it, but when I read about tularemia in the Joy of Cooking section on cleaning squirrel (old edition), I chickened out. I haven't been harassed by squirrels in a few years, but it may have something to do with having a couple of young, aggressive cats. I've seen the more nimble of my cats actually chase the squirrels through the trees. They used to pull the blossoms off the zucchinis, the only thing I see them take an interest in is the grapes, but there's way too many grapes for them to make a visible dent.
Posted on: 2008/9/25 21:30
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Re: Urban Farming Isn't Just for Foodies - Jersey City woman grows lots of crops
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My web research into the soil is issue revealed that plants primarily deposit contaminants into their leaves rather their fruit. So tomatoes in the ground are okay, lettuce not so much.
Actually, the only leaf crops I grow is herbs like basil, mint and parsley, in pots. In other pots and barrels and raised beds I grow green beans, sugar snap peas, heirloom climbing zucchini, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, strawberries and bell peppers. In the ground I have grapes, arctic Kiwis, raspberries, and a recently planted fig I grew from a cutting liberated from an overhanging tree in Hoboken. The great thing about the vines is that they're rooted way down in the water table, I never water them. You can grow enough green beans in a barrel for a family of 4 to eat beans 2 or 3 times a week.
Here's a photo of my zucchini barrel, looking more like a zucchini tree. This was a few years ago, if you look behind the left side of the zukes, you can see my failed experiment with sweet corn in a barrel. It was pretty poetic and fun to look at, but apparently you need a large patch for them to pollinate properly.
Posted on: 2008/9/24 23:42
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Re: What does everyone think of the Bailout?
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Quote:
The problem is, the other side is saying the analogy is more like repairing a dam, if it goes it takes out every town below, so you gotta try to repair it even if structurally you're better off letting it fail and starting from scratch. But nobody knows how high the water behind the dam actually is, or how structurally unsound the dam is, so a informed choice is impossible.
Posted on: 2008/9/23 20:20
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Re: What does everyone think of the Bailout?
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Great news, now there'll be 2 officially infallible humans on earth!
Posted on: 2008/9/23 4:05
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Re: Newark Avenue Redevelopment
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Quote:
Sorry, the sarcasm flies so hot and heavy round here that I thought the opposite! Very well stated case. However I was "assured" by a retail real estate professional that not only do they not want 1 way, merchants don't like the big deep spaces of the blocks between Newark and Columbus. How crazy is that? My impression has been that true entrepreneurs are typically frustrated by how small downtown storefronts are. In a common 25 x 40 building you get at most 800 net ft plus a wet basement. Sawadee has just the kind of big space restaurants like, while Madam Claude's is more typical of the cramped downtown eatery. NYC is full of restaurants and businesses in 25 x95 spaces, but apparently JC just isn't ready, like they aren't ready for 1 way commercial streets.
Posted on: 2008/9/23 4:02
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Re: What does everyone think of the Bailout?
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Bailout Bad.
If it's that important, nationalize the banks like they did for Fannie, Freddie & AIG, and let the shareholders who enabled the mayhem lose it all. If it's not, let them sink or swim on their own. The prospect that the management who presided over this nonsense being able to apply for bailout AND keep their jobs is disgusting. Can someone with good understanding of the whole subprime mess tell me if I've gotten this part straight: The reason the mortgage holders have been unwilling to readjust subprime morgages that ballooned past the buyers ability to pay to a reasonable market rate, is that since they already resold the mortagages based on the ridiculously high after balloon rate, they would have to eat the difference and be dead either way, by defaults or by the point spread. So this was the reason to play the game to the very end in hopes of a bailout. Which they got. The piece of the puzzle I'd like to see put into place is for the bond raters to follow Arthur Anderson into the corporate malfeasance gas chamber. They took money to close their eyes and rubber stamped junk as AAA. If they didn't understand it, or were unsure, they had a explicit responsibility to say no.
Posted on: 2008/9/23 1:02
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Re: Newark Avenue Redevelopment
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Quote:
Are you trying to be ironic by stating a truism? Are you really supporting the idea 1 way streets are bad for retail? That would be news for Manhattan, "island of 1 way streets". Not only that, but do you frequent those blocks? As I've said, there already is very little westbound traffic from people turning from Grove. I also do believe that merchants can rigidly adhere to outdated beliefs, or fail to balance potential upsides.
Posted on: 2008/9/22 22:22
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Re: Newark Avenue Redevelopment
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Nonsense. All that would be required is for the westbound buses that now turn N onto Barrow and W onto Newark to do it on Jersey instead. The argument that it would create too far a walk to catch a bus is ridiculous. Even if you were right between Grove and Jersey you just walk down Barrow to catch it at Columbus. There's currently very little westbound traffic from Grove. You would also have to reverse the little bit of Bay between Newark and Erie. The other arguments I've heard are thin also, that merchants prefer 2 way streets. Like I said, there's very little W traffic as is, and wouldn't they like more parking and wider sidewalks even more? How can anyone endorse the ridiculous situation of winking at the trucks and cars illegally parking on the south sidewalk? I get the feeling there's more to vested interests in this issue than meets the eye.
Posted on: 2008/9/22 19:54
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Re: From NJPOLITICKER/Schundler supports Healy ouster
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FAB, that why JC needs YOU! Seriously, Frank the Pizza Man is running, and he makes you look like a PhD economist. WTF does "production for the people" mean? Sound commie to me.
Posted on: 2008/9/19 2:01
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Re: Outrageous... out-of-town board-of-ed kids going to McNair
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Quote:
The same place many people do who want a better education than our district public school provides, the credit card. Why is this person entitled to more than $30,000 of the finest education JC has to offer, in slots that are desperately competed for by people wanting the best for their childrens future? If he can't afford the ridiculously low price of $7,403, he should send his kids to his local high school, not ours, because I doubt he could find a private HS of McNair's caliber for twice that. 3 times is more like it.
Posted on: 2008/9/18 2:06
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Re: How many people does Lehman Brothers employ in Jersey City?
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Quote:
PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN (OR THE SINKING ECONOMY)!!! LISTEN TO ME NOW: TAX CUTS! GAY MARRIAGE! GUNS! ABORTION! HE'S A MUSLIM! LIPSTICK! There, you're back on track...
Posted on: 2008/9/17 18:32
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Re: Outrageous... out-of-town board-of-ed kids going to McNair
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Home away from home
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Quote:
what you opened with was "As a teacher, I cannot afford to live in Jersey City." A very broad provocative statement. It would have been more honest and less political had you said: "since I couldn't afford a space to my liking downtown where I prefer, I said screw it, and got more bang for the buck elsewhere". See the difference? I know people who stayed in Manhattan and raised families in spaces I would not have considered. I chose not to, but I "could have", had my priorities been theirs. My father was raised with his sister in a 2 bedroom in the Bronx. Most middle class people today outside NYC would say that would be "impossible to do", yet it's common there and here. My mother in law cannot fathom why anyone with a choice would live in a city at all. She drives an SUV, lives alone in a 4k sq ft house, and recycles and composts to salve her conscience. Again, congrats on the job you've taken on. It sounds like you're one of the ones that care, not the ones serving time till their pensions.
Posted on: 2008/9/13 5:24
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Re: Newark Avenue Redevelopment
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Quote:
+1. I've been saying 1 way east for a decade. Who are the parties opposed to this? That's a vote for illegally parked trucks and cars on the S side forcing traffic confrontations, business as usual. If you don't put loading zones there in one way or another, the traffic blocking trucks will continue to be a Newark fixture. You put truck loading zones alternating with meters on the S side, ending at 5, but no overnight, creating plenty of evening parking for the restaurants and late opening shops.
Posted on: 2008/9/11 21:36
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Re: Outrageous... out-of-town board-of-ed kids going to McNair
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Quote:
I think there's even more to it than that. Where I went to school on LI there were the kids of many of the teachers in class with us. The teachers had both an investment in, and an identification with the schools. While cops and firemen may live down the shore, they only contact citizens on "unusual" occasions to those people. Teachers are with kids day in and day out, and if those kids are from not just a neighborhood, but a whole city the teacher wouldn't be caught dead living in, it seems to me the empathy hurdle is quite high. Not impossibly, but high.
Posted on: 2008/9/10 16:09
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